1932 in film

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

Events

• Sidney Kent leaves Paramount Pictures and joins Fox Film.
• Merlin H Aylesworth succeeds Hiram S Brown as president of RKO.
• Jesse L. Lasky leaves Paramount and becomes an independent producer for Fox.
• Sam Katz leaves Paramount.
• James R Grainger leaves Fox and is succeeded by John D Clark, formerly of Paramount.
• Publix and Fox decentralization of cinemas.
• New industry program, including standard exhibition contract along lines of 5-5-5, proposed by Motion Picture Theater Owners of America and Allied.
• Joe Brandt retires from Columbia Pictures joins World-Wide and later resigns again.
• Two Radio City theaters open, under direction of "Roxy", with coincident acquisition of the Rockefeller interests of 100,000 shares of RKO stock and 100,000 shares of RCA stock.
• Experimentation with exclusive runs.

• Ingrid Bergman's film career begins
• Cary Grant's film career begins
• Katharine Hepburn's film career begins
• Shirley Temple's film career begins
• Disney releases Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon in three-strip Technicolor
• Santa, first sound film made in Mexico, released
• The term "Tollywood" is first used to describe the cinema of West Bengal, based at Tollygunge

  Top Ten Money Making Stars

Academy Awards

• Best Picture: Grand Hotel – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
• Best Director: Frank Borzage – Bad Girl
• Best Actor: Fredric March – Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde & Wallace Beery – The Champ
• Best Actress: Helen Hayes – The Sin of Madelon Claudet

1932 film releases

January–March

• January 1932
• *2 January
• **Emma
• *14 January
• **Union Depot
• *15 January
• **Forbidden
• **The Local Bad Man
• *19 January
• **Broken Lullaby
• *22 January
• **Charlie Chan's Chance
• *23 January
• **Taxi!
• February 1932
• *2 February
• **Shanghai Express
• *6 February
• **The Passionate Plumber
• *13 February
• **The Beast of the City
• *18 February
• **Law and Order
• *20 February
• **Freaks
• **The Man Who Played God
• *21 February
• ** Murders in the Rue Morgue
• March 1932
• *1 March
• **Impatient Maiden
• *6 March
• **Business and Pleasure
• *22 March
• **One Hour with You
• *24 March
• **Das blaue Licht
• *25 March
• **Tarzan the Ape Man
• *30 March
• **Santa
• **No Man Of Her Own

  April–June

• April 1932
• *9 April
• **Scarface
• *12 April
• **Grand Hotel
• *17 April
• **Young America
• *18 April
• **Night After Night
• May 1932
• *6 May
• **Vampyr
• *7 May
• **The Mouthpiece
• *12 May
• **The Sign of Four
• *14 May
• **Kuhle Wampe oder: Wem gehört die Welt?
• *17 May
• **The Last of the Mohicans
• *20 May
• **Cruiser Emden
• **Raid in St. Pauli
• *21 May
• **Attorney for the Defense
• *28 May
• **As You Desire Me
• **Two Seconds
• June 1932
• *2 June
• **What Price Hollywood?
• *3 June
• **I Was Born, But...
• *8 June
• **L'Atlantide
• **The Dark Horse
• *17 June
• **Is My Face Red?
• *25 June
• **Red-Headed Woman

  July–September

• July 1932
• *8 July
• **Million Dollar Legs
• *18 July
• **Hotel Splendide
• *28 July
• **White Zombie
• August 1932
• *4 August
• **American Madness
• *6 August
• **Downstairs
• *10 August
• **Horse Feathers
• *12 August
• **Devil and the Deep
• **Movie Crazy
• *13 August
• **Jewel Robbery
• **Speak Easily
• *17 August
• **The Last Mile
• *18 August
• **The Bartered Bride
• **Love Me Tonight
• *19 August
• **The Age of Consent
• **Mr. Robinson Crusoe
• *20 August
• **Crooner
• September 1932
• *10 September
• **Big City Blues
• *13 September
• **Bird of Paradise
• *16 September
• **Blonde Venus
• **The Most Dangerous Game
• *17 September
• **Pack Up Your Troubles
• *18 September
• **Off His Base
• *22 September
• **Tiger Shark
• *23 September
• **A Blonde Dream
• **The Phantom President
• *24 September
• **Smilin' Through
• *30 September
• **A Bill of Divorcement

