1. Events

2. Top-grossing films

3. Academy Awards

4. Top Ten Money Making Stars
    Top Western stars 

5. 1936 film releases
    January–March  April–June  July–September  October–December 

6. Notable films released in 1936
    0-9  A-C  D-K  L-Q  R-Z 

7. Serials

8. Comedy film series

9. Animated short film series

10. Births

11. Deaths

12. Debuts

13. Notes

The following is an overview of 1936 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.

Events

• May 29 - Fritz Lang's first Hollywood film, Fury, starring Spencer Tracy and Bruce Cabot, is released.
• February 15 - first Republic serial, Darkest Africa, is released.

Top-grossing films

Academy Awards

• Best Picture: The Great Ziegfeld – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
• Best Director: Frank Capra – Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
• Best Actor: Paul Muni – The Story of Louis Pasteur
• Best Actress: Luise Rainer – The Great Ziegfeld
• Best Supporting Actor: Walter Brennan – Come and Get It
• Best Supporting Actress: Gale Sondergaard – Anthony Adverse

Top Ten Money Making Stars

Exhibitors selected the following as the Top Ten Money Making Stars of the Year in Quigley Publishing Company's annual poll.^[4]

Top Western stars

A poll of the top Western stars was also published for the first time.^[5]

1936 film releases

U.S.A. unless stated.

January–March

• January 1936
  • 16 January
  • Ceiling Zero
  • 17 January
  • Augustus the Strong (Germany/Poland)
  • 20 January
  • The Invisible Ray
  • 22 January
  • Collegiate
  • 24 January
  • Anything Goes
  • 30 January
  • Next Time We Love
• February 1936
  • 1 February
  • Rose Marie
  • 5 February
  • Modern Times
  • 6 February
  • The Petrified Forest
  • 7 February
  • The Milky Way
  • 14 February
  • The Bohemian Girl
  • It Had to Happen
  • 15 February
  • The Lawless Nineties
  • 19 February
  • Girl Friends (U.S.S.R.)
  • 20 February
  • Follow the Fleet
  • Things to Come (GB)
  • 22 February
  • The Story of Louis Pasteur
  • 28 February
  • The Prisoner of Shark Island
  • Wife vs. Secretary
  • 29 February
  • Mayerling (France)
  • The Walking Dead
• March 1936
  • 1 March
  • Sutter's Gold
  • 2 March
  • Man of the Frontier
  • 6 March
  • Little Lord Fauntleroy
  • Three Godfathers
  • 9 March
  • Love Before Breakfast
  • 13 March
  • The Trail of the Lonesome Pine
  • 18 March
  • These Three
  • 22 March
  • The Great Ziegfeld
  • 28 March
  • Road Gang
  • 30 March
  • Too Many Parents

April–June

• April 1936
  • 4 April
  • Till We Meet Again
  • 10 April
  • A Message to Garcia
  • The Moon's Our Home
  • Small Town Girl
  • 11 April
  • Desire
  • The Singing Kid
  • 16 April
  • Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
  • 20 April
  • By the Bluest of Seas (U.S.S.R.)
  • 24 April
  • Captain January
  • 30 April
  • Thirteen Hours by Air
• May 1936
  • 6 May
  • It's Love Again (GB)
  • 8 May
  • The Case Against Mrs. Ames
  • 11 May
  • Dracula's Daughter
  • 17 May
  • Show Boat
  • 19 May
  • Love in Exile (GB)
  • 26 May
  • Hearts in Bondage
  • 28 May
  • Osaka Elegy (Japan)
  • 29 May
  • Fury
• June 1936
  • 5 June
  • Private Number
  • 6 June
  • Bullets or Ballots
  • 15 June
  • Secret Agent (GB)
  • 17 June
  • Poppy
  • 20 June
  • Hearts Divided
  • 26 June
  • San Francisco

