Research in Progress (April 12, 2023)
Cineliteracy: What You Need to Know about the Movie Year of 1931
Oscar: Best Picture Nominees 1931
The 4th Academy Awards honored films released between August 1, 1930, and July 31, 1931.
Cimarron (RKO) (Winner)
East Lynne (Fox)
The Front Page (UA)
Skippy (Par)
Trader Horn (MGM)
Note:
If you want to k now more about the Oscars, please read my book:
Top-Grossing Films of 1931 (in rentals)
1. City Lights, United Artists $2,000,000
2. Trader Horn, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer $1,642,000
3 Palmy Days, United Artists/Samuel Goldwyn Productions $1,601,000
4 The Man Who Came Back, Fox Film Corporation $1,400,000
5 Merely Mary Ann, Fox Film Corporation $1,300,000
6 Arrowsmith, United Artists/Samuel Goldwyn Productions $1,250,000
7 A Connecticut Yankee Fox Film Corporation $1,200,000
8 Cimarron, RKO Radio Pictures $1,122,000
9 Bad Girl, Fox Film Corporation $1,100,000
10 Possessed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer $1,030,000
Significant Films
Dishonored
Dracula
Forgotten Frontier
Frankenstein
Free Soul
M (F. Lang)
Night Nurse
Public Enemy
Squaw Man
Svengali
Tabu
Trader Horn
Top Stars (rank ordered)
George Arliss
Wallace Beery
Maurice Chevalier
Clark Gable
Edward G. Robinson
Will Rogers
Constance Bennett
Joan Crawford
Greta Garbo
Norma Shearer
The top stars are rank-ordered. Note that of the ten, four are female star, but they occupy the low positions, seventh to tenth.
Events
January 5:
RKO acquires the producing and distribution arm of Pathé for $4.6 million.
March 3:
The “Star Spangled Banner” is officially adopted as the national anthem of the U.S.
The song’s lyrics were from a poem written by Francis Scott Key in 1814 during the War of 1812 while the music was taken from song “To Anacreon in Heaven” which was written in the late 1700s by British composer John Stafford Smith.
The Congress passed a resolution and President Hoover signed it into law.
March 19
George Washington Bridge opens connecting New York and New Jersey
June 20:
Monogram Pictures releases its first film, Ships of Hate.
July 7:
Anti-competitive practices disclosed about certain distributors and producers in Canada.
November 17:
E. R. Tinker elected president of Fox Films replacing Harley L. Clarke.
December 14:
RKO refinancing plan approved
Release Date of Popular Movies
January 9: Little Caesar
January 16: Hell Divers
January 30: City Lights
February 9: Cimarron
February 14: Dracula
April 4: The Front Page
April 17: City Streets
April 23: The Public Enemy
May 11: M
June 13: The Maltese Falcon
August 1: The Smiling Lieutenant; Tabu
August 13: Bad Girl; Street Scene
September 26: Five Star Final
October 24: The Sin of Madelon Claudet
November 9: The Champ
November 21: Frankenstein
December 26: Arrowsmith; Mata Hari
