1932 in film

Years in film
1870s
1880s 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889
1890s 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899
1900s 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
1910s 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
1920s 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
1930s 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1940s 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
1950s 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
v t e

This is a list of films that were released in 1932.

Events

• Cary Grant's film career begins
• Katharine Hepburn's film career begins
• Shirley Temple's film career begins
• Disney released Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon in three-strip Technicolor film.
• Santa, first sound film made in Mexico released.

Top grossing films

Academy Awards

• Best Picture: Grand Hotel - MGM

Note: Prior to 1933 awards were not based on calendar years, which is how there are no 'Best Actor' or 'Best Actress' awards for 1932 films. The 1931-32 awards went to 1931 films.

Notable films released in 1932

U.S.A. unless stated

• 20,000 Years in Sing Sing, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Spencer Tracy and Bette Davis
• 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 (Anton Špelec, ostrostřelec), directed by Martin Frič - (Czechoslovakia)
• As You Desire Me, starring Greta Garbo
• L'Atlantide, directed by G.W. Pabst, starring Brigitte Helm - (Germany/France)
• Attorney for the Defense, starring Edmund Lowe and Evelyn Brent
• Back Street, starring Irene Dunne and John Boles
• The Bartered Bride (Die verkaufte Braut), directed by Max Ophüls - (Germany)
• 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 (The Blue Light), starring and directed by Leni Riefenstahl - (Germany)
• Blonde Venus, directed by Josef von Sternberg, starring Marlene Dietrich and Cary Grant
• Boudu Saved from Drowning (Boudu sauvé des eaux), directed by Jean Renoir, starring Michel Simon - (France)
• Broken Lullaby, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Lionel Barrymore
• Business and Pleasure, starring Will Rogers
• 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 - (Germany)
• Dance Pretty Lady, directed by Anthony Asquith (Britain)
• 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
• Emma, starring Marie Dressler
• F.P.1 (F.P.1 antwortet nicht) - (Germany)
• Faithless, starring Tallulah Bankhead and Robert Montgomery
• Fanny, directed by Marc Allegret, starring Raimu - (France)
• A Farewell to Arms, directed by Frank Borzage, starring Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes
• Fast Life, starring William Haines and Madge Evans
• Flowers and Trees, a Walt Disney animated short
• Forbidden, directed by Frank Capra, starring Barbara Stanwyck
• Freaks, directed by Tod Browning
• Goodnight, Vienna, directed by Herbert Wilcox, starring Jack Buchanan and Anna Neagle - (GB)
• Grand Hotel, starring Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery and Lionel Barrymore
• Happy Ever After (Ein blonder Traum), starring Lilian Harvey and Jack Hulbert - (Germany)
• Horse Feathers, starring the Marx Brothers with Thelma Todd
• Hotel Splendide, directed by Michael Powell - (GB)
• I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Paul Muni
• I Was Born, But... (Otona no miru ehon - Umarete wa mita keredo), directed by Yasujirō Ozu - (Japan)
• 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
• 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 - (U.S.S.R.)
• Jack's the Boy directed by Walter Forde, starring Jack Hulbert - (GB)
• Jewel Robbery, starring William Powell and Kay Francis
• Kuhle Wampe oder: Wem gehört die Welt? (To Whom Does the World Belong?) - (Germany)
• The Last Mile, starring Preston Foster
• Law and Order, starring Walter Huston and Harry Carey
• The Local Bad Man, starring Hoot Gibson
• Love Me Tonight, directed by Rouben Mamoulian, starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald (as Jeanette Mac Donald)
• The Lucky Number, directed by Anthony Asquith, starring Gordon Harker - (GB)
• The Man Who Played God (aka The Silent Voice), 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 - (GB)
• 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
• The Mummy, starring Boris Karloff
• Murders in the Rue Morgue, starring Bela Lugosi, Sidney Fox and Leon Ames
• Night After Night, starring George Raft and Mae West in her film debut
• Night at the Crossroads (La Nuit du carrefour), directed by Jean Renoir - (France)
• Odds 777 - (Denmark)
• The Old Dark House, directed by James Whale amd 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
• Pack Up Your Troubles, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
• Payment Deferred, starring Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Sullivan
• Rain, starring Joan Crawford and Walter Huston
• Rasputin and the Empress, starring John Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore
• Rasputin, Demon with Women (Rasputin, Dämon der Frauen), starring Conrad Veidt - (Germany)
• Razzia in Sankt Pauli (Raid in St. Pauli) - (Germany)
• Red Dust, directed by Victor Fleming, starring Jean Harlow and Clark Gable
• Red-Headed Woman, starring Jean Harlow
• Rome Express, directed by Walter Forde, starring Conrad Veidt and Esther Ralston - (GB)
• Santa - (Mexico)
• 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
• The Sign of the Cross, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Fredric March and Claudette Colbert
• A Simple Case (Prostoy sloochay) - (U.S.S.R.)
• Smilin' Through, starring Norma Shearer
• Spring Shower (Tavaszi zápor) - (Hungary/France)
• 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
• Three Modern Women, directed by Bu Wancang, starring Ruan Lingyu and Jin Yan – (China)
• 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
• Unheimliche Geschichten remake w/ sound of the 1919 film - (Germany)
• The Undertaker (Funebrák), directed by Karel Lamač - (Czechoslovakia)
• Union Depot, starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Joan Blondell
• Vampyr, directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer - (Germany/France)
• Virtue, starring Carole Lombard and Pat O'Brien
• What Price Hollywood?, directed by George Cukor, starring Constance Bennett
• What Scoundrels Men Are! (Gli uomini, che mascalzoni!), starring Vittorio De Sica - (Italy)
• White Zombie, starring Bela Lugosi
• Wooden Crosses (Les croix de bois), directed by Raymond Bernard - (France)
• Young America, starring Spencer Tracy