July–September

• July 1936
  • 10 July
  • The Devil-Doll
  • 16 July
  • Green Pastures
  • 22 July
  • Satan Met a Lady
  • 24 July
  • Poor Little Rich Girl
  • 28 July
  • The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss (GB)
  • 29 July
  • Anthony Adverse
• August 1936
  • 10 August
  • Where There's a Will (GB)
  • 20 August
  • Romeo and Juliet
  • 26 August
  • East Meets West (UK)
  • 28 August
  • The Gorgeous Hussy
  • Militiaman Bruggler (Germany)
  • The Texas Rangers
• September 1936
  • 1 September
  • Tudor Rose
  • 2 September
  • The General Died at Dawn
  • 4 September
  • The Last of the Mohicans
  • The Road to Glory
  • Swing Time
  • 6 September
  • My Man Godfrey
  • 9 September
  • Spy of Napoleon (GB)
  • 10 September
  • Dusty Ermine (UK)
  • 11 September
  • The Man Who Changed His Mind (GB)
  • 15 September
  • The Children of Captain Grant
  • 23 September
  • Dodsworth
  • 25 September
  • Craig's Wife
  • 26 September
  • Cain and Mabel
  • 30 September
  • Yiddle with his Fiddle (Poland/U.S.A.)

October–December

• October 1936
  • 1 October
  • Everything Is Thunder (UK)
  • 6 October
  • Allá en el Rancho Grande (Mexico)
  • 9 October
  • Libeled Lady
  • 15 October
  • The Garden of Allah
  • Sisters of the Gion (Japan)
  • 16 October
  • 15 Maiden Lane
  • Dimples
  • Hopalong Cassidy Returns
  • 20 October
  • The Charge of the Light Brigade
  • 22 October
  • Crime Over London (GB)
  • 27 October
  • César (France)
  • 30 October
  • Our Relations
• November 1936
  • 6 November
  • Come and Get It
  • Rembrandt (GB)
  • Tarzan Escapes
  • A Woman Rebels
  • 12 November
  • Theodora Goes Wild
  • 13 November
  • Go West, Young Man
  • 16 November
  • Intermezzo (Sweden)
  • Laburnum Grove (GB)
  • The Plainsman
  • 20 November
  • Love on the Run
  • 25 November
  • Lloyd's of London
  • Pennies from Heaven
  • 26 November
  • Men Are Not Gods (GB)
  • 27 November
  • Born to Dance
• December 1936
  • 1 December
  • The Bold Caballero
  • 2 December
  • Sabotage (GB)
  • 11 December
  • General Spanky
  • Les bas-fonds (France)
  • 12 December
  • Camille
  • 20 December
  • Empty Saddles
  • 21 December
  • Forget Me Not (UK)
  • 24 December
  • The Jungle Princess
  • 25 December
  • After the Thin Man
  • Stowaway
  • 26 December
  • Gold Diggers of 1937
  • 31 December
  • Let's Go With Pancho Villa (Mexico)

Notable films released in 1936

U.S.A. unless stated.

0-9

• 15 Maiden Lane, starring Claire Trevor and Cesar Romero

A-C

• Accused, starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Dolores del Río (GB)
• Achhoot Kanya (Untouchable Maiden), starring Ashok Kumar (India)
• The Adventures of Pinocchio (Italy)
• After the Thin Man, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy
• Allá en el Rancho Grande (Out on the Great Ranch) (Mexico)
• The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss, starring Cary Grant (GB)
• Anthony Adverse, starring Fredric March and Olivia de Havilland
• Anything Goes, starring Bing Crosby and Ethel Merman
• Augustus the Strong (August der Starke), directed by Paul Wegener - (Germany/Poland)
• Les bas-fonds, (Underworld), directed by Jean Renoir, starring Jean Gabin and Louis Jouvet (France)
• Black Eyes directed by Abdolhossein Sepanta (Iran)
• Blood on Wolf Mountain (Lang shan die xue ji) - (China)
• The Bohemian Girl, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
• The Bold Caballero
• Born to Dance, starring Eleanor Powell and James Stewart
• Bullets or Ballots, starring Edward G. Robinson and Joan Blondell
• By the Bluest of Seas (U samogo sinego morya), directed by Boris Barnet (U.S.S.R.)
• Cain and Mabel, starring Marion Davies and Clark Gable
• Camel Through the Eye of a Needle (Velbloud uchem jehly) (Czechoslovakia)
• Camille, starring Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor
• Captain January, starring Shirley Temple
• The Case Against Mrs. Ames, starring Madeleine Carroll and George Brent
• Ceiling Zero, directed by Howard Hawks, starring James Cagney and Pat O'Brien
• César, directed by Marcel Pagnol (France)
• The Charge of the Light Brigade, starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland
• Charlie Chan at the Opera, starring Warner Oland and Boris Karloff
• The Children of Captain Grant
• Circus (Tsirk) (U.S.S.R.)
• Collegiate, starring Frances Langford and Betty Grable
• Come and Get It, starring Edward Arnold and Joel McCrea
• Craig's Wife, starring Rosalind Russell
• The Crime of Monsieur Lange (Le Crime de Monsieur Lange), directed by Jean Renoir (France)
• Crime Over London, directed by Alfred Zeisler (GB)

