Vina Fay Wray was a Canadian-American actress best known for starring as Ann Darrow in the 1933 film King Kong. Through an acting career that spanned nearly six decades, Wray attained international recognition as an actress in horror films. She has been dubbed one of the early "scream queens".
The Docks of New York is a 1928 American silent drama film directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring George Bancroft, Betty Compson, and Olga Baclanova. The movie was adapted by Jules Furthman from the John Monk Saunders story The Dock Walloper.
Emil Jannings was a Swiss-born German actor, popular in the 1920s in Hollywood. He was the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Actor for his roles in The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh. As of 2024, Jannings is the only German ever to have won the category.
The following is an overview of 1928 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths. Although some films released in 1928 had sound, most were still silent. This year is notable for the introduction of the official mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey Mouse, in the animated short Steamboat Willie, the first film to include a soundtrack completely created in post production.
The Last Command is a 1928 silent romantic drama film directed by Josef von Sternberg, and written by John F. Goodrich and Herman J. Mankiewicz from a story by Lajos Bíró. The film stars Emil Jannings, who won the first Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the 1929 ceremony for his performances in this film and The Way of All Flesh, the only year multiple roles were considered. Evelyn Brent and William Powell co-star.
The Way of All Flesh is a 1927 American silent drama film directed by Victor Fleming, written by Lajos Bíró, Jules Furthman, and Julian Johnson from a story by Perley Poore Sheehan. Star Emil Jannings won the first Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the 1929 ceremony for his performances in this film and The Last Command, the only year that multiple roles were considered.
Mary Brian was an American actress who made the transition from silent films to sound films.
The Patriot is a 1928 sound part-talkie semi-biographical film that was directed by Ernst Lubitsch and released by Paramount Pictures. The film featured a synchronized musical soundtrack with sound effects along with some talking sequences using the Western Electric sound-on-film recording process. The movie is a biographical story of Emperor Paul I of Russia, starring Emil Jannings, Florence Vidor, and Lewis Stone.
The Legion of the Condemned is a 1928 American silent film directed by William A. Wellman and produced by Jesse L. Lasky, Wellman, and Adolph Zukor and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Written by former World War I flight instructor John Monk Saunders and Jean de Limur, with intertitles by George Marion, Jr., the film stars Fay Wray and Gary Cooper.
A Dangerous Woman is a 1929 American Pre-Code film released by Paramount, based on the Margery Lawrence story, A Woman Who Needed Killing. It was directed by Gerald Grove and Rowland V. Lee from a script by John Farrow and Edward E. Paramore Jr.
Three Sinners (1928) is a silent film directed by Rowland V. Lee, starring Pola Negri, and co-starring Warner Baxter, Olga Baclanova, and Paul Lukas.
Sins of the Fathers is a 1928 American sound part-talkie drama film produced by Famous Players–Lasky and released by Paramount Pictures. Like the majority of films during the early sound era, it was also issued in a silent version for theaters which were not yet wired for sound. The film was directed by Ludwig Berger and stars Emil Jannings and Ruth Chatterton in her motion picture debut.
Betrayal is a 1929 American sound drama film produced for Famous Players–Lasky and released by Paramount Pictures. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. The film is the last film without audible dialogue that was directed by Lewis Milestone, the last non-speaking role performance by Gary Cooper, the last non-speaking performance by Germany's Emil Jannings, and the only onscreen pairing of Cooper and Jannings. It is considered a lost film.
The Man I Love (1929) is a part-talking sound film from Paramount Pictures produced in parallel silent and sound versions. This film survives in a copy sold to television in the 1950s. The film stars Richard Arlen. Some sources refer to this as Arlen's first sound film, but he co-starred Nancy Carroll in Dorothy Arzner's Manhattan Cocktail (1928), another part-talking picture released by Paramount.
The First Kiss is a 1928 American sound romantic drama film directed by Rowland V. Lee and starring Fay Wray and Gary Cooper. While the film has no audible dialog, it features a synchronized musical score with sound effects and a theme song. Based on the short story Four Brothers by Tristram Tupper, the film is about a Chesapeake Bay fisherman who turns to pirating in order to be rich enough to marry a society girl.
The Wolf of Wall Street is a lost 1929 American pre-Code drama film directed by Rowland V. Lee and starring George Bancroft, Paul Lukas, Olga Baclanova, and Nancy Carroll. The story and screenplay were written by Doris Anderson.
The Border Legion is a lost 1924 American silent Western film directed by William K. Howard and starring Antonio Moreno and Helene Chadwick. Written by George C. Hull and based on the 1916 novel The Border Legion by Zane Grey, the film is about a cowboy who is wrongly accused of murder and is rescued by the leader of a band of Idaho outlaws known as the Border Legion. When the outlaws kidnap a young woman, the cowboy knows that he must help the woman escape. The film premiered on October 19, 1924 in New York City and was released in the United States on November 24, 1924 by Paramount Pictures.
Forgotten Faces is a 1928 American silent drama film directed by Victor Schertzinger and starring Clive Brook, Mary Brian, and Olga Baclanova. The production was overseen by David O. Selznick, a rising young producer at the time. The film was remade by Paramount in 1936 as a sound film.
Avalanche is a lost 1928 American silent Western film, directed by Otto Brower. It stars Jack Holt, Doris Hill, and Olga Baclanova. It was produced and distributed through the Paramount Pictures company.
Varsity is a lost 1928 American sound part-talkie comedy film directed by Frank Tuttle, written by Howard Estabrook, George Marion Jr. and Wells Root, and starring Charles "Buddy" Rogers, Mary Brian, Chester Conklin, Phillips Holmes, Robert Ellis and John Westwood. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the Western Electric sound-on-film system. The film was released on October 27, 1928, by Paramount Pictures.
