The following is an overview of 1933 in film, including significant events, a list of films released, and notable births and deaths.
Una Merkel was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress.
42nd Street is a 1933 American pre-Code musical film directed by Lloyd Bacon, with songs by Harry Warren (music) and Al Dubin (lyrics). The film's numbers were staged and choreographed by Busby Berkeley. It starred an ensemble cast of Warner Baxter, Bebe Daniels, George Brent, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, and Ginger Rogers.
Abraham Lincoln, also released under the title D. W. Griffith's "Abraham Lincoln", is a 1930 pre-Code American biographical film about Abraham Lincoln directed by D. W. Griffith. It stars Walter Huston as Lincoln and Una Merkel, in her second speaking role, as Ann Rutledge. The script was co-written by Stephen Vincent Benét, author of the Civil War prose poem John Brown's Body (1928), and Gerrit Lloyd. This was the first of only two sound films made by Griffith.
William Lee Tracy was an American stage, film, and television actor. He is known foremost for his portrayals between the late 1920s and 1940s of fast-talking, wisecracking news reporters, press agents, lawyers, and salesmen. From 1949 to 1954, he was also featured in the weekly radio and television versions of the series Martin Kane: Private Eye, as well as starring as the newspaper columnist Lee Cochran in the 1958–1959 British-American crime drama New York Confidential. Later, in 1964, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a Golden Globe for his supporting role in the film The Best Man.
The Halls of Ivy is an American situation comedy that ran from 1950 to 1952 on NBC radio, created by Fibber McGee & Molly co-creator/writer Don Quinn. The series was adapted into a CBS television comedy (1954–55) produced by ITC Entertainment and Television Programs of America. British husband-and-wife actors Ronald Colman and Benita Hume starred in both versions of the show.
Born to Dance is a 1936 American musical film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Eleanor Powell, James Stewart and Virginia Bruce. It was produced and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The score was composed by Cole Porter.
Bombshell is a 1933 American pre-Code romantic screwball comedy film directed by Victor Fleming and starring Jean Harlow, Lee Tracy, Frank Morgan, C. Aubrey Smith, Mary Forbes and Franchot Tone. It is based on the unproduced play of the same name by Caroline Francke and Mack Crane, and was adapted for the screen by John Lee Mahin and Jules Furthman.
Riffraff is a 1936 American drama film directed by J. Walter Ruben and starring Jean Harlow, Spencer Tracy and Una Merkel. The screenplay was written by Frances Marion, Anita Loos and H. W. Hannaford.
Leave It to Me! is a 1938 musical produced by Vinton Freedley with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The book was a collaborative effort by Samuel and Bella Spewack, who also directed the Broadway production. The musical was based on the play Clear All Wires by the Spewacks, which was performed on Broadway for 93 performances in 1932, and which was filmed in 1933, starring Lee Tracy, Benita Hume, Una Merkel and James Gleason.
Benita Hume was an English theatre and film actress. She appeared in more than 40 films from 1925 to 1955.
Gambling Ship is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film directed by Louis J. Gasnier and Max Marcin, and starring Cary Grant and Benita Hume. It was based on Paul Cain's short stories: "Fast One", "Lead Party", "Velvet" and "The Heat", which were published in Black Mask magazine. It was released on June 23, 1933. Ace Corbin retires from the racket as a gambling boss, but the enemies attempt to stop him.
Lord Camber's Ladies (1932) is a British drama film directed by Benn W. Levy, produced by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Gerald du Maurier, Gertrude Lawrence, Benita Hume, and Nigel Bruce.
Looking Forward is a 1933 American Pre-Code drama film directed by Clarence Brown starring Lionel Barrymore, Lewis Stone and Benita Hume. It was produced and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The sets and costumes were designed by studio regulars Cedric Gibbons and Adrian. Based on the 1932 Dodie Smith play Service, it depicts the desperate struggle of a London department store owner to save his business during the Great Depression. The film's title was taken from a book by the newly-inaugurated president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who is quoted in the film's prologue. The film was strongly backed by William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan Pictures and Hearst was involved in the securing of the president's support for the film's new title.
The Little Damozel is a 1933 British romance film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, James Rennie and Benita Hume. It is based on the 1908 play by Monckton Hoffe, previously filmed in 1916. The screenplay concerns a captain who pays one of his sailors to marry a woman who works in a nightclub. Dresses for the film were designed by Doris Zinkeisen.
They Gave Him a Gun is a 1937 American crime drama film directed by W. S. Van Dyke and starring Spencer Tracy, Gladys George, and Franchot Tone. The picture bears a resemblance to later films noir in its dark theme regarding the struggles and failures of a man trying to take a criminal shortcut to the American dream. The screenplay was written by Cyril Hume, Richard Maibaum, and Maurice Rapf, based on the 1936 book of the same name by William J. Cowen. On March 20, 1937, director W.S. Van Dyke "announced Henry Mahan was cast in "They Gave Him A Gun", joining Sam Levene and Teddy Hart, the three swell comedians in the film version of Three Men on a Horse", but none of these actors appear in the final cut.
She Wanted a Millionaire is a 1932 American pre-Code romantic drama film starring Joan Bennett and Spencer Tracy. The film, produced and distributed by Fox Film Corporation, was directed by John G. Blystone and also features Una Merkel. It is the only film that Bennett and Tracy made together in which she was billed over Tracy. They also played the top-billed romantic leads in Me and My Gal (1932), Father of the Bride (1950), and Father's Little Dividend (1951).
Men Are Such Fools is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film directed by William Nigh and written by Viola Brothers Shore and Ethel Doherty. The film stars Leo Carrillo, Vivienne Osborne, Una Merkel, Joseph Cawthorn and Tom Moore. It film was released on November 11, 1932 by RKO Pictures.
Forty Naughty Girls is a 1937 American comedy mystery film directed by Edward F. Cline and written by John Grey. The film stars James Gleason, ZaSu Pitts, Marjorie Lord, George Shelley and Joan Woodbury. It is the sixth and final entry in RKO Pictures' series of Hildegarde Withers films. This film was the sixth film in the Hildegarde Withers-Oscar Piper series, and the second film in which ZaSu Pitts appeared as Hildegarde. Before Pitts, Edna May Oliver and Helen Broderick had played the role.
Baby Face Harrington is a 1935 American comedy film directed by Raoul Walsh and written by Nunnally Johnson, Edwin H. Knopf and Charles Lederer. The film stars Charles Butterworth, Una Merkel, Harvey Stephens, Eugene Pallette and Nat Pendleton. The film was released on April 12, 1935, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
