January — MGM announces that Judy Garland will be cast in the role of "Dorothy" in the upcoming Wizard of Oz motion picture. Ray Bolger is cast as the "Tinman" 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.
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 "Tinman" 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", 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.
At the time, box office numbers were reported as a percentage of business for each theater in comparison to 'normal' business. For example, Alexander's Ragtime Band performed at 227% and The Adventures of Robin Hood at 170%. This is why exact dollar grosses for films are unreliable at best.
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
U.S.A. unless stated
AB
Adiós Buenos Aires - (Argentina/Spain/Canada)
The Adventures of Marco Polo, starring Gary Cooper and Basil Rathbone
The Adventures of Robin Hood, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, directed by Norman Taurog
Águila o sol (Heads or Tails), starring Cantinflas - (Mexico)
Alexander Nevsky, directed by Sergei Eisenstein, starring Nikolai Cherkasov - (U.S.S.R.)
Alexander's Ragtime Band, starring Tyrone Power, Don Ameche, Alice Faye
Algiers, starring Charles Boyer and Hedy Lamarr
The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse, starring Edward G. Robinson
Angels with Dirty Faces, starring James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart
Bank Holiday, starring Margaret Lockwood - (GB)
La Bête humaine (The Human Beast), directed by Jean Renoir, starring Jean Gabin and Simone Simon - (France)
The Big Broadcast of 1938, starring W.C. Fields, Martha Raye, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour
Block-Heads, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
Blondie, starring Penny Singleton
Bluebeard's Eighth Wife, starring Gary Cooper and Claudette Colbert
Boys Town, starring Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney
Bringing up Baby, directed by Howard Hawks, starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn - number 14 on the American Film Institute list of best comedy films
The Buccaneer, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Fredric March
CD
Carefree, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
Carmen, la de Triana (Carmen, the girl from Triana) - (Spain/Germany)
Charlie Chan in Honolulu, starring Sidney Toler
A Christmas Carol, starring Reginald Owen
The Citadel, directed by King Vidor, starring Robert Donat and Rosalind Russell - (GB)
Climbing High, starring Michael Redgrave and Jessie Matthews - (GB)
Cocoanut Grove, starring Fred MacMurray
College Swing, starring George Burns, Gracie Allen, Martha Raye, Bob Hope
Convict 99, starring Will Hay - (GB)
Crime School, starring The Dead End Kids and Humphrey Bogart
The Crowd Roars, starring Robert Taylor and Maureen O'Sullivan
Dangerous to Know, starring Anna May Wong and Akim Tamiroff
The Dawn Patrol, starring Errol Flynn
Diao Chan - (China)
The Divorce of Lady X, with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon - (GB)
The Drum, with Sabu and Raymond Massey - (GB)
Ducháček Will Fix It (Ducháček to zařídí) - (Czechoslovakia)
EF
La Femme du Boulanger (The Baker's Wife), directed by Marcel Pagnol, starring Raimu - (France)
Ferdinand the Bull, a Disney animated short
Fools for Scandal, starring Carole Lombard
Four Daughters, starring Claude Rains
Four Men and a Prayer, directed by John Ford, starring Loretta Young, Richard Greene, David Niven
Four's a Crowd, starring Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Rosalind Russell, Patric Knowles
GH
The Gaunt Stranger, starring Sonnie Hale - (GB)
The Girl of the Golden West, starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy
Hard to Get, starring Olivia de Havilland and Dick Powell
Having Wonderful Time, starring Ginger Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Her Jungle Love, starring Dorothy Lamour and Ray Milland
Here's Flash Casey, starring Eric Linden, Boots Mallory, and Cully Richards
Holiday, starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant
Honeysuckle, starring Hugo del Carril and Libertad Lamarque (Argentina)
Hotel du Nord, directed by Marcel Carné - (France)
IJK
I Am the Law, starring Edward G. Robinson
If I Were King, starring Ronald Colman
Inspector Hornleigh, starring Gordon Harker and Alastair Sim - (GB)
International Settlement, starring Dolores del Rio
J'accuse!, directed by Abel Gance - (France)
Jezebel, starring Bette Davis and Henry Fonda
Judge Hardy's Children, starring Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, Fay Holden
Just Around the Corner, starring Shirley Temple
Kentucky, starring Loretta Young, Richard Greene, Walter Brennan.
