1931 in film

List of years in film       (table)
… 1921 .  1922 .  1923 .  1924  . 1925  . 1926  . 1927 … 1928 1929 1930 -1931- 1932 1933 1934 … 1935 .  1936 .  1937 .  1938  . 1939  . 1940  . 1941 …     In television: 1928 1929 1930 -1931- 1932 1933 1934             In radio: 1928 1929 1930 -1931- 1932 1933 1934
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Years in film
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1920s
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1930s
1930 • 1931 • 1932 • 1933 • 1934 1935 • 1936 • 1937 • 1938 • 1939
1940s
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1950s
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1990s
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2000s
2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009
2010s
2010 • 2011 • 2012 2013 and beyond

Top grossing films

Rank	Title	Studio	Actors
1.	Frankenstein	Universal	Boris Karloff
2.	Cimarron	RKO	Richard Dix and Irene Dunne
3.	Mata Hari	MGM	Greta Garbo
4.	City Lights	United Artists	Charlie Chaplin
5.	A Free Soul	MGM	Norma Shearer
6.	Dracula	Universal	Bela Lugosi
7.	Private Lives	MGM	Norma Shearer
8.	No Limit	Paramount	Clara Bow
9.	The Public Enemy	Warner Bros.	James Cagney and Jean Harlow
10.	The Smiling Lieutenant	Paramount	Maurice Chevalier, Claudette Colbert and Miriam Hopkins

Academy Awards

• Best Picture: Cimarron - MGM
• Best Actor: Lionel Barrymore - A Free Soul
• Best Actor: Wallace Beery - The Champ
• Best Actor: Fredric March - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• Best Actress: Marie Dressler - Min and Bill
• Best Actress: Helen Hayes - The Sin of Madelon Claudet

Note: Prior to 1933, awards were not based on calendar years. And there were two awards given in 1932 for 'Best Actor'. That's how there are 3 'Best Actor', 2 'Best Actress' awards for 1931 films.

Notable films released in 1931

U.S.A. unless stated

• À nous la liberté (Freedom for Us), directed by René Clair - (France)
• Alam Ara (The Light of the World), directed by Ardeshir Irani - the first Indian talkie
• Alibi directed by Leslie S. Hiscott (U.K.)
• Alice in Wonderland, the first sound version
• Anna Christie, directed by Jacques Feyder, starring Greta Garbo - (Germany)
• Arrowsmith, directed by John Ford, starring Ronald Colman and Helen Hayes
• Bad Girl, directed by Frank Borzage
• The Bad Sister, starring Bette Davis
• Berlin-Alexanderplatz film of the novel by Alfred Döblin - (Germany)
• Blonde Crazy, starring James Cagney and Joan Blondell
• Black Coffee directed by Leslie S. Hiscott (U.K.)
• The Champ, starring Wallace Beery
• La Chienne (The Bitch), directed by Jean Renoir, starring Michel Simon - (France)
• Cimarron, starring Richard Dix and Irene Dunne
• City Lights, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin
• City Streets, starring Gary Cooper and Sylvia Sidney
• A Connecticut Yankee, starring Will Rogers
• The Criminal Code, directed by Howard Hawks, starring Walter Huston
• Dishonored, directed by Josef von Sternberg, starring Marlene Dietrich and Victor McLaglen
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, starring Fredric March and Miriam Hopkins
• Dracula, directed by Tod Browning, starring Bela Lugosi and Dwight Frye
• Elisabeth of Austria starring Lil Dagover and Paul Otto (Germany)
• Emil und die Detektive, starring Rolf Wenkhaus, Käthe Haack and Fritz Rasp - (Germany)
• Expensive Women
• Five Star Final
• Frankenstein, directed by James Whale, starring Boris Karloff, Colin Clive and Mae Clarke
• A Free Soul, starring Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, Lionel Barrymore and Clark Gable
• From Saturday to Sunday (Ze soboty na neděli) - (Czechoslovakia)
• The Front Page
• Girls About Town, starring Kay Francis and Joel McCrea
• Goldie, starring Jean Harlow and Spencer Tracy
• Hell Divers, starring Wallace Beery and Clark Gable
• Huckleberry Finn
• Hyppolit, the Butler (Hyppolit, a lakáj) - (Hungary)
• I Take This Woman, starring Gary Cooper and Carole Lombard
• Indiscreet, directed by Leo McCarey, starring Gloria Swanson and Ben Lyon
• Industrial Britain, documentary filmed by Robert J. Flaherty - (U.K.)
• Iron Man, starring Lew Ayres and Jean Harlow
• Just a Gigolo
• Kameradschaft (Comradeship), directed by G.W. Pabst - (Germany)
• Kiki
• The Last Flight, starring Richard Barthelmess
• Laugh and Get Rich, starring Hugh Herbert, Edna May Oliver, and Dorothy Lee
• Little Caesar, starring Edward G. Robinson and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
• The Lyons Mail directed by Arthur Maude and starring John Martin Harvey (U.K.)
• M, directed by Fritz Lang, starring Peter Lorre and Otto Wernicke - (Germany)
• Mädchen in Uniform, directed by Carl Froelich, starring Hertha Thiele - (Germany)
• The Maltese Falcon (1931 film)
• Marius, directed by Alexander Korda, starring Raimu and Pierre Fresnay - (France)
• Mata Hari, starring Greta Garbo and Lionel Barrymore
• Le Million, directed by René Clair - (France)
• The Millionaire, starring George Arliss
• The Miracle Woman, directed by Frank Capra, starring Barbara Stanwyck
• Monkey Business, starring Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo Marx
• Night in Montmatre, directed by Leslie S. Hiscott (U.K.)
• Night Nurse starring Barbara Stanwyck and Ben Lyon
• Palmy Days, starring Eddie Cantor
• Pardon Us
• Platinum Blonde, starring Loretta Young, Robert Williams and Jean Harlow
• Possessed, starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable
• Private Lives
• The Public Enemy, directed by William A. Wellman, starring James Cagney, Jean Harlow and Joan Blondell
• Quick Millions, starring Spencer Tracy
• Sally in Our Alley, starring Gracie Fields - (U.K.)
• The Secret Six, starring Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone, Johnny Mack Brown, Jean Harlow and Clark Gable
• Sidewalks of New York, starring Buster Keaton
• The Sin of Madelon Claudet, starring Helen Hayes
• Smart Money, starring Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney
• Smart Woman, starring Mary Astor and Edward Everett Horton
• The Smiling Lieutenant, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Maurice Chevalier, Claudette Colbert and Miriam Hopkins
• The Squaw Man directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Warner Baxter
• The Stolen Jools, starring Gary Cooper, Laurel and Hardy, and Norma Shearer
• Street Scene, directed by King Vidor, starring Sylvia Sidney
• Svengali, starring John Barrymore
• Tabu, directed by F.W. Murnau
• Tell England, directed by Anthony Asquith (U.K.)
• Ten Cents a Dance, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Ricardo Cortez
• This Modern Age, starring Joan Crawford
• The Threepenny Opera (Die 3 groschen-oper), starring Lotte Lenya - (Germany)
• Tokyo Chorus (Tokyo no korasu), directed by Yasujiro Ozu - (Japan)
• Tonight or Never, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Gloria Swanson and Melvyn Douglas
• Waterloo Bridge, directed by James Whale

