Cinema 1928: Notable Films, Debuts, Births, Deaths
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Research in progress, Films released in 1928

A

Accident (Polizeibericht Überfall), Ernő Metzner – (Germany)

Across to Singapore, William Nigh, starring Ramón Novarro, Joan Crawford and Ernest Torrence

The Actress (lost), directed by Sidney Franklin, starring Norma Shearer

Adam’s Apple, directed by Tim Whelan, starring Monty Banks – (GB)

Alraune, written and directed by Henrik Galeen, starring Brigitte Helm and Paul Wegener – (Germany)

Ang Lumang Simbahan (The Old Church), directed by José Nepomuceno, starring Mary Walter – (Philippines)

The Ape (lost), directed by Beverly C. Rule, starring Gladys Walton[

L’Argent (Money), directed by Marcel L’Herbier, starring Pierre Alcover and Brigitte Helm – (France)

The Awakening (lost), Victor Fleming, starring Vilma Bánky and Louis Wolheim

B

Balaclava, directed by Maurice Elvey and Milton Rosmer, starring Cyril McLaglen and Benita Hume – (GB)

Beau Sabreur (lost), directed by John Waters, starring Gary Cooper, Evelyn Brent, Noah Beery Sr. and William Powell

Beggars of Life, directed by William A. Wellman, starring Wallace Beery, Richard Arlen and Louise Brooks

The Big City (lost), Tod Browning, starring Lon Chaney, Betty Compson and Marceline Day

The Black Pearl (lost), Scott Pembroke, starring Lila Lee, based on the novel by Mrs. Wilson Woodrow

The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple (Huo shao hong lian si) (lost), 16-part serial directed by Zhang Shichuan – (China)

C

The Cameraman, directed by Edward Sedgwick and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton and Marceline Day

The Cardboard Lover, directed by Robert Z. Leonard, starring Marion Davies, Jetta Goudal and Nils Asther

Champagne, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Betty Balfour – (GB)

The Circus, starring, a Charles Chaplin film

The Constant Nymph, directed by Adrian Brunel, starring Ivor Novello – (GB)

The Cossacks, directed by George Hill and Clarence Brown, starring John Gilbert, Renée Adorée and Ernest Torrence

The Crowd, directed by King Vidor, starring Eleanor Boardman

D

Dawn, directed by Herbert Wilcox, starring Sybil Thorndike – (GB)

The Devious Path (Abwege), G.W. Pabst – (Germany)

The Divine Woman (lost), directed by Victor Sjöström, starring Garbo and Lars Hanson

The Docks of New York, Josef von Sternberg, starring George Bancroft, Betty Compson, Olga Baclanova

E

Easy Virtue, Hitchcock, starring Isabel Jeans – (GB)

F

The Fall of the House of Usher, directed by James Sibley Watson and Melville Webber, based on the short story by Edgar Allan Poe

The Fall of the House of Usher (La Chute de la maison Usher), directed by Jean Epstein, based on story by Edgar Allan Poe – (France)

The Farmer’s Wife, Hitchcock, starring Jameson Thomas and Lillian Hall-Davis – (GB)

Feel My Pulse, Gregory La Cava, starring Bebe Daniels, Richard Arlen and William Powell

The First Born, directed by Miles Mander, starring Miles Mander and Madeleine Carroll – (GB)

Four Sons, directed by John Ford

G

The Gallant Hussar (lost), directed by Géza von Bolváry, starring Ivor Novello and Evelyn Holt – (GB/Germany)

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (lost), directed by Mal St. Clair, starring Ruth Taylor and Alice White

A Girl in Every Port, Howard Hawks, starring Victor McLaglen, Louise Brooks and Robert Armstrong

The Godless Girl, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Lina Basquette, Marie Prevost and Noah Beery Sr.

