1921 in film

This is an overview of 1921 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.

Fandom movies:1921

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

The top nine films released in 1921 by U.S. gross are as follows:

Rank	Title	Distributor	Domestic rentals
1	'	Metro	$4,500,000
2	'	First National	$2,500,000
3/4	' '	United Artists Paramount	$1,500,000
5	The Affairs of Anatol	Paramount	$1,191,789
6	Fool's Paradise	Paramount	$906,937
7	Forbidden Fruit	Paramount	$848,121
8	School Days	Warner Bros.	$546,000
9	Why Girls Leave Home	Warner Bros.	$410,000

Events

January 21 – The silent comedy drama The Kid, written by, produced by, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin – his first full-length film as a director – and featuring Jackie Coogan, is released in the United States. It is the year's second-highest-grossing film.
March 6 – The silent epic war film The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, adapted for the screen by June Mathis, is released in the United States. It is the year's highest-grossing film, propels Rudolph Valentino to stardom and inspires a tango craze and a fashion for gaucho pants.
July 1 – The silent crime docudrama Yan Ruisheng is the first full-length feature film made in China to be released; although commercially successful it is banned within 2 years and believed lost.
August 29 – Broadway's first $1 million theatre, Loew's State opens.
September 5 – Popular comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle attends a party at the St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco, during which actress Virginia Rappe is fatally injured; although he is eventually acquitted of rape and manslaughter, the scandal derails his career.
October 21 – George Melford's silent film The Sheik, which enhances leading actor Rudolph Valentino's international reputation as a Latin lover, is premiered in Los Angeles. Within the first year of its release, it exceeds $1 million in ticket sales.
October 26 – The Chicago Theatre, which will be the oldest surviving French-style Baroque Revival grand movie palace, opens.
The experimental short documentary film Manhatta is shot by painter Charles Sheeler and photographer Paul Strand in New York City.

Notable films released in 1921

United States unless stated.

G

The Goat, directed by Mal St. Clair and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton
The Ghost in the Garret, directed by F. Richard Jones, starring Dorothy Gish
Godfather Death , directed by Heinz Hanus, based on the 1884 short story Der Pate des Todes by Rudolf Baumbach – Das grinsende Gesicht, directed by Julius Herska, based on the 1869 novel The Man Who Laughs by Victor Hugo –
The Gunsaulus Mystery, written and directed by Oscar Micheaux

H

Hail the Woman, directed by John Griffith Wray, starring Florence Vidor
The Haunted Castle , directed by F. W. Murnau, based on the novel by Rudolf Stratz –
The Haunted House, directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton
The High Sign, directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton
His Brother's Keeper, directed by Wilfrid North
L'Homme qui vendit son âme au diable , directed by Pierre Caron –
The Hound of the Baskervilles, directed by Maurice Elvey, starring Eille Norwood –
Humor Risk, directed by Dick Smith, starring the Marx Brothers

I

The Idle Class, a Charles Chaplin short
The Indian Tomb , directed by Joe May, starring Conrad Veidt –
The Island of the Lost , directed by Urban Gad, based on the 1896 novel The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells without authorization –

J

Jane Eyre, directed by Hugo Ballin, starring Norman Trevor and Mabel Ballin, based on the 1847 novel by Charlotte Brontë
Jánošík, directed by Jaroslav Jerry Siakeľ –
Jim the Penman, directed by Kenneth Webb, starring Lionel Barrymore
Journey into the Night , directed by F. W. Murnau –

K

The Kid, a Charlie Chaplin film, with Jackie Coogan
Kipps, directed by Harold M. Shaw, starring George K. Arthur, based on the 1905 novel by H. G. Wells

L

Land of My Fathers directed by Fred Rains, starring John Stuart –
Leaves from Satan's Book , directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer –
Little Lord Fauntleroy, directed by Alfred E. Green and Jack Pickford, starring Mary Pickford
The Lost Shadow , directed by Rochus Gliese, starring Paul Wegener –
The Lotus Eater, directed by Marshall Neilan, starring John Barrymore and Colleen Moore
The Love Light, directed by Frances Marion, starring Mary PickfordLucky Carson, directed by Wilfrid North, starring Earle Williams
The Lucky Dog, directed by Jess Robbins, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy

