1923 in film

This is an overview of 1923 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.

Fandom movies:1923

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

The top eight films released in 1923 by U.S. gross are as follows:

Rank	Title	Distributor	Domestic rentals
1	'	Paramount	$4,169,798
2	'	Paramount	$3,500,000
3/4	Safety Last! The Hunchback of Notre Dame	Pathé Exchange Universal	$1,500,000
5	Scaramouche	Metro	$1,000,000
6	Adam's Rib	Paramount	$881,206
7	Main Street	Warner Bros.	$510,000
8		Warner Bros.	$470,000
9	Tiger Rose	Warner Bros.	$466,000

Events

April 4 – Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. incorporated in the United States.
April 15 – Lee De Forest demonstrates the Phonofilm sound-on-film system at the Rivoli Theater in New York with a series of short musical films featuring vaudeville performers.
Henry Roussel's Les Opprimés is released, introducing mattes to French cinema.
October 16 – Brothers Walt and Roy O. Disney establish Disney Brothers Studio.

Notable films released in 1923

American films unless stated otherwise

F

Faust, directed by Bertram Phillips, based on the 1808 play by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe –
Frozen Hearts, directed by J. A. Howe, starring Stan Laurel

G

The Gold Diggers, directed by Harry Beaumont
The Grub-Stake, directed by Bert Van Tuyle, starring Nell Shipman

H

The Harbour Lights, directed by Tom Terriss, starring Tom Moore and Isobel Elsom –
Hoy o Nuca, Bésame, directed by José Nepomuceno –
The Hunchback of Notre Dame, directed by Wallace Worsley, starring Lon Chaney, Patsy Ruth Miller and Norman Kerry, based on the 1831 novel by Victor Hugo

I

I Will Repay, directed by Henry Kolker, starring Holmes Herbert and Flora Le Breton –
I.N.R.I., directed by Robert Wiene –
The Isle of Lost Ships, directed by Maurice Tourneur
Itching Palms, directed by James W. Horne, based on the play When Jerry Comes Home by Roy Briant

L

The Lady Owner, directed by Walter West –
The Last Moment, directed by J. Parker Read Jr., starring Henry Hull, Doris Kenyon and Louis Wolheim
Little Old New York, directed by Sidney Olcott, starring Marion Davies
The Lost Soul, directed by Hugo Werner-Kahle –
The Love Nest, directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, starring Buster KeatonThe Loves of Mary, Queen of Scots, directed by Denison Clift, starring Fay Compton –

M

Main Street, directed by Harry Beaumont
The Man in the Iron Mask , directed by Max Glass –
The Merchant of Venice , directed by Peter Paul Felner, starring Werner Krauss and Henny Porten –
Merry-Go-Round, directed by Erich von Stroheim, starring Mary Philbin and Norman Kerry
Miss Suwanna of Siam , directed by Henry MacRae
The Monkey's Paw, directed by Manning Haynes, based on the 1902 short story by W. W. Jacobs –
Mysteries of a Barbershop , directed by Erich Engel –
The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu, 15-part serial directed by A. E. Coleby –

O

On the Banks of the Wabash, directed by J. Stuart Blackton
Our Hospitality, directed by John G. Blystone and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton
Out to Win, directed by Denison Clift, starring Catherine Calvert and Clive Brook –

P

Paddy the Next Best Thing, directed by Graham Cutts, starring Mae Marsh –
The Pilgrim, a Charlie Chaplin film
Puritan Passions, directed by Frank Tuttle, starring Glenn Hunter and Mary Astor, based on the 1908 play The Scarecrow by Percy MacKaye
The Purple Highway, directed by Henry Kolker, starring Madge Kennedy

R

Raskolnikow, directed by Robert Wiene –
The Red Inn , directed by Jean Epstein, based on the 1831 short story by Honoré de Balzac –
Red Lights, directed by Clarence G. Badger, starring Marie Prevost, based on the play The Rear Car by Edward Everett Rose
Le Retour à la Raison , directed by Man Ray –
Rosita, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Mary Pickford
La Roue , directed by Abel Gance –
Rupert of Hentzau, directed by Victor Heerman

