1936 in film

Events

May 29 - Fritz Lang's first Hollywood film, Fury, starring Spencer Tracy and Bruce Cabot, is released.

February 15 - first Republic serial, Darkest Africa, is released.

Academy Awards

Best Picture: The Great Ziegfeld - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Best Actor: Paul Muni - The Story of Louis Pasteur

Best Actress: Luise Rainer - The Great Ziegfeld

Best Supporting Actor: Walter Brennan - Come and Get It

Best Supporting Actress: Gale Sondergaard - Anthony Adverse

1936 film releases

U.S.A. unless stated.

January–March

January 1936

16 January

Ceiling Zero

17 January

Augustus the Strong (Germany/Poland)

20 January

The Invisible Ray

22 January

Collegiate

24 January

Anything Goes

30 January

Next Time We Love

February 1936

1 February

Rose Marie

5 February

Modern Times

6 February

The Petrified Forest

7 February

The Milky Way

14 February

The Bohemian Girl

It Had to Happen

15 February

The Lawless Nineties

19 February

Girl Friends (U.S.S.R.)

20 February

Follow the Fleet

Things to Come (GB)

22 February

The Story of Louis Pasteur

28 February

The Prisoner of Shark Island

Wife vs. Secretary

29 February

Mayerling (France)

The Walking Dead

March 1936

1 March

Sutter's Gold

2 March

Man of the Frontier

6 March

Little Lord Fauntleroy

Three Godfathers

9 March

Love Before Breakfast

13 March

The Trail of the Lonesome Pine

18 March

These Three

22 March

The Great Ziegfeld

28 March

Road Gang

30 March

Too Many Parents

April–June

April 1936

4 April

Till We Meet Again

10 April

A Message to Garcia

The Moon's Our Home

Small Town Girl

11 April

Desire

The Singing Kid

16 April

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

20 April

By the Bluest of Seas (U.S.S.R.)

24 April

Captain January

30 April

Thirteen Hours by Air

May 1936

6 May

It's Love Again (GB)

8 May

The Case Against Mrs. Ames

11 May

Dracula's Daughter

17 May

Show Boat

19 May

Love in Exile (GB)

28 May

Osaka Elegy (Japan)

29 May

Fury

June 1936

5 June

Private Number

6 June

Bullets or Ballots

15 June

Secret Agent (GB)

20 June

Hearts Divided

26 June

San Francisco

July–September

July 1936

10 July

The Devil-Doll

16 July

Green Pastures

24 July

Poor Little Rich Girl

28 July

The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss (GB)

29 July

Anthony Adverse

August 1936

10 August

Where There's a Will (GB)

20 August

Romeo and Juliet

26 August

East Meets West (UK)

28 August

The Gorgeous Hussy

Militiaman Bruggler (Germany)

The Texas Rangers

September 1936

1 September

Tudor Rose

2 September

The General Died at Dawn

4 September

The Last of the Mohicans

The Road to Glory

Swing Time

6 September

My Man Godfrey

9 September

Spy of Napoleon (GB)

10 September

Dusty Ermine (UK)

11 September

The Man Who Changed His Mind (GB)

15 September

The Children of Captain Grant

23 September

Dodsworth

25 September

Craig's Wife

26 September

Cain and Mabel

30 September

Yiddle with his Fiddle (Poland/U.S.A.)

October–December

October 1936

1 October

Everything Is Thunder (UK)

6 October

Allá en el Rancho Grande (Mexico)

9 October

Libeled Lady

15 October

The Garden of Allah

Sisters of the Gion (Japan)

16 October

15 Maiden Lane

Dimples

Hopalong Cassidy Returns

20 October

The Charge of the Light Brigade

22 October

Crime Over London (GB)

26 November

Men Are Not Gods (GB)

27 October

César (France)

30 October

Our Relations

November 1936

6 November

Come and Get It

Rembrandt (GB)

Tarzan Escapes

A Woman Rebels

12 November

Theodora Goes Wild

13 November

Go West, Young Man

16 November

Intermezzo (Sweden)

Laburnum Grove (GB)

The Plainsman

20 November

Love on the Run

25 November

Lloyd's of London

Pennies from Heaven

27 November

Born to Dance

December 1936

1 December

The Bold Caballero

2 December

Sabotage (GB)

11 December

Les bas-fonds (France)

12 December

Camille

20 December

Empty Saddles

21 December

Forget Me Not (UK)

24 December

The Jungle Princess

25 December

After the Thin Man

Stowaway

26 December

Gold Diggers of 1937

31 December

Let's Go With Pancho Villa (Mexico)

Notable films released in 1936

U.S.A. unless stated.