M

Mathias Sandorf, directed by Henri Fescourt, starring Romuald Joubé –
The Mechanical Man , starring and directed by André Deed –
A Message From Mars, directed by Maxwell Karger, starring Bert Lytell
A Midnight Bell, starring and directed by Charles Ray, based on the 1889 stage play by Charles H. Hoyt
Miss Lulu Bett, directed by William C. deMille, starring Lois Wilson and Milton Sills
Il mostro di Frankenstein , directed by Eugenio Testa –

N

Never Weaken, directed by Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, starring Harold Lloyd
The Nut, directed by Theodore Reed, starring Douglas Fairbanks and Marguerite De La Motte

O

The Offenders, directed by Fenwicke Holmes
Orphans of the Storm, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Lillian Gish and Dorothy Gish
The Other Person , directed by Maurits Binger and B. E. Doxat-Pratt, based on the 1920 novel by Fergus Hume –

P

The Painting of Osvaldo Mars , directed by Guido Brignone, starring Mercedes Brignone –
Pan Twardowski, directed by Wiktor Biegański –
The Passion Flower, directed by Herbert Brenon, starring Norma Talmadge
Peck's Bad Boy, directed by Sam Wood, starring Jackie Coogan
The Phantom Carriage, directed by Victor Sjostrom, starring Sjostrom, Hilda Borgstrom and Tore Svennberg, based on the 1912 novel Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness! by Selma Lagerlof; this film influenced the later works of Ingmar Bergman –
The Playhouse, directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton

Q

The Queen of Sheba, directed by J. Gordon Edwards, starring Betty Blythe

S

A Sailor-Made Man, directed by Fred C. Newmeyer, starring Harold Lloyd
School Days, directed by William Nigh, starring Wesley Barry
Sentimental Tommy, directed by John S. Robertson, starring Gareth Hughes
Seven Years Bad Luck, a Max Linder film
The Sheik, directed by George Melford, starring Agnes Ayres and Rudolph Valentino
The Silver Lining, directed by Roland West, starring Jewel Carmen
The Sky Pilot, directed by King Vidor, starring Colleen Moore
Soul of the Cypress, directed by Dudley Murphy
Squibs, directed by George Pearson, starring Betty Balfour –
Sybil, directed by Jack Denton, starring Evelyn Brent –

T

The Three Musketeers, directed by Fred Niblo, starring Douglas Fairbanks
Through the Back Door, directed by Alfred E. Green and Jack Pickford, starring Mary Pickford
Tol'able David, directed by Henry King, starring Richard Barthelmess
Les Trois Mousquetaires , directed by Henri Diamant-Berger –

W

Whispering Shadows, directed by Émile Chautard
White and Unmarried, directed by Tom Forman, starring Thomas Meighan
Why Girls Leave Home, directed by William Nigh, starring Anna Q. Nilsson
The Witching Hour, directed by William Desmond Taylor, starring Elliott Dexter, adapted from the 1907 stage play by Augustus Thomas
Woman's Place, directed by Victor Fleming, starring Constance Talmadge
The Wonderful Thing, directed by Herbert Brenon, starring Norma Talmadge and Harrison Ford

