1930 in film

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… 1920 .  1921 .  1922 .  1923  . 1924  . 1925  . 1926 … 1927 1928 1929 -1930- 1931 1932 1933 … 1934 .  1935 .  1936 .  1937  . 1938  . 1939  . 1940 …     In television: 1927 1928 1929 -1930- 1931 1932 1933             In radio: 1927 1928 1929 -1930- 1931 1932 1933
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Events

• November 1: The Big Trail featuring a young John Wayne in his first starring role is released in both 35mm, and a very early form of 70mm film and was the first large scale big-budget film of the sound era costing over $2 million. The film was praised for its aesthetic quality and realism that wouldn't become commonplace until many decades later. However, due to the new film format and the film's release during the great depression the film would go onto become a financial failure at the box office.

Top grossing films

Rank	Title	Studio/Gross	Actors
1.	All Quiet on the Western Front	Universal / $3,000,000	Lew Ayres
2.	Whoopee!	United Artists / $2,600,000	Eddie Cantor
3.	Hell's Angels	United Artists / $2,500,000	Jean Harlow, Ben Lyon and James Hall
4.	Animal Crackers	Paramount / $1,500,000	Marx Brothers
5.	Feet First	Paramount / $1,300,000	Harold Lloyd
6.	The Rogue Song	MGM	Lawrence Tibbett
7.	The Life of the Party	Warner Bros.	Winnie Lightner
8.	Hold Everything	Warner Bros.	Winnie Lightner, Joe E. Brown
9.	Sunny	MGM	Marilyn Miller
10.	The Vagabond King	Paramount	Dennis King, Jeanette MacDonald
11.	Song of the Flame	Warner Bros.	Noah Beery, Bernice Claire
12.	The Green Goddess	Warner Bros.	George Arliss

Academy Awards

• Best Picture: All Quiet on the Western Front - Universal Studios
• Best Actress: Norma Shearer - The Divorcee
• Best Actor: George Arliss - Disraeli
• Best Director:Lewis Milestone - All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 film)

Films released in 1930

U.S. unless stated

• Abraham Lincoln, starring Walter Huston Nov 8, 1930
• L'Âge d'Or, directed by Luis Buñuel Nov. 29, 1930 - (France)
• Alraune March 2, 1930 - (Germany)
• All Quiet on the Western Front, directed by Lewis Milestone, starring Lew Ayres April 21, 1930
• Animal Crackers, starring the Marx Brothers August 23, 1930
• Anna Christie, starring Greta Garbo Feb. 21, 1930
• Big Boy, a musical comedy with Al Jolson
• The Big House, starring Chester Morris and Wallace Beery
• The Big Pond
• The Big Trail, starring John Wayne
• Der blaue Engel (The Blue Angel), directed by Josef von Sternberg, starring Marlene Dietrich and Emil Jannings - (Germany)
• The Blood of a Poet (Le Sang d'un Poete), directed by Jean Cocteau - (France)
• Bride of the Regiment (1930)
• Bright Lights (1930), a musical comedy in Technicolor
• Call of the Flesh, starring Ramón Novarro - a musical romance with Technicolor sequences
• Call of the Sea - (U.K.)
• The Cat Creeps a mystery film released by Universal
• Chasing Rainbows, a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
• Check and Double Check, a comedy based on Amos 'n' Andy radio show
• Children of Pleasure, a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
• City Girl, directed by F.W. Murnau
• Courage
• The Cuckoos, a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
• Danger Lights, starring Louis Wolheim
• The Dawn Patrol, directed by Howard Hawks, starring Richard Barthelmess and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
• The Divorcee, directed by Robert Z. Leonard, starring Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery
• Dixiana, a lavish musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
• Earth (Zemlya), directed by Alexander Dovzhenko - (U.S.S.R.)
• Elstree Calling, a British revue with color sequences, co-directed by Alfred Hitchcock - (U.K.)
• Fast and Loose, starring Miriam Hopkins in her film debut, with Carole Lombard and Frank Morgan
• Feet First, a comedy starring Harold Lloyd
• The Florodora Girl, a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
• Follow Thru (1930), a musical comedy entirely in Technicolor
• Free and Easy, starring Buster Keaton, Anita Page, Trixie Friganza, and Robert Montgomery
• General Crack, a drama with Technicolor sequences starring John Barrymore
• Golden Dawn (1930), a musical operetta entirely in Technicolor
• Good News, a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
• Hell's Angels, directed by Howard Hughes, starring Jean Harlow and Ben Lyon
• Hell's Heroes
• Hold Everything (1930), a musical comedy entirely in Technicolor
• Holiday
• Journey's End, directed by James Whale - (U.K./U.S.)
• King of Jazz (1930), a revue with Paul Whiteman and his orchestra entirely in Technicolor
• Ladies Love Brutes, a comedy directed by Rowland V. Lee
• Leathernecking, a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
• Let's Go Native, starring Jack Oakie and Jeanette MacDonald
• The Life of the Party (1930), musical comedy entirely in Technicolor
• Loose Ankles, comedy drama starring Loretta Young and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., directed by Ted Wilde
• Lord Byron of Broadway, a musical drama with Technicolor sequences
• The Lottery Bride, a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
• Madam Satan, directed by Cecil B. DeMille
• Mamba (1930), first talking drama entirely in Technicolor
• Mammy, a musical comedy starring Al Jolson with Technicolor sequences
• Manslaughter, starring Claudette Colbert and Fredric March
• Melody Man, a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
• Min and Bill
• Monte Carlo
• Morocco, starring Gary Cooper and Marlene Dietrich
• Murder!, directed by Alfred Hitchcock - (U.K.)
• New Movietone Follies of 1930, a musical revue with Multicolor sequences
• No No Nanette, a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
• Not So Dumb, starring Marion Davies
• Paramount on Parade, an all-star revue with Technicolor sequences
• Peacock Alley, a musical drama with Technicolor sequences
• Puttin' on the Ritz, directed by Edward Sloman, with Technicolor sequences
• Raffles, featuring Ronald Colman and Kay Francis
• The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu, starring Warner Oland and Jean Arthur
• The Road to Fortune - (U.K.)
• The Rogue Song (1930), a musical operetta entirely in Technicolor
• Second Choice, starring Dolores Costello and Chester Morris
• Show Girl in Hollywood, a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
• Son of the Gods, a drama with Technicolor sequences starring Richard Barthelmess
• Song o' My Heart (1930), a musical starring Irish tenor John McCormack, directed by Frank Borzage, and shot in both 35mm and 70mm Fox Grandeur formats
• Song of the Flame (1930), a musical operetta entirely in Technicolor
• Song of the West (1930), a musical drama entirely in Technicolor
• Soup to Nuts (1930), a comedy and film debut for The Three Stooges
• Street of Chance, starring William Powell and Jean Arthur
• Sunny, a musical comedy with Marilyn Miller
• Sweet Kitty Bellairs (1930), a musical comedy entirely in Technicolor
• True to the Navy, starring Clara Bow and Fredric March
• Under a Texas Moon (1930), a musical comedy entirely in Technicolor
• Under the Roofs of Paris (Sous les toits de Paris), directed by René Clair - (France)
• The Vagabond King (1930), a musical drama entirely in Technicolor
• Wara Wara, directed by José Maria Velasco Maidana; now the only surviving silent Bolivian feature film
• Way for a Sailor, starring John Gilbert and Wallace Beery
• Westfront 1918 (Vier von der Infanterie), directed by G. W. Pabst - (Germany)
• Whoopee! (1930), a musical comedy in Technicolor with Eddie Cantor
• Young Man of Manhattan, starring Claudette Colbert, Charles Ruggles and Ginger Rogers