The Guns of Loos, Sinclair Hill, starring Madeleine Carroll (GB)

H

Habeas Corpus, Leo McCarey and James Parrott, starring Laurel and Hardy

Hangman’s House, John Ford, starring Victor McLaglen

The Haunted House, directed by Benjamin Christensen, starring Thelma Todd, based on a 1926 stage play by Owen Davis[12]

His House in Order (lost), Randle Ayrton, starring Tallulah Bankhead – (GB)

Homecoming (Heimkehr), directed by Joe May, starring Lars Hanson – (Germany)

Honor Bound, directed by Alfred E. Green, starring George O’Brien, Estelle Taylor and Leila Hyams

The House of Terror (lost), a 10-chapter serial directed by Roland D. Reed

The House on Trubnaya (Dom na Trubnoy), directed by Boris Barnet – (U.S.S.R.)

Hungarian Rhapsody, directed by Hanns Schwarz, starring Lil Dagover, Willy Fritsch and Dita Parlo – (Germany)

Huntingtower, George Pearson, starring Harry Lauder – (GB)

I

In Old Arizona, Raoul Walsh and Irving Cummings, starring Edmund Lowe, Warner Baxter and Dorothy Burgess, based on a 1907 short story The Caballero’s Way by O. Henry

Interference, directed by Lothar Mendes, starring Evelyn Brent, Clive Brook and William Powell

The Italian Straw Hat (Un chapeau de paille d’Italie), René Clair – (France)

J

Jujiro (Crossroads), directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa – (Japan)

L

Ladies of the Mob (lost), directed by William A. Wellman, starring Clara Bow and Richard Arlen

The Last Command, Joseph von Sternberg, starring Emil Jannings, Evelyn Brent and William Powell

The Last Warning, directed by Paul Leni, starring Laura La Plante, based on the 1916 novel The House of Fear by Charles Wadsworth Camp

Laugh, Clown, Laugh, Herbert Brenon, starring Lon Chaney and Loretta Young

The Leopard Lady (lost), directed by Rupert Julian, starring Jacqueline Logan, Alan Hale and Robert Armstrong, based on the play by Edward Childs Carpenter

Lights of New York, directed by Bryan Foy

Lilac Time, directed by George Fitzmaurice, starring Colleen Moore and Gary Cooper

A Little Bit of Fluff, directed by Wheeler Dryden and Jess Robbins, starring Sydney Chaplin and Betty Balfour – (GB)

Lonesome, directed by Paul Fejos, starring Glenn Tryon and Barbara Kent

M

The Man Who Laughs, directed by Paul Leni, starring Mary Philbin, Conrad Veidt and Olga Baclanova, based on the 1869 novel L’Homme qui rit by Victor Hugo

Maria Marten, directed by Walter West, starring Trilby Clark and Warwick Ward[15] – (GB)

The Matinee Idol, directed by Frank Capra, starring Bessie Love and Johnnie Walker

The Midnight Taxi, directed by John G. Adolfi, Starring Antonio Moreno, Helene Costello and Myrna Loy

Mother Machree (lost), John Ford, starring Victor McLaglen, Belle Bennett and Neil Hamilton

Moulin Rouge, directed by Ewald André Dupont – (GB)

My Man (lost), directed by Archie Mayo, starring Fanny Brice

The Mysterious Lady, directed by Fred Niblo, starring Greta Garbo and Conrad Nagel

The Mysterious Mirror (Der Geheimnisvolle Spiegel), directed by Carl Hoffmann and Richard Teschner[15] – (Germany)

N

The New Version of the Ghost of Yotsuya (Shinpan Ōoka seidan), directed by Daisuke Itō, based on the 1825 play Yotsuya Kaidan by Tsuruya Nanboku IV – (Japan)

Noah’s Ark, Michael Curtiz, starring Dolores Costello, George O’Brien and Noah Beery Sr.

The Noose, directed by John Francis Dillon, starring Richard Barthelmess and Thelma Todd

Number 17 (Haus Nummer 17), directed by Géza von Bolváry, starring Guy Newall and Lien Deyers – (GB/Germany)

O

October: Ten Days That Shook the World (Oktyabr’: Desyat’ dney kotorye potryasli mir), directed by Sergei Eisenstein and Grigori Aleksandrov – (U.S.S.R.)