Serials

• Battling with Buffalo Bill
• Danger Island
• Finger Prints
• The Galloping Ghost, starring Harold Grange
• Heroes of the Flames
• King of the Wild
• The Lightning Warrior, starring Rin Tin Tin
• The Mystery Trooper
• The Phantom of the West
• The Sign of the Wolf
• The Spell of the Circus
• The Vanishing Legion

Short film series

• Laurel and Hardy (1921–1943)
• Charley Chase (1924–1940)
• Buster Keaton (1917–1941)
• Our Gang (1922–1944)

Animated short film series

• Aesop's Film Fables (1921–1933)
• Krazy Kat (1925–1940)
• Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (1927–1938)
• Mickey Mouse
  • The Birthday Party
  • Traffic Troubles
  • The Castaway
  • The Moose Hunt
  • The Delivery Boy
  • Mickey Steps Out
  • Blue Rhythm
  • Fishin' Around
  • The Barnyard Broadcast
  • The Beach Party
  • Mickey Cuts Up
  • Mickey's Orphans
• Silly Symphonies
  • Birds of a Feather
  • Mother Goose Melodies
  • The China Plate
  • The Busy Beavers
  • The Cat's Out
  • Epyptian Melodies
  • The Clock Store
  • The Spider and the Fly
  • The Fox Hunt
  • The Ugly Duckling
• Screen Songs (1929–1938)
• Talkartoons (1929–1932)
• Looney Tunes (1930–1969)
• Flip the Frog (1930–1933)
• Terrytoons (1930–1964)
• Toby the Pup (1930-1931)
• Merrie Melodies (1931-1969)
• Scrappy (1931-1941)
• Tom and Jerry (Van Beuren) (1931-1933)

Births

• January 5 - Robert Duvall, actor and director
• January 14 - Caterina Valente, French singer and actress
• January 17 - James Earl Jones, actor
• February 6 - Mamie Van Doren, actress and sex symbol
  • Rip Torn, actor and director
• February 8 - James Dean, actor (d. 1955)
• March 22 - William Shatner, actor
• March 26 - Leonard Nimoy, actor and director
• May 28 - Carroll Baker, actress
• June 20 - Olympia Dukakis, actress
• July 1 - Leslie Caron, French actress and dancer
• July 4 - Stephen Boyd, Irish actor (d. 1977)
• Jult 11 - Tab Hunter, actor and singer
• August 31 - Noble Willingham, actor (d. 2004)
• September 10 - Philip Baker Hall, actor
• September 12 - Ian Holm, English actor
• September 17 - Anne Bancroft, actress (d. 2005)
• September 21 - Larry Hagman, actor and director
• September 29 - Anita Ekberg, Swedish actress and sex symbol
• September 30 - Angie Dickinson, actress
• November 6 - Mike Nichols German-born director
• December 11 - Rita Moreno, Puerto Rican actress

Deaths

• March 24 -
  • Charles Clary, silent film actor (b. 1873)
  • Robert Edeson, stage and screen actor (b. 1868)
• November 27 - Lya De Putti, Hungarian actress (b. 1899)
• December 23 - Tyrone Power, Sr., stage and film veteran, father of movie star Tyrone Power (b. 1869)

Film debuts

• Bruce Cabot
• Bette Davis
• Lotte Lenya
• Pat O'Brien
• Otto Preminger director, producer
• Simone Simon