Overview of the events of 1927 in film
The following is an overview of 1927 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.
Top-grossing films (U.S.)
The top ten 1927 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:
Events
[9][10]
- January 10 – Fritz Lang's science-fiction fantasy Metropolis premieres in Germany. The film receives its American premiere in New York City on March 6.
- March 11 – World's largest movie theatre, the Roxy Theatre, opens in New York City.
- April 7 – Abel Gance's Napoleon often considered his best known and greatest masterpiece, premieres (in a shortened version) at the Paris Opéra and demonstrates techniques and equipment that will not be revived for years to come, such as hand-held cameras, and what is often considered the first widescreen projection format Polyvision.
- May 11 – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is founded in Los Angeles by Douglas Fairbanks. The 1st Academy Awards (Oscars) will be awarded to films which are released in 1927 or 1928.
- August 12 – Paramount's dramatic film Wings, which will go on to win the first Academy Award for Best Picture, opens at the Criterion Theater in New York City, with an unheard-of roadshow admission price of $2.00 per ticket.
- September 5 – Nicholas Schenck becomes president of Loews Inc. following the death of Marcus Loew.
- September 7 – Oswald the Lucky Rabbit debuts in Trolley Troubles.
- September 23 – Fox Films acquires the rights to the Tri-Ergon sound-on-film technology, which had been developed in 1919 by three German inventors, Josef Engl, Hans Vogt, and Joseph Massole.
- October 6 – The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson, premieres at the Warner Theater in New York City. Although not the first 'talkie', The Jazz Singer becomes the first box-office hit and popularizes sound motion pictures. It is the highest-grossing movie up to this time.[citation needed]
- December 3 – The silent short Putting Pants on Philip, the first official billing of comedy duo Laurel and Hardy, is released in the United States.
- Ang Manananggal, the first Filipino horror film, is released in the Philippines.[11]
- Cinematograph Films Act sets a minimum quota for British films to be shown in British cinemas.
- Italian Alberto Rabagliati wins a Rudolph Valentino look-alike contest and moves to Hollywood to start his acting career.
- The Three Tramps, the first Filipino comedy film featuring the Silos brothers, is released in the Philippines.[12]
Academy Awards
Notable films released in 1927
For the complete list of US film releases for the year, see United States films of 1927[13]
#
A
B
- Bed and Sofa (Tretya meshchanskaya), directed by Abram Room – (U.S.S.R.)
- The Beloved Rogue, directed by Alan Crosland, starring John Barrymore, Conrad Veidt and Marceline Day
- Belphégor, directed by Henri Desfontaines – (France)
- Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis (Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Großstadt), directed by Walter Ruttmann – (Germany)
- Bigamy (Bigamie), directed by Jaap Speyer, starring Heinrich George – (Germany)
- Blighty, directed by Adrian Brunel, starring Ellaline Terriss and Lillian Hall-Davis – (GB)
- The Bugle Call (lost), directed by Edward Sedgwick, starring Jackie Coogan
C
- The Cat and the Canary, directed by Paul Leni, starring Laura La Plante and Creighton Hale, based on the 1922 stage play by John Willard[14]
- Chicago, directed by Frank Urson, starring Phyllis Haver
- Children of Divorce, directed by Frank Lloyd, starring Clara Bow, Esther Ralston and Gary Cooper
- The Chinese Parrot (lost), directed by Paul Leni
- The Club of the Big Deed (Soyuz velikogo dela), directed by Grigori Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg – (U.S.S.R.)