S

Safety Last!, directed by Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, starring Harold Lloyd
Salomé, directed by Charles Bryant, starring Alla Nazimova
Scaramouche, directed by Rex Ingram, Starring Ramón Novarro, Alice Terry and Lewis Stone
Schatten – Eine nächtliche Halluzination , directed by Arthur Robison –
The Shock, directed by Lambert Hillyer, starring Lon Chaney
The Shriek of Araby, directed by F. Richard Jones, starring Ben Turpin
The Sign of Four, directed by Maurice Elvey, starring Eille Norwood, based on the 1890 novel by Arthur Conan Doyle –
Slave of Desire, directed by George D. Baker, starring Bessie Love, based on the 1831 novel La Peau de chagrin by Honoré de Balzac
Souls for Sale, directed by Rupert Hughes, starring Eleanor Boardman, Mae Busch and Richard Dix
A Spectre Haunts Europe, directed by Vladimir Gardin, based on the 1842 short story The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe –
Squibs M.P., directed by George Pearson, starring Betty Balfour – The Street , directed by Karl Grune –
Suzanna, directed by F. Richard Jones, starring Mabel Normand

T

The Ten Commandments, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Theodore Roberts
This Freedom, directed by Denison Clift, starring Fay Compton and Clive Brook –
Three Ages, directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton and Wallace Beery
Three Wise Fools, directed by King Vidor
Through Fire and Water, directed by Thomas Bentley, starring Clive Brook and Flora Le Breton –
Tiger Rose, directed by Sidney Franklin (director), starring Lenore Ulric
The Treasure , directed by G. W. Pabst –
Trilby, directed by James Young, based on the 1894 novel by George du Maurier
Tut-Tut and his Terrible Tomb, directed by Bertram Phillips –

U

Under the Red Robe, directed by Alan Crosland, starring Robert B. Mantell
The Unknown Tomorrow , directed by Alexander Korda, starring Werner Krauss –

W

While Paris Sleeps, directed by Maurice Tourneur, starring Lon Chaney and John Gilbert, based on a novelThe Glory of Love by Leslie Beresford
The White Shadow, directed by Graham Cutts, starring Betty Compson and Clive Brook –
The White Sister, directed by Henry King, starring Lillian Gish and Ronald Colman
Why Worry?, directed by Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, starring Harold Lloyd and Jobyna Ralston
Wild Bill Hickok, directed by Clifford Smith, starring William S. Hart
Within the Law, directed by Frank Lloyd, starring Norma Talmadge
A Woman of Paris, written and directed by Charles Chaplin, starring Edna Purviance
Woman to Woman, directed by Graham Cutts, starring Betty Compson and Clive Brook –