0-9

15 Maiden Lane, starring Claire Trevor and Cesar Romero

A-C

Accused, starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Dolores del Río (GB)

Achhoot Kanya (Untouchable Maiden), starring Ashok Kumar (India)

After the Thin Man, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy

Allá en el Rancho Grande (Out on the Great Ranch) (Mexico)

The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss, starring Cary Grant (GB)

Anthony Adverse, starring Fredric March and Olivia de Havilland

Anything Goes, starring Bing Crosby and Ethel Merman

Augustus the Strong (August der Starke), directed by Paul Wegener - (Germany/Poland)

Les bas-fonds, (Underworld), directed by Jean Renoir, starring Jean Gabin and Louis Jouvet (France)

Black Eyes directed by Abdolhossein Sepanta (Iran)

Blood on Wolf Mountain (Lang shan die xue ji) - (China)

The Bohemian Girl, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy

The Bold Caballero

Born to Dance, starring Eleanor Powell and James Stewart

Bullets or Ballots, starring Edward G. Robinson and Joan Blondell

By the Bluest of Seas (U samogo sinego morya), directed by Boris Barnet (U.S.S.R.)

Cain and Mabel, starring Marion Davies and Clark Gable

Camel Through the Eye of a Needle (Velbloud uchem jehly) (Czechoslovakia)

Camille, starring Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor

Captain January, starring Shirley Temple

The Case Against Mrs. Ames, starring Madeleine Carroll and George Brent

Ceiling Zero, directed by Howard Hawks, starring James Cagney and Pat O'Brien

César, directed by Marcel Pagnol (France)

The Charge of the Light Brigade, starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland

Charlie Chan at the Opera, starring Warner Oland and Boris Karloff

The Children of Captain Grant

Circus (Tsirk) (U.S.S.R.)

Collegiate, starring Frances Langford and Betty Grable

Come and Get It, starring Edward Arnold and Joel McCrea

Craig's Wife, starring Rosalind Russell

The Crime of Monsieur Lange (Le Crime de Monsieur Lange), directed by Jean Renoir (France)

Crime Over London, directed by Alfred Zeisler (GB)

D-K

The Desert Island (Lang tao sha) (China)

Desire, starring Marlene Dietrich and Gary Cooper

Devdas (India)

The Devil-Doll, directed by Tod Browning, starring Lionel Barrymore and Maureen O'Sullivan

Dimples, starring Shirley Temple

Dodsworth, directed by William Wyler, starring Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton, Mary Astor

Dracula's Daughter, starring Otto Kruger and Gloria Holden

Dusty Ermine, directed by Bernard Vorhaus (UK)

East Meets West, starring George Arliss (UK)

Empty Saddles, starring Buck Jones and Louise Brooks

Everything Is Thunder, starring Constance Bennett (UK)

Follow the Fleet, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

Forget Me Not, directed by Zoltan Korda, starring Beniamino Gigli and Joan Gardner (UK)

Fury, starring Sylvia Sidney and Spencer Tracy

The Garden of Allah, starring Marlene Dietrich and Charles Boyer

The General Died at Dawn, starring Gary Cooper and Madeleine Carroll

Girl Friends (Podrugi) (U.S.S.R.)

Go West, Young Man, starring Mae West, adapted by her from Lawrence Riley's 1934 stage play Personal Appearance

Gold Diggers of 1937, directed by Lloyd Bacon and Busby Berkeley

The Gorgeous Hussy, starring Joan Crawford and Robert Taylor

The Great Ziegfeld, starring William Powell, Myrna Loy, Luise Rainer

Green Pastures, adapted from the 1923 stage play, starring Rex Ingram and Eddie Anderson

Hearts Divided, starring Marion Davies and Dick Powell

Hopalong Cassidy Returns, starring William Boyd

I'll Give a Million (Darò un milione), starring Vittorio De Sica (Italy)

Intermezzo, starring Ingrid Bergman and Gösta Ekman (Sweden)

The Invisible Ray, starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi

It Had to Happen, starring George Raft and Rosalind Russell

It's Love Again, starring Jessie Matthews and Robert Young (GB)