- College, directed by James W. Horne and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton
- Confetti, directed by Graham Cutts, starring Jack Buchanan and Annette Benson – (GB)
D
E
F
G
H
- Her Wild Oat, directed by Marshall Neilan, starring Colleen Moore
- His First Flame, directed by Harry Edwards, starring Harry Langdon
- His Greatest Bluff (Sein größter Bluff), directed by Henrik Galeen and Harry Piel – (Germany)
- The Honorable Mr. Buggs, directed by Fred Jackman, starring Matt Moore, Anna May Wong and Oliver Hardy
- Hot Kisses, directed by José Nepomuceno – (Philippines)
- Hula, directed by Victor Fleming, starring Clara Bow
- Husband Hunters, directed by John G. Adolfi, starring Mae Busch, Jean Arthur and Mildred Harris
I
J
K
L
- The Lady in Ermine (lost), directed by James Flood, starring Corinne Griffith
- Laila, directed by Aziza Amir, starring Aziza Amir and Stephan Rosti – (Egypt)
- The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Ivor Novello, based on the novel by Marie Belloc Lowndes – (GB)
- London After Midnight (lost), written and directed by Tod Browning, starring Lon Chaney, Marceline Day and Conrad Nagel
- Long Pants, directed by Frank Capra, starring Harry Langdon
- The Love of Jeanne Ney (Die Liebe der Jeanne Ney), directed by G.W. Pabst – (Germany)
- The Love of Sunya, directed by Albert Parker, starring Gloria Swanson
- The Loves of Carmen, directed by Raoul Walsh, starring Dolores del Río and Victor McLaglen
M
- Madame Pompadour, directed by Herbert Wilcox, starring Dorothy Gish and Antonio Moreno – (GB)
- Man from the Restaurant (Chelovek iz restorana), directed by Yakov Protazanov – (U.S.S.R.)
- The Manor House of Fear (Le Manoir de la Peur), directed by Alfred Machin and Henry Wulschleger, starring Romuald Joubé[16] – (France)
- Mata Hari, directed by Friedrich Feher, starring Magda Sonja – (Germany)
- Metropolis, directed by Fritz Lang, starring Alfred Abel – (Germany)
- Mockery, directed by Benjamin Christensen, starring Lon Chaney and Ricardo Cortez
- The Mountain Eagle (lost), directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Nita Naldi – (GB/Germany)
- My Best Girl, directed by Sam Taylor, starring Mary Pickford and Charles "Buddy" Rogers
N
O
P
Q
R
S
- The Scar of Shame, directed by Frank Peregini
- Shooting Stars, directed by Anthony Asquith and A.V. Bramble – (GB)
- The Show, directed by Tod Browning, starring John Gilbert, Renée Adorée and Lionel Barrymore, based on the 1910 novel The Day of Souls by Charles Tenney Jackson
- Singed, directed by John Griffith Wray, starring Blanche Sweet and Warner Baxter
- Slide, Kelly, Slide, directed by Edward Sedgwick, starring William Haines, Sally O'Neil and Harry Carey
- Sorrell and Son, directed by Herbert Brenon, starring H. B. Warner and Anna Q. Nilsson – (GB)
- Spring Fever, directed by Edward Sedgwick, starring William Haines, Joan Crawford and George K. Arthur
- The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Ramón Novarro and Norma Shearer
- Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, directed by F. W. Murnau, starring Janet Gaynor and George O'Brien
- Svengali, directed by Gennaro Righelli, starring Paul Wegener, based on the 1894 novel Trilby by George du Maurier – (Germany)
T
U
W
- The Way of All Flesh (lost), directed by Victor Fleming, starring Emil Jannings
- West Point, directed by Edward Sedgwick, starring William Haines and Joan Crawford
- When a Man Loves, directed by Alan Crosland, starring John Barrymore, Dolores Costello and Warner Oland
- Why Girls Love Sailors, directed by Fred Guiol, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
- Wings, directed by William A. Wellman, starring Clara Bow, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, Richard Arlen and Gary Cooper
- The Wizard (lost), directed by Richard Rosson, starring Edmund Lowe and Leila Hyams, based on the 1911 novel Balaoo by Gaston Leroux
Comedy film series
Animated short film series
Births
- January 4 – Barbara Rush, American actress (died 2024)
- January 10 – Lee Philips, American actor (died 1999)
- January 15 – Phyllis Coates, American actress (died 2023)
- January 17 – Eartha Kitt, American actress and singer (died 2008)
- January 22 – Walter Sparrow, English actor (died 2000)
- January 28 – Hiroshi Teshigahara, Japanese director (died 2001)[18][19]
