The following is an overview of 1930 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.
Top-grossing films (U.S.)
The top ten 1930 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:
Events
February 21: Anna Christie, Greta Garbo's first sound film is released, it grosses $1.5 million.
February 23: Silent screen legend Mabel Normand dies at the age of 37 in Monrovia, California after a lengthy battle with tuberculosis.
March 10: Release of Goodbye Argentina (Adiós Argentina), the first Argentine film with a (musical) soundtrack. Ada Cornaro has her first starring role and Libertad Lamarque makes her film debut.
April 6: William Fox sells his interest in Fox Film for $18 million and Harley L. Clarke becomes president.
May 27: Howard Hughes' epic film Hell's Angels premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood and features Jean Harlow in her first major role as well as some impressive aerial sequences. Although not a financial success upon its release due to its bloated budget, the film is acclaimed by critics and launches Harlow as one of the 1930s' biggest stars.
August 9: Cartoon character Betty Boop appears for the first time on screen, in the animated film Dizzy Dishes.
September 3: The Hollywood Reporter is first published.
September 19: The Love Parade receives a record six Academy Award nominations.
November 1: The Big Trail featuring a young John Wayne in his first starring role is released in both 35mm and a very early form of 70mm film. It is the first large scale big-budget film of the sound era, costing over $2 million. The film is praised for its aesthetic quality and realism that will not become commonplace until many decades later. However, due to the new film format and the film's release during the Great Depression, the film will go on to become a financial failure at the box office.
Academy Awards
Best Picture: All Quiet on the Western Front – Universal Pictures
Best Director: Lewis Milestone – All Quiet on the Western Front
Best Actor: George Arliss – Disraeli
Best Actress: Norma Shearer – The Divorcee
Notable films released in 1930
United States unless stated
A
Abi and Rabi, starring and directed by Ovanes Ohanian – (Iran)
Abraham Lincoln, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Walter Huston and Una Merkel
L'Âge d'Or (The Golden Age), directed by Luis Buñuel – (France)
All Quiet on the Western Front, directed by Lewis Milestone, starring Lew Ayres and Louis Wolheim
Alraune, directed by Richard Oswald – (Germany)
Animal Crackers, directed by Victor Heerman, starring the Marx Brothers
Anna Christie, directed by Clarence Brown, starring Greta Garbo
The Arizona Kid, directed by Alfred Santell, starring Warner Baxter and Carole Lombard
B
The Bad Man, directed by Clarence G. Badger, starring Walter Huston
The Bat Whispers, directed by Roland West, starring Chester Morris and Una Merkel
The Benson Murder Case, directed by Frank Tuttle, starring William Powell
Big Boy, directed by Alan Crosland, starring Al Jolson
The Big House, directed by George Hill, starring Chester Morris, Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone and Robert Montgomery
The Big Pond, directed by Hobart Henley, starring Maurice Chevalier and Claudette Colbert
The Big Trail, directed by Raoul Walsh, starring John Wayne
Billy the Kid, directed by King Vidor, starring Johnny Mack Brown and Wallace Beery
Der blaue Engel (The Blue Angel), directed by Josef von Sternberg, starring Marlene Dietrich and Emil Jannings – (Germany)
The Blood of a Poet (Le Sang d'un Poète), directed by Jean Cocteau – (France)
Borderline, directed by Kenneth Macpherson, starring Paul Robeson – (GB)
Bride of the Regiment (lost), directed by John Francis Dillon, starring Walter Pidgeon
Bright Lights, directed by Michael Curtiz
C
Call of the Flesh, directed by Charles Brabin, starring Ramón Novarro
The Cat Creeps (lost), directed by Rupert Julian, starring Helen Twelvetrees
Chasing Rainbows, directed by Charles Reisner, starring Charles King, Bessie Love, Jack Benny and Marie Dressler
Check and Double Check, directed by Melville W. Brown, starring Amos 'n' Andy
Children of Pleasure, directed by Harry Beaumont
City Girl, directed by F. W. Murnau, starring Mary Duncan and Charles Farrell
Common Clay (lost), directed by Victor Fleming, starring Constance Bennett and Lew Ayres
The Cuckoos, directed by Paul Sloane, starring Wheeler & Woolsey
D
Danger Lights, directed by George B. Seitz, starring Louis Wolheim, Robert Armstrong and Jean Arthur
The Dawn Patrol, directed by Howard Hawks, starring Richard Barthelmess, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Neil Hamilton
The Devil to Pay!, directed by George Fitzmaurice, starring Ronald Colman, Loretta Young and Myrna Loy
The Divorcee, directed by Robert Z. Leonard, starring Norma Shearer, Chester Morris, Conrad Nagel and Robert Montgomery
Dixiana, directed by Luther Reed, starring Bebe Daniels and Wheeler & Woolsey
Doughboys, directed by Edward Sedgwick, starring Buster Keaton and Cliff Edwards
E
Earth (Zemlya), directed by Alexander Dovzhenko – (U.S.S.R.)
