The following is an overview of 1936 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.
Richard Earl Thomas is an American actor. He is best known for his leading role as budding author John-Boy Walton in the CBS drama series The Waltons for which he won an Emmy Award. He also received another Emmy nomination and two Golden Globe Award nominations for that role.
The Great McGinty is a 1940 political satire comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges, starring Brian Donlevy and Akim Tamiroff and featuring William Demarest and Muriel Angelus. It was Sturges's first film as a director; he sold the story to Paramount Pictures for just $10 on condition he direct the film. Sturges received an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
Steffi Duna was a Hungarian-born film actress.
John Carroll was an American actor.
Dennis Morgan was an American actor-singer. He used the acting pseudonym Richard Stanley before adopting the name under which he gained his greatest fame.
Fear is a 1954 German-Italian drama film directed by Roberto Rossellini and starring his wife Ingrid Bergman. It is loosely based on the Stefan Zweig novella Fear. Rossellini created it because he wanted to explore the reconstruction of Germany from both a material and moral standpoint ten years after making his previous German film Germany, Year Zero. The film is noirish with aspects reminiscent of Hitchcock and German Expressionism.
Flight from Glory is an American B movie about a run-down air cargo company in the Andes. It was directed by Lew Landers, and starred Chester Morris, Whitney Bourne, Onslow Stevens and Van Heflin. When released on August 20, 1937, Flight from Glory was considered one of the films that broke new ground in "pioneering airline sagas", comparing favorably to big-budget features such as 1936's Thirteen Hours by Air.
The Hard Way is a 1943 Warner Bros. musical drama film starring Ida Lupino, Dennis Morgan, and Joan Leslie. Directed by Vincent Sherman, it is based on a story by Irwin Shaw which was reportedly based on Ginger Rogers' relationship with her first husband, Jack Pepper and her own mother, Lela.
Joan Swenson, previously known as Joan Tompkins, was an American actress of television, film, radio, and stage.
A Gentleman After Dark is a 1942 crime/drama film starring Brian Donlevy and Miriam Hopkins.
Dancing Pirate is a 1936 American musical comedy film directed by Lloyd Corrigan. It is the third film shot in the three strip Technicolor process and the first musical in that format. Produced by the makers of Becky Sharp, the film was based on the December 1930 Colliers Magazine story Glorious Buccaneer by Emma-Lindsay Squier a serious and action filled romance that may have been inspired by the story of Joseph Chapman. The film features the debut of stage star Charles Collins and the cast includes Rita Hayworth as one of The Royal Cansino Dancers. Other dancers in the film were Pat Nixon and Marjorie Reynolds.
Way Down South is a 1939 American musical film directed by Leslie Goodwins and Bernard Vorhaus, and produced by Sol Lesser. It was written by Clarence Muse, who also acted in the film, and Langston Hughes. Victor Young was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring.
Sixpack Annie is a 1975 American comedy film directed by Graydon F. David. The film was aimed at the drive-in theatre circuit that was advertised with tags "Lookout... She's Legal Now! She's Out to Tear the Town Apart!" and "She's got the boys glad and the sheriff mad", amongst others. Another tagline used was "She's the pop top princess with the recyclable can." It starred Lindsay Bloom in the title role of Annie Bodine and Joe Higgins as Sheriff Waters. Other actors included Larry Mahan, Ray Danton, Louisa Moritz, Bruce Boxleitner, Doodles Weaver and Stubby Kaye. Adverts depicted a pre-Daisy Duke kind of character, a buxom country gal in a tied-front top and tiny cut-off jeans opening an oversized can of beer. The picture carried an MPAA R rating due to language and one nude scene.
Phantom Raiders is a 1940 film, the second in the series starring Walter Pidgeon as detective Nick Carter. The film was part of a movie trilogy based on original stories featuring the character from the long-running Nick Carter, Detective literary series. In the heightened tensions prior to World War II, Hollywood produced many films in the spy film genre such as Phantom Raiders.
Two in Revolt is a 1936 American drama film directed by Glenn Tryon. Released on April 3, 1936, by RKO Radio Pictures, the film stars John Arledge, Louise Latimer, and Moroni Olsen, and features Lightning the dog and Warrior the horse.
The Secret of Madame Blanche is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film directed by Charles Brabin and written by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett. The film stars Irene Dunne, Lionel Atwill, Phillips Holmes, Una Merkel and Douglas Walton. The film was released on February 3, 1933, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
River's End is a 1940 American Western film directed by Ray Enright and starring Dennis Morgan, Elizabeth Inglis and George Tobias. It is an adaptation of the 1919 novel The River's End by James Oliver Curwood which had previously been made into 1920 and 1930 films. It is also known by the alternative title of Double Identity.
Girl from Havana is a 1940 American drama film directed by Lew Landers and written by Malcolm Stuart Boylan and Karl Brown. The film stars Dennis O'Keefe, Claire Carleton, Victor Jory, Steffi Duna, Gordon Jones and Bradley Page. The film was released on September 11, 1940, by Republic Pictures.
Mabel Marks Bacon was an American hotelier. She designed and operated several prominent hotels along the Gulf Coast in the 1930s. In the 1910s she was known for her skill with sailing, skippered a portion of a race from New York to Bermuda in 1910, and learned to drive in 1911. She raised her children in Maine and Panama, where the family lived while her husband was employed by the Panama Canal Company. In 1921, after returning to the United States, she ran a hotel known as the Inn-by-the-Sea in Pass Christian, Mississippi, which was a luxury resort built by her husband. Losing the hotel during the Great Depression, the family lived on board a boat for several months before landing at Dauphin Island, Alabama. Leasing the abandoned Fort Gaines from the government, they ran The-Sea-Fort-Inn until they discovered property while sailing along the Santa Rosa Sound. In 1935, they moved to Mary Esther, Florida, where Bacon designed and ran Bacon's-by-the-Sea. The hotel was frequented by several movie production companies and stars and was listed in 1954 as one of the top ten hotels in America in Look.
