1942 in film

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The year 1942 in film involved some significant events, in particular the release of a film consistently rated as one of the greatest of all time, Casablanca.

Events

• January 16 - Actress Carole Lombard is killed in a plane crash west of Las Vegas while returning home to Los Angeles from a War Bond tour.
• June 4 - Mrs. Miniver, starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon, opens at Radio City Music Hall in New York, in what will become a record-breaking 10-week run.
• August 8 - Walt Disney's animated film Bambi opens in United Kingdom.
• November 11 - Road to Morocco, starring Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour, premieres.
• November 26 - The film Casablanca premieres at the Hollywood Theater in New York City.

Top-grossing films (U.S.)^[1]

Box office numbers were reported at the time as a percentage compared to 'normal' business at each theater. For example, Mrs. Miniver performed at 244% while Billy Wilder's directorial debut The Major and the Minor did a solid 155%. This is why exact dollar grosses for the period are unreliable at best.

Academy Awards

• Best Picture: Mrs. Miniver - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
• Best Director: William Wyler - Mrs. Miniver
• Best Actor: James Cagney - Yankee Doodle Dandy
• Best Actress: Greer Garson - Mrs. Miniver
• Best Supporting Actor: Van Heflin - Johnny Eager
• Best Supporting Actress: Teresa Wright - Mrs. Miniver
• Special Academy Award: In Which We Serve

1942 film releases

U.S.A unless stated

Notable films released in 1942

U.S.A unless stated

A

• Across the Pacific, starring Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor
• The Affairs of Jimmy Valentine, starring Dennis O'Keefe and Ruth Terry
• A-Haunting We Will Go, starring Laurel and Hardy
• Ala-Arriba! - (Portugal)
• Alias Boston Blackie, Starring Chester Morris, Adele Mara, and Richard Lane
• Alibi, starring Margaret Lockwood and James Mason - (GB)
• All Through the Night, starring Humphrey Bogart
• American Empire, starring Richard Dix
• Andy Hardy's Double Life, starring Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, Fay Holden
• Aniki-Bóbó - (Portugal)
• Arabian Nights, starring Sabu, Jon Hall, Maria Montez
• Attack on Baku, starring Willy Fritsch, René Deltgen (Germany)

B

• El Baisano Jalil - (Mexico)
• Bambi
• The Battle of Midway, documentary directed by John Ford
• The Big Blockade, starring Leslie Banks, Michael Redgrave and Will Hay - (UK)
• The Big Shot, starring Humphrey Bogart
• The Big Street, starring Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball
• The Black Sheep of Whitehall, starring Will Hay and John Mills - (GB)
• The Black Swan, starring Tyrone Power
• Bullet Scars, starring Regis Toomey

C-D

• Captains of the Clouds, starring James Cagney
• Casablanca, directed by Michael Curtiz (Oscar winner), starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Peter Lorre, Claude Rains
• Cat People, starring Simone Simon and Tom Conway
• Commandos Strike at Dawn, starring Paul Muni
• The Corpse Vanishes, starring Bela Lugosi
• The Courtship of Andy Hardy, starring Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, Fay Holden
• Derailed (Afsporet) - (Denmark)
• Desperate Journey, starring Errol Flynn and Ronald Reagan
• The Devil's Envoys (Les Visiteurs du Soir), directed by Marcel Carné, starring Arletty - (France)

E-F

• Eagle Squadron, directed by Arthur Lubin
• Escape from Hong Kong, starring Marjorie Lord
• Eyes in the Night, directed by Fred Zinneman, starring Edward Arnold, Ann Harding, Donna Reed
• The First of the Few, directed by Leslie Howard, starring Howard and David Niven - (GB)
• The Fleet's In, starring Dorothy Lamour and William Holden
• Flying Fortress, starring Richard Greene (GB)
• Flying Tigers, starring John Wayne
• The Foreman Went to France, starring Clifford Evans and Tommy Trinder - (GB)
• For Me and My Gal, starring Judy Garland and Gene Kelly
• Four Steps in the Clouds (Quattro passi fra le nuvole) - (Italy)