On Trial (lost), directed by Archie Mayo, starring Pauline Frederick, Bert Lytell and Lois Wilson

Our Dancing Daughters, Harry Beaumont, starring Joan Crawford, Johnny Mack Brown

P

The Passion of Joan of Arc (La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc), directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, starring Renée Jeanne Falconetti – (France)

The Patsy, directed by King Vidor, starring Marion Davies and Marie Dressler

The Phantom City, directed by Albert S. Rogell, starring Ken Maynard

The Power of the Press, directed by Frank Capra, starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Jobyna Ralston

R

The Racket, Lewis Milestone, starring Thomas Meighan, Louis Wolheim and Marie Prevost

Ramona, directed by Edwin Carewe, starring Dolores del Río and Warner Baxter

Ransom (lost), directed by George B. Seitz, starring Lois Wilson

Rasputin, the Holy Sinner (Rasputins Liebesabenteuer), directed by Martin Berger – (Germany)

Rasputin, the Prince of Sinners (Dornenweg einer Fürstin), directed by Nikolai Larin and Boris Nevolin[16] – (Germany/U.S.S.R.)

The Red Dance, directed by Raoul Walsh, starring Dolores del Río and Charles Farrell

Red Hair (lost), directed by Clarence G. Badger, starring Clara Bow and Lane Chandler

The Ringer, directed by Arthur Maude – (GB)

The Road to Ruin, directed by Norton S. Parker, starring Helen Foster

Rose-Marie (lost), directed by Lucien Hubbard, starring Joan Crawford

S

Sadie Thompson, directed by Walsh, starring Gloria Swanson and Lionel Barrymore

The Seashell and the Clergyman (La Coquille et le Clergyman), directed by Germaine Dulac – (France)

Sex in Chains (Geschlecht in Fesseln), starring and directed by William Dieterle – (Germany)

Show People, King Vidor, starring Marion Davies and William Haines

The Singing Fool, directed by Lloyd Bacon, starring Al Jolson

Sins of the Fathers, directed by Ludwig Berger, starring Emil Jannings and Ruth Chatterton

Skyscraper, directed by Howard Higgin, starring William Boyd and Alan Hale

The Smart Set, Jack Conway, starring William Haines

Something Always Happens, directed by Frank Tuttle, starring Esther Ralston, Neil Hamilton and Sôjin Kamiyama

A South Sea Bubble, directed by T. Hayes Hunter, starring Ivor Novello and Benita Hume – (GB)

Speedy, directed by Ted Wilde, starring Harold Lloyd

Spione (Spies), directed by Fritz Lang, starring Rudolf Klein-Rogge – (Germany)

Steamboat Bill, Jr., directed by Charles Reisner, starring Buster Keaton and Ernest Torrence

Steamboat Willie, directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, debut of Mickey and Minnie Mouse

Storm Over Asia (Potomok Chingiskhana), directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin, starring Valéry Inkijinoff – (U.S.S.R.)

Street Angel, directed by Frank Borzage, starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell

Sweeney Todd, directed by Walter West, based on the 1847 stage play The String of Pearls, or The Fiend of Fleet Street by George Dibdin-Pitt)[17] – (GB)

T

Take Me Home (lost), directed by Marshall Neilan, starring Bebe Daniels and Neil Hamilton

The Tell-Tale Heart, directed by Charles Klein and Leon Shamroy, based on the 1843 short story by Edgar Allan Poe

Tempest, directed by Sam Taylor, starring John Barrymore, Camilla Horn and Louis Wolheim

The Terrible People (lost), a 10-chapter serial directed by Spencer Gordon Bennett, starring Allene Ray and Walter Miller, based on the 1926 novel by Edgar Wallace

The Terror, directed by Roy Del Ruth, starring May McAvoy, Louise Fazenda and Edward Everett Horton, based on the 1927 stage play by Edgar Wallace[18]

Terror Mountain, directed by Louis King, starring Tom Tyler

Tesha, directed by Victor Saville and Edwin Greenwood, starring María Corda – (GB)

Thérèse Raquin (lost), Jacques Feyder – (France)