Kidnapped, starring Warner Baxter and Freddie Bartholomew
Kilómetro 111 - (Argentina)
King Kong Appears in Edo (Edo ni Arawareta Kingu Kongu) - (Japan)
LM
The Lady Vanishes, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Michael Redgrave and Margaret Lockwood - (GB)
Listen, Darling, starring Judy Garland and Freddie Bartholomew
Little Miss Broadway, starring Shirley Temple, Jimmy Durante, Edna May Oliver
Little Tough Guy, starring Robert Wilcox, Helen Parrish, Marjorie Main
Love Finds Andy Hardy, starring Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Cecilia Parker, Fay Holden
Mad About Music, starring Deanna Durbin and Herbert Marshall
The Mad Miss Manton, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda
A Man to Remember, starring Anne Shirley and Edward Ellis
Marie Antoinette, starring Norma Shearer and Tyrone Power
Men with Wings, directed by William Wellman, starring Fred MacMurray and Ray Milland
Merrily We Live, starring Brian Aherne, Constance Bennett, Billie Burke, Patsy Kelly, Billie Burke
Mollenard, directed by Robert Siodmak - (France)
The Mountain Calls (Der Berg Ruft) - (Germany)
Mr. Moto's Gamble, starring Peter Lorre and Keye Luke
Mr. Wong, Detective, starring Boris Karloff
My Bill, starring Kay Francis, Dickie Moore
NOP
Of Human Hearts, starring Walter Huston, James Stewart, Beulah Bondi
Old Bones of the River, starring Will Hay, Moore Marriott, Graham Moffatt - (GB)
Olympia, a documentary by Leni Riefenstahl - (Germany)
Out West with the Hardys, starring Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, Fay Holden
Paradise for Three, starring Frank Morgan, Robert Young, Mary Astor
Paweł i Gaweł (Pawel and Gawel) - (Poland)
Port of Seven Seas, directed by James Whale, starring Wallace Beery and Maureen O'Sullivan
Port of Shadows (Le quai des brumes), directed by Marcel Carné, starring Jean Gabin and Michel Simon - (France)
Prison Break, starring Barton MacLane and Glenda Farrell
Professor Beware, starring Harold Lloyd
Professor Mamlock - (U.S.S.R.)
Pygmalion, directed by Anthony Asquith, starring Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller - (GB)
QRS
Radio City Revels, starring Jack Oakie
Rawhide, starring Lou Gehrig, Smith Ballew, and Evalyn Knapp
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, starring Shirley Temple
Red River Range, starring John Wayne
Room Service, starring the Marx Brothers and Lucille Ball
The Saint in New York, starring Louis Hayward
Save a Little Sunshine, starring Patricia Kirkwood and Tommy Trinder - (GB)
The Shopworn Angel, starring James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan
Sidewalks of London, starring Charles Laughton, Vivien Leigh, Rex Harrison - (GB)
The Sisters, starring Errol Flynn and Bette Davis
Sixty Glorious Years, starring Anna Neagle - (GB)
Škola základ života - (Czechoslovakia)
A Slight Case of Murder, starring Edward G. Robinson
Suez, starring Tyrone Power and Loretta Young
Sweethearts, starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy
TUV
Test Pilot, starring Clark Gable and Myrna Loy
That Certain Age, starring Deanna Durbin and Melvyn Douglas
There Goes My Heart, starring Fredric March, Virginia Bruce and Patsy Kelly
They Drive by Night, starring Emlyn Williams and Ernest Thesiger - (GB)
Three Comrades, starring Robert Taylor, Margaret Sullavan, Franchot Tone
Too Hot to Handle, starring Clark Gable and Myrna Loy
Urlaub auf Ehrenwort (Leave on Parole) - (Germany)
Valley of the Giants, starring Wayne Morris and Claire Trevor
Vivacious Lady, starring Ginger Rogers and James Stewart
Volga-Volga - (U.S.S.R.)
WXYZ
White Banners, starring Claude Rains and Fay Bainter
A Woman's Face (En kvinnas ansikte), starring Ingrid Bergman - (Sweden)
Woman Against Woman, starring Herbert Marshall and Virginia Bruce
A Yank at Oxford, starring Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore, Vivien Leigh - (GB)
You Can't Take It with You, directed by Frank Capra, starring James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore - Oscars for best picture and director
Young Dr. Kildare, starring Lew Ayres and Lionel Barrymore
The Young in Heart, starring Janet Gaynor, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Paulette Goddard
La Zandunga, starring Lupe Vélez and Arturo de Córdova - (Mexico)
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
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)
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)
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 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 25 - Hoyt Axton, American country music singer-songwriter, actor (died 1999)
April 15 - Claudia Cardinale, Italian actress
May 22 - Richard Benjamin, American actor, director
July 6 - Luana Patten, American actress (died 1996)
July 9 - Brian Dennehy, American actor
July 18 - Paul Verhoeven, Dutch director
July 20
Diana Rigg, English actress
Natalie Wood, American actress (died 1981)
August 8 - Connie Stevens, American actress, singer
September 2 - Clarence Felder, American actor
September 8 - Philip L. Clarke, American voice actor, (died 2013)
September 28 - Ben E. King, American soul singer (died 2015)
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
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
John Garfield - Swingtime in the Movies
William Holden - Prison Farm
Maureen O'Hara - The Playboy
Vincent Price - Service de Luxe
Donnie Dunagan - Mother Carey's Chickens (film)