The Jungle Princess, starring Dorothy Lamour and Ray Milland

Der Kaiser von Kalifornien (The Emperor of California) - (Germany)

L-Q

Laburnum Grove, starring Edmund Gwenn and Cedric Hardwicke (GB)

The Last of the Mohicans, starring Randolph Scott

The Lawless Nineties, starring John Wayne

Let's Go With Pancho Villa (Vámonos con Pancho Villa) (Mexico)

Libeled Lady, starring Jean Harlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy

Limelight, starring Anna Neagle (GB)

Little Lord Fauntleroy, starring Freddie Bartholomew, Dolores Costello Barrymore, C. Aubrey Smith

Lloyd's of London, starring Freddie Bartholomew, Madeleine Carroll, Tyrone Power

Love Before Breakfast, starring Carole Lombard and Preston Foster

Love in Exile, starring Helen Vinson and Clive Brook (GB)

Love on the Run. starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable

Man of the Frontier, starring Gene Autry

The Man Who Changed His Mind, starring Boris Karloff (GB)

The Man Who Could Work Miracles, starring Roland Young and Ralph Richardson (GB)

Mayerling, directed by Anatole Litvak starring Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux (France)

Men Are Not Gods, starring Miriam Hopkins, Gertrude Lawrence, Rex Harrison (GB)

A Message to Garcia, directed by George Marshall, starring Barbara Stanwyck, John Boles and Wallace Beery

Militiaman Bruggler (Standschütze Bruggler) - (Germany)

The Milky Way, starring Harold Lloyd

Modern Times, written, directed by and starring Charles Chaplin, with Paulette Goddard

The Mongolian Boy (Монгол хүү), directed by Ilya Trauberg is released as the first Mongolian film

The Moon's Our Home, starring Henry Fonda and Margaret Sullavan

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, directed by Frank Capra, starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur

My Man Godfrey, directed by Gregory La Cava, starring William Powell and Carole Lombard

Next Time We Love, starring Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Ray Milland

Night Mail, documentary (GB)

The Only Son (Hitori musuko), directed by Yasujirō Ozu (Japan)

Osaka Elegy (Naniwa erejii), directed by Kenji Mizoguchi (Japan)

Our Relations, starring Laurel and Hardy

Palm Springs, starring Frances Langford and David Niven

Paradise Road (Ulička v ráji) (Czechoslovakia)

Pennies from Heaven, starring Bing Crosby and Madge Evans

The Petrified Forest, starring Leslie Howard, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis

The Plainsman, starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur

Poor Little Rich Girl, starring Shirley Temple, Alice Faye, Jack Haley

The Prisoner of Shark Island, directed by John Ford, starring Warner Baxter and Gloria Stuart

Private Number, starring Loretta Young and Robert Taylor

R-Z

Red River Valley, starring Gene Autry

Redes, directed by Fred Zinnemann – (Mexico)

Reefer Madness, (aka Tell Your Children), a cult exploitation film

Rembrandt, directed by Alexander Korda, starring Charles Laughton – (GB)

Road Gang, starring Donald Woods

The Road to Glory, directed by Howard Hawks, starring Lionel Barrymore and Fredric March

Romeo and Juliet, starring Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, John Barrymore, Basil Rathbone

Rose Marie, starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy

Sabotage, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Sylvia Sidney and Oskar Homolka – (GB)

San Francisco, starring Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald, Spencer Tracy

Secret Agent, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring John Gielgud and Madeleine Carroll (GB)

Show Boat, starring Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Charles Winninger, Paul Robeson, Helen Morgan

The Singing Kid, starring Al Jolson

Sisters of the Gion (Gion no shimai), directed by Kenji Mizoguchi (Japan)

Small Town Girl, directed by William Wellman, starring Janet Gaynor, Robert Taylor, James Stewart

Sportszerelem (Hungary)

Spy of Napoleon, directed by Maurice Elvey, starring Richard Barthelmess and Dolly Haas (GB)

The Story of Louis Pasteur, starring Paul Muni

Stowaway, starring Shirley Temple, Robert Young, Alice Faye

Sutter's Gold, starring Edward Arnold

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, starring Tod Slaughter (GB)

Swing Time, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

Tarzan Escapes, starring Johnny Weissmuller

The Texas Rangers, directed by King Vidor, starring Fred MacMurray and Jack Oakie

