1937 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

The year 1937 in film involved some significant events, including the Walt Disney production of the first American full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Events

• April 16 – Way Out West premieres in the US.
• May 7 – Shall We Dance premieres in the US.
• May 11 – Captains Courageous premieres in the US.
• July 9 – The silent film archives of Fox Film Corporation are destroyed by the 1937 Fox vault fire.
• December 21 – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premieres in the US.

Top grossing films (U.S.)

Academy Awards

• Best Picture: The Life of Emile Zola – Warner Bros.
• Best Director: Leo McCarey – The Awful Truth
• Best Actor: Spencer Tracy – Captains Courageous
• Best Actress: Luise Rainer – The Good Earth

Top ten money-making stars

Notable films released in 1937

U.S.A. unless stated.

A-B

• Action for Slander, starring Clive Brook and Ann Todd (GB)
• Ali Baba Goes to Town, starring Eddie Cantor
• Andula Won (Andula vyhrála) (Czechoslovakia)
• Angel, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Marlene Dietrich
• Annapolis Salute, starring James Ellison
• Artists and Models, starring Jack Benny and Ida Lupino
• The Awful Truth, directed by Leo McCarey, starring Irene Dunne and Cary Grant
• Bezhin Meadow, directed by Sergei Eisenstein (U.S.S.R.)
• Big City, starring Luise Rainer and Spencer Tracy
• Bizarre, Bizarre (Drôle de drame ou L'étrange aventure du Docteur Molyneux), directed by Marcel Carné, starring Louis Jouvet and Michel Simon (France)
• Black Legion, starring Humphrey Bogart
• Born to the West, starring John Wayne
• The Bride Wore Red, directed by Dorothy Arzner, starring Joan Crawford
• Brief Ecstasy, starring Paul Lukas (GB)
• Broadway Melody of 1938, starring Eleanor Powell and Judy Garland

C-D

• Captains Courageous, starring Freddie Bartholomew and Spencer Tracy
• Charlie Chan at the Olympics, starring Warner Oland
• Confession, starring Kay Francis and Basil Rathbone
• Conquest, starring Greta Garbo and Charles Boyer
• Crossroads (Shi zi jie tou) (China)
• A Damsel in Distress, starring Fred Astaire, George Burns and Gracie Allen
• The Daughter of the Samurai (Die Tochter des Samurai / Atarashiki tsuchi), directed by Arnold Fanck and Mansaku Itami (Germany/Japan)
• Daughter of Shanghai, starring Anna May Wong and Philip Ahn
• A Day at the Races, directed by Sam Wood, starring the Marx Brothers
• Dead End, directed by William Wyler, starring Sylvia Sidney, Joel McCrea, Humphrey Bogart, Claire Trevor
• Double Wedding, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy
• Dreaming Lips, directed by Paul Czinner, starring Elisabeth Bergner, Raymond Massey (Britain)
• Duniya Na Mane (The Unexpected) (India)
• The Dybbuk, Yiddish language film from (Poland)

E-F

• Easy Living, starring Jean Arthur and Edward Arnold
• The Edge of the World, directed by Michael Powell (GB)
• Elephant Boy, directed by Robert J. Flaherty and Zoltan Korda, starring Sabu (GB)
• España 1936, a documentary produced and co-written by Luis Buñuel (Spain)
• Ever Since Eve, starring Marion Davies and Robert Montgomery
• A Family Affair, starring Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, Fay Holden
• Fire Over England, starring Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh (GB)
• The Firefly, starring Jeanette MacDonald and Allan Jones
• First Lady, starring Kay Francis and Preston Foster

G-H

• Gangway, starring Jessie Matthews (GB)
• The Good Earth, starring Paul Muni and Luise Rainer (Academy Award for Best Actress)
• Good Morning, Boys, starring Will Hay (GB)
• Grand Illusion, directed by Jean Renoir, starring Jean Gabin and Dita Parlo (France)
• The Great Barrier, starring Richard Arlen and Lilli Palmer (GB)
• The Great Garrick, starring Brian Aherne and Olivia de Havilland
• The Great O'Malley, starring Pat O'Brien and Humphrey Bogart
• Green Fields – a Yiddish language film
• Gribouille (aka The Meddler), starring Raimu and Michèle Morgan (France)
• La Habanera, directed by Douglas Sirk (Germany)
• Head Over Heels, starring Jessie Matthews (GB)
• Heidi, starring Shirley Temple
• High, Wide, and Handsome, starring Irene Dunne and Randolph Scott
• History is Made at Night, starring Charles Boyer and Jean Arthur
• Humanity and Paper Balloons (Ninjō Kami Fūsen) (Japan)
• The Hurricane, starring Dorothy Lamour

