The year 1940 in film involved some significant events.
Events
Top grossing films (U.S.)
* After theatrical reissues
Academy Awards
Films released in 1940
- Abe Lincoln in Illinois
- All This and Heaven Too
- Andy Hardy Meets Debutante starring Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, and Fay Holden
- Arise, My Love
- Arizona
- The Bank Dick, written by and starring W.C. Fields
- The Biscuit Eater
- Boom Town
- Boys of the City
- Broadway Melody of 1940 starring Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell - final film of series
- Dark Command
- Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet starring Edward G. Robinson, Ruth Gordon, Otto Kruger, and Donald Crisp.
- East Side Kids
- Edison, the Man starring Spencer Tracy
- Fantasia
- Foreign Correspondent
- Go West, starring the Marx Brothers
- Give Us Wings
- Gaslight, the original British version
- The Grapes of Wrath
- The Great Dictator, starring Charlie Chaplin
- The Great McGinty
- Green Hell
- His Girl Friday, starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell
- The House of the Seven Gables
- The Howards of Virginia, starring Cary Grant and Martha Scott
- The Invisible Man Returns
- Kitty Foyle
- The Letter
- The Long Voyage Home
- The Mark of Zorro
- My Favorite Wife
- Night Train to Munich
- North West Mounted Police
- Northwest Passage, starring Spencer Tracy
- One Million B.C.
- One Night in the Tropics, film debut of Abbott and Costello
- Our Town
- The Philadelphia Story
- Pinocchio
- Pride and Prejudice, starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier
- Rebecca - starring Sir Laurence Olivier
- The Sea Hawk
- The Shop Around the Corner
- The Son of Monte Cristo
- Strange Cargo, starring Clark Gable and Joan Crawford
- Strike Up the Band
- That Gang of Mine
- The Thief of Bagdad
- Too Many Husbands
- Vigil in the Night, starring Carole Lombard
- Waterloo Bridge
- The Well-Digger's Daughter
- The Westerner
- They Knew What They Wanted
- You're Not So Tough
Serials
- Adventures of Red Ryder, directed by William Witney and John English
- Deadwood Dick, directed by James W. Horne
- Drums of Fu Manchu, starring Henry Brandon and Robert Kellard, directed by William Witney and John English
- Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe, starring Buster Crabbe
- The Green Archer, starring Victor Jory, directed by James W. Horne
- The Green Hornet Strikes Again, starring Warren Hull
- Junior G-Men, starring the Dead End Kids
- King of the Royal Mounted starring Allan Lane, directed by William Witney and John English
- Mysterious Doctor Satan, starring Eduardo Ciannelli, directed by William Witney and John English
- The Shadow, starring Victor Jory, directed by James W. Horne
- Terry and the Pirates, starring William Tracy, directed by James W. Horne
- Winners of the West, starring Dick Foran and Anne Nagel
Short film series
Animated short film series
Births
- February 23 - Peter Fonda, actor
- March 26 - James Caan, actor
- July 7 - Ringo Starr, English drummer (The Beatles)
- July 13 - Patrick Stewart, English actor
- August 3 - Martin Sheen, American actor
- August 22 - Valerie Harper, American actress
- October 9 - John Lennon, English musician, songwriter and singer (The Beatles)
- November 5 - Elke Sommer, German actress
- November 27 - Bruce Lee
- December 21 - Frank Zappa, American musician, songwriter and singer
Deaths
- February 20 - George Periolat, actor
- March 5 - Maxine Elliott, stage & film actress
- April 9 - Mrs Patrick Campbell, stage & film actress
- May 25 - Joe De Grasse, pioneer Hollywood film director
- July 1 - Ben Turpin, comic actor
- September 25 - Marguerite Clark, stage & silent film star
- October 10 - Berton Churchill, pioneer Hollywood actor
- December 5 - Wilfred Lucas, actor, screenwriter, director
|