D-K

• The Desert Island (Lang tao sha) (China)
• Desire, starring Marlene Dietrich and Gary Cooper
• Devdas (India)
• The Devil-Doll, directed by Tod Browning, starring Lionel Barrymore and Maureen O'Sullivan
• Dimples, starring Shirley Temple
• Dodsworth, directed by William Wyler, starring Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton, Mary Astor
• Dracula's Daughter, starring Otto Kruger and Gloria Holden
• Dusty Ermine, directed by Bernard Vorhaus (UK)
• East Meets West, starring George Arliss (UK)
• Empty Saddles, starring Buck Jones and Louise Brooks
• Everything Is Thunder, starring Constance Bennett (UK)
• Follow the Fleet, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
• Forget Me Not, directed by Zoltan Korda, starring Beniamino Gigli and Joan Gardner (UK)
• The Four Musketeers (Italy)
• Fury, starring Sylvia Sidney and Spencer Tracy
• The Garden of Allah, starring Marlene Dietrich and Charles Boyer
• The General Died at Dawn, starring Gary Cooper and Madeleine Carroll
• General Spanky, starring Spanky McFarland
• Girl Friends (Podrugi) (U.S.S.R.)
• Go West, Young Man, starring Mae West, adapted by her from Lawrence Riley's 1934 stage play Personal Appearance
• Gold Diggers of 1937, directed by Lloyd Bacon and Busby Berkeley
• The Gorgeous Hussy, starring Joan Crawford and Robert Taylor
• The Great Ziegfeld, starring William Powell, Myrna Loy, Luise Rainer
• Green Pastures, adapted from the 1923 stage play, starring Rex Ingram and Eddie Anderson
• Hearts Divided, starring Marion Davies and Dick Powell
• Hearts in Bondage, starring David Manners and Mae Clarke
• Hopalong Cassidy Returns, starring William Boyd
• I'll Give a Million (Darò un milione), starring Vittorio De Sica (Italy)
• Intermezzo, starring Ingrid Bergman and Gösta Ekman (Sweden)
• The Invisible Ray, starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi
• It Had to Happen, starring George Raft and Rosalind Russell
• It's Love Again, starring Jessie Matthews and Robert Young (GB)
• The Jungle Princess, starring Dorothy Lamour and Ray Milland
• Der Kaiser von Kalifornien (The Emperor of California) - (Germany)

L-Q

• Laburnum Grove, starring Edmund Gwenn and Cedric Hardwicke (GB)
• The Last of the Mohicans, starring Randolph Scott
• The Lawless Nineties, starring John Wayne
• Let's Go With Pancho Villa (Vámonos con Pancho Villa) (Mexico)
• Libeled Lady, starring Jean Harlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy
• Limelight, starring Anna Neagle (GB)
• Little Lord Fauntleroy, starring Freddie Bartholomew, Dolores Costello Barrymore, C. Aubrey Smith
• Lloyd's of London, starring Freddie Bartholomew, Madeleine Carroll, Tyrone Power
• Love Before Breakfast, starring Carole Lombard and Preston Foster
• Love in Exile, starring Helen Vinson and Clive Brook (GB)
• Love on the Run. starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable
• Man of the Frontier, starring Gene Autry
• The Man Who Changed His Mind, starring Boris Karloff (GB)
• The Man Who Could Work Miracles, starring Roland Young and Ralph Richardson (GB)
• Mayerling, directed by Anatole Litvak starring Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux (France)
• Men Are Not Gods, starring Miriam Hopkins, Gertrude Lawrence, Rex Harrison (GB)
• A Message to Garcia, directed by George Marshall, starring Barbara Stanwyck, John Boles and Wallace Beery
• Militiaman Bruggler (Standschütze Bruggler) - (Germany)
• The Milky Way, starring Harold Lloyd
• Modern Times, written, directed by and starring Charles Chaplin, with Paulette Goddard
• The Mongolian Boy (Монгол хүү), directed by Ilya Trauberg is released as the first Mongolian film
• The Moon's Our Home, starring Henry Fonda and Margaret Sullavan
• Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, directed by Frank Capra, starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur
• My Man Godfrey, directed by Gregory La Cava, starring William Powell and Carole Lombard
• Next Time We Love, starring Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Ray Milland
• Night Mail, documentary (GB)
• The Only Son (Hitori musuko), directed by Yasujirō Ozu (Japan)
• Osaka Elegy (Naniwa erejii), directed by Kenji Mizoguchi (Japan)
• Our Relations, starring Laurel and Hardy
• Palm Springs, starring Frances Langford and David Niven
• Paradise Road (Ulička v ráji) (Czechoslovakia)
• Pennies from Heaven, starring Bing Crosby and Madge Evans
• The Petrified Forest, starring Leslie Howard, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis
• Poppy, starring W.C. Fields
• The Plainsman, starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur
• Poor Little Rich Girl, starring Shirley Temple, Alice Faye, Jack Haley
• The Prisoner of Shark Island, directed by John Ford, starring Warner Baxter and Gloria Stuart
• Private Number, starring Loretta Young and Robert Taylor

