1928 in film
Events
Although some movies released in 1928 had sound, most were still silent.
- July 28 - Lights of New York is released by Warner Brothers. It is the first "100% Talkie" feature film, in that dialog is spoken throughout the film. Previous releases Don Juan and The Jazz Singer had used a synchronized soundtrack with sound effects and music, with The Jazz Singer having a few incidental lines spoken by Al Jolson.
- August 17 - The Singing Fool, Warner Brothers' follow-up to The Jazz Singer, is released. While still only a partial-talkie (sequences still featured intertitles), 66 minutes of the film's 105 minute running time featured dialogue or songs, making it the longest talking motion picture yet. (Lights of New York runs a total of 57 minutes.) It was the highest-grossing film of the year, became Warner Brothers' highest-grossing film for the next 13 years, and was the most financially successful film of Al Jolson's career.
- November 18 - Disney's Steamboat Willie premieres. This animated short was the first film to include a soundtrack, completely created in post production, including sound effects, music, and dialogue.
- December 25 - In Old Arizona, released by Fox Films, is the first sound-on-film feature-length talkie, utilizing the Movietone process. Previously, feature-length talkies used the less-reliable Vitaphone sound-on-disc process. It is also the first Western talkie, and the first sound film primarily shot outdoors.
Top grossing films
Academy Awards
Note: Prior to 1933, awards were not based on calendar years, which is why there is no 'Best Picture' for a 1928 film.
Films released in 1928
U.S.A. unless stated
- Across to Singapore, starring Ramón Novarro and Joan Crawford
- The Actress directed by Sidney Franklin; starring Norma Shearer
- Alraune, starring Brigitte Helm and Paul Wegener - (Germany)
- L'Argent (Money), starring Pierre Alcover and Brigitte Helm - (France)
- Arsenal - (U.S.S.R.)
- The Awakening, directed by Victor Fleming, starring Vilma Banky and Louis Wolheim
- Balaclava - (U.K.)
- Beau Sabreur, directed by John Waters, starring Gary Cooper and Evelyn Brent
- Beggars of Life, directed by William Wellman, starring Wallace Beery and Louise Brooks
- The Big City, starring Lon Chaney, Sr.
- The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple (Huo shao hong lian si) - (China) - Released in 18 parts as the film runs for a total of 27 hours
- The Cameraman, a Buster Keaton film
- Champagne, directed by Alfred Hitchcock - (U.K.)
- The Circus, starring, directed and written by Charles Chaplin
- The Cossacks starring John Gilbert, Renee Adoree and Ernest Torrence
- The Crowd, directed by King Vidor
- Dawn, directed by Herbert Wilcox, starring Sybil Thorndike - (U.K.)
- The Divine Woman, starring Greta Garbo
- The Docks of New York, directed by Josef von Sternberg, starring George Bancroft, Betty Compson and Olga Baclanova
- Easy Virtue, directed by Alfred Hitchcock - (U.K.)
- The Fall of the House of Usher (La Chute de la maison Usher) - (France)
- The Farmer's Wife, directed by Alfred Hitchcock - (U.K.)
- Feel My Pulse, starring Bebe Daniels, Richard Arlen and William Powell
- Four Sons, directed by John Ford
- Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, starring Ruth Taylor and Alice White, subtitles written by Anita Loos
- A Girl in Every Port
- The Godless Girl, directed by Cecil B. DeMille
- Hangman's House
- Homecoming (Heimkehr) - (Germany)
- The House on Trubnaya (Дом на Трубной), directed by Boris Barnet - (U.S.S.R.)
- In Old Arizona
- Interference, Paramount's first ever all talking movie
- Jujiro - (Japan)
- King Cowboy
- Ladies of the Mob, starring Clara Bow, Richard Arlen and Helen Lynch
- The Last Command, directed by Joseph von Sternberg, starring Emil Jannings, Evelyn Brent and William Powell
- Laugh, Clown, Laugh, starring Lon Chaney and Loretta Young
- Lights of New York
- A Little Bit of Fluff, starring Sydney Chaplin and Betty Balfour - (U.K.)
- The Man Who Laughs, directed by Paul Leni, starring Conrad Veidt and Mary Philbin
- The Matinee Idol, directed by Frank Capra, starring Bessie Love and Johnnie Walker.
- The Midnight Taxi
- Mother Machree, directed by John Ford
- The Mysterious Lady, starring Greta Garbo and Conrad Nagel
- Noah's Ark, starring George O'Brien
- The Noose, starring Richard Barthelmess
- October: Ten Days That Shook the World (Oktyabr': Desyat' dney kotorye potryasli mir), directed by Sergei Eisenstein - (U.S.S.R.)
