Notable Films Released in 1931
U.S.A. unless stated
- À nous la liberté (Freedom for Us), directed by René Clair - (France)
- Alam Ara (The Light of the World), directed by Ardeshir Irani - the first Indian talkie
- Alibi directed by Leslie S. Hiscott (Britain)
- Alice in Wonderland, the first sound version
- Alone (Odna) - (USSR)
- Anna Christie, directed by Jacques Feyder, starring Greta Garbo - (Germany)
- Arrowsmith, directed by John Ford, starring Ronald Colman and Helen Hayes
- Bad Girl, directed by Frank Borzage
- The Bad Sister, starring Bette Davis
- Berlin-Alexanderplatz film of the novel by Alfred Döblin - (Germany)
- Blonde Crazy, starring James Cagney and Joan Blondell
- The Champ, starring Wallace Beery
- La Chienne (The Bitch), directed by Jean Renoir, starring Michel Simon - (France)
- Cimarron, starring Richard Dix and Irene Dunne
- City Lights, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin
- City Streets, starring Gary Cooper and Sylvia Sidney
- A Connecticut Yankee, starring Will Rogers
- The Criminal Code, directed by Howard Hawks, starring Walter Huston
- Dishonored, directed by Josef von Sternberg, starring Marlene Dietrich and Victor McLaglen
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, directed by Rouben Mamoulian, starring Fredric March and Miriam Hopkins
- Dracula, directed by Tod Browning, starring Bela Lugosi and Dwight Frye
- Elisabeth of Austria starring Lil Dagover and Paul Otto (Germany)
- Emil und die Detektive, starring Rolf Wenkhaus, Käthe Haack and Fritz Rasp - (Germany)
- Expensive Women, starring Dolores Costello and H. B. Warner
- Five Star Final, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Edward G. Robinson
- Frankenstein, directed by James Whale, starring Boris Karloff, Colin Clive and Mae Clarke
- A Free Soul, starring Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, Lionel Barrymore and Clark Gable
- From Saturday to Sunday (Ze soboty na neděli) - (Czechoslovakia)
- The Front Page, directed by Lewis Milestone, starring Adolphe Menjou and Pat O'Brien
- Girls About Town, directed by George Cukor, starring Kay Francis and Joel McCrea
- Goldie, starring Jean Harlow and Spencer Tracy
- Hell Divers, starring Wallace Beery and Clark Gable
- Hobson's Choice, directed by Thomas Bentley
- Huckleberry Finn, starring Jackie Coogan
- Hyppolit, the Butler (Hyppolit, a lakáj) - (Hungary)
- I Take This Woman, starring Gary Cooper and Carole Lombard
- Illicit, starring Barbara Stanwyck
- Indiscreet, directed by Leo McCarey, starring Gloria Swanson and Ben Lyon
- Industrial Britain, documentary filmed by Robert J. Flaherty - (Britain)
- Iron Man, starring Lew Ayres and Jean Harlow
- Just a Gigolo, starring Jack Haines
- Kameradschaft (Comradeship), directed by G.W. Pabst - (Germany)
- Kiki, starring Mary Pickford
- The Last Flight, starring Richard Barthelmess
- Laugh and Get Rich, starring Hugh Herbert, Edna May Oliver, and Dorothy Lee
- Little Caesar, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Edward G. Robinson and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
- M, directed by Fritz Lang, starring Peter Lorre and Otto Wernicke - (Germany)
- Mädchen in Uniform, directed by Carl Froelich, starring Hertha Thiele - (Germany)
- The Maltese Falcon, starring Bebe Daniels
- Marius, directed by Alexander Korda, starring Raimu and Pierre Fresnay - (France)
- Mata Hari, starring Greta Garbo and Lionel Barrymore
- Le Million, directed by René Clair - (France)
- The Millionaire, starring George Arliss
- The Miracle Woman, directed by Frank Capra, starring Barbara Stanwyck
- Monkey Business, starring Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo Marx
- Night in Montmatre, directed by Leslie S. Hiscott (Britain)
- Night Nurse starring Barbara Stanwyck and Ben Lyon
- Palmy Days, starring Eddie Cantor
- Pardon Us, starring Laurel and Hardy
- Peach Blossom Weeps Tears of Blood - (China)
- Platinum Blonde, starring Loretta Young, Robert Williams and Jean Harlow
- Possessed, starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable
- Private Lives, starring Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery
- The Public Enemy, directed by William A. Wellman, starring James Cagney, Jean Harlow and Joan Blondell
- Quick Millions, starring Spencer Tracy
- Sally in Our Alley, starring Gracie Fields - (Britain)
- The Secret Six, starring Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone, Johnny Mack Brown, Jean Harlow and Clark Gable
- Sidewalks of New York, starring Buster Keaton
- The Sin of Madelon Claudet, starring Helen Hayes
- Smart Money, starring Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney
- Smart Woman, starring Mary Astor and Edward Everett Horton
- The Smiling Lieutenant, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Maurice Chevalier, Claudette Colbert and Miriam Hopkins
- The Speckled Band, directed by Jack Raymond, starring Raymond Massey (Britain)
- The Squaw Man directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Warner Baxter
- The Stolen Jools, starring Gary Cooper, Laurel and Hardy, and Norma Shearer
- Street Scene, directed by King Vidor, starring Sylvia Sidney
- Svengali, starring John Barrymore
- Tabu, directed by F. W. Murnau
- Tell England, directed by Anthony Asquith (Britain)
- Ten Cents a Dance, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Ricardo Cortez
- This Modern Age, starring Joan Crawford
- Tilly of Bloomsbury, directed by Jack Raymond, starring Sydney Howard, Phyllis Konstam (Britain)
- The Threepenny Opera (Die 3 groschen-oper), starring Lotte Lenya - (Germany)
- Tokyo Chorus (Tokyo no korasu), directed by Yasujirō Ozu - (Japan)
- Tommi, directed by Yakov Protazanov - (USSR)
- Tonight or Never, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Gloria Swanson and Melvyn Douglas
- Waterloo Bridge, directed by James Whale
Read more about this topic: 1931 In Film
Famous quotes containing the words notable, films and/or released:
“a notable prince that was called King John;
And he ruled England with main and with might,
For he did great wrong, and maintained little right.”
—Unknown. King John and the Abbot of Canterbury (l. 2–4)
“Television does not dominate or insist, as movies do. It is not sensational, but taken for granted. Insistence would destroy it, for its message is so dire that it relies on being the background drone that counters silence. For most of us, it is something turned on and off as we would the light. It is a service, not a luxury or a thing of choice.”
—David Thomson, U.S. film historian. America in the Dark: The Impact of Hollywood Films on American Culture, ch. 8, William Morrow (1977)
“Justice has its anger, my lord Bishop, and the wrath of justice is an element of progress. Whatever else may be said of it, the French Revolution was the greatest step forward by mankind since the coming of Christ. It was unfinished, I agree, but still it was sublime. It released the untapped springs of society; it softened hearts, appeased, tranquilized, enlightened, and set flowing through the world the tides of civilization. It was good. The French Revolution was the anointing of humanity.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)