Wikipedia

1927 in film

The following is an overview of 1927 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.

List of years in film (table)
In television
1924
1925
1926
1927
1928
1929
1930

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

The top ten 1927 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

Highest-grossing films of 1927
Rank Title Studio Box office gross rental
1 The Jazz Singer Warner Bros. $1,974,000[1]
2 7th Heaven Fox Film Corporation $1,800,000[2]
3 The King of Kings Pathé Exchange $1,500,000[2]
4 Tell It to the Marines Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer $1,250,000[3]
5 The Patent Leather Kid First National Pictures $1,200,000[2]
6 My Best Girl United Artists $1,027,757[4]
7 The Way of All Flesh Paramount Pictures $1,000,000[5]
8 Love Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer $946,000[6]
9 When a Man Loves Warner Bros. $732,000[7]
10 London After Midnight Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer $721,000[8]

Events

[9][10]

  • January 10 – Fritz Lang's science-fiction fantasy Metropolis premieres in Germany.
  • March 11 – World's largest movie theatre, the Roxy Theatre, opens in New York City.
  • April 7 – Abel Gance's Napoleon often considered his best known and greatest masterpiece, premieres (in a shortened version) at the Paris Opéra and demonstrates techniques and equipment that will not be revived for years to come, such as hand-held cameras, and what is often considered the first widescreen projection format Polyvision. It will be more than three decades before films with a widescreen format would again be attempted.
  • May 11 – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is founded in Los Angeles by Douglas Fairbanks. The 1st Academy Awards (Oscars) will be awarded to films which are released in 1927 or 1928.
  • August 12 – Paramount's dramatic film Wings, which will go on to win the first Academy Award for Best Picture, opens at the Criterion Theater in New York City, with an unheard-of roadshow admission price of $2.00 per ticket.
  • September 5 – Nicholas Schenck becomes president of Loews Inc. following the death of Marcus Loew.
  • September 7 – Oswald the Lucky Rabbit debuts in Trolley Troubles.
  • September 23 – Fox Films acquires the rights to the Tri-Ergon sound-on-film technology, which had been developed in 1919 by three German inventors, Josef Engl, Hans Vogt, and Joseph Massole.
  • October 6 – The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson, premieres at the Warner Theater in New York City. Although not the first 'talkie', The Jazz Singer becomes the first box-office hit and popularizes sound motion pictures. It is the highest-grossing movie up to this time.
  • December 3 – The silent short Putting Pants on Philip, the first official billing of comedy duo Laurel and Hardy, is released in the United States.
  • Ang Manananggal, the first Filipino horror film, is released in the Philippines.[11]
  • Cinematograph Films Act sets a minimum quota for British films to be shown in British cinemas.
  • Italian Alberto Rabagliati wins a Rudolph Valentino look-alike contest and moves to Hollywood to start his acting career.
  • The Three Tramps, the first Filipino comedy film featuring the Silos brothers, is released in the Philippines.[12]

Academy Awards

Notable films released in 1927

For the complete list of US film releases for the year, see United States films of 1927 [13]

A

  • Ang Manananggal, directed by Jose Nepomuceno, starring Mary Walter - Philippines
  • Annie Laurie, starring Lillian Gish

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

  • Madame Pompadour, directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Dorothy Gish – (GB)
  • Man from the Restaurant (Chelovek iz restorana) – (U.S.S.R.)
  • Mata Hari starring Magda Sonja – (Germany)
  • Metropolis, directed by Fritz Lang, starring Alfred Abel – (Germany)
  • Mockery, directed by Benjamin Christensen starring Lon Chaney
  • The Mountain Eagle, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Nita Naldi – (GB/Germany)
  • My Best Girl, starring Mary Pickford and Buddy Rogers

N

  • Napoléon directed by Abel Gance, starring Albert Dieudonne – (France)

O

  • October: Ten Days That Shook the World – (U.S.S.R.)
  • The Only Way directed by Herbert Wilcox, starring John Martin Harvey and Madge Stuart – (Britain)

P

Q

R

  • The Red Mill, directed by William Goodrich (Fatty Arbuckle), starring Marion Davies
  • The Ring, directed by Alfred Hitchcock – (GB)
  • Robinson Crusoe – (GB)
  • Romance of the Western Chamber – (China)

S

T

  • The Three Tramps, directed by Manuel Silos, starring Augusto Silos, Manuel Silos, Octavio Silos - Philippines
  • Tillie the Toiler, directed by Hobart Henley; starring Marion Davies and Matt Moore
  • Topsy and Eva, directed by Del Lord; starring Rosetta Duncan and Vivian Duncan
  • Twelve Miles Out, directed by Jack Conway, starring John Gilbert and Joan Crawford

