1923 in film

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

List of years in film (table)
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Events

• April 4 – Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. incorporated.
• 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.

Highest-grossing films

The top 10 films released in 1923 by U.S. gross are as follows:[1][2][3]

Highest-grossing films of 1923

Rank	Title	Studio	U.S. gross
1	The Covered Wagon	Paramount Pictures	$7,630,000[4]
2	The Ten Commandments	Paramount Pictures	$4,168,790[5]
3	The Hunchback of Notre Dame	Universal Pictures	$3,500,000[6]
4	Safety Last!	Pathé Exchange	$1,500,000
5	Daddy	Associated First National Pictures
6	Homeward Bound	Paramount Pictures
7	The Ne'er-Do-Well	Paramount Pictures
8	The Pilgrim	Associated First National Pictures
9	Scaramouche	Metro Pictures	$1,000,000 [7]
10	The White Sister	Metro Pictures

Notable films released in 1923

American films unless stated otherwise

• Adam's Rib, directed by Cecil B. DeMille
• The Ancient Law (Das alte Gesetz), directed by E. A. Dupont and starring Henny Porten – (Germany)
• Ashes of Vengeance, starring Norma Talmadge
• The Audacious Mr. Squire directed by Edwin Greenwood; starring Jack Buchanan, Valia – (GB)
• The Balloonatic, a Buster Keaton short
• Black Oxen, directed by Frank Lloyd
• The Blizzard (aka Gunnar Hedes saga), directed by Mauritz Stiller – (Sweden)
• Bonnie Prince Charlie directed by Charles Calvert, starring Ivor Novello and Gladys Cooper – (GB)
• The Brass Bottle, directed by Maurice Tourneur; starring Harry Myers, Ernest Torrence, Tully Marshall, Ford Sterling, Aggie Herring
• Cameo Kirby, directed by John Ford; starring John Gilbert
• Circus Days, starring Jackie Coogan
• Cœur fidèle (The Faithful Heart), directed by Jean Epstein – (France)
• The Covered Wagon, starring J. Warren Kerrigan
• The Daring Years, starring Mildred Harris, Charles Emmett Mack and Clara Bow
• The Doll Maker of Kiang-Ning (Der Puppenmacher von Kiang-Ning), directed by Robert Wiene; starring Werner Krauss – (Germany)
• Drakula halala (Dracula's Death) – (Hungary)
• The Extra Girl, starring Mabel Normand
• Frozen Hearts, starring Stan Laurel and Mae Laurel
• The Gold Diggers
• The Grub-Stake, directed by & starring Nell Shipman
• The Harbour Lights directed by Tom Terriss; starring Tom Moore and Isobel Elsom – (Britain)
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame, starring Lon Chaney
• I Will Repay directed by Henry Kolker; starring Holmes Herbert, Flora Le Breton – (GB)
• I.N.R.I., directed by Robert Wiene – (Germany)
• The Isle of Lost Ships, directed by Maurice Tourneur; starring Anna Q. Nilsson, Milton Sills, Frank Campeau, Walter Long, Aggie Herring
• The Lady Owner – directed by Walter West; starring Violet Hopson and James Knight – (Britain)
• Little Old New York, directed by Sidney Olcott, starring Marion Davies and Harrison Ford
• The Love Nest, a Buster Keaton short
• The Loves of Mary, Queen of Scots, directed by Denison Clift; starring Fay Compton, Gerald Ames and John Stuart – (GB)
• Der Mann mit der eisernen Maske (The Man in the Iron Mask), directed by Max Glass – (Germany)
• The Merchant of Venice (Der Kaufmann von Venedig), starring Henny Porten and Werner Krauss – (Germany)
• Merry-Go-Round, directed by Erich von Stroheim
• Miss Suwanna of Siam – The first international feature film set in Thailand it features an all Thai cast
• Mysteries of a Barbershop (Mysterien eines Friseursalons) – (Germany)
• Our Hospitality, directed by & starring Buster Keaton
• Out to Win, directed by Denison Clift; starring Catherine Calvert, Clive Brook – (GB)
• Paddy the Next Best Thing, directed by Graham Cutts, starring Mae Marsh (Britain)
• The Pilgrim, directed by & starring Charlie Chaplin with Edna Purviance and Syd Chaplin
• The Purple Highway, starring Madge Kennedy, Monte Blue, Vincent Coleman and Pedro de Cordoba
• Raskolnikow, directed by Robert Wiene – (Germany)
• Rosita, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Mary Pickford
• Le Retour à la Raison (Return to Reason) – (France)
• La Roue (The Wheel), directed by Abel Gance – (France)
• Rupert of Hentzau, directed by Victor Heerman
• Safety Last!, starring Harold Lloyd – This film has the famous scene where Lloyd is seen hanging from a clock.
• Salomé, directed by Charles Bryant; starring Alla Nazimova
• Scaramouche Starring Ramón Novarro, Alice Terry, Lewis Stone, Lloyd Ingraham
• Schatten – Eine nächtliche Halluzination (aka Warning Shadows), directed by Arthur Robison – (Germany)
• The Shock, starring Lon Chaney
• The Shriek of Araby, starring Ben Turpin
• Souls for Sale, starring Richard Dix and Eleanor Boardman
• The Street, directed by Karl Grune – (Germany)
• Squibs M.P. directed by George Pearson; starring Betty Balfour – (GB)
• Suzanna, starring Mabel Normand
• The Ten Commandments, directed by Cecil B. DeMille; starring Theodore Roberts
• This Freedom directed by Denison Clift; starring Fay Compton and Clive Brook – (GB)
• Three Ages, a Buster Keaton film
• Three Wise Fools, directed by King Vidor
• Through Fire and Water directed by Thomas Bentley; starring Clive Brook, Flora Le Breton – (GB)
• The Treasure (Der Schatz), directed by G.W. Pabst – (Germany)
• Under the Red Robe, directed by Alan Crosland; starring Robert B. Mantell
• The Unknown Tomorrow (Das unbekannte Morgen), directed by Alexander Korda – (Germany)
• The White Shadow, starring Betty Compson and Clive Brook – (GB)
• The White Sister, starring Lillian Gish and Ronald Colman
• Why Worry?, starring Harold Lloyd
• Wild Bill Hickok, directed by Clifford Smith
• Within the Law, directed by Frank Lloyd; starring Norma Talmadge
• A Woman of Paris, directed by Charles Chaplin; starring Edna Purviance
• Woman to Woman, starring Betty Compson and Clive Brook – (GB)

