1937 in film

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

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.
• Monogram Pictures, who had merged with Republic Pictures two years earlier, decide to separate and distribute their own films again.
• June 7 – Jean Harlow, one of the biggest Hollywood stars of the decade, dies aged 26 at Good Samaratan Hospital in Los Angeles. The official cause of death is listed as cerebral edema, a complication of kidney failure.
• 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.

  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
• Best Supporting Actor: Joseph Schildkraut – The Life of Emile Zola
• Best Supporting Actress: Alice Brady – In Old Chicago

  Top ten money-making stars

1937 film releases

January–March

• January 1937
• *13 January
• **Thunder in the City
• *14 January
• **Action for Slander
• *17 January
• **Battle of Greed
• *26 January
• **Without Dowry
• *28 January
• **Pépé le Moko
• *29 January
• **The Good Earth
• **You Only Live Once
• *30 January
• **Black Legion
• February 1937
• *2 February
• **Dreaming Lips
• *4 February
• **The Daughter of the Samurai
• *12 February
• **Head Over Heels
• **On the Avenue
• *13 February
• **The Great O'Malley
• *19 February
• **The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
• March 1937
• *2 March
• **Lost Horizon
• *3 March
• **Maid of Salem
• *5 March
• **Fire Over England
• **History is Made at Night
• **Jump for Glory
• *12 March
• **A Family Affair
• **Nancy Steele Is Missing!
• *22 March
• **Layla and Majnun
• *25 March
• **Seventh Heaven
• *26 March
• **Maytime
• **Quality Street
• *27 March
• Girl Loves Boy

  April–June

• April 1937
• *5 April
• **Elephant Boy
• *9 April
• **The Soldier and the Lady
• *10 April
• **Marked Woman
• **The Tale of the Fox
• *16 April
• **Way Out West
• *18 April
• **Love from a Stranger
• *20 April
• **A Star Is Born
• *23 April
• **The Woman I Love
• *28 April
• **Woman Chases Man
• *30 April
• **Night Must Fall
• May 1937
• *7 May
• **Shall We Dance
• **They Gave Him a Gun
• *8 May
• **The Prince and the Pauper
• *9 May
• **Make Way for Tomorrow
• **The Vicar of Bray
• *11 May
• **Captains Courageous
• *19 May
• **Academy Award Review of Walt Disney Cartoons
• *21 May
• **Charlie Chan at the Olympics
• **Pick a Star
• *26 May
• **Kid Galahad
• *28 May
• **This Is My Affair
• June 1937
• *1 June
• **Knight Without Armour
• **The Road Back
• *4 June
• **Parnell
• *8 June
• **Grand Illusion
• *11 June
• **A Day at the Races
• *12 June
• **Storm in a Teacup
• *17 June
• **King Solomon's Mines
• *23 June
• **Slim
• *25 June
• **Wee Willie Winkie
• *30 June
• **Silver Blaze

  July–September

• July 1937
• *6 July
• **The Edge of the World
• *7 July
• **Easy Living
• *14 July
• **They Won't Forget
• *15 July
• **Ever Since Eve
• *16 July
• **Topper
• *21 July
• **High, Wide, and Handsome
• *23 July
• **Saratoga
• *24 July
• **Street Angel
• August 1937
• *3 August
• **You Can't Have Everything
• *4 August
• **Artists and Models
• *6 August
• **Stella Dallas
• *9 August
• **Souls at Sea
• *11 August
• **The Life of Emile Zola
• *19 August
• **Confession
• *20 August
• **Broadway Melody of 1938
• *25 August
• **Humanity and Paper Balloons
• *27 August
• **Dead End
• *31 August
• **To New Shores
• September 1937
• *1 September
• **The Firefly
• *2 September
• **The Prisoner of Zenda
• *3 September
• **Big City
• *5 September
• **One Hundred Men and a Girl
• *7 September
• **It Happened in Hollywood
• *10 September
• **Annapolis Salute
• **Gribouille
• *16 September
• **Victoria the Great
• *18 September
• **That Certain Woman
• *24 September
• **Tři vejce do skla
• *26 September
• **The Dybbuk
• *30 September
• **Something to Sing About