  October–December

• October 1932
• *8 October
• **The Big Stampede
• *12 October
• **Rain
• *14 October
• **The Big Broadcast
• *15 October
• **Cabin in the Cotton
• **Faithless
• **Thirteen Women
• *20 October
• **The Old Dark House
• *21 October
• **Trouble in Paradise
• *22 October
• **Red Dust
• *25 October
• **Virtue
• *28 October
• **Fanny
• **Lord Camber's Ladies
• *29 October
• **Three on a Match
• *30 October
• **Night After Night
• November 1932
• *2 November
• **Scarlet Dawn
• *3 November
• **Air Mail
• *4 November
• **Odds 777
• **Spring Shower
• *7 November
• **Payment Deferred
• *8 November
• **Happy Ever After
• *10 November
• **I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
• *11 November
• **Boudu Saved from Drowning
• *24 November
• **Call Her Savage
• *30 November
• **The Sign of the Cross
• December 1932
• *1 December
• **Silver Dollar
• *2 December
• **If I Had a Million
• *3 December
• **A Simple Case
• **Me and My Gal
• *8 December
• **A Farewell to Arms
• **Flesh
• *16 December
• **Anton Spelec, Sharp-Shooter
• **Fast Life
• *22 December
• **The Mummy
• **They Just Had to Get Married
• *23 December
• **Rasputin and the Empress
• *24 December
• **20,000 Years in Sing Sing
• *28 December
• **The Animal Kingdom
• *30 December
• **No Man of Her Own
• **Back Street

  Notable films released in 1932

0-9

• 20,000 Years in Sing Sing, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Spencer Tracy and Bette Davis

  A

• The Age of Consent, directed by Gregory La Cava
• Air Mail, directed by John Ford
• American Madness, directed by Frank Capra, starring Walter Huston
• The Animal Kingdom, starring Leslie Howard, Ann Harding and Myrna Loy
• Anton Spelec, Sharp-Shooter, directed by Martin Frič –
• As You Desire Me, starring Greta Garbo
• L'Atlantide, directed by G. W. Pabst, starring Brigitte Helm –
• Attorney for the Defense, starring Edmund Lowe and Evelyn Brent

  B

• Back Street, starring Irene Dunne and John Boles
• The Bartered Bride, directed by Max Ophüls –
• The Beast of the City, starring Walter Huston, Jean Harlow and Wallace Ford
• The Big Broadcast, starring Bing Crosby
• Big City Blues, starring Eric Linden and Joan Blondell
• The Big Stampede, starring John Wayne
• A Bill of Divorcement, starring John Barrymore, Billie Burke and Katharine Hepburn in her film debut
• Bird of Paradise, starring Dolores del Río, Joel McCrea and Lon Chaney Jr.
• Das blaue Licht, starring and directed by Leni Riefenstahl –
• A Blonde Dream, starring Lilian Harvey, Willy Fritsch and Willi Forst –
• Blonde Venus, directed by Josef von Sternberg, starring Marlene Dietrich and Cary Grant
• Blondie of the Follies, directed by Edmund Goulding; starring Marion Davies, Billie Dove, and Robert Montgomery
• Boudu Saved from Drowning, directed by Jean Renoir, starring Michel Simon –
• Broken Lullaby, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Lionel Barrymore
• Business and Pleasure, starring Will Rogers

  C

• The Cabin in the Cotton, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Richard Barthelmess and Bette Davis
• Call Her Savage, starring Clara Bow
• Charlie Chan's Chance, starring Warner Oland and H. B. Warner
• Cruiser Emden, directed by Louis Ralph –

  D

• Dance Pretty Lady, directed by Anthony Asquith
• Dancers in the Dark, starring Miriam Hopkins and Jack Oakie
• The Dark Horse, starring Warren William and Bette Davis
• The Dentist, a W. C. Fields short produced by Mack Sennett
• Destry Rides Again, starring Tom Mix
• Devil and the Deep, starring Tallulah Bankhead, Gary Cooper, Charles Laughton and Cary Grant
• Downstairs, starring John Gilbert, Paul Lukas, Virginia Bruce and Hedda Hopper

