The following is an overview of 1931 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.
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.
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 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 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 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
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
The Bachelor Father, directed by Robert Z. Leonard; starring Marion Davies and Ray Milland
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, directed by Robert Z. Leonard, 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
It's a Wise Child, directed by Robert Z. Leonard; starring Marion Davies and Polly Moran
Just a Gigolo, starring William Haines and Irene Purcell
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
My Sin, starring Tallulah Bankhead and Fredric March
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
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
Laurel and Hardy (1921–1943)
Charley Chase (1924–1940)
Buster Keaton (1917–1941)
Our Gang (1922–1944)
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)
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 1 - Ita Ever, Estonian actress
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
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)
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