G-H

• Un Garibaldino al Convento, directed by Vittorio De Sica - (Italy)
• The Gaucho War (La guerra gaucha) - (Argentina)
• Gentleman Jim, a biopic of boxer James J. Corbett, starring Errol Flynn
• George Washington Slept Here, starring Jack Benny
• The Ghost of Frankenstein starring Lon Chaney Jr.
• The Glass Key, starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake
• The Goose Steps Out, starring Will Hay - (GB)
• The Great Impersonation, directed by John Rawlins, starring Ralph Bellamy
• The Great King (Der große König) - (Germany)
• The Great Man's Lady, directed by William A. Wellman, and starring Barbara Stanwyck
• The Great Mr. Handel, directed by Norman Walker, starring Wilfrid Lawson (GB)
• Hatter's Castle, starring Robert Newton, Deborah Kerr, James Mason - (GB)
• Holiday Inn, starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire
• Historia de un gran amor (A Great Love Story) - (Mexico)

I

• I Married a Witch, starring Veronica Lake and Fredric March
• In Old California, starring John Wayne
• In This Our Life, starring Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland
• In Which We Serve, directed by David Lean and Noël Coward, starring Coward and John Mills - (GB)
• Invisible Agent, starring Jon Hall

J-K

• Jackass Mail, starring Wallace Beery and Marjorie Main
• Johnny Eager, starring Robert Taylor and Lana Turner
• Jungle Book, directed by Zoltan Korda, starring Sabu
• Kid Glove Killer, the directorial debut of Fred Zinnemann
• The Kids Grow Up (Los Chicos crecen) - (Argentina)
• Kings Row, starring Ann Sheridan, Ronald Reagan, Claude Rains
• Kokoda Front Line!, an Academy Award winning documentary film - (Australia)

L-M

• Larceny, Inc., starring Edward G. Robinson, Jane Wyman, Broderick Crawford
• Listen to Britain, propaganda film directed by Humphrey Jennings - (GB)
• The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe, starring Linda Darnell
• The Magnificent Ambersons, directed by Orson Welles, starring Joseph Cotten and Dolores Costello
• The Major and the Minor, directed by Billy Wilder, starring Ginger Rogers and Ray Milland
• The Male Animal, starring Henry Fonda and Olivia De Havilland
• The Man Who Came to Dinner, starring Bette Davis, Monty Woolley, Jimmy Durante
• The Man Who Wanted to Kill Himself (El hombre que se quiso matar) - (Spain)
• Miss Annie Rooney, starring Shirley Temple
• Moontide, starring Jean Gabin and Ida Lupino
• Mrs. Miniver, directed by William Wyler, starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon
• The Mummy's Tomb, starring Lon Chaney Jr.
• The Murderer Lives at Number 21 (L'Assassin habite au 21), directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, starring Pierre Fresnay - (France)
• My Favorite Blonde, starring Bob Hope and Madeleine Carroll
• My Gal Sal, starring Rita Hayworth
• My Sister Eileen, starring Rosalind Russell

N-O

• 'Neath Brooklyn Bridge, starring The East Side Kids
• The Next of Kin, starring Mervyn Johns - (GB)
• Now, Voyager, starring Bette Davis and Paul Henreid
• One of Our Aircraft is Missing, directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger - (GB)
• Overland Mail, starring Lon Chaney, Jr., Noah Beery, Jr., Noah Beery, Sr.

P

• The Palm Beach Story, directed by Preston Sturges, starring Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Rudy Vallée
• Panama Hattie, starring Ann Sothern and Lena Horne
• Pardon My Sarong, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
• O Pátio das Cantigas (The Courtyard of Songs) - (Portugal)
• People of the Mountains, directed by István Szőts - (Hungary)
• The Pied Piper, starring Monty Woolley and Roddy McDowall
• A Pistol Shot, starring Assia Noris, Fosco Giachetti (Italy)
• Pittsburgh, starring John Wayne, Marlene Dietrich, Randolph Scott, Shemp Howard
• Pride of the Yankees, starring Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, Walter Brennan, Babe Ruth