Theodora Goes Wild, starring Irene Dunne and Melvyn Douglas

These Three, starring Miriam Hopkins, Merle Oberon, Joel McCrea (adapted from Lillian Hellman play The Children's Hour)

Things to Come, directed by William Cameron Menzies, starring Raymond Massey, Ralph Richardson, Cedric Hardwicke (GB)

Thirteen Hours by Air, starring Fred MacMurray and Joan Bennett

Three Godfathers, starring Chester Morris, Lewis Stone, Walter Brennan

Till We Meet Again, starring Herbert Marshall and Gertrude Michael

Too Many Parents, debut film for Frances Farmer

The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, starring Sylvia Sidney, Fred MacMurray, Henry Fonda

Tudor Rose, starring Cedric Hardwicke, Nova Pilbeam, John Mills (GB)

The Walking Dead, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Boris Karloff

Where There's a Will, starring Will Hay - (GB)

Whom the Gods Love, directed by Basil Dean, starring Stephen Haggard, Victoria Hopper - (GB)

Wife vs. Secretary, starring Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy

Windbag the Sailor, starring Will Hay (GB)

A Woman Rebels, starring Katharine Hepburn and Herbert Marshall

Yiddle with his Fiddle, starring Molly Picon (Poland/U.S.A.)

Serials

Ace Drummond, starring John (Dusty) King

The Adventures of Frank Merriwell

The Black Coin

The Clutching Hand

Custer's Last Stand

Darkest Africa, starring Clyde Beatty

Flash Gordon, starring Buster Crabbe

The Phantom Rider

Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island, starring Ray Mala

Shadow of Chinatown

Undersea Kingdom, starring Ray Corrigan

The Vigilantes Are Coming

Comedy film series

Harold Lloyd (1913–1938)

Charlie Chaplin (1914–1940)

Lupino Lane (1915–1939)

Buster Keaton (1917–1928)

Laurel and Hardy (1927-1940)

Our Gang (1922–1944)

Harry Langdon (1924-1936)

Wheeler & Woolsey (1929–1937)

The Marx Brothers (1929–1946)

The Three Stooges (1933–1962)

Animated short film series

Felix the Cat (1919-1936)

Krazy Kat (1925–1940)

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (1927–1938)

Mickey Mouse (1928–1953)

Silly Symphonies

Elmer Elephant

Three Little Wolves

Toby Tortoise Returns

Three Blind Mousketeers

The Country Cousin

Mother Pluto

More Kittens

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)

ComiColor Cartoons (1933-1936)

Happy Harmonies (1934–1938)

Color Rhapsodies (1934–1949)

Rainbow Parades (1935-1936)

Meany, Miny, and Moe (1936-1937)

Births

January 22 - Nyree Dawn Porter, English actress (d. 2001)

January 27 - Troy Donahue, American actor (d. 2001)

January 28 - Alan Alda, American actor

February 11 - Burt Reynolds, American actor

March 1 - Georgina Spelvin, pornographic film actress

May 1 - Danièle Huillet, French director (d. 2006)

May 9 - Glenda Jackson, English actress and politician

May 17 - Dennis Hopper, American actor and performance artist (d. 2010)

June 4 - Bruce Dern, American actor

August 13 - Vyjayanthimala, Indian actress, politician, dancer and singer

August 18 - Robert Redford, American actor and director

August 25 - Hugh Hudson, English director

October 16 - Irina Demick, French actress (d. 2004)

December 8 - David Carradine, American actor and martial artist (d. 2009)

December 10 - Howard Smith, American journalist, director and producer (d. 2014)

December 25 - Ismail Merchant, Indian film producer (d. 2005)

December 29 - Mary Tyler Moore, American actress (d. 2017)

Deaths

January 9 – John Gilbert, American actor (b. 1897)

January 24 - Harry T. Morey, American actor (b. 1873)

February 20 - Max Schreck, German actor (b. 1879)

February 28 - Justus Hagman, Swedish actor (b. 1859)

April 6 - Väinö Lehmus, Finnish actor (b. 1886)

June 17 - Henry B. Walthall, American actor (b. 1897)

September 14 - Irving Thalberg, American film producer (b. 1899)

October 17 - Suzanne Bianchetti, French actress (b. 1889)

Debuts

Lloyd Bridges - Freshman Love

Anthony Quinn - The Milky Way