Wikipedia

1932 in film

The following is an overview of 1932 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths. In this year, the Puppetoons series of short animated films, Mitternacht, is produced by Hungarian animator George Pal.[1]

Events

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The Film Daily Yearbook for the United States listed the following as the ten leading headline events of the year.[4]

  • Sidney Kent leaves Paramount Pictures and joins Fox Film.
  • Merlin H Aylesworth succeeds Hiram S Brown as president of RKO.
  • Jesse L. Lasky leaves Paramount and becomes an independent producer for Fox.
  • Sam Katz leaves Paramount.
  • James R Grainger leaves Fox and is succeeded by John D Clark, formerly of Paramount.
  • Publix and Fox decentralization of cinemas.
  • New industry program, including standard exhibition contract along lines of 5-5-5, proposed by Motion Picture Theater Owners of America and Allied.
  • Joe Brandt retires from Columbia Pictures, joins World-Wide, and later resigns again.
  • Two Radio City theaters open, under direction of "Roxy", with coincident acquisition of the Rockefeller interests of 100,000 shares of RKO stock and 100,000 shares of RCA stock.
  • Experimentation with exclusive runs.

Other notable events include:

Academy Awards

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The 5th Academy Awards were conducted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on November 18, 1932,[5] at a ceremony held at The Ambassador Hotel[5] in Los Angeles, California. The ceremony was hosted by Conrad Nagel.[5] Films screened in Los Angeles between August 1, 1931, and July 31, 1932, were eligible to receive awards.[5]

Major awards:

Note: Prior to 1933 awards were not based on calendar years, which is how there are no Best Actor, Best Actress or Best Director awards for 1932 films. The 1931–32 awards went to 1931 films.

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

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The top ten 1932 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

Highest-grossing films of 1932
RankTitleDistributorDomestic rentals
1 The Sign of the Cross Paramount $2,738,993[6]
2 The Kid from Spain United Artists $2,621,000[7]
3 Emma MGM $1,409,000[8]
4 Hell Divers $1,244,000[8]
5 Grand Hotel $1,235,000[8]
6 Prosperity $1,166,000[8]
7 Tarzan the Ape Man $1,112,000[8]
8 Smilin' Through $1,004,000[8]
9 Strange Interlude $957,000[8]
10 Horse Feathers Paramount $945,000[9]

Top Ten Money Making Stars

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Exhibitors selected the following as the Top Ten Money Making Stars for 1931–1932 in Quigley Publishing Company's first annual poll.[10]

Rank Actor/Actress
1. Marie Dressler
2. Janet Gaynor
3. Joan Crawford
4. Charles Farrell
5. Greta Garbo
6. Norma Shearer
7. Wallace Beery
8. Clark Gable
9. Will Rogers
10. Joe E. Brown

Notable films

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United States unless stated

#

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A

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B

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C

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D

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E–F

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G–H

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I

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J–K

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L

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M

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N–O

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P

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R

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S

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T

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U–V

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W–Y

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1932 film releases

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United States unless stated

January–March

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April–June

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July–September

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October–December

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Serials

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The Shadow of the Eagle poster.

Ordered by release date:

Short film series

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Lobby card for the 1932 Laurel and Hardy short film Any Old Port!.

Ordered by release date:

  • Buster Keaton (1917–1923, 1934–1937, 1939–1941)
  • Laurel and Hardy (1927–1935); the team later made one instructional short subject, released nontheatrically in 1943
  • Our Gang (1922–1944) The series was officially called both Our Gang and Hal Roach's Rascals until 1932, when Our Gang became the sole title of the series.
  • Shirley Temple (1932–1934)

Animated short film series

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Ordered by release date of the film series. This list only includes shorts released in 1932:

Births

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Deaths

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Film debuts

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References

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  1. ↑ Applied Arts in British Exile from 1933: Changing Visual and Material Culture. Brill. 2019. p. 195. ISBN 9789004395107.
  2. 1 2 Vagg, Stephen (November 10, 2025). "Forgotten Australian Films: His Royal Highness". Filmink. Retrieved November 10, 2025.
  3. ↑ K. L. Maund; Phil Nanson (2005). The Four Musketeers: The True Story of D'Artagnan, Porthos, Aramis & Athos. Tempus. p. 187.
  4. ↑ "Ten Leading Headline Events". Film Daily Year Book (1933). p. 47.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "The 5th Academy Awards – 1933". Archived from the original on September 4, 2012.
  6. ↑ Birchard, Robert S. (2004). Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813123240.
  7. ↑ 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.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles, California: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  9. ↑ "You Didn't Have Ice Cream All The Way Through ... --- Part One". greenbriarpictureshows.blogspot.com. October 2, 2007.
  10. ↑ "The Ten Biggest Money Makers". Motion Picture Herald. August 6, 1932. p. 10. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
  11. ↑ Harry Waldman (2000). Missing Reels: Lost Films of American and European Cinema. McFarland. p. 227.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 "The Walter Lantz Cartune Encyclopedia: 1932". Archived from the original on March 25, 2012. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  13. ↑ The Athlete (1932) – from the Pooch the Pup Theatrical Cartoon Series
  14. ↑ The Butcher Boy (1932) – from the Pooch the Pup Theatrical Cartoon Series
  15. ↑ The Crowd Snores (1932) – from the Pooch the Pup Theatrical Cartoon Series
  16. ↑ The Underdog (The Under Dog) (1932) – from the Pooch the Pup Theatrical Cartoon Series
  17. ↑ Cats And Dogs (1932) – from the Pooch the Pup Theatrical Cartoon Series
  18. ↑ Schneider, Steven Jay, ed. (2007). 501 Movie Directors. London: Cassell Illustrated. p. 354. ISBN 978-1-84403-573-1. OCLC 1347156402.
  19. ↑ "Debbie Reynolds obituary". the Guardian. December 29, 2016. Retrieved December 28, 2021.
  20. ↑ Chakiris, George (2021). My West Side Story. Lyons Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-1493055470.
  21. ↑ "Yash Chopra | Punjabi filmmaker". Encyclopedia Britannica. December 8, 2023. Archived from the original on October 26, 2020. Retrieved September 27, 2020.
  22. ↑ Toby Hadoke (October 4, 2019). "Anna Quayle obituary". Guardian. Retrieved March 27, 2026.
  23. ↑ "Young 'Tad' Lincoln; Six-Year-Old Son of Former City Girl Gets Movie 'Break'". The Vancouver Province. p. 5.
  24. ↑ "California Birth Index, 1905-1995," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VL5D-H7S : 27 November 2014), David Lewis Blakely, 14 Dec 1932; citing Los Angeles, California, United States, Department of Health Services, Vital Statistics Department, Sacramento.
  25. ↑ "United States Public Records, 1970-2009", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QJXJ-7LRC : 4 June 2020), David Lewis Blakely, 2001-2008.

Bibliography

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