1924 in film

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

Events

• January 10 – CBC Distributions corp. is renamed and incorporated as Columbia Pictures.
• D. W. Griffith, co-founder of United Artists, leaves the company.
• April 17 – Entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer Pictures to create Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
• Loews Theatres acquires the 4,000 seat Capitol Theatre in New York City becoming the flagship of the theatre chain and site of many future MGM premieres.
• Joseph Schenck becomes president of United Artists.
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer considers making a silent film of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. MGM and the estate of L. Frank Baum failed to come to an agreement so the rights were sold to Chadwick Pictures.

  Notable films released in 1924

A

• Aelita, directed by Yakov Protazanov –
• The Alaskan, directed by Herbert Brenon, starring Thomas Meighan and Estelle Taylor
• Along Came Ruth, directed by Edward F. Cline
• America, directed by D. W. Griffith
• Au Secours!, directed by Abel Gance, starring Max Linder –

  B

• Ballet Mécanique, directed by Dudley Murphy and Fernand Léger –
• Beau Brummel, directed by Harry Beaumont; starring John Barrymore, Mary Astor, Willard Louis and Irene Rich

  c

• Captain January directed by Eddie Cline; starring Baby Peggy and Hobart Bosworth
• Carlos and Elisabeth, starring Conrad Veidt –
• Claude Duval, starring Nigel Barrie, Fay Compton
• The City Without Jews –

  D

• Dante's Inferno, directed by Henry Otto

  E

• The Enchanted Cottage dir. by John S. Robertson and starring Richard Barthelmess and May McAvoy
• Entr'acte, directed by René Clair –
• The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks –

  F

• Forbidden Paradise, directed by Ernst Lubitsch; starring Pola Negri, Adolphe Menjou and Rod La Rocque

  G

• Girl Shy, starring Harold Lloyd
• Gösta Berlings saga, directed by Mauritz Stiller, starring Greta Garbo –
• The Grand Duke's Finances, directed by F. W. Murnau –
• The Great Well directed by Henry Kolker –
• Greed, directed by Erich von Stroheim; starring ZaSu Pitts and Gibson Gowland

  H

• Happiness, directed by King Vidor
• The Hands of Orlac, starring Conrad Veidt –
• He Who Gets Slapped, directed by Victor Sjöström; starring Lon Chaney, Norma Shearer and John Gilbert
• Helena, directed by Manfred Noa
• Helen's Babies, starring Edward Everett Horton, Baby Peggy and Clara Bow
• Her Night of Romance, directed by Sidney Franklin; starring Constance Talmadge and Ronald Colman
• His Hour, directed by King Vidor, starring John Gilbert
• Hot Water, starring Harold Lloyd
• The Humming Bird, starring Gloria Swanson

  I

• Icebound, directed by William C. deMille, starring Richard Dix and Lois Wilson
• L'Inhumaine –
• The Iron Horse, starring George O'Brien
• Isn't Life Wonderful, directed by D. W. Griffith

  J

• Janice Meredith, starring Marion Davies, Holbrook Blinn, and Tyrone Power, Sr.
• The Last Laugh, directed by F. W. Murnau; starring Emil Jannings –

  L

• Little Robinson Crusoe, starring Jackie Coogan

  M

• The Marriage Circle, directed by Ernst Lubitsch
• Michael, directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer –
• Monsieur Beaucaire, directed by Sidney Olcott; starring Rudolph Valentino and Bebe Daniels

  N

• The Navigator, starring Buster Keaton
• ', directed by Fritz Lang; starring Paul Richter –
• ', by Fritz Lang –

  O

• Open All Night, starring Viola Dana

  P

• The Passionate Adventure, directed by Graham Cutts, starring Clive Brook –
• Peter Pan, starring Betty Bronson

  S

• The Sea Hawk, starring Milton Sills
• Secrets, starring Norma Talmadge
• Sherlock Jr., starring and directed by Buster Keaton
• Stupid, But Brave, directed by Fatty Arbuckle
• Symphonie diagonale –

  T

• The Thief of Bagdad, directed by Raoul Walsh; starring Douglas Fairbanks
• Three Weeks, starring Conrad Nagel and Aileen Pringle
• Three Women, directed by Ernst Lubitsch

  W

• Waxworks, directed by Paul Leni, starring Conrad Veidt and Emil Jannings –
• Wild Oranges, directed by King Vidor
• Wine, directed by Louis J. Gasnier; starring Clara Bow
• Wine of Youth, directed by King Vidor; starring Eleanor Boardman and ZaSu Pitts

  Y

• Yolanda, directed by Robert Vignola; starring Marion Davies and Ralph Graves

  Short film series

• Buster Keaton
• Laurel and Hardy
• Our Gang

  Animated short film series

• Koko the Clown
• Felix the Cat
• Alice Comedies
• * Alice's Day at Sea
• * Alice's Spooky Adventure
• * Alice's Wild West Show
• * Alice's Fishy Story
• * Alice and the Dog-Catcher
• * Alice the Peacemaker
• * Alice Gets in Dutch
• * Alice Hunting in Africa
• * Alice and the Three Bears
• * Alice the Piper

  Births

• January 9 – Sergei Parajanov, Soviet director
• January 14 – Carole Cook, American actress
• January 16 – Katy Jurado, Mexican actress
• January 26 – Armand Gatti, French filmmaker
• February 12 – Louis Zorich, American actor
• February 19 – Lee Marvin, American actor
• March 12 – Helen Parrish, American actress
• March 25 – Machiko Kyō, Japanese actress
• April 3 – Marlon Brando, American actor
• April 7 – Astrid Lepa, Estonian actress and director
• April 13 – Stanley Donen, American director and choreographer
• April 18 – Leida Rammo, Estonian actess
• April 20
• *Nina Foch, Dutch-American actress
• *Leslie Phillips, English comic actor
• April 29 – Heikki Haravee, Estonian actor
• May 1 – Dodo Abashidze, Soviet Georgian director
• May 2 – Theodore Bikel, Austrian-American actor
• June 25 – Sidney Lumet, American director
• July 4 – Eva Marie Saint, American actress
• July 6 – Draga Ahačič, Slovene actress and director
• July 20 – Lola Albright, American actress
• July 21 – Don Knotts, American actor
• August 1 – Marcia Mae Jones, American actress
• August 10 – Martha Hyer, American actress
• August 29 – Tanis Chandler, French-born American actress
• September 8 – Denise Darcel, French actress
• September 9 – Jane Greer, American actress
• September 16 – Lauren Bacall, American actress
• September 21 – Gail Russell, American actress
• September 28 – Marcello Mastroianni, Italian actor
• September 30 – Truman Capote, American author
• October 25 – Billy Barty, American actor
• November 22 – Geraldine Page, American actress
• December 2 – Vilgot Sjöman, Swedish director
• December 14 – Raj Kapoor, Indian actor, director and producer
• December 25 – Rod Serling, American screenwriter

  Deaths

• April 16 – Amleto Novelli, Italian stage and screen actor
• April 21 – Eleonora Duse, Italian veteran and stage actress who made one film in 1916
• August 9 – L. Rogers Lytton, American stage and screen actor
• September 23 – Ben Deeley, film actor married to Barbara La Marr
• October 12 – Kate Lester, English veteran stage and film actress
• November 19 – Thomas Ince, American actor and pioneer film producer

  Film debuts

• Clark Gable – White Man and Forbidden Paradise
• Janet Gaynor – Cupid's Rustler
• John Gielgud – Who Is the Man?
• Johannes Heesters – Cirque hollandais