Events
The days of the silent film were numbered. A mad scramble to provide synchronized sound was on.
- January 20 - The movie In Old Arizona was released. The film was the first full-length talking film to be filmed outdoors.
- May 16 - The first Academy Awards, or Oscars, are distributed
- July 13, The first all color talkie (in Technicolor), On With the Show is released by Warner. Bros. who the led in a new color revolution, just as they had ushered in that of the talkies.
- Hallelujah!, first Hollywood film to contain an entire black cast.
- Atlantic (1929 film) is the first sound on film movie made in Germany. It is also the first Titanic movie with sound.
- The Broadway Melody is released by MGM and becomes the first major musical film of the sound era, sparking a host of imitators as well as a series of Broadway Melody films that would run until 1940.
Top grossing films
- Gold Diggers of Broadway
- The Broadway Melody(#1 for year 1929 alone)
- Sunny Side Up
- Welcome Danger
- The Cock-Eyed World
- Rio Rita
- Hollywood Revue of 1929
- Coquette
- In Old Arizona
- Syncopation
- Disraeli
- The Taming of the Shrew
- The Single Standards
- Wild Orchids
- Paris
- The Kiss
- The Mysterious Island
- Pandora's Box
- On With the Show
- The Love Parade
- The Four Feathers
- Sally
- Redskin
- The Pagan
- Marriage Playground
- Say It With Songs
- They Had to See Paris
- Navy Blues
- Their Own Desire
- Divine Lady
- The Trespasser
- Madame X
- The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
- Bulldog Drummond
Academy Awards
Note: Prior to 1933, awards were not based on calendar years, which is how there are 2 'Best Actor' awards for 1929 films.
Films released in 1929
- An Andalusian Dog (Un chien andalou), a short film by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí
- Applause, starring Helen Morgan
- Asphalt
- Atlantic, the first sound on film made in Germany and the first sound Titanic movie
- Big Business, a Laurel and Hardy short
- Big Time
- Blackmail, directed by Alfred Hitchcock
- Broadway, a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
- The Broadway Melody, musical comedy starring Charles King, Anita Page and Bessie Love
- Bulldog Drummond, starring Ronald Colman
- The Clue of the New Pin
- The Cocoanuts, starring the Marx Brothers
- Coquette, starring Mary Pickford, Johnny Mack Brown, Matt Moore. Directed by Sam Taylor
- Dance of Life, a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
- The Desert Song, a musical operetta with Technicolor sequences
- Devil May Care, a musical romance with Technicolor sequences
- Disraeli, starring George Arliss
- Dynamite
- The Flying Fleet, starring Ramon Navarro, Ralph Graves, Anita Page, and Edward Nugent
- Footlights and Fools, a musical comedy entirely in Technicolor
- Fox Movietone Follies, a musical revue with Multicolor sequences
- Glorifying the American Girl, a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
- Gold Diggers of Broadway, a musical comedy entirely in Technicolor
- The Great Gabbo, a musical comedy with Multicolor sequences
- Hallelujah!, directed by King Vidor
- Hearts in Dixie, starring Clarence Muse, drama/musical
- His First Command, a musical drama with Technicolor sequences
- The Hole in the Wall
- The Hollywood Revue of 1929, a showcase of talent under contract to MGM
- In Old Arizona, starring Warner Baxter
- It's A Great Life, a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
- The Iron Mask. starring Douglas Fairbanks
- The Kiss, starring Greta Garbo and Conrad Nagel
- The Lady Lies, starring Walter Huston and Claudette Colbert
- The Love Parade, starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald
- Lucky Star
- Man with a Movie Camera (Chelovek s kinoapparatom), a documentary
- The Manxman, directed by Alfred Hitchcock
- Married In Hollywood, a musical romance with Multicolor sequences
- The Mysterious Island, starring Lionel Barrymore
- On With the Show, a musical comedy entirely in Technicolor
- Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks
- Paris (1929 film), a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
- Piccadilly, a melodrama starring Anna May Wong and Gilda Gray
- Pointed Heels, a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
- Queen Kelly, starring Gloria Swanson (this film was never finished because producers balked at releasing a silent film in what was quickly becoming a sound film market)
- Redskin, a drama with Technicolor sequences
- Red Hot Rhythm, a musical comedy with Multicolor sequences
- Rio Rita, a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
- The River
- Sally, a musical comedy entirely in Technicolor
- The Show of Shows, a musical revue with Technicolor sequences
- St. Louis Blues, starring Bessie Smith
- The Skeleton Dance, a Walt Disney animated short
- Spite Marriage, a Buster Keaton film
- Street Girl, RKO's first "official" film
- Sunny Side Up, a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
- This Thing Called Love, a musical romance with Technicolor sequences
- Thunder, directed by William Nigh, starring Lon Chaney, Sr. and Phyllis Haver
- The Virginian, starring Gary Cooper
- Woman in the Moon (Frau im Mond), directed by Fritz Lang
Serials
Short film series
Animated short film series
Births
- January 3 - Sergio Leone, director (+ 1989)
- January 31 - Jean Simmons, actress
- February 10 - Jerry Goldsmith, composer (+ 2004)
- May 4 - Audrey Hepburn, actress
- August 23 - Vera Miles, actress
- September 2 - Hal Ashby, director
- November 12 - Grace Kelly, actress
- December 6 – Alain Tanner, Swiss film director
- December 9 - John Cassavetes, actor, director
Film Debuts
Deaths
|