Short film series

Animated short film series

Births

January 1 – Valentina Cortese, Italian actress
January 3 - Bud Tingwell, Australian actor
January 5 - Boris Leskin, Soviet-American actor
January 7 – Pinkas Braun, Swiss actor, director
January 8 – Larry Storch, American actor
January 17 - Carol Raye, British-born Australian actress, comedian and singer
January 19 – Jean Stapleton, American actress
January 22 - Diana Douglas, American actress
January 23 – Silvano Campeggi, Italian poster designer
January 26 – Anne Jeffreys, American actress
January 29 – Paddy Chayefsky, American screenwriter
February 2 – Bonita Granville, American actress
February 12 – Franco Zeffirelli, Italian director
February 18 - Allan Melvin, American actor and impressionist
February 21 – Lola Flores, Spanish actress
February 28 – Charles Durning, American actor
March 10 – Dolores Fuller, American actress
March 12 - Vladek Sheybal, Polish character actor, singer and director
March 19 – Pamela Britton, American actress
March 22 - Carmen Filpi, American character actor
March 24 - Murray Hamilton, American actor
April 2 – Gloria Henry, American actress
April 4
*Gene Reynolds, American actor, producer
*Peter Vaughan, English character actor
April 5 - Michael V. Gazzo, American actor
April 6 - Chang Feng, Chinese actor
April 12 – Ann Miller, American dancer, singer, actress
April 13 - Don Adams, American actor, comedian and director
April 17
*Lindsay Anderson, British director and actor
*Lon McCallister, American actor
April 22 - Avis Bunnage, English actress
April 28 – Adele Mara, American actress
April 29 - Irvin Kershner, American director, actor and producer
May 4 – Eric Sykes, British actor and comedian
May 7 – Anne Baxter, actress
May 14 – Mrinal Sen, Bengali director
May 20 – Edith Fellows, American actress
May 26
*James Arness, American actor
*Roy Dotrice, British actor
May 30 - Jimmy Lydon, American actor and producer
June 5 - Peggy Stewart, American actress
June 8 – Peggy Maley, American actress
June 12 – Herta Elviste, Estonian actress
June 18 - Robert Ellenstein, American actor
June 20 - Jerzy Nowak, Polish actor
June 28 - Ray Boyle, American actor
July 6 – Cathy O'Donnell, American actress
July 8 - Val Bettin, American actor
July 14 – Dale Robertson, American actor
July 18 – Michael Medwin, English actor and producer
July 22 – Mukesh, Indian singer
July 25
*Estelle Getty, American actress and comedian
*Allan Lurie, American voice actor
August 3 – Jean Hagen, American actress
August 9 - John Stephenson, American actor
August 10
*Rhonda Fleming, American actress
*Vernon Washington, American character actor
August 14 – Alice Ghostley, American actress
August 15 – Rose Marie, American actress, singer
August 17 – Julius Harris, American actor
August 24 - June Dayton, American actress
August 28 - Alexander Doré, British actor, director and screenwriter
August 29 – Richard Attenborough, English actor and director
August 30 - William Duell, American actor and singer
August 31 - Ed Grady, American actor
September 1 - Habib Tanvir, Indian actor
September 7 – Peter Lawford, British-American actor
September 9 - Cliff Robertson, American actor
September 11 - Betsy Drake, American actress, writer
September 20 - Ricardo Montez, Gibraltarian actor
September 23
*Margaret Pellegrini, American actress
*Jimmy Weldon, American actor, ventriloquist and television host
September 27
*Tony Giorgio, American actor
*Mary McCarty, American actress
September 28 - William Windom, American actor
October 1 – Kim Yaroshevskaya, Russian-born Canadian actress
October 4 – Charlton Heston, American actor
October 5 – Glynis Johns, British actress
October 10 - Patrick Jordan, British actor
October 16 – Linda Darnell, American actress
October 23 - Frank Sutton, American actor
November 12 - Richard Venture, American actor
November 13 – Linda Christian, Mexican-American actress
November 21 - Helen Horton, American actress
November 28
*Gloria Grahame, American actress
*James Karen, American actor
December 4 - Vincent Ball, Australian retired actor
December 10 – Harold Gould, American actor
December 11 – Betsy Blair, American actress
December 12 - Bob Barker, American television game show host
December 29
*Dina Merrill, American actress
*Mike Nussbaum, American actor and director

Deaths

January 18 – Wallace Reid, American actor
March 3 – Dante Testa, Italian actor and director
March 26 – Sarah Bernhardt, French actress
May 21 – Charles Kent, veteran actor and director
June 11 – Porter Strong, American silent film actor
June 17 – Macey Harlam, screen actor
July 12 – Harry Lonsdale, stage and screen actor
July 30 – Charles Hawtrey, veteran British actor
August 29 – Bernard Durning, American actor and director,
September 11 – Siegmund Lubin, American motion picture pioneer
September 26 – Jerome Patrick, Broadway stage and silent film leading man
October 28 – Joe Roberts, American actor
November 20 – Allen Holubar, American actor and director
November 30 – Martha Mansfield, American actress
December 28 – Frank Hayes, American actor and comedian