- January 29 – Peter Fernandez, American actor, voice director and writer (died 2010)
- January 31 – Jean Speegle Howard, American actress (died 2000)
- February 3 – Kenneth Anger, American underground experimental filmmaker and actor (died 2023)
- February 7 – Juliette Gréco, French singer and actress (died 2020)
- February 12
- February 14 – Lois Maxwell, Canadian actress (died 2007)
- February 16 – June Brown, English actress (died 2022)[20]
- February 20 – Sidney Poitier, American actor (died 2022)
- March 1 – Harry Belafonte, American singer and actor (died 2023)
- March 4 - Thayer David, American actor (died 1978)
- March 7 – James Broderick, American actor and director (died 1982)
- March 18 - George Plimpton, American actor (died 2003)
- March 20 – Cairbre (also known as Leo), Dublin Zoo-born Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lion mascot
- March 21 – Virginia Weidler, American actress (died 1968)
- March 25 – Monique van Vooren, Belgian-American actress (died 2020)
- March 31 – William Daniels, American actor
- April 1 – Maria Eugénia, Portuguese actress (died 2016)
- April 2
- Rita Gam, American actress (died 2016)
- Ken Sansom, American actor and voice actor (died 2012)
- April 3 - Robert Hoy, American actor, stuntman and director (died 2010)
- April 5 – Chao-Li Chi, Shanxi-born actor (died 2010)
- April 13 – Maurice Ronet, French film actor, director and writer (died 1983)
- April 16 – Peter Mark Richman, American actor (died 2021)
- April 19 – Cora Sue Collins, American former child actress
- April 30 – Ellen Alaküla, Estonian actress (died 2011)
- May 5 – Pat Carroll, American actress (died 2022)
- May 6 – Ettore Manni, Italian actor (died 1979)
- May 11
- Bernard Fox, Welsh actor (died 2016)
- Mort Sahl, Canadian-born American comedian and actor (died 2021)
- May 13 – Herbert Ross, American film director, producer and choreographer (died 2001)
- May 20 – David Hedison, American actor (died 2019)
- May 21 – Kay Kendall, English actress, comedienne (died 1959)
- May 22 – Michael Constantine, Greek American actor (died 2021)
- May 30 – Clint Walker, American actor (died 2018)
- May 31 – Koreyoshi Kurahara, Malaysian-Japanese screenwriter, director (died 2002)
- June 2 – Thomas Hill, Indian-born American character actor (died 2009)
- June 8 – Jerry Stiller, American actor and comedian (died 2020)
- June 15 – Ottó Foky, Hungarian animator (died 2012)
- June 23 – Bob Fosse, American dancer, musical theatre choreographer, screenwriter and director (died 1987)
- June 24 - Bette Ford, American retired actress
- June 27 – Geoffrey Palmer, British actor (died 2020)
- June 30
- July 2 - Brock Peters, American actor and singer (died 2005)
- July 3 - Tim O'Connor, American character actor (died 2018)
- July 4
- July 5 – Beverly Tyler, American actress, singer (died 2005)
- July 6 – Janet Leigh, American actress (died 2004)
- July 7 – Henry O, Chinese-American actor
- July 9
- July 15
- July 30
- August 9 – Robert Shaw, British actor and novelist (died 1978)
- August 14 – Roger Carel (Bancharel), French voice actor (died 2020)
- August 18 - Rosalynn Carter, First Lady of the United States (died 2023)
- August 19 – L. Q. Jones, American actor (died 2022)
- August 20 - Yootha Joyce, English actress (died 1980)
- August 21 – Tony Steedman, English character actor (died 2001)
- August 30 – Bill Daily, American actor (died 2018)
- September 9 – Penelope Houston, English critic (died 2015)
- September 12
- September 13 - Beverly Polcyn, American actress (died 2018)
- September 16 – Peter Falk, American actor (died 2011)
- September 19
- September 20 - Rachel Roberts, Welsh actress (died 1980)
- September 21 - Joan Hotchkis, American actress and writer (died 2022)
- September 24 – Arthur Malet, English actor (died 2013)
- September 26 - Patrick O'Neal, American actor (died 1994)
- October 1 – Tom Bosley, American actor (died 2010)
- October 7 - Al Martino, American singer and actor (died 2009)
- October 14 – Roger Moore, English actor (died 2017)
- October 15 – Jeannette Charles, British actress (died 2024)
- October 16 – Eileen Ryan, American actress (died 2022)
- October 18 – George C. Scott, American film and stage actor (died 1999)
- October 21 - Howard Zieff, American director and producer (died 2009)
- October 27 – Silvia Laidla, Estonian actress (died 2012)
- November 1 – Marcel Ophuls, German documentary maker