Elstree Calling, directed by Adrian Brunel and Alfred Hitchcock – (GB)
Escape!, directed by Basil Dean, starring Gerald du Maurier and Edna Best – (GB)
F
Fast and Loose, directed by Fred C. Newmeyer, starring Miriam Hopkins, Carole Lombard and Frank Morgan
Feet First, directed by Clyde Bruckman, starring Harold Lloyd
The Florodora Girl, directed by Harry Beaumont, starring Marion Davies
The Flute Concert of Sanssouci (Das Flötenkonzert von Sans-souci), directed by Gustav Ucicky, starring Otto Gebühr – (Germany)
Follow Thru, directed by Laurence Schwab and Lloyd Corrigan, starring Charles 'Buddy' Rogers
Free and Easy, directed by Edward Sedgwick, starring Buster Keaton, Anita Page and Robert Montgomery
G
The Girl Said No, directed by Sam Wood, starring William Haines, Leila Hyams and Marie Dressler
Good News, directed by Nick Grinde, starring Bessie Love and Cliff Edwards
H
Hell's Angels, directed by Howard Hughes, starring Jean Harlow and Ben Lyon
Her Man, directed by Tay Garnett, starring Helen Twelvetrees
High Society Blues, directed by David Butler, starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell
Hold Everything (lost), directed by Roy Del Ruth, starring Joe E. Brown
Holiday, directed by Edward H. Griffith, starring Ann Harding and Mary Astor
I
Imperial and Royal Field Marshal (C. a k. polní maršálek), directed by Karel Lamač – (Czechoslovakia)
Ingagi, directed by William S. Campbell
J
Journey's End, directed by James Whale, starring Colin Clive – (GB/US)
Just Imagine, directed by David Butler
K
King of Jazz, directed by John Murray Anderson, starring Paul Whiteman, John Boles and Laura La Plante
L
Ladies Love Brutes, directed by Rowland V. Lee, starring George Bancroft, Mary Astor and Fredric March
Ladies of Leisure, directed by Frank Capra, starring Barbara Stanwyck
A Lady to Love, directed by Victor Sjöström, starring Vilma Bánky and Edward G. Robinson
Leathernecking, directed by Edward F. Cline, starring Irene Dunne
Let's Go Native, directed by Leo McCarey, starring Jack Oakie and Jeanette MacDonald
Liliom, directed by Frank Borzage, starring Charles Farrell and Rose Hobart
Lightnin', directed by Henry King, starring Will Rogers, Louise Dresser and Joel McCrea
Loose Ankles, directed by Ted Wilde, starring Loretta Young and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Lord Byron of Broadway, directed by Harry Beaumont and William Nigh
The Lottery Bride, directed by Paul L. Stein, starring Jeanette MacDonald, Joe E. Brown and ZaSu Pitts
M
Madam Satan, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Kay Johnson
Mamba, directed by Albert S. Rogell, starring Jean Hersholt and Eleanor Boardman
Mammy, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Al Jolson
The Man from Blankley's (lost), directed by Alfred E. Green, starring John Barrymore and Loretta Young
A Man from Wyoming, directed by Rowland V. Lee, starring Gary Cooper
Manslaughter, directed by George Abbott, starring Claudette Colbert and Fredric March
Min and Bill, directed by George Hill, starring Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery
Montana Moon, directed by Malcolm St. Clair, starring Joan Crawford and Johnny Mack Brown
Monte Carlo, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Jack Buchanan and Jeanette MacDonald
Morocco, directed by Josef von Sternberg, starring Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich and Adolphe Menjou
Murder!, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Herbert Marshall – (GB)
The Mystery of the Yellow Room (Le Mystère de la chambre jaune), directed by Marcel L'Herbier – (France)