I-K

• In Old Chicago, starring Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, Don Ameche
• It's Love I'm After, starring Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland
• Jump for Glory, directed by Raoul Walsh, starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Valerie Hobson (GB)
• Kid Galahad, starring Edward G. Robinson, Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart
• King Solomon's Mines, starring Cedric Hardwicke and Paul Robeson (GB)
• Knight Without Armour, starring Marlene Dietrich and Robert Donat (GB)

L-M

• Lancashire Luck, film debut of Wendy Hiller (GB)
• The Last Gangster, starring Edward G. Robinson and James Stewart
• The Last of Mrs. Cheyney, starring Joan Crawford and William Powell
• Layla and Majnun directed by Abdolhossein Sepanta (Iran)
• The Life of Emile Zola, starring Paul Muni
• Lost Horizon, directed by Frank Capra, starring Ronald Colman and Jane Wyatt
• Love from a Stranger, starring Ann Harding and Basil Rathbone (GB)
• Love Is on the Air, directed by Nick Grinde, starring Ronald Reagan and June Travis
• Madame X, starring Gladys George and Warren William
• Maid of Salem, starring Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray
• Make Way for Tomorrow, directed by Leo McCarey, starring Victor Moore and Beulah Bondi
• The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes (Der Mann, der Sherlock Holmes war) (Germany)
• Marked Woman, starring Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart
• Maytime, starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy
• Morality Above All Else (Mravnost nade vše) (Czechoslovakia)

N-P

• Nancy Steele Is Missing!, starring Victor McLaglen and Peter Lorre
• Navy Blue and Gold, starring Robert Young, James Stewart, Lionel Barrymore
• Night Must Fall, starring Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell
• Nothing Sacred, directed by William Wellman, starring Carole Lombard and Fredric March
• Oh, Mr Porter!, starring Will Hay (GB)
• O-Kay for Sound, starring The Crazy Gang (GB)
• The Old Mill, a Silly Symphonies cartoon
• On the Avenue, starring Dick Powell and Madeleine Carroll, with songs by Irving Berlin
• One Hundred Men and a Girl, starring Deanna Durbin and Leopold Stokowski
• Parnell, starring Clark Gable and Myrna Loy
• Pépé le Moko, directed by Julien Duvivier, starring Jean Gabin (France)
• Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves
• The Perfect Specimen, starring Errol Flynn, screenplay by the playwright Lawrence Riley et al.
• The Prince and the Pauper, starring Errol Flynn
• The Prisoner of Zenda, starring Ronald Colman and Madeleine Carroll

Q-S

• Quality Street, starring Katharine Hepburn and Franchot Tone
• The Road Back, directed by James Whale
• Saratoga, starring Clark Gable and Jean Harlow in her last film
• Seventh Heaven, starring James Stewart and Simone Simon
• Shall We Dance, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
• Sidewalks of London (aka St. Martin's Lane), starring Charles Laughton, Vivien Leigh and Rex Harrison (GB)
• Il signor Max, starring Vittorio De Sica (Italy)
• Skeleton on Horseback (Bílá nemoc), directed by and starring Hugo Haas (Czechoslovakia)
• Slave Ship, starring Warner Baxter and Wallace Beery
• Slim, starring Henry Fonda
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, first American feature-length animated movie
• The Soldier and the Lady
• Something to Sing About, directed by Victor Schertzinger, starring James Cagney, Evelyn Daw, William Frawley
• Song at Midnight (Ye ban ge sheng) (China)
• Souls at Sea, starring Gary Cooper and George Raft
• Stage Door, starring Katharine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers
• Stand-In, starring Leslie Howard, Joan Blondell, Humphrey Bogart
• A Star Is Born, starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March
• Stella Dallas, starring Barbara Stanwyck
• Storm in a Teacup, starring Vivien Leigh and Rex Harrison (GB)
• Street Angel (Malu tianshi), starring Zhou Xuan (China)

T-V

• That Certain Woman, starring Bette Davis and Henry Fonda
• They Gave Him a Gun, starring Spencer Tracy and Gladys George
• They Won't Forget, starring Claude Rains
• Think Fast, Mr. Moto, starring Peter Lorre
• This Is My Affair, starring Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck
• Thunder in the City, starring Edward G. Robinson, Nigel Bruce, Ralph Richardson (GB)
• To New Shores, directed by Douglas Sirk, starring Zarah Leander (Germany)
• Topper, starring Constance Bennett, Cary Grant, Roland Young
• Tovarich, starring Claudette Colbert and Charles Boyer
• Tři vejce do skla (Three eggs in a glass) (Czechoslovakia)
• True Confession, starring Carole Lombard, Fred MacMurray, John Barrymore
• Victoria the Great, starring Anna Neagle and Anton Walbrook (GB)