Q-R

• Random Harvest, starring Ronald Colman and Greer Garson
• Reap the Wild Wind, starring John Wayne, Paulette Goddard, Ray Milland
• Reunion in France, starring Joan Crawford
• Ride 'Em Cowboy, starring Abbott and Costello
• Rings on Her Fingers, starring Henry Fonda and Gene Tierney
• Rio Rita, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
• Road to Morocco, starring Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour, Bob Hope
• The Rock of the Souls (El Peñón de las Ánimas) - (Mexico)
• Roti (Bread) - (India)
• Roxie Hart, starring Ginger Rogers

S

• Saboteur, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Priscilla Lane and Robert Cummings
• Saludos Amigos, a Walt Disney animated film starring Donald Duck and Goofy (released in South America in 1942 and in the U.S. in 1943)
• Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce
• Somewhere I'll Find You, starring Clark Gable and Lana Turner
• Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake, starring Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney
• Song of the Islands, a Darryl F. Zanuck production starring Betty Grable and Victor Mature
• Sons of the Pioneers, starring Roy Rogers and George 'Gabby' Hayes
• The Spoilers, starring Marlene Dietrich and John Wayne
• Springtime in the Rockies, starring Betty Grable, John Payne, Carmen Miranda and Cesar Romero
• Sweater Girl, starring Eddie Bracken, June Preisser, and Betty Jane Rhodes

T-V

• Tales of Manhattan, directed by Julien Duvivier with an all-star cast
• The Talk of the Town, starring Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Ronald Colman
• Tarzan's New York Adventure, starring Johnny Weissmuller
• Ten Gentlemen from West Point, starring George Montgomery and Maureen O'Hara
• Tennessee Johnson, starring Van Heflin and Ruth Hussey
• There Was a Father (chichi ariki), directed by Yasujirō Ozu (Japan)
• There's One Born Every Minute, starring Hugh Herbert and Peggy Moran
• This Above All, starring Tyrone Power
• This Gun for Hire, starring Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd
• This Was Paris, starring Ann Dvorak - (GB)
• Thunder Rock, starring Michael Redgrave and James Mason - (GB)
• To Be or Not to Be, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Jack Benny and (in her last film) Carole Lombard
• Tombstone, the Town Too Tough to Die, starring Richard Dix
• Tortilla Flat, starring Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr, John Garfield
• Uncensored, directed by Anthony Asquith - (GB)
• The Undying Monster, starring James Ellison
• Valentin the Good (Valentin Dobrotivý), directed by Martin Frič - (Czechoslovakia)

W-Z

• Wake Island, starring Brian Donlevy and Robert Preston
• Went the Day Well?, directed by Cavalcanti, starring Leslie Banks and Mervyn Johns - (GB)
• Who Done It?, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
• Whom the Gods Love, directed by Karl Hartl (Germany-Austria)
• Woman of the Year, starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn
• Yankee Doodle Dandy, starring James Cagney
• The Young Mr. Pitt, directed by Carol Reed, starring Robert Donat - biopic of William Pitt the Younger - (GB)
• You Were Never Lovelier, starring Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth

Serials

• Captain Midnight, starring Dave O'Brien, directed by James W. Horne
• Don Winslow of the Navy
• Gang Busters
• Junior G-Men of the Air, starring the Dead End Kids
• King of the Mounties, starring Allan Lane, directed by William Witney
• Overland Mail
• Perils of Nyoka, starring Kay Aldridge & Clayton Moore, directed by William Witney
• Perils of the Royal Mounted, directed by James W. Horne
• The Secret Code, directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet
• Spy Smasher, starring Kane Richmond, directed by William Witney
• The Valley of Vanishing Men, directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet

Short film series

• Laurel and Hardy (1921–1943)
• Our Gang (1922–1944)
• The Three Stooges (1934–1959)

Animated short film series

• Mickey Mouse (1928–1953)
• Looney Tunes (1930–1969)
• Terrytoons (1930–1964)
• Merrie Melodies (1931–1969)
• Scrappy (1931–1941)
• Popeye (1933–1957)
• Color Rhapsodies (1934–1949)
• Donald Duck (1937–1956)
• Pluto (1937–1951)
• Walter Lantz Cartune (also known as New Universal Cartoons or Cartune Comedies) (1938-1942)
• Goofy (1939–1955)
• Andy Panda (1939–1949)
• Tom and Jerry (1940–1958)
• Woody Woodpecker (1941–1949)
• Swing Symphonies (1941–1945)
• The Fox and the Crow (1941–1950)