Serials

• Across the World with Mr & Mrs Martin Johnson
• Hunting Tigers in India
• The Indians Are Coming
• The Jade Box
• The Lightning Express
• The Lone Defender, starring Rin Tin Tin
• Terry of the Times
• The Voice from the Sky

Short film series

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

Animated short film series

• Felix the Cat (1919-1936)
• Aesop's Film Fables (1921–1933)
• Krazy Kat (1925–1940)
• Mickey Mouse (1928–1953)
  • Just Mickey
  • The Barnyard Concert
  • The Cactus Kid
  • Wild Waves
  • The Fire Fighters
  • The Shindig
  • The Chain Gang
  • The Gorilla Mystery
  • The Picnic
  • Pioneer Days
  • Minnie's Yoo-Hoo
• Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
• Silly Symphonies
  • Summer
  • Autumn
  • The Cannibal Capers
  • Night
  • Frolicking Fish
  • Arctic Antics
  • Midnight in a Toyshop
  • Monkey Melodies
  • Winter
  • Playful Pan
• Screen Songs (1929–1938)
• Talkartoons (1929–1932)
• Looney Tunes (1930-1969)
  • Sinkin' in the Bathtub
  • Congo Jazz
  • Hold Anything
  • The Booze Hangs High
  • Box Car Blues
• Flip the Frog (1930-1933)
• Terrytoons (1930-1964)
• Toby the Pup (1930-1931)

Births

• January 3 - Robert Loggia, actor
• January 10 - Roy E. Disney, film executive (d. 2009)
• January 13 - Frances Sternhagen, actress
• January 19 - Tippi Hedren, actress
• January 30 - Gene Hackman, actor
• February 10 - Robert Wagner, actor
• February 27 - Joanne Woodward, actress
• March 6 - Allison Hayes, actress (d. 1977)
• March 24 - Steve McQueen, actor (d. 1980)
• April 18 - Clive Revill, actor
• April 21 - Silvana Mangano, actress (d. 1989)
• April 24 - Richard Donner, director, producer
• April 25 - Paul Mazursky, director, actor
• April 28 - Carolyn Jones, actress (d. 1983)
• May 9 - Joan Sims, actress (d. 2001)
• May 31 - Clint Eastwood, actor, director, producer
• June 1 - Edward Woodward, actor, singer (d. 2009)
• June 19 - Gena Rowlands, actress
• August 25 - Sir Sean Connery, actor
• September 16 - Anne Francis, actress (d. 2011)
• September 21 - Dawn Addams, actress (d. 1985)
• October 1 - Sir Richard Harris, actor (d. 2002)
• December 3 - Jean-Luc Godard, director
• December 11 - Jean-Louis Trintignant, actor

Deaths

• January 31 - Dorothy Seastrom, American actress
• February 23 - Mabel Normand, American actress (b. 1892)
• July 7 - Arthur Conan Doyle, British author and creator of Sherlock Holmes. (b. 1859)
• August 26 - Lon Chaney, American actor (b. 1883)
• September 15 - Milton Sills, American actor
• December 15 - Diane Ellis, American actress

Film debuts

• James Cagney
• Buster Crabbe
• Bing Crosby
• Irene Dunne
• Rex Harrison
• Miriam Hopkins
• Ruby Keeler
• Peter Lorre
• Ethel Merman
• Ginger Rogers
• Spencer Tracy