- November 3 - Florence Paterson, Canadian actress (died 1995)
- November 12 – John Hollis, British screen actor (died 2005)
- November 17
- November 14 – McLean Stevenson, American actor (died 1996)
- November 20 – Estelle Parsons, American actress
- November 23 – Sybil Jason, American actress (died 2011)
- November 30 – Robert Guillaume, American actor and singer (died 2017)
- December 26 - Chuck Hicks, American actor and stuntman (died 2021)
- December 29 – Giorgio Capitani, Italian film director and screenwriter (died 2017)
- December 30 – Bernard Barrow, American Actor (died 1993)
Deaths
- January 13 – Arnold Daly, American actor, playwright and producer (born 1875)
- March 17 – Charles Emmett Mack, American actor (born 1900)
- April 25 – Earle Williams, American actor (born 1880)
- May 7 – Bruce McRae, American stage and screen actor (born 1867)
- May 16 – Sam Bernard, English stage and screen actor (born 1863)
- May 20 – Oscar Stribolt, Danish actor (born 1873)
- June 3 – Einar Hanson, Swedish stage and screen actor (born 1897)
- June 4 – Robert McKim, American actor (born 1877)
- July 26 – June Mathis, American screenwriter (born 1887)
- September 5 – Marcus Loew, American theatre chain executive & founder of Loews Theatres (born 1870)
- October 5 – Sam Warner, American co-founder of Warner Brothers studios (born 1887)
- October 13 – Hughie Mack, American actor (born 1884)
- November 4 – Valli Valli, German stage and film actress (born 1882)
- December 6 – Kate Toncray, American actress (born 1867)
- December 16 – Romaine Fielding, American actor and director (born 1868)
- December 24 – Julia Bruns, American stage & film actress (born 1895)
Film debuts
See also
References
- ^ Birchard, Robert S. (2004). Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813123240.
- ^ Glancy, H Mark (1995). "Warner Bros Film Grosses, 1921–51: the William Schaefer ledger". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 15.
- ^ a b Jones, Lon (March 4, 1944). "Which Cinema Films Have Earned the Most Money Since 1914?". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 3 Supplement: The Argus Weekend magazine. Retrieved August 6, 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Balio, Tino (2009). United Artists: The Company Built by the Stars. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press. p. 93.
- ^ Reid, John Howard (2008). Silent Films & Early Talkies on DVD: A Classic Movie Fan's Guide. pp. 303. ISBN 978-1-4357-1073-3.
- ^ Eyman, Scott (1990). Mary Pickford, America's Sweetheart. ISBN 1-55611-147-9.
The film had the solid success it deserved; in its premiere New York engagement, at the Rialto,My Best Girl grossed $81,000 in its three week run, recouping a sixth of its production cost of $483,103 at just one theater. It's total domestic gross amounted to $1,027,757.
- ^ a b The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles, California: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study
- ^ Eyman, Scott (1997). The Speed of Sound: Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution 1926-1930. ISBN 0-684-81162-6.
Sunrise ended up amassing domestic rentals of $818,000.
- ^ "Time After Time: Movies from 1927". Archived from the original on 2014-09-05. Retrieved 2013-07-13.
- ^ "Timeline of Greatest Film Milestones and Turning Points in Film History".
- ^ "Ang Manananggal (1927)". imdb.com.
- ^ "The Three Tramps (1927)". imdb.com.
- ^ "Most Popular Feature Films Released In 1927". IMDb.
- ^ Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 311. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
- ^ Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 313. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
- ^ a b c Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 317. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
- ^ Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 318. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
- ^ Bergan, Ronald (2001-04-26). "Obituary: Hiroshi Teshigahara". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-07-20.
- ^ "Hiroshi Teshigahara's Multimedia Tradition". Retrieved 2019-07-20.
- ^ Whitmore, Greg (4 April 2022). "June Brown: a life in pictures". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
External links
- List of 1927 films at IMDb
- List of 1927 deaths at IMDb
- List of 1927 births at IMDb
