1931 in film

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The following is an overview of 1931 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.

Top-grossing films

Rank	Title	Studio	Actors	Worldwide Gross
1.	Frankenstein	Universal	Boris Karloff	$12,000,000
2.	Cimarron	RKO	Richard Dix and Irene Dunne	$1,383,000
3.	Mata Hari	MGM	Greta Garbo	$2,227,000
4.	City Lights	United Artists	Charlie Chaplin	$5,019,181
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 - RKO
• 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.

1931 film releases

January–March

• January 1931
  • 3 January
    • The Criminal Code
  • 9 January
    • Little Caesar
  • 16 January
    • Hell Divers
  • 17 January
    • Other Men's Women
  • 30 January
    • City Lights
• February 1931
  • 9 February
    • Cimarron
  • 14 February
    • Dracula
• March 1931
  • 6 March
    • Ten Cents a Dance
  • 14 March
    • Kiki
  • 21 March
    • Honor Among Lovers
  • 29 March
    • Bad Sister

April–June

• April 1931
  • 4 April
    • The Front Page
  • 6 April
    • A Connecticut Yankee
  • 15 April
    • Bachelor Apartment
  • 18 April
    • City Streets
    • The Secret Six
  • 23 April
    • The Public Enemy
  • 30 April
    • Iron Man
• May 1931
  • 1 May
    • The Millionaire
  • 11 May
    • M
  • 16 May
    • Indiscreet
  • 22 May
    • Svengali
• June 1931
  • 13 June
    • The Maltese Falcon
  • 20 June
    • A Free Soul
  • 21 June
    • The Black Camel
  • 27 June
    • I Take This Woman
  • 28 June
    • Goldie

July–September

• July 1931
  • 11 July
    • Smart Money
• August 1931
  • 1 August
    • The Smiling Lieutenant
    • Tabu
  • 7 August
    • Huckleberry Finn
    • The Miracle Woman
  • 8 August
    • Bought!
    • Night Nurse
  • 13 August
    • Bad Girl
  • 15 August
    • Pardon Us
  • 22 August
    • An American Tragedy
    • Guilty Hands
  • 29 August
    • The Last Flight
    • This Modern Age
• September 1931
  • 1 September
    • Waterloo Bridge
  • 5 September
    • Secrets of a Secretary
    • The Squaw Man
    • Street Scene
  • 19 September
    • Monkey Business
  • 26 September
    • Five Star Final
    • Sidewalks of New York
  • 30 September
    • Alice in Wonderland

October–December

• October 1931
  • 3 October
    • Palmy Days
  • 10 October
    • 24 Hours
  • 21 October
    • Possessed
  • 24 October
    • The Sin of Madelon Claudet
  • 31 October
    • Platinum Blonde
• November 1931
  • 7 November
    • The Mad Genius
  • 9 November
    • The Champ
  • 21 November
    • Frankenstein
• December 1931
  • 3 December
    • Blonde Crazy
  • 12 December
    • Private Lives
  • 17 December
    • Tonight or Never
  • 26 December
    • Arrowsmith
    • Mata Hari
  • 31 December
    • Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Notable films released in 1931

