1938 in film

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The year 1938 in film involved some significant events.

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

The top ten 1938 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

Highest-grossing films of 1938
Rank	Title	Studio	Box office gross rental
1	Alexander's Ragtime Band	20th Century Fox	$3,500,000^[1]
2	Boys Town	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer	$2,828,000^[2]
3	In Old Chicago	20th Century Fox	$2,500,000^[3]
4	Test Pilot	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer	$2,431,000^[2]
5	You Can't Take It with You	Columbia Pictures	$2,137,575^[4]
6	Sweethearts	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer	$2,017,000^[5]
7	The Adventures of Robin Hood	Warner Bros.	$1,928,000^[6]
8	Marie Antoinette If I Were King	20th Century Fox Paramount Pictures	$1,800,000^[7]
9	The Adventures of Marco Polo	United Artists/Samuel Goldwyn Productions	$1,700,000^[7]
10	Love Finds Andy Hardy	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer	$1,637,000^[2]

Events

January – MGM announces that Judy Garland will be cast in the role of Dorothy Gale in the upcoming The Wizard of Oz film. Ray Bolger is cast as the Tin Woodman and Buddy Ebsen as the Scarecrow. At Bolger's insistence, the roles are switched between the two actors. On July 25, MGM announces Bert Lahr has been cast as the Cowardly Lion.
April 5 – Noel Langley completes the first script for The Wizard of Oz.
April 20 – Leonard Slye appears in his first starring role as Roy Rogers in Under Western Stars. He became one of the most popular Western stars being ranked number one from 1943 to 1952 and would become known as "King of the Cowboys".
May 7 – Lyricist Edgar Yipsel Harburg and composer, Harold Arlen, begin work on the musical score for The Wizard of Oz.
October 13 – Filming starts on The Wizard of Oz.
October 21 – Buddy Ebsen suffers from a near fatal allergic reaction to the aluminum dust used in his Tin Woodman make-up on the set of The Wizard of Oz. Ebsen is replaced by Jack Haley.
December 23 – Margaret Hamilton is severely burned during a mishap on the set of The Wizard of Oz. Hamilton, who was cast in the role of the Wicked Witch of the West, leaves the film for six weeks.
Orson Welles makes Too Much Johnson, starring Joseph Cotten. It is never completed and first released only in 2013.
Producer George Minter establishes Renown Pictures, a British film distributor.^[8]

Academy Awards

Best Picture: You Can't Take It with You – Columbia
Best Director: Frank Capra – You Can't Take It with You
Best Actor: Spencer Tracy – Boys Town
Best Actress: Bette Davis – Jezebel
Best Supporting Actor: Walter Brennan – Kentucky
Best Supporting Actress: Fay Bainter – Jezebel

Notable films released in 1938

United States unless stated

Serials

Dick Tracy Returns, starring Ralph Byrd
The Fighting Devil Dogs, starring Lee Powell and Herman Brix
Flaming Frontiers
Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars, starring Buster Crabbe
The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
Hawk of the Wilderness, starring Herman Brix
The Lone Ranger
The Secret of Treasure Island
The Spider's Web
Red Barry

Comedy film series

Harold Lloyd (1913–1938)
Charlie Chaplin (1914–1940)
Lupino Lane (1915–1939)
Buster Keaton (1917–1944)
Laurel and Hardy (1921–1945)
Our Gang (1922–1944)
Marx Brothers (1929–1937)
The Three Stooges (1933–1962)

Animated short film series

Krazy Kat (1925–1940)
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (1927-1938)
Mickey Mouse (1928–1953)
Silly Symphonies
- The Moth and the Flame
- Wynken, Blynken and Nod
- Farmyard Symphony
- Merbabies
- Mother Goose Goes Hollywood
Screen Songs (1929-1938)
Looney Tunes (1930–1969)
Terrytoons (1930–1964)
Merrie Melodies (1931–1969)
Scrappy (1931–1941)
Betty Boop (1932–1939)
Popeye (1933–1957)
Happy Harmonies (1934-1938)
Color Rhapsodies (1934–1949)
Donald Duck (1937–1956)
Walter Lantz Cartunes (also known as New Universal Cartoons or Cartune Comedies) (1938–1942)
The Captain and the Kids (1938–1939)