Short film series

• Charlie Chaplin (1914–23)
• Buster Keaton (1917–41)
• Laurel and Hardy (1921–43)
• Our Gang (1922–44)

Animated short film series

• Felix the Cat (1919–36)
• Koko the Clown (1919–34)
• Aesop's Film Fables (1921–34)
• Alice Comedies
  • Alice's Wonderland
• The Red Head Comedies (1923).

Births

• January 7 – Pinkas Braun, Swiss actor, director (died 2008)
• January 8 – Larry Storch, American actor
• January 19 – Jean Stapleton, American actress (died 2013)
• January 23 – Silvano Campeggi, Italian poster designer (died 2018)
• January 26 – Anne Jeffreys, American actress (died 2017)
• January 29 – Paddy Chayefsky American writer (died 1981)
• February 2 – Bonita Granville, American actress (died 1988)
• February 12 – Franco Zeffirelli, Italian director (died 2019)
• February 21 – Lola Flores, Spanish actress (died 1995)
• February 28 – Charles Durning, American actor (died 2012)
• March 10 – Dolores Fuller, American actress (died 2011)
• March 19 – Pamela Britton, American actress (died 1974)
• April 2 – Gloria Henry, American actress
• April 4 – Gene Reynolds, American actor, producer
• April 12 – Ann Miller, American dancer, singer, actress (died 2004)
• April 28 – Adele Mara, American actress (died 2010)
• May 4 – Eric Sykes, British actor and comedian (died 2012)
• May 7 – Anne Baxter, actress (died 1985)
• May 14 – Mrinal Sen, Bengali director (died 2018)
• May 26 – Roy Dotrice, British actor (died 2017)
• June 12 – Herta Elviste, Estonian actress (died 2015)
• July 6 – Cathy O'Donnell, American actress (died 1970)
• July 18 – Michael Medwin, English actor and producer
• July 22 – Mukesh, Indian singer (died 1976)
• August 3 – Jean Hagen, American actress (died 1977)
• August 10 – Rhonda Fleming, American actress
• August 14 – Alice Ghostley, American actress (died 2007)
• August 15 – Rose Marie, American actress, singer (died 2017)
• August 29 – Richard Attenborough, English actor and director (died 2014)
• September 7 – Peter Lawford, British-American actor (died 1984)
• September 27 - Mary McCarty, American actress (died 1980)
• October 4 – Charlton Heston, American actor (died 2008)
• October 5 – Glynis Johns, British actress
• October 16 – Linda Darnell, American actress (died 1965)
• November 13 – Linda Christian, Mexican-American actress (died 2011)
• November 28
  • Gloria Grahame, American actress (died 1981)
  • James Karen, American actor (died 2018)
• December 10 – Harold Gould, American actor (died 2010)
• December 11 – Betsy Blair, American actress (died 2009)
• December 29 – Dina Merrill, American actress (died 2017)

Deaths

• January 18 – Wallace Reid, American actor (born 1892)
• March 3 – Dante Testa, Italian actor and director (born 1861)
• March 26 – Sarah Bernhardt, French actress (born 1844)
• May 21 – Charles Kent, veteran actor and director (born 1852)
• June 11 – Porter Strong, American silent film actor
• June 17 – Macey Harlam, screen actor (born 1873)
• July 12 – Harry Lonsdale, stage and screen actor (born 1865)
• July 30 – Charles Hawtrey, veteran British actor (born 1858)
• August 29 – Bernard Durning, American actor and director, (born 1893)
• September 26 – Jerome Patrick, Broadway stage and silent film leading man (born 1883)
• October 28 – Joe Roberts, American actor (born 1871)
• November 20 – Allen Holubar, America actor and director (born 1888)
• November 30 – Martha Mansfield, American actress (born 1899)
• December 28 – Frank Hayes, American actor and comedian (born 1871)

Film debuts

• Jean Arthur
• Johnny Arthur
• Mary Carlisle
• Marlene Dietrich
• Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
• Charles Farrell
• William Haines
• Ken Maynard
• Donald Meek
• Thomas Mitchell
• Jack Oakie
• Fay Wray

References

1. "1923 Yearly Box Office Results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on January 26, 2016. Retrieved November 3, 2015.
2. rentals in US and Canada – see Variety list of box office champions for 1923
3. "The All Time Best Sellers," International Motion Picture Almanac 1937–38 (1938), Quigley Publishing Company, p. 942, January 22, 2017
4. The Covered Wagon (1923 film), , website of The Internet Movie Database Archived 2010-05-27 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved 27 January 2017
5. Shepherd, David J. (2010). The Bible on Silent Film: Spectacle, Story and Scripture in the Early Cinema. Cambridge University Press. p. 276.
6. "Biggest Money Pictures". Variety. June 21, 1932. p. 1.
7. rentals in US and Canada – see Variety list of box office champions for 1923