1921 in film
(Redirected from 1921 in the movies)
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This is an overview of 1921 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.
Top-grossing films (U.S.)
The top nine films released in 1921 by U.S. gross are as follows:
| Rank | Title | Distributor | Domestic rentals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse | Metro | $4,500,000[1] |
| 2 | The Kid | First National | $2,500,000[1] |
| 3
(tie) |
The Three Musketeers The Sheik |
United Artists Paramount |
$1,500,000[1] |
| 5 | The Affairs of Anatol | Paramount | $1,191,789[2] |
| 6 | Fool's Paradise | $906,937[2] | |
| 7 | Forbidden Fruit | $848,121[2] | |
| 8 | School Days | Warner Bros. | $546,000[3] |
| 9 | Why Girls Leave Home | $410,000[3] |
Events
- January 21 – The silent comedy drama The Kid, written by, produced by, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin (in his Tramp character) – his first full-length film as a director – and featuring Jackie Coogan, is released in the United States. It is the year's second-highest-grossing film.
- March 6 – The silent epic war film The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, adapted for the screen by June Mathis, is released in the United States. It is the year's highest-grossing film (and the sixth-best-grossing silent film of all time), propels Rudolph Valentino to stardom and inspires a tango craze and a fashion for gaucho pants.
- August 29 – Broadway's first $1 million theatre, Loew's State opens.
- September 5 – Popular comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle attends a party at the St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco, during which actress Virginia Rappe is fatally injured; although he is eventually acquitted of rape and manslaughter, the scandal derails his career.
- October 21 – George Melford's silent film The Sheik, which enhances leading actor Rudolph Valentino's international reputation as a Latin lover, is premiered in Los Angeles. Within the first year of its release, it exceeds $1 million in ticket sales.
- October 26 – The Chicago Theatre, which will be the oldest surviving French-style Baroque Revival grand movie palace, opens.
- The experimental short documentary film Manhatta is shot by painter Charles Sheeler and photographer Paul Strand in New York City.
Notable films released in 1921
United States unless stated.
A
- The Ace of Hearts, directed by Wallace Worsley, starring Lon Chaney and Leatrice Joy
- Action (lost), directed by John Ford, starring Hoot Gibson
- The Adventures of Mr. Pickwick (lost), directed by Thomas Bentley, starring Frederick Volpe – (GB)
- The Adventures of Tarzan, 15-part serial directed by Robert F. Hill and Scott Sidney, starring Elmo Lincoln
- The Affairs of Anatol, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Wallace Reid and Gloria Swanson
- After Midnight, directed by Ralph Ince
- After Your Own Heart, directed by George Marshall, starring Tom Mix
- All Soul's Eve (lost), directed by Chester M. Franklin, starring Mary Miles Minter and Jack Holt, based on the 1920 stage play by Anne Crawford Flexner[4]
- Among Those Present, directed by Fred C. Newmeyer, starring Harold Lloyd
- L'Atlantide, directed by Jacques Feyder, based on the 1919 novel by Pierre Benoit[5] – (France)
B
- Die Bergkatze (The Wild Cat), directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Pola Negri and Paul Heidemann – (Germany)
- The Bigamist, starring and directed by Guy Newall with Ivy Duke – (GB)
- The Blot, directed by Lois Weber
- The Boat, directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton
- The Bonnie Brier Bush (lost), starring and directed by Donald Crisp – (GB)
- Brewster's Millions (lost), directed by Joseph Henabery, starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle
- Brownie's Little Venus, directed by Fred Fishback, starring Baby Peggy
- Buried Treasure, directed by George D. Baker, starring Marion Davies and Norman Kerry
C
- The Call of Youth (lost), directed by Hugh Ford
- Camille, directed by Ray C. Smallwood, starring Alla Nazimova and Rudolph Valentino