  E-F

• Emma, starring Marie Dressler
• F.P.1 –
• Faithless, starring Tallulah Bankhead and Robert Montgomery
• Fanny, directed by Marc Allégret, starring Raimu –
• A Farewell to Arms, directed by Frank Borzage, starring Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes
• Fast Life, starring William Haines and Madge Evans
• Flesh, directed by John Ford, starring Wallace Beery and Karen Morley
• Flowers and Trees, a Walt Disney animated short
• Forbidden, directed by Frank Capra, starring Barbara Stanwyck
• Freaks, directed by Tod Browning

  G-H

• Goodnight, Vienna, directed by Herbert Wilcox, starring Jack Buchanan and Anna Neagle –
• Grand Hotel, starring Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery and Lionel Barrymore
• Horse Feathers, starring the Marx Brothers with Thelma Todd
• Hotel Splendide, directed by Michael Powell –

  I

• I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Paul Muni
• I Was Born, But..., directed by Yasujirō Ozu –
• If I Had a Million, an anthology comedy film with an all-star cast including W. C. Fields, May Robson, George Raft, Charles Laughton and Gary Cooper
• The Impatient Maiden, starring Lew Ayres and Mae Clarke
• Island of Lost Souls, an adaptation of H. G. Wells' The Island of Dr. Moreau starring Charles Laughton, Richard Arlen and Bela Lugosi
• Ivan – directed by Alexander Dovzhenko –

  J-K

• Jack's the Boy directed by Walter Forde, starring Jack Hulbert –
• Jewel Robbery, starring William Powell and Kay Francis
• Kuhle Wampe oder: Wem gehört die Welt? –

  L

• The Last Mile, starring Preston Foster
• The Last of the Mohicans, starring Harry Carey
• Law and Order, starring Walter Huston and Harry Carey
• Lord Camber's Ladies, starring Gerald du Maurier, produced by Alfred Hitchcock
• The Local Bad Man, starring Hoot Gibson
• Love Me Tonight, directed by Rouben Mamoulian, starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald
• The Lucky Number, directed by Anthony Asquith, starring Gordon Harker –

  M

• The Man Who Played God, starring George Arliss and Bette Davis
• Merrily We Go to Hell, directed by Dorothy Arzner, starring Fredric March and Sylvia Sidney
• The Midshipmaid, starring Jessie Matthews –
• Million Dollar Legs, starring Jack Oakie and W. C. Fields
• The Most Dangerous Game, starring Joel McCrea, Fay Wray, Leslie Banks and Robert Armstrong, involving much of the same cast and crew of the following year's King Kong.
• The Mouthpiece, starring Warren William
• Movie Crazy, a comedy starring Harold Lloyd
• Mr. Robinson Crusoe, starring Douglas Fairbanks
• The Mummy, starring Boris Karloff
• Murders in the Rue Morgue, starring Bela Lugosi, Sidney Fox and Leon Ames

  N-O

• Night After Night, starring George Raft and Mae West in her film debut
• Night at the Crossroads, directed by Jean Renoir –
• No Man Of Her Own, directed by Wesley Ruggles, starring Clark Gable and Carole Lombard
• Odds 777 –
• The Old Dark House, directed by James Whale and starring Boris Karloff, Melvyn Douglas, Charles Laughton, Ernest Thesiger and Raymond Massey
• One Hour with You, starring Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Genevieve Tobin and Charles Ruggles
• One Way Passage, directed by Tay Garnett, starring William Powell and Kay Francis

  P

• Pack Up Your Troubles, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
• The Passionate Plumber, starring Buster Keaton
• Payment Deferred, starring Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Sullivan
• The Phantom President, starring George M. Cohan and Claudette Colbert
• Polly of the Circus'', directed by Alfred Santell; starring Marion Davies and Clark Gable