W-Z

• Way Out West, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
• Wee Willie Winkie, starring Shirley Temple
• Wells Fargo, starring Joel McCrea
• Wise Girl, starring Miriam Hopkins and Ray Milland
• Without Dowry (Bespridannitsa) (U.S.S.R.)
• Woman Chases Man, starring Miriam Hopkins and Joel McCrea
• The Woman I Love, starring Paul Muni and Miriam Hopkins
• Yoshiwara, directed by Max Ophüls, starring Sessue Hayakawa (France)
• You Can't Have Everything, starring Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Gypsy Rose Lee
• You Only Live Once, starring Henry Fonda and Sylvia Sidney
• Young and Innocent, directed by Alfred Hitchcock (GB)
• You're Only Young Once, starring Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, Fay Holden
• Znachor (The Miracle Man) (Poland)

Serials

• Blake of Scotland Yard, starring Ralph Byrd and Herbert Rawlinson
• Dick Tracy, starring Ralph Byrd
• Jungle Jim
• Jungle Menace, starring Frank Buck
• The Mysterious Pilot, starring Frank Hawks
• The Painted Stallion, starring Ray Corrigan
• Radio Patrol
• Secret Agent X-9, starring Scott Kolk
• S.O.S. Coast Guard, starring Ralph Byrd and Bela Lugosi
• Tim Tyler's Luck, starring Frankie Thomas
• Wild West Days
• Zorro Rides Again, starring John Carroll

Comedy film series

• Harold Lloyd (1913–1938)
• Charlie Chaplin (1914–1940)
• Lupino Lane (1915–1939)
• Buster Keaton (1917–1944)
• Laurel and Hardy (1921-1945)
• Our Gang (1922–1944)
• Wheeler and Woolsey (1929-1937)
• The Marx Brothers (1929–1946)
• The Three Stooges (1933–1962)

Animated short film series

• Krazy Kat (1925–1940)
• Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (1927–1938)
• Mickey Mouse (1928–1953)
• Silly Symphonies
  • Woodland Café
  • Little Hiawatha
  • The Old Mill
• Screen Songs (1929–1938)
• Looney Tunes (1930–1969)
• Terrytoons (1930–1964)
• Merrie Melodies (1931–1969)
• Scrappy (1931–1941)
• Betty Boop (1932–1939)
• Popeye (1933–1957)
• Happy Harmonies (1934–1938)
• Color Rhapsodies (1934–1949)
• Meany, Miny, and Moe (1936-1937)
• Donald Duck (1937-1956)

Births

• January 4 – Dyan Cannon, American actress
• January 15 – Margaret O'Brien, American actress
• January 30 – Vanessa Redgrave, English actress
• January 31 – Suzanne Pleshette, American actress (d. 2008)
• February 25 – Sir Tom Courtenay, English actor
• March 30 – Warren Beatty, American actor and director
• April 6 – Billy Dee Williams, American actor
• April 15 - Uldis Pūcītis, Latvian actor (d. 2000)
• April 22 – Jack Nicholson, American actor
• April 27 – Sandy Dennis, American actress (d. 1992)
• May 16 – Yvonne Craig, American actress (d. 2015)
• June 1 – Morgan Freeman, American actor and director
• June 2 – Sally Kellerman, American actress and singer
• June 10 – Luciana Paluzzi, Italian actress
• June 14 – Jørgen Leth, Danish director
• July 6 – Ned Beatty, American actor
• August 8 – Dustin Hoffman, American actor
• September 5 – William Devane, American actor
• September 7 – John Phillip Law, American actor (d. 2008)
• November 5 – Harris Yulin, American actor
• November 21 – Ingrid Pitt, Polish-born British actress (d. 2010)
• December 7 – Kenneth Colley, English actor
• December 9 – Darwin Joston, American actor (d. 1998)
• December 21 – Jane Fonda, American actress
• December 29 – Barbara Steele, English actress
• December 31 – Sir Anthony Hopkins, Welsh actor

Deaths

• January 2 – Ross Alexander, 29, American actor, Captain Blood, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Flirtation Walk
• January 23 – Marie Prevost, 38, Canadian-born American actress, The Marriage Circle, The Racket, The Godless Girl, Cain and Mabel
• February 3 – Marija Leiko, 49, Latvian film actress, The Green Alley, The Rats
• May 1 – Snitz Edwards, 69, Austro-Hungarian-born American actor, The Thief of Bagdad, The Phantom of the Opera, Seven Chances, College
• May 10 – William Tedmarsh, 61, English-American silent film actor
• June 7 – Jean Harlow, 26, American actress, The Public Enemy, Libeled Lady, Suzy, Red Dust
• November 13 – Mrs. Leslie Carter, 75, American stage and screen actress, Becky Sharp, Rocky Mountain Mystery
• December 21 - Ted Healy, 41, American actor and founder of The Three Stooges, San Francisco, Mad Love, Beer and Pretzels, Soup to Nuts

Debuts

• Glenn Ford - Night in Manhattan
• Ronald Reagan - Love Is on the Air
• Lana Turner - They Won't Forget