A Thief in the Dark, directed by Albert Ray

Three Sinners, Rowland V. Lee, starring Pola Negri, Warner Baxter and Olga Baclanova

Tillie’s Punctured Romance (lost), directed by A. Edward Sutherland, starring W. C. Fields, Chester Conklin and Louise Fazenda

Tommy Atkins, Norman Walker, starring Lillian Hall-Davis – GB)

Toni, directed by Arthur Maude, starring Jack Buchanan – (GB)

The Trail of ’98, directed by Clarence Brown, starring Dolores del Río, Ralph Forbes and Karl Dane

The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel, directed by T. Hayes Hunter, starring Matheson Lang – (GB)

Two Tars, directed by James Parrott, starring Laurel and Hardy

U

Underground, directed by Anthony Asquith – (GB)

V

The Viking, Roy William Neill, starring Donald Crisp

Vormittagsspuk (Ghosts Before Breakfast), directed by Hans Richter – (Germany)

The Vortex, Adrian Brunel, starring Ivor Novello – (GB)

W

We Faw Down, Leo McCarey, starring Laurel and Hardy

The Wedding March, directed by and starring Erich von Stroheim with Fay Wray and ZaSu Pitts

West of Zanzibar, directed by Tod Browning, starring Lon Chaney, Lionel Barrymore and Warner Baxter, based on the 1926 stage play Kongo by Chester De Vonde[19]

What a Night! (lost), directed by A. Edward Sutherland, starring Bebe Daniels and Neil Hamilton

While the City Sleeps, directed by Jack Conway, starring Lon Chaney, Anita Page and Mae Busch

White Shadows in the South Seas, directed by W. S. Van Dyke

The Wind, directed by Victor Sjöström, starring Lillian Gish and Lars Hanson

A Woman of Affairs, Clarence Brown, starring John Gilbert, Greta Garbo, Lewis Stone, Johnny Mack Brown and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

Z

Zvenigora, directed by Alexander Dovzhenko – (U.S.S.R.)

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)

Inkwell Imps (1927–1929)

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

Harem Scarem

Neck ‘n’ Neck

The Ol’ Swimmin’ Hole

Africa Before Dark

Rival Romeos

Bright Lights

Oh, What a Knight

Sagebrush Sadie

Ride’em Plow Boy

Sky Scrappers

Ozzie of the Mounted

Hungry Hoboes

Poor Papa

The Fox Chase

Tall Timber

Sleigh Bells

Hot Dog

Newslaffs (1927–1928)

Mickey Mouse

Plane Crazy

The Gallopin’ Gaucho

Steamboat Willie

Births

January 1 – Helen Westcott, American actress (died 1998)

January 2 – Ellen Kaarma, Estonian actress (died 1973)

January 5 – Denise Bryer, British actress (died 2021)

January 7 – William Peter Blatty, US screenwriter (died 2017)

January 15 – Joanne Linville, American actress (died 2021)

January 20 – Peter Donat, Canadian-US actor (died 2018)

January 23 – Jeanne Moreau, French actress and director (died 2017)

January 26 – Roger Vadim, French director, writer, actor (died 2000)

February 1 – Stuart Whitman, American film and television actor (died 2020)

February 4 – Vincent Wong, Jamaican-born British-Chinese actor (died 2015)

February 8 – Jack Larson, American actor (died 2015)

February 11 – Conrad Janis, American actor (died 2022)

February 16 – Eva Ingeborg Scholz, German actress (died 2022)

February 18 – Little Caesar, American singer and actor (died 1994)

February 22 – Paul Dooley, American actor, writer and comedian

February 24 – Al Lettieri, American actor (died 1975)

February 29

Joss Ackland, English actor (died 2023)

Tempest Storm, American burlesque performer and actress (died 2021)

March 1 – Jacques Rivette, French director (died 2016)

March 3 – Joe Conley, American actor (died 2013)

March 11 – Albert Salmi, American actor (died 1990)

March 13 – Douglas Rain, Canadian actor (died 2018)

