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1931 Films
The following is an overview of 1931 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths. Top-grossing films (U.S.) The top ten 1931 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows: Events * January 5: RKO acquires the producing and distribution arm of Pathé for $4.6 million. * March 14: '' Alam Ara'', the first Indian-made sound film, premieres at the Majestic Cinema in Bombay. * June 20: Monogram Pictures releases its first film, ''Ships of Hate''. * July 7: Anti-competitive practices disclosed about certain distributors and producers in Canada. * November 17: E. R. Tinker elected president of Fox Films replacing Harley L. Clarke. * December 14: RKO refinancing plan approved. Best money stars '' Variety'' reported the following as the biggest male stars in the U.S. in alphabetical order although grouped George Arliss and Ronald Colman together as having equal ranking. The following were the biggest women ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bad Girl (1931 Film)
''Bad Girl'' is a 1931 American pre-Code drama film directed by Frank Borzage and starring Sally Eilers, James Dunn, and Minna Gombell. The screenplay was adapted by Edwin J. Burke from the 1928 novel by Viña Delmar and the 1930 play by Delmar and Brian Marlowe. The plot follows the courtship and marriage of two young, working-class people and the misunderstandings that result from their not having learned to trust and communicate with one another. The film propelled then-unknown actors Eilers and Dunn to stardom. It was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. Plot Dorothy Haley and Edna Driggs are store models, first seen in bridal clothes at their job one afternoon. After work Dorothy fends off her boss, who wants to take her for a ride, by claiming to be married to a prizefighter. The girls then go to Coney Island. On the return steamboat trip, the women make a bet about attracting a certain ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Auguste Chevalier (; 12 September 1888 – 1 January 1972) was a French singer, actor, and entertainer. He is best known for his signature songs, including " Livin' In The Sunlight", " Valentine", " Louise", " Mimi", and " Thank Heaven for Little Girls", and for his films, including '' The Love Parade'', '' The Big Pond'', '' The Smiling Lieutenant'', '' One Hour with You'', and '' Love Me Tonight''. His trademark attire was a boater hat and tuxedo. Chevalier was born in Paris. He made his name as a star of musical comedy, appearing in public as a singer and dancer at an early age before working in menial jobs as a teenager. In 1909, he became the partner of the biggest female star in France at the time, Fréhel. Although their relationship was brief, she secured him his first major engagement, as a mimic and a singer in ''l'Alcazar'' in Marseille, for which he received critical acclaim by French theatre critics. In 1917, he discovered jazz and ragtime and went to Londo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wallace Beery
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in '' Min and Bill'' (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in '' Grand Hotel'' (1932), as the pirate Long John Silver in '' Treasure Island'' (1934), as Pancho Villa in '' Viva Villa!'' (1934), and his title role in '' The Champ'' (1931), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Beery appeared in some 250 films during a 36-year career. His contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer stipulated in 1932 that he would be paid $1 more than any other contract player at the studio. This made Beery the highest-paid film actor in the world during the early 1930s. He was the brother of actor Noah Beery and uncle of actor Noah Beery Jr. For his contributions to the film industry, Beery was posthumously inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. Early life Beery was born the youngest of three boys on April 1, 1885, in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ronald Colman
Ronald Charles Colman (9 February 1891 – 19 May 1958) was an English-born actor who started his career in theatre and silent film in his native country, then emigrated to the United States where he had a highly successful Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film career. He starred in silent films and successfully transitioned to sound, aided by a distinctive, pleasing voice. He was most popular during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. He received Oscar nominations for ''Bulldog Drummond (1929 film), Bulldog Drummond'' (1929), ''Condemned (1929 film), Condemned'' (1929) and ''Random Harvest (film), Random Harvest'' (1942). Colman starred in several classic films, including ''A Tale of Two Cities (1935 film), A Tale of Two Cities'' (1935), ''Lost Horizon (1937 film), Lost Horizon'' (1937) and ''The Prisoner of Zenda (1937 film), The Prisoner of Zenda'' (1937). He also played the starring role in the Technicolor classic ''Kismet (1944 film), Kismet'' (1944), with Marlene Dietrich. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Arliss
George Arliss (born Augustus George Andrews; 10 April 1868 – 5 February 1946) was an English actor, author, playwright, and filmmaker who found success in the United States. He was the first British actor to win an Academy Award – which he won for his performance as Victorian-era British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli in '' Disraeli'' (1929) – as well as the earliest-born actor of any category to win the honour. He specialized in successful biopics, such as ''Disraeli'', ''Voltaire'' (1933), and ''Cardinal Richelieu'' (1935), as well as light comedies, which included '' The Millionaire'' (1931) and '' A Successful Calamity'' (1932). His career ranged from being a star of the legitimate theatre, then silent films, then sound films. Early life Arliss was born in London and commonly listed as George Augustus Andrews. His relatives referred to him as Uncle Gus. He started work in the publishing office of his father, William Joseph Arliss Andrews, but left at age 18 to go ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fox Films