Serials

• The Airmail Mystery
• Detective Lloyd
• The Devil Horse
• Heroes of the West
• The Hurricane Express, starring John Wayne
• The Jungle Mystery
• The Last Frontier
• The Last of the Mohicans
• The Lost Special
• The Shadow of the Eagle, starring John Wayne

Short film series

• Buster Keaton (1917–1941)
• Our Gang (1922–1944)
• Laurel and Hardy (1921-1943)
• Shirley Temple (1932–1946)

Animated short film series

• Flowers and Trees (1933)
• Aesop's Film Fables (1921–1933)
• Krazy Kat (1925–1940)
• Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (1927–1938)
• Mickey Mouse (1928–1953)
• 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 (1929–1938)
• Talkartoons (1929-1932)
  • Minnie the Moocher (featuring Betty Boop)
  • Sink or Swim S.O.S (featuring Betty Boop)
• Looney Tunes (1930–1969)
• Flip the Frog (1930–1933)
• Terrytoons (1930–1964)
• Merrie Melodies (1931–1969)
• Scrappy (1931–1941)
• Tom and Jerry (Van Beuren) (1931–1933)
• Betty Boop (1932-1939)
  • 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 (1932-1933)

Births

• January 3 - Dabney Coleman, actor
• January 4 - Carlos Saura, director
• January 22 - Piper Laurie, actress
• February 6 - François Truffaut, French film director (died 1984)
• February 13 - Susan Oliver, actress, pilot
• February 18 – Miloš Forman, director
• February 23 - Majel Barrett, actress (died 2008)
• February 27 - Elizabeth Taylor, English-American actress (died 2011)
• March 13 - Nagisa Oshima, Japanese director (died 2013)
• April 1 - Debbie Reynolds, singer, actress, dancer
• April 4 - Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian movie director (died 1986)
• April 4 - Anthony Perkins, actor (died 1992)
• April 10 - Delphine Seyrig, French actress (died 1990)
• April 10 - Omar Sharif, Egyptian actor
• April 27 - Anouk Aimée, French actress
• June 18 - David Herriot, Irish actor (died 2000)
• June 22 - Prunella Scales English actress
• August 2 - Peter O'Toole, Anglo-Irish actor (died 2013)
• September 29 - Mehmood, Indian actor, director, producer (died 2004)
• October 13 - Dušan Makavejev, Serbian director
• October 20 - William Christopher, actor
• November 10 - Roy Scheider, actor (died 2008)
• November 13 - Richard Mulligan, actor (died 2000)
• November 15 - Petula Clark, British actress, film composer
• November 22 - Robert Vaughn, actor
• December 7 - Ellen Burstyn, actress

Deaths

• February 15 - Minnie Maddern Fiske, American stage star made silent films
• June 30 - Bruno Kastner, German actor
• August 1
  • Rin Tin Tin, canine actor
  • James R. Quirk, editor and publisher of Photoplay magazine
• September 1
  • Peg Entwistle, British-born American actress
  • Guy Oliver, actor
• November 2 - Evelyn Preer, American actress, singer

Film debuts

• Ingrid Bergman - Landskamp
• Robert Donat - Over Night
• Cary Grant - This Is the Night
• Katharine Hepburn - A Bill of Divorcement
• Alan Ladd - Tom Brown of Culver
• John Mills - Midshipmaid Gob
• David Niven - There Goes the Bride
• Dick Powell - Blessed Event
• Kate Smith - The Big Broadcast
• Jacques Tati - Oscar, champion de tennis
• Shirley Temple - Runt Page
• Mae West - Night After Night