R-Z

• Red River Valley, starring Gene Autry
• Redes, directed by Fred Zinnemann – (Mexico)
• Reefer Madness, (aka Tell Your Children), a cult exploitation film
• Rembrandt, directed by Alexander Korda, starring Charles Laughton – (GB)
• Road Gang, starring Donald Woods
• The Road to Glory, directed by Howard Hawks, starring Lionel Barrymore and Fredric March
• Romeo and Juliet, starring Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, John Barrymore, Basil Rathbone
• Rose Marie, starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy
• Sabotage, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Sylvia Sidney and Oskar Homolka – (GB)
• San Francisco, starring Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald, Spencer Tracy
• Satan Met a Lady, starring Warren William and Bette Davis
• Secret Agent, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring John Gielgud and Madeleine Carroll (GB)
• Show Boat, starring Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Charles Winninger, Paul Robeson, Helen Morgan
• The Singing Kid, starring Al Jolson
• Sisters of the Gion (Gion no shimai), directed by Kenji Mizoguchi (Japan)
• Small Town Girl, directed by William Wellman, starring Janet Gaynor, Robert Taylor, James Stewart
• Sportszerelem (Hungary)
• Spy of Napoleon, directed by Maurice Elvey, starring Richard Barthelmess and Dolly Haas (GB)
• The Story of Louis Pasteur, starring Paul Muni
• Stowaway, starring Shirley Temple, Robert Young, Alice Faye
• Sutter's Gold, starring Edward Arnold
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, starring Tod Slaughter (GB)
• Swing Time, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
• Tarzan Escapes, starring Johnny Weissmuller
• The Texas Rangers, directed by King Vidor, starring Fred MacMurray and Jack Oakie
• Theodora Goes Wild, starring Irene Dunne and Melvyn Douglas
• These Three, starring Miriam Hopkins, Merle Oberon, Joel McCrea (adapted from Lillian Hellman play The Children's Hour)
• Things to Come, directed by William Cameron Menzies, starring Raymond Massey, Ralph Richardson, Cedric Hardwicke (GB)
• Thirteen Hours by Air, starring Fred MacMurray and Joan Bennett
• Three Godfathers, starring Chester Morris, Lewis Stone, Walter Brennan
• Till We Meet Again, starring Herbert Marshall and Gertrude Michael
• Too Many Parents, debut film for Frances Farmer
• The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, starring Sylvia Sidney, Fred MacMurray, Henry Fonda
• Tudor Rose, starring Cedric Hardwicke, Nova Pilbeam, John Mills (GB)
• The Walking Dead, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Boris Karloff
• Where There's a Will, starring Will Hay - (GB)
• Whom the Gods Love, directed by Basil Dean, starring Stephen Haggard, Victoria Hopper - (GB)
• Wife vs. Secretary, starring Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy
• Windbag the Sailor, starring Will Hay (GB)
• A Woman Rebels, starring Katharine Hepburn and Herbert Marshall
• Yiddle with his Fiddle, starring Molly Picon (Poland/U.S.A.)