March 16 – Victor Maddern, English actor (died 1993)

March 17 – Eunice Gayson, English actress (died 2018)

March 19

Marceline Loridan-Ivens, French actor (died 2018)

Patrick McGoohan, Irish actor (died 2009)

Jan Shepard, American actress

March 24 – Vanessa Brown American actress (died 1999)

March 29 – Philip Locke, English actor (died 2004)

March 30 – Lilia Prado, Mexican actress, dancer (died 2006)

March 31 – June Jago, Australian actress (died 2010)

April 1 – George Grizzard, American actor (died 2007)

April 2 – Piet Römer, Dutch actor (died 2012)

April 3 – Kevin Hagen, American actor (died 2005)

April 4

Estelle Harris, American actress and comedienne (died 2022)

Monty Norman, English composer of the “James Bond Theme” (died 2022)

April 7

James Garner, American actor (died 2014)

Valeria Sabel, Italian actress (died 2009)

April 11 – Henri Garcin, Belgian actor (died 2022)

April 12 – Hardy Krüger, German actor (died 2022)

April 23 – Shirley Temple, American actress (died 2014)

May 1 – Vitaly Melnikov, Russian director and screenwriter (died 2022)

May 3 – Jeanne Bal, American actress died (1996)

May 7 – Georgi Rusev, Bulgarian actor (died 2011)

May 11 – Yvonne Furneaux, French actress

May 12 – Burt Bacharach, American composer and songwriter (died 2023)

May 18

John Abineri, English actor (died 2000)

Sara Shane, American actress (died 2022)

May 21 – Alice Drummond, American actress (died 2016)

May 23 – Nigel Davenport, English actor (died 2013)

May 28 – Gina Cabrera, Cuban actress (died 2022)

May 30 – Agnès Varda, Belgian-born French director, producer and screenwriter (died 2019)

June 4 – Ruth Westheimer, German-American sex therapist, talk show host, and actress

June 5 – Robert Lansing, American actor (died 1994)

June 7 – James Ivory, American director, producer, writer

June 9 – Jackie Mason, US stand-up comedian and actor (died 2021)

June 12

Vic Damone, US singer, entertainer and actor (died 2018)

Tom Rosqui, American character actor (died 1991)

June 13 – Nikola Todev, Bulgarian actor (died 1991)

June 16 – Ernst Stankovski, Austrian actor (died 2022)

June 19 – Nancy Marchand, American actress (died 2000)

June 20 – Martin Landau, American actor (died 2017)

June 21 – Margit Bara, Hungarian actress (died 2016)

June 22 – Ralph Waite, American actor (died 2014)

June 29 – Ian Bannen, Scottish actor (died 1999)

July 6 – Nestor de Villa, Filipino actor (died 2004)

July 7 – Pat Hitchcock, English actress, producer (died 2021)

July 12 – Peter Cellier, English actor

July 13

Bob Crane, American actor (died 1978)

Mace Neufeld, American film and TV producer (died 2022)

July 14 – Nancy Olson, American actress

July 15 – Tom Troupe, American actor and writer

July 21 – Chuck Low, American actor (died 2017)

July 22 – Orson Bean, American actor (died 2020)

July 24 – Michael Currie, American actor (died 2009)

July 26 – Stanley Kubrick, American director (died 1999)

August 1 – Nick LaTour, American actor (died 2011)

August 6 – Andy Warhol, US artist and director (died 1987)

August 10 – Gus Mercurio, US-born actor (died 2010)

August 14

Joëlle Bernard, French actress (died 1977)

Jacques Rouffio, French director and screenwriter (died 2016)

Lina Wertmüller, Italian screenwriter and director (died 2021)

August 15

Nosher Powell, English actor and stuntman (died 2013)

Nicolas Roeg, English director (died 2018)

Simone Silva, Egyptian-born French actress (died 1957)

August 16 – Ann Blyth, American actress

August 18 – Norma Donaldson, American actress and singer (died 1994)

August 20 – Buddy Van Horn, American stunt coordinator and director (died 2021)

August 27 – Bernard Atha, English actor (died 2022)