U

W

Comedy film series

Animated short film series

Births

  • January 4 – Barbara Rush, American actress
  • January 15 – Phyllis Coates, American actress
  • January 17 – Eartha Kitt, American actress and singer (died 2008)
  • January 31 – Jean Speegle Howard (died 2000)
  • February 7 – Juliette Gréco, French singer and actress (died 2020)
  • February 20 – Sidney Poitier, American actor
  • March 1 – Harry Belafonte, American actor and singer
  • March 20 – Cairbre (also known as Leo), Dublin Zoo-born Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lion mascot
  • March 21 – Virginia Weidler, American actress (died 1968)
  • March 25 – Monique van Vooren, Belgian-American actress (died 2020)
  • March 31 – William Daniels, American actor
  • April 1 – Maria Eugénia, Portuguese actress (died 2016)
  • April 2
    • Rita Gam, American actress (died 2016)
    • Ken Sansom, American actor and voice actor (died 2012)
  • April 5 – Chao-Li Chi, Shanxi-born actor (died 2010)
  • April 13 – Maurice Ronet, French film actor, director and writer (died 1983)
  • April 30 – Ellen Alaküla, Estonian actress (died 2011)
  • May 5 – Pat Carroll, American actress
  • May 6 – Ettore Manni, Italian actor (died 1979)
  • May 11 – Bernard Fox, Welsh actor (died 2016)
  • May 13 – Herbert Ross, American film director, producer and choreographer (died 2001)
  • May 30 – Clint Walker, American actor (died 2018)
  • May 31 – Koreyoshi Kurahara, Malaysian-Japanese screenwriter, director (d. 2002)
  • June 8 – Jerry Stiller, American actor and comedian (d. 2020)
  • June 15 – Ottó Foky, Hungarian animator (d. 2012)
  • June 23 – Bob Fosse, American dancer, musical theater choreographer, director, screenwriter and director (died 1987)
  • June 27 – Geoffrey Palmer, British actor
  • June 30 – Mario Lanfranchi, Italian film, theatre and television director, screenwriter, producer, collector and actor
  • July 4
  • July 6 – Janet Leigh, American actress (died 2004)
  • July 30 –Richard Johnson, British actor, writer and producer (died 2015)
  • August 9 – Robert Shaw, British actor and novelist (died 1978)
  • August 14 – Roger Carel (Bancharel), French voice actor (died 2020)
  • August 19 – L. Q. Jones, American actor
  • August 30 – Bill Daily, American actor (died 2018)
  • September 12 – Franco Latini, Italian actor and voice actor (died 1991)
  • September 16 – Peter Falk, American actor (died 2011)
  • September 19
  • October 14 – Roger Moore, English actor (died 2017)
  • October 18 – George C. Scott, American film and stage actor (died 1999)
  • October 27 – Silvia Laidla, Estonian actress (died 2012)
  • October 31 – Lee Grant, American actress
  • November 12 – John Hollis, British screen actor (died 2005)
  • November 17
    • Fenella Fielding, English actress (died 2018)
    • Lynn Stalmaster, American casting director
  • November 14 – McLean Stevenson, American actor (died 1996)
  • November 20 – Estelle Parsons, American actress
  • November 23 – Sybil Jason, American actress (died 2011)
  • November 30 - Robert Guillaume, American actor and singer (died 2017)
  • December 29 – Giorgio Capitani, Italian film director and screenwriter (died 2017)

Deaths

  • January 13 – Arnold Daly, American actor, playwright and producer (born 1875)
  • March 17 – Charles Emmett Mack, American actor (born 1900)
  • April 25 – Earle Williams, American actor (born 1880)
  • May 7 – Bruce McRae, American stage and screen actor (born 1867)
  • May 16 – Sam Bernard, English stage and screen actor (born 1863)
  • May 20 – Oscar Stribolt, Danish actor (born 1873)
  • June 3 – Einar Hanson, Swedish stage and screen actor (born 1897)
  • June 4 – Robert McKim, American actor (born 1886)
  • July 26 – June Mathis, American screenwriter (born 1889)
  • September 5 – Marcus Loew, American theater chain executive & founder of Loews Theaters (born 1870)
  • October 5 – Sam Warner, American co-founder of Warner Brothers studios (born 1887)
  • October 13 – Hughie Mack, American actor (born 1884)
  • November 4 – Valli Valli, German stage and film actress (born 1882)
  • December 6 – Kate Toncray, American actress (born 1867)
  • December 16 – Romaine Fielding, American actor and director (born 1868)
  • December 24 – Julia Bruns, American stage & film actress (born 1895)

Film debuts

See also

  • List of American films of 1927

References

  1. ^ Crafton (1999), p. 549.
  2. ^ a b c Finler, Joel Waldo (2003). The Hollywood Story. Wallflower Press. pp. 356–357. ISBN 978-1-903364-66-6.
  3. ^ Mirsalis, Jon (2008). "Tell It to the Marines (1926)". lonchaney.org. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  4. ^ Box Office Information for My Best Girl
  5. ^ "All-Time Film Rental Champs". Variety. October 15, 1990. p. M150.
  6. ^ The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles, California: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study
  7. ^ Glancy, H Mark (1995). "Warner Bros Film Grosses, 1921–51: the William Schaefer ledger". Historical Journal of Film Radio and Television. 15.
  8. ^ Mirsalis, Jon (2008). "London after Midnight (1927)". lonchaney.org. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
  9. ^ "Time After Time: Movies from 1927". Archived from the original on 2014-09-05. Retrieved 2013-07-13.
  10. ^ "Timeline of Greatest Film Milestones and Turning Points in Film History".
  11. ^ "Ang Manananggal (1927)". imdb.com.
  12. ^ "The Three Tramps (1927)". imdb.com.
  13. ^ "Most Popular Feature Films Released In 1927".
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