The last full year of Hollywood’s silent era, 1928, produced many great masterpieces.
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), 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), 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, 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, William A. Wellman, starring Wallace Beery, Richard Arlen and Louise Brooks
The Big City (lost), Tod Browning, starring Lon Chaney, Betty Compson, 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, Edward Sedgwick and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton and Marceline Day
The Cardboard Lover, Robert Z. Leonard, starring Marion Davies, Jetta Goudal, Nils Asther
Champagne, directed by Hitchcock, starring Betty Balfour – (GB)
The Circus, starring, a Chaplin film
The Constant Nymph, directed by Adrian Brunel, starring Ivor Novello – (GB)
The Cossacks, George Hill and Clarence Brown, starring John Gilbert, Renée Adorée, Ernest Torrence
The Crowd, King Vidor, starring Eleanor Boardman
D
Dawn, Herbert Wilcox, starring Sybil Thorndike – (GB)
The Devious Path (Abwege), G.W. Pabst – (Germany)
The Divine Woman (lost), 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, James Sibley Watson and Melville Webber, based on short story by Edgar Allan Poe
The Fall of the House of Usher (La Chute de la maison Usher), 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, Miles Mander, starring Miles Mander, 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), Mal St. Clair, starring Ruth Taylor, Alice White
A Girl in Every Port, Howard Hawks, starring Victor McLaglen, Louise Brooks, Robert Armstrong
The Godless Girl, Cecil B. DeMille, starring Lina Basquette, Marie Prevost, 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
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), serial, 10-chapter, directed by Roland D. Reed
The House on Trubnaya (Dom na Trubnoy), Boris Barnet – (U.S.S.R.)
Hungarian Rhapsody, Hanns Schwarz, starring Lil Dagover, Willy Fritsch, 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 O. Henry’s 1907 short story “The Caballero’s Way.”
Interference, Lothar Mendes, starring Evelyn Brent, Clive Brook, 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), William A. Wellman, starring Clara Bow, Richard Arlen
The Last Command, Joseph von Sternberg, starring Emil Jannings, Evelyn Brent, William Powell
The Last Warning, 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, Loretta Young
The Leopard Lady (lost), Rupert Julian, starring Jacqueline Logan, Alan Hale, Robert Armstrong, based on the play by Edward Childs Carpenter
Les Vampires(see Vampires), Louis Feuillade
Lights of New York, directed by Bryan Foy
Lilac Time, George Fitzmaurice, starring Colleen Moore, Gary Cooper
A Little Bit of Fluff, Wheeler Dryden and Jess Robbins, starring Sydney Chaplin, Betty Balfour – (GB)
Lonesome, Paul Fejos, starring Glenn Tryon, Barbara Kent
M
The Man Who Laughs, Paul Leni, starring Mary Philbin, Conrad Veidt, Olga Baclanova, based on Victor Hugo’s 1869 novel “L’Homme qui rit”
Maria Marten, Walter West, starring Trilby Clark, Warwick Ward– (GB)
The Matinee Idol, Frank Capra, starring Bessie Love, Johnnie Walker
The Midnight Taxi, John G. Adolfi, Starring Antonio Moreno, Helene Costello, 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), Archie Mayo, starring Fanny Brice
The Mysterious Lady, Fred Niblo, starring Garbo, Conrad Nagel
The Mysterious Mirror (Der Geheimnisvolle Spiegel), directed by Carl Hoffmann and Richard Teschner– (Germany)
N
Ghost of Yotsuya (Shinpan Ōoka seidan), 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, John Francis Dillon, starring Richard Barthelmess, Thelma Todd
Number 17 (Haus Nummer 17), directed by Géza von Bolváry, starring Guy Newall, Lien Deyers – (GB/Germany)
O
October: Ten Days That Shook the World (Oktyabr’: Desyat’ dney kotorye potryasli mir), 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, Frank Capra, starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Jobyna Ralston
R
The Racket, Lewis Milestone, starring Thomas Meighan, Louis Wolheim, 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, 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, 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) – (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, 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
Les Vampires, Feuillade (France)
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
Feb 1 – Stuart Whitman, American film and television actor (died 2020)
Feb 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)
Feb 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
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
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, US 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
Aug 1 – Nick LaTour, American actor (died 2011)
Aug 6 – Andy Warhol, US artist and director (died 1987)
Aug 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
Nov 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
Dec 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, US 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 Victorian and Edwardian times and 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
Mabel Albertson – Gang War
Mischa Auer – Something Always Happens
Joe E. Brown – Crooks Can’t Win
Dorothy Burgess – In Old Arizona
Madeleine Carroll – The Guns of Loos
Hobart Cavanaugh – San Francisco Nights
G. Pat Collins – The Racket
Andy Devine – That’s My Daddy
Lien Deyers – Spione
Stuart Erwin – Mother Knows Best
Anne Grey – The Constant Nymph
Jean Harlow – Honor Bound
Anna Magnani – Scampolo
Ray Milland – Moulin Rouge
Edward Nugent – The Man in Hobbles
Lynne Overman – The Perfect Crime
Randolph Scott – Sharp Shooters