- The Case of Becky, directed by Chester M. Franklin, starring Constance Binney, based on the 1912 stage play by David Belasco and Edward Locke[4]
- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (lost), directed by Emmett J. Flynn
- The Conquering Power, directed by Rex Ingram, starring Rudolph Valentino and Alice Terry
D
- Desire (Sehnsucht) (lost), directed by F. W. Murnau, starring Conrad Veidt – (Germany)
- Destiny (Der müde Tod), directed by Fritz Lang, starring Lil Dagover and Rudolf Klein-Rogge – (Germany)
- The Devil, directed by James Young, starring George Arliss, based on the 1908 stage play by Ferenc Molnár[6]
- Disraeli (lost), directed by Henry Kolker, starring George Arliss
- The Dollar-a-Year Man (lost), directed by James Cruze, starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle[7]
E
- El Capullo Marchito, directed by José Nepomuceno – (Philippines)
- El Dorado, directed by Marcel L'Herbier – (France)
- Enchantment, directed by Robert G. Vignola, starring Marion Davies
- Experience (lost), directed by George Fitzmaurice, starring Richard Barthelmess
F
- The Fire Eater, directed by B. Reeves Eason, starring Hoot Gibson
- Fool's Paradise, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Conrad Nagel and Mildred Harris
- Forever (lost), directed by George Fitzmaurice, starring Elsie Ferguson and Wallace Reid
- The Four Feathers, directed by René Plaissetty – (GB)
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, directed by Rex Ingram, starring Rudolph Valentino
G
- The Goat, directed by Mal St. Clair and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton
- The Ghost in the Garret (lost), directed by F. Richard Jones, starring Dorothy Gish
- Godfather Death (Der Gevatter Tod), directed by Heinz Hanus, based on the 1884 short story Der Pate des Todes by Rudolf Baumbach[6] – (Austria)
- The Grinning Face (Das grinsende Gesicht), directed by Julius Herska, based on the 1869 novel The Man Who Laughs by Victor Hugo – (Austria/Germany)
- The Gunsaulus Mystery (lost), written and directed by Oscar Micheaux
H
- Hail the Woman, directed by John Griffith Wray, starring Florence Vidor
- The Haunted Castle (Schloß Vogelöd), directed by F. W. Murnau, based on the novel by Rudolf Stratz – (Germany)
- The Haunted House, directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton
- The High Sign, directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton
- His Brother's Keeper (lost), directed by Wilfrid North[8]
- L'Homme qui vendit son âme au diable (The Man Who Sold His Soul to the Devil), directed by Pierre Caron – (France)
- The Hound of the Baskervilles, directed by Maurice Elvey, starring Eille Norwood[9][8] – (GB)
- Humor Risk (unreleased), directed by Dick Smith, starring the Marx Brothers
I
- The Idle Class, a Charles Chaplin short
- The Indian Tomb (Das Indische Grabmal), directed by Joe May, starring Conrad Veidt – (Germany)
- The Island of the Lost (Die Insel der Verschollenen), directed by Urban Gad, based on the 1896 novel The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells without authorization[10] – (Germany)
J
- Jane Eyre, directed by Hugo Ballin, starring Norman Trevor and Mabel Ballin, based on the 1847 novel by Charlotte Brontë
- Jánošík, directed by Jaroslav Jerry Siakeľ – (Czechoslovakia)
- Jim the Penman, directed by Kenneth Webb, starring Lionel Barrymore
- Journey into the Night (Der Gang in die Nacht), directed by F. W. Murnau – (Germany)
K
- The Kid, a Charlie Chaplin film, with Jackie Coogan
- Kipps, directed by Harold M. Shaw, starring George K. Arthur, based on the 1905 novel by H. G. Wells
L
- Land of My Fathers directed by Fred Rains, starring John Stuart – (GB)
- Leaves from Satan's Book (Blade af Satans Bog), directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer – (Denmark)
- Little Lord Fauntleroy, directed by Alfred E. Green and Jack Pickford, starring Mary Pickford
- The Lost Shadow (Der Verlorene Schatten) (lost), directed by Rochus Gliese, starring Paul Wegener[11] – (Germany)
- The Lotus Eater (lost), directed by Marshall Neilan, starring John Barrymore and Colleen Moore
- The Love Light, directed by Frances Marion, starring Mary Pickford