The Fox Film Corporation (also known as Fox Studios) was an American independent company that produced motion pictures and was formed in 1914 by the theater "chain" pioneer William Fox. It was the corporate successor to his earlier Greater New York Film Rental Company and Box Office Attraction Company (founded 1913). The company's first film studios were set up in Fort Lee, New Jersey, but in 1917, William Fox sent Sol M. Wurtzel to Hollywood, California to oversee the studio's new West Coast production facilities, where the climate was more hospitable for filmmaking. On July 23, 1926, Fox Studios bought the patents of the Movietone sound system for recording sound onto film. After the Wall Street Crash of 1929, William Fox lost control of the company in 1930, during a hostile takeover. Under new president Sidney R. Kent, the new owners merged the company with Twentieth Century Pictures to form Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation in 1935. History Background William ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Film Daily
''The Film Daily'' was a daily publication that existed from 1918 to 1970 in the United States. It was the first daily newspaper published solely for the film industry. It covered the latest trade news, film reviews, financial updates, information on court cases and union difficulties, and equipment breakthroughs. Publication history The publication was originated by Wid Gunning in 1913 (though not as a daily) and was known as ''Wid's Film and Film Folk'' (1915–1916) and ''Wid's Independent Review of Feature Films'' (1916–1918). Gunning was previously film editor at the '' New York Evening Mail''. He also published ''Wid's Weekly'', and ''Wid's Year Book''. In 1918, Joseph ("Danny") Dannenberg and Jack Alicoate purchased an interest in ''Wid's Weekly''. On March 8, 1918, they released a daily publication, '' Wid's Daily''. In 1921, Dannenberg and Alicoate took control of Wid's Films & Film Folk Inc., with Dannenberg as president and editor, and the publication changed name, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monogram Pictures
Monogram Pictures Corporation was an American film studio that produced mostly low-budget films between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram was among the smaller studios in the golden age of Hollywood, generally referred to collectively as Poverty Row. Lacking the financial resources to deliver the lavish sets, production values, and star power of the larger studios, Monogram sought to attract its audiences with the promise of action and adventure. The company's trademark is now owned by Allied Artists International. The original sprawling brick complex which functioned as home to both Monogram and Allied Artists remains at 4376 Sunset Drive, utilized as part of the Church of Scientology Media Center (formerly KCET's television facilities). History Monogram was created in the early 1930s from two earlier companies: W. Ray Johnston's Rayart Productions (renamed Raytone when sound pictures came in) and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bombay
Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities in India by population, most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12.5 million (1.25 crore). Mumbai is the centre of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, the List of largest cities, seventh-most populous metropolitan area in the world with a population of over 23 million (2.3 crore). Mumbai lies on the Konkan coast on the west coast of India and has a deep natural harbour. In 2008, Mumbai was named an Globalization and World Cities Research Network#Alpha, alpha world city. Mumbai has the List of cities by number of billionaires, highest number of billionaires out of any city in Asia. The seven islands that constitute Mumbai were earlier home to communities of Marathi language-speaking Koli people. For cent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sound Film
A sound film is a Film, motion picture with synchronization, synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed before sound motion pictures became commercially practical. Reliable synchronization was difficult to achieve with the early sound-on-disc systems, and amplification and recording quality were also inadequate. Innovations in sound-on-film led to the first commercial screening of Short film, short motion pictures using the technology, which took place in 1923. Before sound-on-film technology became viable, soundtracks for films were commonly played live with organs or pianos. The primary steps in the commercialization of sound cinema were taken in the mid-to-late 1920s. At first, the sound films which included synchronized dialogue, known as "talking pictures", or "talkies", were exclusively shorts. The earliest feature fil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alam Ara
''Alam Ara'' () is a 1931 Indian Hindustani-language historical fantasy film directed and produced by Ardeshir Irani. It revolves around a king and his two wives, Navbahaar and Dilbahaar, who are childless; soon, a ''fakir'' (Wazir Muhammad Khan) tells the king that the former wife will give birth to a boy, later named Qamar ( Master Vithal), but the child will die following his 18th birthday if Navbahaar cannot find the necklace he asks for. Meanwhile, the king finds out that Dilbahaar falls for the ''senapati'' Adil ( Prithviraj Kapoor), leading the king to arrest him and evicts his pregnant wife, who later gives birth to Alam Ara ( Zubeida). Irani was inspired to make ''Alam Ara'' after watching the 1929 American part-talkie ''Show Boat''. The story was adapted from the Bombay-based dramatist Joseph David's play of the same name. Made on a budget of , principal photography was handled by Adi M. Irani within four months in Bombay. Because the studio was located near a railw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