U.S.A. unless stated

• 24 Hours, starring Clive Brook and Kay Francis
• 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 (Britain)
• Alice in Wonderland, the first sound version
• Alone (Odna) - (USSR)
• An American Tragedy, directed by Josef von Sternberg, starring Sylvia Sydney
• Anna Christie, directed by Jacques Feyder, starring Greta Garbo - (Germany)
• Arrowsmith, directed by John Ford, starring Ronald Colman and Helen Hayes
• Bachelor Apartment, starring Irene Dunne and Lowell Sherman
• Bad Girl, directed by Frank Borzage
• Bad Sister, starring Bette Davis
• Berlin-Alexanderplatz film of the novel by Alfred Döblin - (Germany)
• The Black Camel, a Charlie Chan mystery starring Warner Oland
• Blonde Crazy, starring James Cagney and Joan Blondell
• Bought!, starring Constance Bennett
• Business Under Distress (To neznáte Hadimršku) - (Czechoslovakia)
• The Champ, starring Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper
• 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
• David Golder, directed by Julien Duvivier - (France)
• Dishonored, directed by Josef von Sternberg, starring Marlene Dietrich and Victor McLaglen
• Down River, starring Charles Laughton - (GB)
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, directed by Rouben Mamoulian, 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, starring Dolores Costello and H. B. Warner
• Five and Ten, starring Marion Davies and Leslie Howard
• Five Star Final, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Edward G. Robinson
• 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, directed by Lewis Milestone, starring Adolphe Menjou and Pat O'Brien
• Girls About Town, directed by George Cukor, starring Kay Francis and Joel McCrea
• Goldie, starring Jean Harlow and Spencer Tracy
• The Guardsman, starring Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne
• Guilty Hands, starring Lionel Barrymore and Kay Francis
• Hell Divers, starring Wallace Beery and Clark Gable
• Her Grace Commands (Ihre Hoheit befiehlt) - (Germany)
• Hobson's Choice, directed by Thomas Bentley (Britain)
• Honor Among Lovers, starring Claudette Colbert and Fredric March
• Huckleberry Finn, starring Jackie Coogan
• 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
• Iron Man, starring Lew Ayres and Jean Harlow
• Just a Gigolo, starring Jack Haines
• Kalidas, the first Tamil sound film, directed by H.M. Reddy (Tamil)
• Kameradschaft (Comradeship), directed by G.W. Pabst - (Germany)
• Kiki, starring Mary Pickford
• Der Kongreß tanzt (Congress Dances), starring Lilian Harvey - (Germany)
• The Last Flight, starring Richard Barthelmess
• Limite - (Brazil)
• Little Caesar, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Edward G. Robinson and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
• M, directed by Fritz Lang, starring Peter Lorre and Otto Wernicke - (Germany)
• The Mad Genius, starring John Barrymore
• Mädchen in Uniform, directed by Carl Froelich, starring Hertha Thiele - (Germany)
• The Maltese Falcon, starring Bebe Daniels
• 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
• The Neighbor's Wife and Mine (Madamu to nyōbō) - (Japan)
• Night in Montmartre, directed by Leslie S. Hiscott (Britain)
• Night Nurse starring Barbara Stanwyck and Ben Lyon
• Other Men's Women, starring Regis Toomey and Mary Astor
• Palmy Days, starring Eddie Cantor
• Pardon Us, starring Laurel and Hardy
• Peach Blossom Weeps Tears of Blood (Tao hua qi xue ji) - (China)
• Platinum Blonde, starring Loretta Young, Robert Williams and Jean Harlow
• Possessed, starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable
• Private Lives, starring Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery
• The Public Enemy, directed by William A. Wellman, starring James Cagney, Jean Harlow and Joan Blondell
• Quick Millions, starring Spencer Tracy
• Revenge on the Brother, directed Ebrahim Moradi (Iran)
• Sally in Our Alley, starring Gracie Fields - (GB)
• The Secret Six, starring Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone, Johnny Mack Brown, Jean Harlow and Clark Gable
• Secrets of a Secretary, starring Claudette Colbert and Herbert Marshall
• Sidewalks of New York, starring Buster Keaton
• The Sin of Madelon Claudet, starring Helen Hayes
• Smart Money, starring Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney
• The Smiling Lieutenant, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Maurice Chevalier, Claudette Colbert and Miriam Hopkins
• The Speckled Band, directed by Jack Raymond, starring Raymond Massey - (GB)
• A Spray of Plum Blossoms (Yi jian mei) - (China)
• 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 - (GB)
• Ten Cents a Dance, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Ricardo Cortez
• The Theft of the Mona Lisa (Der Raub der Mona Lisa) - (Germany)
• This Modern Age, starring Joan Crawford
• The Threepenny Opera (Die 3 groschen-oper), starring Lotte Lenya - (Germany)
• Tilly of Bloomsbury, directed by Jack Raymond, starring Sydney Howard, Phyllis Konstam (Britain)
• Tokyo Chorus (Tokyo no korasu), directed by Yasujirō Ozu - (Japan)
• Tommi, directed by Yakov Protazanov - (USSR)
• 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
  • Egyptian Melodies
  • The Clock Store
  • The Spider and the Fly
  • The Fox Hunt
  • The Ugly Duckling
• Screen Songs (1929–1938)
• Talkartoons (1929–1932)
  • Mask a Raid (featuring Betty Boop)
• 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 (died 1955)
• February 15 - Claire Bloom, actress
• February 24 - Dominic Chianese, actor
• March 22 - William Shatner, actor
• March 26 - Leonard Nimoy, actor and director (died 2015)
• April 8 - John Gavin, actor, diplomat
• May 28 - Carroll Baker, actress
• June 20 - Olympia Dukakis, actress
• July 1 - Leslie Caron, French actress and dancer
• July 4 - Stephen Boyd, Irish actor (died 1977)
• July 11 - Tab Hunter, actor and singer
• August 31 - Noble Willingham, actor (died 2004)
• September 10 - Philip Baker Hall, actor
• September 12 - Ian Holm, English actor
• September 17 - Anne Bancroft, actress (died 2005)
• September 21 - Larry Hagman, actor and director (died 2012)
• September 29 - Anita Ekberg, Swedish actress and sex symbol (died 2015)
• September 30 - Angie Dickinson, actress
• November 6 - Mike Nichols German-born director (died 2014)
• December 11 - Rita Moreno, Puerto Rican actress

Deaths

• March 11 - F. W. Murnau, German director (b. 1888)
• March 24
  • Charles Clary, silent film actor (born 1873)
  • Robert Edeson, stage and screen actor (born 1868)
• June 7 - Viktor Schwanneke, German actor (born 1880)
• August 14 - Janie Marèse, French actress (born 1908)
• November 27 - Lya De Putti, Hungarian actress (born 1899)
• December 23 - Tyrone Power, Sr., stage and film veteran, father of movie star Tyrone Power (born 1869)

Film debuts

• Bruce Cabot - Heroes of the Flames
• Bette Davis - Bad Sister
• Lotte Lenya - The Threepenny Opera
• Otto Preminger director, producer - The Great Love
• Simone Simon - Durand contre Durand