- Lucky Carson (lost), directed by Wilfrid North, starring Earle Williams
- The Lucky Dog, directed by Jess Robbins, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
M
- Mathias Sandorf, directed by Henri Fescourt, starring Romuald Joubé – (France)
- The Mechanical Man (L'uomo meccanico) (lost), starring and directed by André Deed – (Italy)
- A Message From Mars, directed by Maxwell Karger, starring Bert Lytell
- A Midnight Bell (lost), starring and directed by Charles Ray, based on the 1889 stage play by Charles H. Hoyt[11][5]
- Miss Lulu Bett, directed by William C. deMille, starring Lois Wilson and Milton Sills
- Il mostro di Frankenstein (The Monster of Frankenstein) (lost), directed by Eugenio Testa[12] – (Italy)
N
- Never Weaken, directed by Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, starring Harold Lloyd
- The Nut, directed by Theodore Reed, starring Douglas Fairbanks and Marguerite De La Motte
O
- The Offenders (lost), directed by Fenwicke Holmes
- Orphans of the Storm, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Lillian Gish and Dorothy Gish
- The Other Person (Onder spiritistischen dwang), directed by Maurits Binger and B. E. Doxat-Pratt, based on the 1920 novel by Fergus Hume[13] – (Netherlands/GB)
P
- The Painting of Osvaldo Mars (Il quadro di Osvaldo Mars), directed by Guido Brignone, starring Mercedes Brignone – (Italy)
- Pan Twardowski, directed by Wiktor Biegański[13] – (Poland)
- The Passion Flower, directed by Herbert Brenon, starring Norma Talmadge
- Peck's Bad Boy, directed by Sam Wood, starring Jackie Coogan
- The Phantom Carriage (aka Korkarlen/ The Wagoner), directed by Victor Sjostrom, starring Sjostrom, Hilda Borgstrom and Tore Svennberg, based on the 1912 novel Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness! by Selma Lagerlof; this film influenced the later works of Ingmar Bergman[14] – (Sweden)
- The Playhouse, directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton
Q
- The Queen of Sheba (lost), directed by J. Gordon Edwards, starring Betty Blythe
S
- A Sailor-Made Man, directed by Fred C. Newmeyer, starring Harold Lloyd
- School Days, directed by William Nigh, starring Wesley Barry
- Sentimental Tommy (lost), directed by John S. Robertson, starring Gareth Hughes
- Seven Years Bad Luck, a Max Linder film
- The Sheik, directed by George Melford, starring Agnes Ayres and Rudolph Valentino
- The Silver Lining, directed by Roland West, starring Jewel Carmen
- The Sky Pilot, directed by King Vidor, starring Colleen Moore
- Soul of the Cypress, directed by Dudley Murphy[15]
- Squibs, directed by George Pearson, starring Betty Balfour – (GB)
- Sybil (lost), directed by Jack Denton, starring Evelyn Brent – (GB)
T
- The Three Musketeers, directed by Fred Niblo, starring Douglas Fairbanks
- Through the Back Door, directed by Alfred E. Green and Jack Pickford, starring Mary Pickford
- Tol'able David, directed by Henry King, starring Richard Barthelmess
- Les Trois Mousquetaires (The Three Musketeers), directed by Henri Diamant-Berger – (France)
W
- Whispering Shadows, directed by Émile Chautard
- White and Unmarried (lost), directed by Tom Forman, starring Thomas Meighan
- Why Girls Leave Home (lost), directed by William Nigh, starring Anna Q. Nilsson
- The Witching Hour, directed by William Desmond Taylor, starring Elliott Dexter, adapted from the 1907 stage play by Augustus Thomas[16][17]
- Woman's Place, directed by Victor Fleming, starring Constance Talmadge
- The Wonderful Thing, directed by Herbert Brenon, starring Norma Talmadge and Harrison Ford
Comedy film series
- Harold Lloyd (1913–1938)
- Charlie Chaplin (1914–1940)
- Lupino Lane (1915–1939)
- Buster Keaton (1917–1944)
- Laurel and Hardy (1921–1945)
Animated short film series
- Aesop's Film Fables (1921–1934)
- Felix the Cat (1919–1936)
- Koko the Clown (1919–1963)
Births
- January 3 – John Russell, actor (died 1991)
- January 10 - George Robotham, American stuntman and actor (died 2007)
- January 11 - Kathleen Byron, English actress (died 2009)
- January 17 - Herb Ellis, American character actor (died 2018)
- January 26 – Elisabeth Kirkby, British-born Australian actress, producer and director