  October–December

• October 1937
• *1 October
• **Madame X
• *2 October
• **Love Is on the Air
• *8 October
• **Stage Door
• *10 October
• **Law for Tombstone
• *12 October
• **Green Fields
• *14 October
• **Think Fast, Mr. Moto
• *15 October
• **The Bride Wore Red
• **Double Wedding
• **Heidi
• *20 October
• **Bizarre, Bizarre
• *21 October
• **The Awful Truth
• *22 October
• **Conquest
• **Yoshiwara
• *23 October
• **The Perfect Specimen
• *29 October
• **Ali Baba Goes to Town
• **Angel
• **Stand-In
• *30 October
• **The Great Garrick
• November 1937
• *9 November
• **The Hurricane
• *12 November
• **The Last Gangster
• *19 November
• **A Damsel in Distress
• **Navy Blue and Gold
• *20 November
• **It's Love I'm After
• *25 November
• **Nothing Sacred
• December 1937
• *2 December
• **Andula Won
• **The Seven Ravens
• *4 December
• **First Lady
• *10 December
• **Born to the West
• *17 December
• **Daughter of Shanghai
• *18 December
• **La Habanera
• *21 December
• **Skeleton on Horseback
• **Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
• *24 December
• **True Confession
• *25 December
• **Tovarich
• *29 December
• **You're a Sweetheart
• *31 December
• **Wells Fargo
• **Wise Girl

  Notable films released in 1937

A

• Academy Award Review of Walt Disney Cartoons
• Action for Slander, starring Clive Brook and Ann Todd
• Ali Baba Goes to Town, starring Eddie Cantor
• Andula Won
• 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

  B

• Battle of Greed, starring Tom Keene
• Bezhin Meadow, directed by Sergei Eisenstein
• Big City, starring Luise Rainer and Spencer Tracy
• Bizarre, Bizarre, directed by Marcel Carné, starring Louis Jouvet and Michel Simon
• 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
• Broadway Melody of 1938, starring Eleanor Powell and Judy Garland

  C

• 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''

  D

• A Damsel in Distress, starring Fred Astaire, George Burns and Gracie Allen
• The Daughter of the Samurai, directed by Arnold Fanck and Mansaku Itami
• 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
• Duniya Na Mane
• The Dybbuk, Yiddish language film from

  E

• Easy Living, starring Jean Arthur and Edward Arnold
• The Edge of the World, directed by Michael Powell
• Elephant Boy, directed by Robert J. Flaherty and Zoltan Korda, starring Sabu
• España 1936, a documentary produced and co-written by Luis Buñuel
• Ever Since Eve, starring Marion Davies and Robert Montgomery

  F

• A Family Affair, starring Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, Fay Holden
• Fire Over England, starring Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh
• The Firefly, starring Jeanette MacDonald and Allan Jones
• First Lady, starring Kay Francis and Preston Foster

  G

• Gangway, starring Jessie Matthews
• Girl Loves Boy. starring Eric Linden
• The Good Earth, starring Paul Muni and Luise Rainer
• Good Morning, Boys, starring Will Hay
• Grand Illusion, directed by Jean Renoir, starring Jean Gabin and Dita Parlo
• The Great Barrier, starring Richard Arlen and Lilli Palmer
• 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, starring Raimu and Michèle Morgan

  H

• La Habanera, directed by Douglas Sirk
• Head Over Heels, starring Jessie Matthews
• 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
• The Hurricane, starring Dorothy Lamour

  I–J

• It Happened in Hollywood, starring Richard Dix and Fay Wray
• 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

  K

• Kid Galahad, starring Edward G. Robinson, Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart
• King Solomon's Mines, starring Cedric Hardwicke and Paul Robeson
• Knight Without Armour, starring Marlene Dietrich and Robert Donat

  L

• Lancashire Luck, film debut of Wendy Hiller
• The Last Gangster, starring Edward G. Robinson and James Stewart
• The Last of Mrs. Cheyney, starring Joan Crawford and William Powell
• Law for Tombstone, directed by and starring Buck Jones
• Layla and Majnun directed by Abdolhossein Sepanta
• 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
• Love Is on the Air, directed by Nick Grinde, starring Ronald Reagan and June Travis

  M

• 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
• Marked Woman, starring Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart
• Maytime, starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy
• Morality Above All Else

  N

• 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

  O–P

• Oh, Mr Porter!, starring Will Hay
• O-Kay for Sound, starring The Crazy Gang
• 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
• Pick a Star, starring Jack Haley
• 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
• The Seven Ravens
• Seventh Heaven, starring James Stewart and Simone Simon
• Shall We Dance, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
• Sidewalks of London, starring Charles Laughton, Vivien Leigh and Rex Harrison
• Il signor Max, starring Vittorio De Sica
• Silver Blaze, starring Arthur Wontner
• Skeleton on Horseback, directed by and starring Hugo Haas
• Slave Ship, starring Warner Baxter and Wallace Beery
• Slim, starring Henry Fonda
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, first American feature-length animated film. Directed by David Hand, William Cottrell, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, and Ben Sharpsteen, starring Adriana Caselotti, Lucille La Verne, Harry Stockwell, Roy Atwell, Pinto Colvig, Otis Harlan, Scotty Mattraw, Billy Gilbert, Eddie Collins, Moroni Olsen, and Stuart Buchanan
• The Soldier and the Lady
• Something to Sing About, directed by Victor Schertzinger, starring James Cagney, Evelyn Daw, William Frawley
• Song at Midnight
• 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
• Street Angel, starring Zhou Xuan