Births

• January 3 - John Thaw, English actor (died 2002)
• January 8 - Yvette Mimieux, American actress
• January 10 - Walter Hill, American director, producer and screenwriter
• January 19 - Michael Crawford, English actor and singer
• February 21 - Margarethe von Trotta, German director
• March 25 - Richard O'Brien, English actor and writer
• March 27 - Michael York, English actor
• March 28 - Mike Newell, English director and producer
• April 3 - Marsha Mason, American actress
• April 6 - Barry Levinson, American director, producer and screenwriter
• April 23 - Sandra Dee, American actress (died 2005)
• April 24 - Barbra Streisand, American actress, singer, director and producer
• June 18
  • Roger Ebert, American film critic of the Chicago Sun Times (died 2013)
  • Paul McCartney, English musician and composer (The Beatles)
• July 1 - Geneviève Bujold, French-Canadian actress
• July 9 - Richard Roundtree, American actor
• July 13 - Harrison Ford, American actor and producer
• July 24 - Chris Sarandon, American actor
• August 7 - Tobin Bell, actor
• September 29
  • Madeline Kahn, American actress (died 1999)
  • Ian McShane, English actor
• October 4 - Christopher Stone, American actor (died 1995)
• October 6 - Britt Ekland, Swedish actress
• October 13 - Suzzanna, Indonesian actress (died 2008)
• October 22 - Annette Funicello, American actress and singer (died 2013)
• October 26
  • Bob Hoskins, English actor and director (died 2014)
  • Eili Sild, Estonian actress
• October 31 - David Ogden Stiers, American actor (died 2018)
• November 17 - Martin Scorsese, American director, producer, screenwriter and actor
• November 24 - Billy Connolly, Scottish comedian and actor
• December 4 - Gemma Jones, English actress

Deaths

• January 16 - Carole Lombard, 33, American actress, To Be or Not to Be, My Man Godfrey, Made for Each Other, Nothing Sacred
• January 31 - Rolf Wenkhaus, 24, German actor, Emil and the Detectives, S.A.-Mann Brand
• April 10 - Carl Schenstrøm, 60, Danish actor, Cocktails, The Last Laugh
• May 29 - John Barrymore, 60, American actor, Grand Hotel, Twentieth Century, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dinner at Eight
• June 4 - Virginia Lee Corbin, 31, American actress, Hands Up!, X Marks the Spot
• July 5 - Karin Swanström, 69, Swedish actress, director, His English Wife, Black Roses
• August 18 - Rafaela Ottiano, 54, Italian-born American actress, Grand Hotel, She Done Him Wrong, The Devil-Doll, Curly Top
• October 20 - May Robson, 84, Australian-born American stage & film actress, Bringing Up Baby, A Star is Born, Lady for a Day, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
• October 22 - Olga Svendsen, 59, Danish actress, Kidnapped
• November 5 - George M. Cohan, 64, American actor, songwriter, entertainer, The Phantom President, Broadway Jones, subject of Yankee Doodle Dandy
• November 9 - Edna May Oliver, 59, American stage & film actress, David Copperfield, Drums Along the Mohawk, Little Women, A Tale of Two Cities
• November 12 - Laura Hope Crews, 62, American stage & screen actress, Gone with the Wind, Camille, Angel, The Blue Bird
• November 15 - Sidney Fox, 30, American actress, Murders in the Rue Morgue, Bad Sister, Six Cylinder Love
• December 12 - Helen Westley, 67, American stage & screen actress, Heidi, Roberta, All This, and Heaven Too, Alexander's Ragtime Band

Film Debuts

• Richard Attenborough - In Which We Serve
• Betty Hutton - The Fleet's In
• Anne Jeffreys - Billy the Kid Trapped
• Gene Kelly - For Me and My Gal
• Harry Morgan - To the Shores of Tripoli
• Eleanor Parker - The Big Shot
• Simone Signoret - Bolero
• Elizabeth Taylor - There's One Born Every Minute
• Peter Ustinov - One of Our Aircraft Is Missing
• Esther Williams - Andy Hardy's Double Life
• Tweety Bird - A Tale of Two Kitties

References