- January 27 – Donna Reed, actress (died 1986)
- January 31
- Carol Channing, musical actress (died 2019)
- Mario Lanza, singer and actor (died 1959)
- February 1 – Peter Sallis, actor (died 2017)
- February 8 – Lana Turner, actress (died 1995)
- February 16 – Vera-Ellen, actress, dancer (died 1981)
- February 19 – Ann Savage, actress (died 2008)
- February 22 – Giulietta Masina, actress (died 1994)
- February 23 - Jack Rader, American actor
- February 24 – Abe Vigoda, actor (died 2016)
- February 26 – Betty Hutton, actress (died 2007)
- March 3 – Diana Barrymore, actress (died 1960)
- March 4 – Joan Greenwood, actress (died 1987)
- March 5 - Jo de Winter, American actress (died 2016)
- March 8 – Alan Hale Jr., actor, restaurateur (died 1990)
- March 10 – Charlotte Zucker, actress, mother of Jerry Zucker and David Zucker (died 2007)
- March 12 – Gordon MacRae, actor, singer (died 1986)
- March 21 - Logan Ramsey, American character actor (died 2000)
- March 23 – Geoffrey Chater, English actor (died 2021)
- March 25
- Nancy Kelly, American actress (died 1995)
- Simone Signoret, French actress (died 1985)
- March 26 – Julie Harris, English costume designer (died 2015)
- March 28 – Dirk Bogarde, English actor (died 1999)
- April 1 – Arieh Elias, Israeli actor (died 2015)
- April 3 – Jan Sterling, American actress (died 2004)
- April 7 – Bill Butler, American cinematographer (died 2023)
- April 10 – Chuck Connors, American actor (died 1992)
- April 16 – Peter Ustinov, British actor (died 2004)
- April 23
- Janet Blair, American actress (died 2007)
- Gerald Campion, English actor (died 2002)
- April 29 – Tommy Noonan, American actor, screenwriter, producer (died 1968)
- May 2 – Satyajit Ray, Indian filmmaker (died 1992)
- May 16 - Harry Carey Jr., American actor (died 2012)
- May 23
- Grigori Chukhrai, Ukrainian film director (died 2001)
- Ray Lawler, Australian actor
- May 30 - Jamie Uys, South African film director (died 1996)
- May 31 – Alida Valli, actress (died 2006)
- June 8
- Sheila Ryan, actress (died 1975)
- Alexis Smith, actress (died 1993)
- June 18 – Wesley Lau, actor (died 1984)
- June 19 – Louis Jourdan, actor (died 2015)
- June 21
- Judy Holliday, born Judith Tuvim, actress (died 1965)
- Jane Russell, actress (died 2011)
- July 2 - Maria Britneva, Russian-British actress (died 1994)
- July 3 – Susan Peters, actress (died 1952)
- July 5 – Patricia Wright, American former actress
- July 6
- Nancy Reagan, born Anne Robbins, actress and First Lady of the United States (died 2016)
- Bill Shirley, American actor and singer (died 1989)
- July 10 – Jeff Donnell, American actress (died 1988)
- July 17 – František Zvarík, Slovakian actor (died 2008)
- July 21 - Al Checco, American actor (died 2015)
- July 23 – Robert Brown, actor (died 2003)
- August 3 – Marilyn Maxwell, actress (died 1972)
- August 8 – Esther Williams, actress, swimmer (died 2013)
- August 11 - Tad Horino, American actor (died 2002)
- August 19
- Pasquale Cajano, Italian-American actor (died 2000)
- Gene Roddenberry, screenwriter and producer (died 1991)
- August 28 – Nancy Kulp, actress, comedienne (died 1991)
- September 8 – Harry Secombe, actor, singer (died 2001)
- September 27 – Miklós Jancsó, Hungarian director (died 2014)
- September 30 – Deborah Kerr, actress (died 2007)
- October 1 - James Whitmore, American actor (died 2009)
- October 5 - Nikolay Dupak, Soviet-Russian actor (died 2023)
- October 12 - Kenneth Griffith, Welsh actor and documentary filmmaker (died 2006)
- October 13 – Yves Montand, singer, actor (died 1991)
- November 3 – Charles Bronson, actor (died 2003)
- November 5 – Moritz Yomtov, screenwriter (died 1992)
- November 8 – Walter Mirisch, American film producer (died 2023)
- November 14 - Brian Keith, American actor (died 1997)
- November 21 – Vivian Blaine, actor, singer (died 1995)
- November 22 – Rodney Dangerfield, actor, comedian (died 2004)
- November 23 – Fred Buscaglione, Italian actor and singer (died 1960)
- December 1 - Sylvia Kauders, American actress (died 2016)
- December 4 – Deanna Durbin, actress (died 2013)
- December 11 - Liz Smith, English character actress (died 2016)
- December 15 - Nikolai Lebedev, Soviet-Russian actor (died 2022)