August 28 – Charles Gray, English actor (died 2000)

August 31 – James Coburn, American actor (died 2002)

September 1

George Maharis, American actor (died 2023)

Allene Roberts, American actor (died 2019)

September 3 – Pilar Pallete, Peruvian actress

September 4 – Dick York, American actor (died 1992)

September 9 – Darrell Zwerling, American character actor (died 2014)

September 11 – Earl Holliman, American actor

September 17 – Roddy McDowall, British actor (died 1998)

September 19 – Adam West, American actor (died 2017)

September 22 – Eugene Roche, American actor (died 2004)

October 1

Laurence Harvey, Lithuanian British actor (died 1973)

George Peppard, American actor (died 1994)

Erica Yohn, American actress (died 2019)

October 2 – George McFarland, American actor (died 1993)

October 6 – Barbara Werle, American actress (died 2013)

October 17 – Don Collier, American actor (died 2021)

October 25

Jeanne Cooper, American actress (died 2013)

Marion Ross, American actress

November 1 – Emmaline Henry, American actress (died 1979)

November 3

Wanda Hendrix, American actress (died 1981)

Lew Palter, American actor (died 2023)

November 10

Ennio Morricone, Italian composer (died 2020)

Norma Crane, American actress (died 1973)

November 13

Helena Carroll, Scottish-American actress (died 2013)

Ralph Foody, American actor (died 1999)

November 14 – Kathleen Hughes, American actress

November 16 – Clu Gulager, American actor (died 2022)

November 20 – Franklin Cover, American actor (died 2006)

November 23 – Elmarie Wendel, American actress singer (died 2018)

November 25 – Rance Howard, American actor (died 2017)

December 1 – Malachi Throne, American actor (died 2013)

December 3 – Carlo Giuffrè, Italian actor (died 2018)

December 5 – Barbara Krafftówna, Polish actress (died 2022)

December 6 – Lance Fuller, American actor (died 2001)

December 9 – Dick Van Patten, American actor (died 2015)

December 10 – Barbara Nichols, American actress (died 1976)

December 12 – Lionel Blair, English actor and television presenter (died 2021)

December 13 – Nati Mistral, Spanish actress (died 2017)

December 16 – Terry Carter, American actor and filmmaker

December 17 – Leonid Bronevoy, Russian actor (died 2017)

December 21 – Ed Nelson, American actor (died 2014)

December 25 – Dick Miller, US actor (died 2019)

December 29

Bernard Cribbins, English actor and singer (died 2022)

June Preston, US child actress (died 2022)

Deaths

January 2 – Emily Stevens, US stage & film actress (born 1882)

January 3 – Claude France, German film actress (born 1893)

January 11 – Rapley Holmes, Canadian stage and screen actor (born 1868)

January 25 – Charles Gorman, American stage and screen actor (born 1865)

January 26 – Earl Metcalfe, American actor, (born 1889)

February 22 – Rudolph J. Bergquist American cinematographer

March 5 – Lidia Quaranta, Italian actress (born 1891)

March 13 – Elsie Mackay, British actress and heiress; lost at sea (born 1893)

April 22 – Frank Currier, American director, stage & silent film actor (born 1857)

June 22 – George Siegmann, American silent film actor (born 1882)

June 24 – Holbrook Blinn, US stage & silent film actor (born 1872)

July 20 – Scott Sidney, US film director (born 1872)

July 21

Ellen Terry, British stage actress of the Victorian and Edwardian times and later a silent film actress (born 1847)

Ward Crane, American film actor (born 1890)

August 10 – Rex Cherryman, American actor (born 1896)

August 17 – Frank Urson, American film director (born 1887)

August 26 – Colin Campbell, British-born film director (born 1859)

October 8 – Larry Semon, American film comedian (born 1889)

November 10 – Anita Berber, German film actress (born 1899)

November 19 – Jeanne Bérangère, French stage and film actress (born 1864)

December 14 – Theodore Roberts, American film actor (born 1861)

December 25 – Fred Thomson, American film actor (born 1890)

Film debuts