Serials

• Ace Drummond, starring John (Dusty) King
• The Adventures of Frank Merriwell
• The Black Coin
• The Clutching Hand
• Custer's Last Stand
• Darkest Africa, starring Clyde Beatty
• Flash Gordon, starring Buster Crabbe
• The Phantom Rider
• Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island, starring Ray Mala
• Shadow of Chinatown
• Undersea Kingdom, starring Ray Corrigan
• The Vigilantes Are Coming

Comedy film series

• Harold Lloyd (1913–1938)
• Charlie Chaplin (1914–1940)
• Lupino Lane (1915–1939)
• Buster Keaton (1917–1928)
• Laurel and Hardy (1927-1940)
• Our Gang (1922–1944)
• Harry Langdon (1924-1936)
• Wheeler & Woolsey (1929–1937)
• The Marx Brothers (1929–1946)
• The Three Stooges (1933–1962)

Animated short film series

• Felix the Cat (1919-1936)
• Krazy Kat (1925–1940)
• Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (1927–1938)
• Mickey Mouse (1928–1953)
• Silly Symphonies
  • Elmer Elephant
  • Three Little Wolves
  • Toby Tortoise Returns
  • Three Blind Mousketeers
  • The Country Cousin
  • Mother Pluto
  • More Kittens
• Screen Songs (1929–1938)
• Looney Tunes (1930–1969)
• Terrytoons (1930–1964)
• Merrie Melodies (1931–1969)
• Scrappy (1931–1941)
• Betty Boop (1932–1939)
• Popeye (1933–1957)
• ComiColor Cartoons (1933-1936)
• Happy Harmonies (1934–1938)
• Color Rhapsodies (1934–1949)
• Rainbow Parades (1935-1936)
• Meany, Miny, and Moe (1936-1937)

Births

• January 22 - Nyree Dawn Porter, English actress (d. 2001)
• January 27 - Troy Donahue, American actor (d. 2001)
• January 28 - Alan Alda, American actor
• February 11 - Burt Reynolds, American actor (d. 2018)
• March 1 - Georgina Spelvin, born Shelley Graham, American pornographic film actress
• March 5 - Dean Stockwell, American actor
• March 19 - Ursula Andress, Swiss actress
• May 1 - Danièle Huillet, French director (d. 2006)
• May 9
  • Albert Finney, English actor (d. 2019)
  • Glenda Jackson, English actress and politician
• May 17 - Dennis Hopper, American actor and performance artist (d. 2010)
• June 4 - Bruce Dern, American actor
• July 5 - Shirley Knight, American actress
• August 13 - Vyjayanthimala, Indian actress, politician, dancer and singer
• August 18 - Robert Redford, American actor and director
• August 25 - Hugh Hudson, English director
• October 9 - Brian Blessed, English actor
• October 16 - Irina Demick, French actress (d. 2004)
• December 8 - David Carradine, American actor and martial artist (d. 2009)
• December 10 - Howard Smith, American journalist, director and producer (d. 2014)
• December 23 - Frederic Forrest, American actor
• December 25 - Ismail Merchant, Indian film producer (d. 2005)
• December 29 - Mary Tyler Moore, American actress (d. 2017)

Deaths

• January 9 – John Gilbert, American actor (b. 1897)
• January 24 - Harry T. Morey, American actor (b. 1873)
• February 20 - Max Schreck, German actor (b. 1879)
• February 28 - Justus Hagman, Swedish actor (b. 1859)
• April 6 - Väinö Lehmus, Finnish actor (b. 1886)
• June 17 - Henry B. Walthall, American actor (b. 1897)
• September 14 - Irving Thalberg, American film producer (b. 1899)
• October 17 - Suzanne Bianchetti, French actress (b. 1889)

Debuts

• Lloyd Bridges - Freshman Love
• Gloria DeHaven - Modern Times
• Van Heflin - A Woman Rebels
• Tony Martin - Follow the Fleet
• Anthony Quinn - The Milky Way
• Margaret Rutherford - Dusty Ermine

Notes

• Denise Garlick
• Denise Garrido
• Denis E. G. Malone
• Denise Goddard
• Denise Gordy
• Denise Grey
• Denise Grimes
• Denise Hallion
• Denise Harlow
• Denise Herrmann
• Denise Herzing
• Denise Ho Wan-sze
• Denise Jefferson Casper
• Denise J. Smyler
• Denise K.
• Denise k
• Denise Kiarskov
• Denise Kiernan
• Denise Kingsmill
• Denise Klarskov
• Denise Klasko
• Denise Krepp
• Denise Lee
• Denise Lee Richards
• Denise Legeay