- On Trial, sound film, starring Pauline Frederick and Bert Lytell
- Our Dancing Daughters, starring Joan Crawford and Johnny Mack Brown
- The Passion of Joan of Arc (La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc), directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, starring Maria Falconetti - (France)
- The Patsy, directed by King Vidor, starring Marion Davies and Marie Dressler
- The Power of the Press
- Ramona
- The Red Dance
- Red Hair, starring Clara Bow
- The Road to Ruin
- Rose-Marie, starring James Murray and Joan Crawford
- Sadie Thompson, starring Gloria Swanson and Lionel Barrymore
- The Seashell and the Clergyman (La Coquille et le clergyman) - (France)
- Sex in Chains (Geschlecht in Fesseln), starring and directed by William Dieterle - (Germany)
- Show People, directed by King Vidor, starring Marion Davies
- The Singing Fool, starring Al Jolson and Betty Bronson
- Sins of the Fathers starring Emil Jannings and Ruth Chatterton
- Skyscraper, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring William Boyd, Alan Hale, Sue Carol and Alberta Vaughn
- The Smart Set, starring William Haines, Jack Holt, and Alice Day.
- Speedy, starring Harold Lloyd
- Spione (Spies), directed by Fritz Lang - (Germany)
- Steamboat Bill Jr., a Buster Keaton film
- Steamboat Willie, a Walt Disney Mickey Mouse short
- Storm Over Asia (Potomok Chingis-Khana), starring Valéry Inkijinoff - (U.S.S.R.)
- Street Angel, starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell
- Sweeney Todd - (U.K.)
- Tempest, starring John Barrymore, Camilla Horn and George Fawcett
- The Terror, starring May McAvoy, Edward Everett Horton, and Louise Fazenda
- Thérèse Raquin, directed by Jacques Feyder - (France)
- Three Sinners starring Pola Negri, Warner Baxter and Olga Baclanova
- Tillie's Punctured Romance, starring W.C. Fields, Louise Fazenda and Chester Conklin
- Underground, directed by Anthony Asquith - (U.K.)
- The Viking - the first feature-length Technicolor film
- The Wedding March, directed by and starring Erich von Stroheim with Fay Wray and Zasu Pitts
- We Faw Down, starring Laurel and Hardy
- West of Zanzibar, starring Lon Chaney and Lionel Barrymore
- West Point, starring William Haines and Joan Crawford
- While the City Sleeps, directed by Jack Conway; starring Lon Chaney
- White Shadows in the South Seas, starring Monte Blue and Raquel Torres
- The Wind, directed by Victor Sjostrom, starring Lillian Gish and Lars Hanson
- A Woman of Affairs, starring Greta Garbo and John Gilbert
Short film series
Animated short film series
Births
- January 7 - William Peter Blatty, screenwriter
- January 26 - Roger Vadim, director, screenwriter, actor
- February 1 - Stuart Whitman, film & television actor
- February 11 - Conrad Janis, actor.
- February 29 - Tempest Storm, burlesque performer, actress
- March 1 - Jacques Rivette, film director
- March 19 - Patrick McGoohan, actor (d. 2009)
- March 24 - Vanessa Brown (d. 1999)
- April 23 - Shirley Temple, actress
- May 7 - Georgi Rusev, Bulgarian actor
- June 13 - Nikola Todev, Bulgarian actor (d. 1991)
- July 26 - Stanley Kubrick, director (d. 1999)
- August 6 - Andy Warhol, artist, director (d. 1987)
- August 15 - Nicolas Roeg, director
- August 16 - Ann Blyth, actress
- August 31 - James Coburn, actor (d. 2002)
- September 17 - Roddy McDowall, actor (d. 1998)
- September 19 - Adam West, actor
- October 1 - George Peppard, actor (d. 1994)
- October 2 - George 'Spanky' McFarland, actor (d. 1993)
- November 3 - Wanda Hendrix, actress (d. 1981)
- December 25 - Dick Miller, actor
Deaths
- January 2 - Emily Stevens, American stage & film actress
- April 22 - Frank Currier, American director, stage & silent film actor
- June 22 - George Siegmann, American silent film actor
- June 24 - Holbrook Blinn, American stage & silent film actor
- July 20 - Scott Sidney, American film director
- July 21 - Ward Crane, American film actor
- August 10 - Rex Cherryman, American actor
- August 17 - Frank Urson, American film director
- October 8 - Larry Semon, American film comedian
- December 14 - Theodore Roberts, American film actor
- December 25 - Fred Thomson, American film actor
Film Debuts