  T–V

• The Tale of the Fox
• That Certain Woman, starring Bette Davis and Henry Fonda
• The Three Garridebs, starring Louis Hector, in the first televised adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes character.
• 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
• To New Shores, directed by Douglas Sirk, starring Zarah Leander
• Topper, starring Constance Bennett, Cary Grant, Roland Young
• Tovarich, starring Claudette Colbert and Charles Boyer
• Tři vejce do skla
• True Confession, starring Carole Lombard, Fred MacMurray, John Barrymore
• The Vicar of Bray, starring Stanley Holloway
• Victoria the Great, starring Anna Neagle and Anton Walbrook

  W–Z

• Way Out West, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
• Wee Willie Winkie, starring Shirley Temple
• Wells Fargo, starring Joel McCrea
• What Did the Lady Forget?, directed by Yasujirō Ozu
• Wise Girl, starring Miriam Hopkins and Ray Milland
• Without Dowry
• 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
• 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
• You're a Sweetheart
• You're Only Young Once, starring Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, Fay Holden
• Znachor

  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
• Charlie Chaplin
• Lupino Lane
• Buster Keaton
• Laurel and Hardy
• Our Gang
• Wheeler and Woolsey
• The Marx Brothers
• The Three Stooges

  Animated short film series

• Krazy Kat
• Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
• Mickey Mouse
• Silly Symphonies
• * Woodland Café
• * Little Hiawatha
• * The Old Mill
• Screen Songs
• Looney Tunes
• Terrytoons
• Merrie Melodies
• Scrappy
• Betty Boop
• Popeye
• Happy Harmonies
• Color Rhapsodies
• Meany, Miny, and Moe
• Donald Duck

  Births

• January 4 – Dyan Cannon, American actress
• January 14 – Stefano Satta Flores, Italian actor and voice actor
• January 15 – Margaret O'Brien, American actress
• January 30 – Vanessa Redgrave, English actress
• January 31 – Suzanne Pleshette, American actress
• 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
• April 22 – Jack Nicholson, American actor
• April 27 – Sandy Dennis, American actress
• May 8 – Shin Seong-il, South Korean actor
• May 12 – George Carlin, American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic and author
• May 16 – Yvonne Craig, American actress
• 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
• June 26 – Sombat Metanee, Thai actor and film director
• July 6 – Ned Beatty, American actor
• July 16 – Ada Rogovtseva, Ukrainian actress
• July 20 – Ken Ogata, Japanese actor
• August 8 – Dustin Hoffman, American actor
• August 14 – Alberta Nelson, American actress
• August 26 – Kenji Utsumi, Japanese actor
• September 4 – Mikk Mikiver, Estonian actor and director
• September 5 – William Devane, American actor
• September 7
• * Cüneyt Arkın, Turkish film actor, producer and director
• *John Phillip Law, American actor
• September 10 - Brian Murray, South African actor and theatre director
• September 13
• * Don Bluth, American director and producer
• * Meeli Sööt, Estonian actress
• October 21 – Édith Scob, French actress
• November 5 – Harris Yulin, American actor
• November 21 – Ingrid Pitt, Polish-born British actress
• December 7 – Kenneth Colley, English actor
• December 9 – Darwin Joston, American actor
• December 21 – Jane Fonda, American actress
• December 29 – Barbara Steele, English actress
• December 30 – Zaldy Zshornack, Filipino actor
• 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, 40, 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
• June 25 – Colin Clive, 37, British actor, Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein
• September 21 – Osgood Perkins, 45, American actor, Scarface, Gold Diggers of 1937
• November 13 – Mrs. Leslie Carter, 75, American stage and screen actress, Becky Sharp, Rocky Mountain Mystery
• December 21 – Ted Healy, 41, American actor and creator of The Three Stooges, San Francisco, Mad Love, Beer and Pretzels, Soup to Nuts

  Debuts

• Mel Blanc – Picador Porky
• Broderick Crawford – Woman Chases Man
• Laraine Day – Stella Dallas
• Richard Farnsworth – A Day at the Races
• Glenn Ford – Night in Manhattan
• Susan Hayward – Hollywood Hotel
• Wendy Hiller – Lancashire Luck
• Carole Landis – The King and the Chorus Girl
• Donald O'Connor – It Can't Last Forever
• Ronald Reagan – Love Is on the Air
• Sabu – Elephant Boy
• Lana Turner – They Won't Forget