Comedy film series

Animated short film series

Births

January 3 – John Russell, actor
January 10 - George Robotham, American stuntman and actor
January 11 - Kathleen Byron, English actress
January 17 - Herb Ellis, American character actor
January 26 – Elisabeth Kirkby, British-born Australian actress, producer and director
January 27 – Donna Reed, actress
January 31
*Carol Channing, musical actress
*Mario Lanza, singer and actor
February 1 – Peter Sallis, actor
February 8 – Lana Turner, actress
February 16 – Vera-Ellen, actress, dancer
February 19 – Ann Savage, actress
February 22 – Giulietta Masina, actress
February 23 - Jack Rader, American actor
February 24 – Abe Vigoda, actor
February 26 – Betty Hutton, actress
March 1 - Jack Clayton, British director and producer
March 3 – Diana Barrymore, actress
March 4 – Joan Greenwood, actress
March 5 - Jo de Winter, American actress
March 8 – Alan Hale Jr., actor, restaurateur
March 10
*Josip Elic, American actor
*Charlotte Zucker, actress, mother of Jerry Zucker and David Zucker
March 12 – Gordon MacRae, actor, singer
March 21 - Logan Ramsey, American character actor
March 23 – Geoffrey Chater, English actor
March 25
*Nancy Kelly, American actress
*Simone Signoret, French actress
March 26 – Julie Harris, English costume designer
March 28 – Dirk Bogarde, English actor
April 1 – Arieh Elias, Israeli actor
April 3 – Jan Sterling, American actress
April 4 - Elizabeth Wilson, American actress
April 7 – Bill Butler, American cinematographer
April 10 – Chuck Connors, American actor
April 16 – Peter Ustinov, British actor
April 23
*Janet Blair, American actress
*Gerald Campion, English actor
April 29 – Tommy Noonan, American actor, screenwriter, producer
May 2 – Satyajit Ray, Indian filmmaker
May 16 - Harry Carey Jr., American actor
May 23
*Grigori Chukhrai, Ukrainian film director
*Ray Lawler, Australian actor
May 29 - Elizabeth Kelly, British retired actress
May 30 - Jamie Uys, South African film director
May 31 – Alida Valli, actress
June 8
*Sheila Ryan, actress
*Alexis Smith, actress
June 18 – Wesley Lau, actor
June 19 – Louis Jourdan, actor
June 21
*Judy Holliday, born Judith Tuvim, actress
*Jane Russell, actress
July 2 - Maria Britneva, Russian-British actress
July 3 – Susan Peters, actress
July 5 – Patricia Wright, American former actress
July 6
*Nancy Reagan, born Anne Robbins, actress and First Lady of the United States
*Bill Shirley, American actor and singer
July 10 – Jeff Donnell, American actress
July 17 – František Zvarík, Slovakian actor
July 21 - Al Checco, American actor
July 23 – Robert Brown, actor
August 3 – Marilyn Maxwell, actress
August 8 – Esther Williams, actress, swimmer
August 11 - Tad Horino, American actor
August 19
*Pasquale Cajano, Italian-American actor
*Gene Roddenberry, screenwriter and producer
August 28 – Nancy Kulp, actress, comedienne
September 8 – Harry Secombe, actor, singer
September 15 - James Jeter, American actor
September 27 – Miklós Jancsó, Hungarian director
September 30 – Deborah Kerr, actress
October 1 - James Whitmore, American actor
October 5 - Nikolay Dupak, Soviet-Russian actor
October 12 - Kenneth Griffith, Welsh actor and documentary filmmaker
October 13 – Yves Montand, singer, actor
November 3 – Charles Bronson, actor
November 5 – Moritz Yomtov, screenwriter
November 8 – Walter Mirisch, American film producer
November 12 - Paul Maxwell, Canadian actor
November 14 - Brian Keith, American actor
November 21 – Vivian Blaine, actor, singer
November 22 – Rodney Dangerfield, actor, comedian
November 23 – Fred Buscaglione, Italian actor and singer
December 1 - Sylvia Kauders, American actress
December 4 – Deanna Durbin, actress
December 11 - Liz Smith, English character actress
December 15 - Nikolai Lebedev, Soviet-Russian actor
December 24 - Mickey Knox, American actor
December 26
*Steve Allen, actor, composer, comedian, author
*Sean Sullivan, Canadian actor

Deaths

February 8 – George Formby Sr, 45, British music hall entertainer who appeared in one film
May 17 – Karl Mantzius, 61, Danish actor, theatre director, writer
June 5 – Georges Feydeau, 58, French playwright, many of whose plays were adapted for the screen
June 11 - Frank R. Mills, 50, American stage and screen actor
June 20 – George Loane Tucker, 49, American actor, screenwriter and director
July 9 – Robert Broderick, 56, American stage and film actor
September 9 – Virginia Rappe, 30, American actress
September 17 – Van Dyke Brooke, 62, American actor, screenwriter and film director