  R

• Rain, starring Joan Crawford and Walter Huston
• Rasputin and the Empress, starring John Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore
• Rasputin, Demon with Women, starring Conrad Veidt and Brigitte Horney –
• Raid in St. Pauli –
• Red Dust, directed by Victor Fleming, starring Jean Harlow and Clark Gable
• The Red-Haired Alibi, starring Merna Kennedy Theodore von Eltz Grant Withers and Shirley Temple
• Red-Headed Woman, starring Jean Harlow
• Rome Express, directed by Walter Forde, starring Conrad Veidt and Esther Ralston –

  S

• Santa –
• Scarface, directed by Howard Hawks, starring Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, George Raft and Boris Karloff
• Scarlet Dawn, directed by William Dieterle, starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Nancy Carroll
• Shanghai Express, starring Marlene Dietrich, Clive Brook, Anna May Wong and Warner Oland
• Sherlock Holmes, starring Clive Brook
• The Sign of the Cross, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Fredric March and Claudette Colbert
• The Sign of Four, starring Arthur Wontner
• Silver Dollar, starring Edward G. Robinson and Bebe Daniels
• A Simple Case –
• Smilin' Through, starring Norma Shearer
• Speak Easily, starring Buster Keaton
• Spring Shower'' –

  T

• Tarzan the Ape Man, directed by W. S. Van Dyke, starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan
• Taxi!, starring James Cagney and Loretta Young
• They Just Had to Get Married, starring Slim Summerville and ZaSu Pitts
• Thirteen Women, starring Irene Dunne, Ricardo Cortez and Myrna Loy
• Three Modern Women, directed by Bu Wancang, starring Ruan Lingyu and Jin Yan –
• Three on a Match, starring Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak and Bette Davis
• Tiger Shark, starring Edward G. Robinson
• Trouble in Paradise, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis and Herbert Marshall
• Two Seconds, starring Edward G. Robinson

  U-V

• Unheimliche Geschichten –
• The Undertaker, directed by Karel Lamač –
• Union Depot, starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Joan Blondell
• Vampyr, directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer –
• Virtue, starring Carole Lombard and Pat O'Brien

  W-Y

• Washington Merry-Go-Round, starring Lee Tracy
• What Price Hollywood?, directed by George Cukor, starring Constance Bennett
• What Scoundrels Men Are!, starring Vittorio De Sica –
• White Zombie, starring Bela Lugosi
• Wooden Crosses, directed by Raymond Bernard –
• Young America, starring Spencer Tracy

  Serials

• January 4: Detective Lloyd, 12 chapters
• February 1: The Shadow of the Eagle, 12 chapters
• March 28: The Airmail Mystery, 12 chapters
• May 17: The Last of the Mohicans, 12 chapters
• June 20: Heroes of the West, 12 chapters
• August 1: The Hurricane Express, 12 chapters
• September 5: The Last Frontier, 12 chapters
• September 12: Jungle Mystery, 12 chapters
• November 1: The Devil Horse, 12 chapters
• December 5: The Lost Special, 12 chapters

  Short film series

• Buster Keaton
• Laurel and Hardy
• Our Gang The series was officially called both Our Gang and Hal Roach's Rascals until 1932, when Our Gang became the sole title of the series.
• Shirley Temple

  Animated short film series

• Aesop's Film Fables
• Krazy Kat
• Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
• Mickey Mouse
• Silly Symphonies
• * The Bird Store
• * The Bears and the Bees
• * Just Dogs
• * Flowers and Trees
• * King Neptune
• * Bugs in Love
• * Babes in the Woods
• * Santa's Workshop
• Screen Songs
• *Sweet Jennie Lee
• *Show Me the Way to Go Home
• *When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along
• *Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie
• *Just One More Chance
• *Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning
• *Shine On Harvest Moon
• *Let Me Call You Sweetheart
• *I Ain't Got Nobody
• *You Try Somebody Else
• *Rudy Vallee Melodies
• *Down Among the Sugar Cane
• *Just a Gigolo
• *School Days
• *Romantic Melodies
• *When It's Sleepy Time Down South
• *Sing a Song
• *Time on My Hands
• Talkartoons
• * Minnie the Moocher
• * Sink or Swim S.O.S
• Looney Tunes
• *Bosko's Store
• *Bosko and Honey
• *Bosko the Lumberjack
• *Bosko and Bruno
• *Bosko's Party
• Flip the Frog
• Terrytoons
• Merrie Melodies
• Scrappy
• Tom and Jerry
• Betty Boop
• * Stopping the Show
• * Betty Boop's Bizzy Bee
• * Betty Boop, M.D.
• * Betty Boop's Bamboo Isle
• * Betty Boop's Ups and Down
• * Betty Boop for President
• * I'll Be Glad When You're Dead, You Rascal You
• * Betty Boop's Museum
• Pooch the Pup
• * The Athlete
• * The Butcher Boy
• * The Crowd Snores
• * The Under Dog
• * Cats and Dogs
• Flowers and Trees