Births

January 1 – Frank Langella, American actor
January 6 – Larisa Shepitko, Soviet director (died 1979)
January 12 – Lewis Fiander, Australian actor (died 2016)
January 14 – Jack Jones, American singer, actor
January 26 – Henry Jaglom, English-born director and playwright
February 12 – Oliver Reed, English actor (died 1999)
February 17 – Yvonne Romain, English actress
February 19 – René Muñoz, Cuban-born actor, Mexico-based screenwriter (died 2000)
February 23 – Diane Varsi, American actress (died 1992)
February 24 – James Farentino, American actor (died 2012)
March 4 – Paula Prentiss, American actress
March 5 – Fred Williamson, American actor
March 18 – Shashi Kapoor, Indian actor (died 2017)
March 25 – Hoyt Axton, American country music singer-songwriter, actor (died 1999)
April 15 – Claudia Cardinale, Italian actress
May 12
- Luana Anders, American actress (died 1996)
- Millie Perkins, American actress
May 22 – Richard Benjamin, American actor, director
June 12 – Tom Oliver, Australian actor
June 16 – Michael Culver, English actor
June 18 – Michael Sheard, Scottish actor (died 2005)
June 21 – Celia Rodriguez, Filipina actress
June 25 – Giampiero Littera, Italian actor
July 6 – Luana Patten, American actress (died 1996)
July 8 – Andrey Myagkov, Soviet/Russian actor
July 9 – Brian Dennehy, American actor (died 2020)
July 11 – Jiří Krampol, Czech actor
July 18 – Paul Verhoeven, Dutch director
July 20
- Diana Rigg, English actress
- Natalie Wood, American actress (died 1981)
July 23 – Ronny Cox, American actor, singer-songwriter
August 6 – Paul Bartel, American actor, writer and director (died 2000)
August 8 – Connie Stevens, American actress, singer
August 26 – Susan Harrison, American actress
August 29 – Elliott Gould, American actor
September 2
- Clarence Felder, American actor
- Giuliano Gemma, Italian actor (d. 2013)
- Mary Jo Catlett, American actress
September 8 – Philip L. Clarke, American voice actor (died 2013)
September 28 – Ben E. King, American soul singer (died 2015)
October 1
- Tunç Başaran, Turkish screenwriter, film director, film producer and actor (died 2019)
- Stella Stevens, American actress
October 22 – Christopher Lloyd, American actor
November 13 – Jean Seberg, American actress (died 1979)
December 12 – Connie Francis, American singer, actress
December 16 – Liv Ullmann, Norwegian actress
December 29 – Jon Voight, American actor

Deaths

January 20 – Émile Cohl, 81, French film pioneer
January 21 – Georges Méliès, 76, French film pioneer, The Impossible Voyage, A Trip to the Moon, The Merry Frolics of Satan, The Conquest of the Pole
January 26 – Matthew Betz, 56, American actor, The Wedding March, The Patent Leather Kid, The Big House, The Hurricane Express
August 4 – Pearl White, 49, American silent film star, The Perils of Pauline, The Exploits of Elaine
August 6 – Warner Oland, 58, Swedish-born actor, The Jazz Singer, Shanghai Express, Charlie Chan in London, Charlie Chan at the Opera
September 19 – Pauline Frederick, 55, American stage & film actress, Thank You, Mr. Moto, Smouldering Fires, This Modern Age, Devil's Island
October 1 – Conway Tearle, 60, American stage & film actor, The Hurricane Express, Romeo and Juliet, Stella Maris, The Lost Zeppelin
December 25 – Harry Myers, 56, American film actor and director, City Lights, Baby
December 28 – Florence Lawrence, 48, Canadian actress, Hollywood's first "star", Lady Helen's Escapade, The Taming of the Shrew, The Mended Lute, Betrayed by a Handprint

Debuts

Eddie Albert – Brother Rat
Peter Finch – Dad and Dave Come to Town
John Garfield – Swingtime in the Movies
William Holden – Prison Farm
Lena Horne – The Duke is Tops
Glynis Johns – South Riding
June Lockhart – A Christmas Carol
Maureen O'Hara – Kicking the Moon Around
Vincent Price – Service de Luxe
Michael Redgrave – The Lady Vanishes

References

^ "4,000,000 Gross, So Far, Domestic, For 'Snow White'". Variety. February 1, 1939. p. 1. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
^ Aubrey Solomon, Twentieth Century-Fox: A Corporate and Financial History Rowman & Littlefield, 2002 p 217
^ Joseph McBride, Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success University Press of Mississippi, 1992 p 381
^ Turk, Edward Baron "Hollywood Diva: A Biography of Jeanette MacDonald" (University of California Press, 1998)
^ Warner Bros financial information in The William Shaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1–31 p 18 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551
^ ^a ^b Annual US Box Office Chart of 1938
^ McFarlane, Brian (2016). The Encyclopedia of British Film (fourth ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 1887. ISBN 9781526111968.

[VarietyFeb39-1] "4,000,000 Gross, So Far, Domestic, For 'Snow White'". Variety. February 1, 1939. p. 1. Retrieved June 13, 2020.

[Mannix-2] The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.

[3] Aubrey Solomon, Twentieth Century-Fox: A Corporate and Financial History Rowman & Littlefield, 2002 p 217

[4] Joseph McBride, Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success University Press of Mississippi, 1992 p 381

[Turk-5] Turk, Edward Baron "Hollywood Diva: A Biography of Jeanette MacDonald" (University of California Press, 1998)

[warners-6] Warner Bros financial information in The William Shaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1–31 p 18 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551

[1938AnnualBoxOfficeChart-7] Annual US Box Office Chart of 1938

[8] McFarlane, Brian (2016). The Encyclopedia of British Film (fourth ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 1887. ISBN 9781526111968.

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Top-grossing films (U.S.)

Events

Academy Awards

Notable films released in 1938

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Serials

Comedy film series

Animated short film series

Births

Deaths

Debuts

References