- December 24 - Mickey Knox, American actor (died 2013)
- December 26 – Steve Allen, actor, composer, comedian, author (died 2000)
Deaths
- February 8 – George Formby Sr, 45, British music hall entertainer who appeared in one film (pulmonary tuberculosis)[18]
- May 17 – Karl Mantzius, 61, Danish actor, theatre director, writer
- June 5 – Georges Feydeau, 58, French playwright, many of whose plays were adapted for the screen (syphilis)[19]
- June 11 - Frank R. Mills, 50, American stage and screen actor
- June 20 – George Loane Tucker, 49, American actor, screenwriter and director
- July 9 – Robert Broderick, 56, American stage and film actor
- September 9 – Virginia Rappe, 30,[20] American actress
- September 17 – Van Dyke Brooke, 62, American actor, screenwriter and film director
Film debuts
- Richard Arlen – Ladies Must Live
- George Arliss – The Devil
- Mary Astor – Bullets or Ballots
- George Bancroft – The Journey's End
- Leslie Banks – Experience
- Anna-Lisa Baude – The Phantom Carriage
- Helga Brofeldt – The Phantom Carriage
- Julia Cæsar – The Phantom Carriage
- Louis Calhern – What's Worth While?
- Harry Carey Jr. – Desperate Trails
- Billie Dove – Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford
- Camilla Horn – Kean
- Selmer Jackson – The Supreme Passion
- Roger Livesey – The Four Feathers
- Carole Lombard – A Perfect Crime
- Fredric March – The Great Adventure
- Patsy Ruth Miller – One a Minute
- Mary Philbin – The Blazing Trail
- Basil Rathbone – Innocent
- Dorothy Revier – Life's Greatest Question
- Frances Robinson – Orphans of the Storm
- Athene Seyler – The Adventures of Mr. Pickwick
- Lilyan Tashman – Experience
- Fred Thomson – The Love Light
- Coy Watson Jr. – While the Devil Laughs
See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1921 in film.
References
- ^ a b c "The All Time Best Sellers". International Motion Picture Almanac 1937–38. Quigley Publishing Company. p. 942. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
- ^ a b c Birchard, Robert S. (2004). Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood. University Press of Kentucky. p. 120. ISBN 0-813-12324-0.
- ^ a b Warner Bros financial information in The William Shaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1–31 p. 1 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551
- ^ a b Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 232. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
- ^ a b Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 241. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
- ^ a b Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 233. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
- ^ Kinnard,Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 124.
- ^ a b Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 237. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
- ^ Kinnard,Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 125.
- ^ Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 238. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
- ^ a b Kinnard,Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 126.
- ^ Kinnard,Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 118.
- ^ a b Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 242. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
- ^ Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 229. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
- ^ Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 243. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
- ^ Kinnard,Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 128.
- ^ Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 244. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
- ^ "Mrs George Formby's Own Story". The Sunday Post. Dundee. February 13, 1921. p. 16.
- ^ Manuel A. Esteban (1983). Georges Feydeau. Twayne Publishers. pp. 17–18. ISBN 978-0-8057-6551-9.
- ^ Illinois, Cook County Birth Registers, 1871-1915, Mabel Rapp in entry for Rapp, 07 Jul 1891; citing p.254 no.12677, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, Cook County Courthouse, Chicago; FHL microfilm 1,287,737.