  Births

• January 3 – Dabney Coleman, American character actor
• January 4
• *Carlos Saura, Spanish director
• *Richard Stahl, American comic actor
• January 19 – Richard Lester, American-born director working in England
• January 22 – Piper Laurie, American actress
• February 6 – François Truffaut, French director
• February 13 – Susan Oliver, American actress
• February 14 – Alexander Kluge, German director
• February 18 – Miloš Forman, Czech-born director
• February 23 – Majel Barrett, American actress
• February 24 – Michel Legrand, French film composer
• February 27 – Elizabeth Taylor, English-American actress
• February 28 – Francisco Colmenero, Mexican voice actor and voice director
• March 31 – Nagisa Oshima, Japanese director
• April 1 – Debbie Reynolds, American singer, actress and dancer
• April 4
• *Anthony Perkins, American actor
• *Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian director
• April 10
• *Delphine Seyrig, French actress
• *Omar Sharif, Egyptian actor
• April 26 – Francis Lai, French film composer
• April 27 – Anouk Aimée, French actress
• June 6 – Anne Claire Poirier, Canadian director, producer and screenwriter
• June 10 – Branko Lustig, Croatian-born producer
• June 18
• *David Herriot, Irish actor
• *Sérgio Ricardo, Brazilian director and composer
• June 22 – Prunella Scales, English actress
• August 2 – Peter O'Toole, Anglo-Irish actor
• August 5 - Ja'Net DuBois, American actress, singer, and dancer
• September 29 – Mehmood Ali, Indian actor, director and producer
• October 13 – Dušan Makavejev, Serbian director
• October 20 – William Christopher, American actor
• November 10 – Roy Scheider, American actor
• November 13 – Richard Mulligan, American actor
• November 15 – Petula Clark, English singer, actress and film composer
• November 22 – Robert Vaughn, American actor
• December 7 – Ellen Burstyn, American actress
• December 28 – Nichelle Nichols, American actress

  Deaths

• February 15 – Minnie Maddern Fiske, American stage star made silent films
• June 30 – Bruno Kastner, German actor
• July 17 – Rasmus Rasmussen, Norwegian actor
• August 1 – James R. Quirk, American editor and publisher of Photoplay magazine
• August 10 – Rin Tin Tin, canine actor
• September 1 – Guy Oliver, American actor
• September 16 – Peg Entwistle, British-born American actress
• November 27 – Evelyn Preer, American actress, singer

  Film debuts

• Ingrid Bergman – Landskamp
• Robert Donat – Men of Tomorrow
• Cary Grant – This Is the Night
• George O'Hanlon – The Death Kiss
• Louis Hayward – Self Made Lady
• Paul Henreid – Baroud
• Katharine Hepburn – A Bill of Divorcement
• Alan Ladd – Tom Brown of Culver
• Anna Lee – Ebb Tide
• John Mills – Midshipmaid Gob
• David Niven – There Goes the Bride
• Jean Parker – Divorce in the Family
• Dick Powell – Blessed Event
• Tyrone Power – Tom Brown of Culver
• Gloria Stuart – Street of Women
• Jessica Tandy – The Indiscretions of Eve
• Jacques Tati – Oscar, champion de tennis
• Shirley Temple – Runt Page
• Mae West – Night After Night
• Jane Withers – Handle with Care
• Jane Wyman – The Kid from Spain''