The year 1940 in film involved some significant events, including the premieres of the Walt Disney films Pinocchio and Fantasia.
Events January 26 – RKO emerges from bankruptcy with assets transferred to a new company. February 7 – Walt Disney's second animated feature film Pinocchio premieres at the Center Theatre in New York City. Although not a box office success upon its initial release (due to being cut off from international markets due to World War II), the film receives critical acclaim and wins two Academy Awards, including one for Best Original Song for "When You Wish Upon a Star". Through a reissue after the war, Pinocchio becomes profitable and gains a cult following; eventually, it is considered one of the greatest films of all time. February 10 – Tom and Jerry make their debut in the animated cartoon Puss Gets the Boot. The characters are initially known as "Jasper and Jinx" for this cartoon only. April 12 – Alfred Hitchcock's first American film Rebecca is released, under the production of David O. Selznick. It would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. May – A reproduction of "America's First Movie Studio", Thomas Edison's Black Maria, is constructed. July 27 – Bugs Bunny makes his official debut in the animated cartoon A Wild Hare. October 15 – Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator, a satirical comedy starring him, premieres in New York City. It is a critical and commercial success and goes on to become Chaplin's most financially successful film. November 13 – World premiere of Walt Disney's animated film Fantasia at the Broadway Theatre in New York City, the first film to be released in a multi-channel sound format (see Fantasound). The film also marks the first use of the click track while recording the soundtrack, overdubbing of orchestral parts, simultaneous multitrack recording and is cited as a key chapter in the conception and development of the multi-channel surround system. The film is a bigger box office failure for Disney than Pinocchio was, though it recoups its cost years later and becomes one of the most highly regarded of Disney's films. November 20 – Consent Decree approved by Judge Henry W. Goddard to end block booking by the Big Five studios November 25 – Woody Woodpecker makes his debut in the Andy Panda cartoon Knock Knock. December 5 – Release of one of Alexander Korda's most successful films, The Thief of Bagdad, pioneering the use of chroma key effects. In the United Kingdom, the Crown Film Unit supersedes the GPO Film Unit in the production of documentary films.
Academy Awards
Best Picture: Rebecca – David O. Selznick, United Artists Best Director: John Ford – The Grapes of Wrath Best Actor: James Stewart – The Philadelphia Story Best Actress: Ginger Rogers – Kitty Foyle Best Supporting Actor: Walter Brennan – The Westerner Best Supporting Actress: Jane Darwell – The Grapes of Wrath
Top-grossing films (U.S.) The top ten 1940 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:
+ Highest-grossing films of 1940 Rank Title Distributor Domestic rentals 1 Boom Town MGM $3,664,000. 2 The Great Dictator United Artists $3,500,000Susan Sackett, The Hollywood Reporter Book of Box Office Hits Billboard Books, 1996 p 28 3Rebecca United Artists/Selznick International $3,000,000 4 North West Mounted Police Paramount $2,750,000 5 Strike Up the BandMGM $2,265,000 6 Northwest Passage $2,169,000 7 Andy Hardy Meets Debutante $1,945,000 8 The Fighting 69thWarner Bros. $1,822,000Warner Bros financial information in The William Schaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p 20 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551 9 Santa Fe Trail $1,748,000 10 Kitty FoyleRKO $1,710,000
Films by country/region
Notable films Films produced in the United States unless stated otherwise
A Abe Lincoln in Illinois, directed by John Cromwell, starring Raymond Massey All This and Heaven Too, directed by Anatole Litvak, starring Bette Davis and Charles Boyer Andy Hardy Meets Debutante, directed by George B. Seitz, starring Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, Fay Holden and Judy Garland Angels Over Broadway, directed by Ben Hecht, starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Rita Hayworth Anne of Windy Poplars, directed by Jack Hively, starring Anne Shirley The Ape, directed by William Nigh, starring Boris Karloff Arise, My Love, directed by Mitchell Leisen, starring Claudette Colbert and Ray Milland Arizona, directed by Wesley Ruggles, starring Jean Arthur, William Holden and Warren William
B Band Waggon, directed by Marcel Varnel, starring Arthur Askey – (GB) The Bank Dick, directed by Edward F. Cline, starring W. C. Fields Beating Heart (Battement de coeur), directed by Henri Decoin, starring Danielle Darrieux and Claude Dauphin – (France) Before I Hang, directed by Nick Grinde, starring Boris Karloff The Biscuit Eater, directed by Stuart Heisler Bismarck, directed by Wolfgang Liebeneiner, starring Paul Hartmann – (Germany) Black Friday, directed by Arthur Lubin, starring Boris Karloff and Béla Lugosi The Blue Bird, directed by Walter Lang, starring Shirley Temple Boom Town, directed by Jack Conway, starring Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Claudette Colbert and Hedy Lamarr The Boys from Syracuse, directed by A. Edward Sutherland, starring Allan Jones Brigham Young, directed by Henry Hathaway, starring Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell British Intelligence, directed by Terry O. Morse, starring Boris Karloff Broadway Melody of 1940, directed by Norman Taurog, starring Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell Brother Orchid, directed by Lloyd Bacon, starring Edward G. Robinson, Ann Sothern and Humphrey Bogart
C Calling Philo Vance, directed by William Clemens, starring James Stephenson Castle on the Hudson, directed by Anatole Litvak, starring John Garfield, Ann Sheridan and Pat O'Brien Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum, directed by Lynn Shores, starring Sidney Toler Charlie Chan in Panama, directed by Norman Foster, starring Sidney Toler Christmas in July, directed by Preston Sturges, starring Dick Powell and Ellen Drew A Chump at Oxford, directed by Alfred J. Goulding, starring Laurel and Hardy City for Conquest, directed by Anatole Litvak, starring James Cagney and Ann Sheridan Confucius, directed by Fei Mu – (China) Contraband, directed by Michael Powell, starring Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson – (GB) Convoy, directed by Pen Tennyson, starring Clive Brook and John Clements – (GB) Crimes at the Dark House, directed by George King, starring Tod Slaughter – (GB)
D Dance, Girl, Dance, directed by Dorothy Arzner, starring Maureen O'Hara, Louis Hayward and Lucille Ball Dark Command, directed by Raoul Walsh, starring Claire Trevor, John Wayne, Walter Pidgeon and Roy Rogers The Devil Bat, directed by Jean Yarbrough, starring Béla Lugosi A Dispatch from Reuters, directed by William Dieterle, starring Edward G. Robinson Doomed to Die, directed by William Nigh, starring Boris Karloff Down Argentine Way, directed by Irving Cummings, starring Don Ameche, Betty Grable and Carmen Miranda Dr. Cyclops, directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack, starring Albert Dekker Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet, directed by William Dieterle, starring Edward G. Robinson
E Edison, the Man, directed by Clarence Brown, starring Spencer Tracy Escape, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Norma Shearer, Robert Taylor and Conrad Veidt
F Fantasia, Disney Classic directed by Samuel Armstrong, James Algar, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield, Ben Sharpsteen, David D. Hand, Hamilton Luske, Jim Handley, Ford Beebe, T. Hee, Norman Ferguson and Wilfred Jackson The Fatal Hour, directed by William Nigh, starring Boris Karloff The Fighting 69th, directed by William Keighley, starring James Cagney, Pat O'Brien and George Brent Flowing Gold, directed by Alfred E. Green, starring John Garfield, Frances Farmer and Pat O'Brien Foreign Correspondent, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Joel McCrea, Herbert Marshall and George Sanders The Fox of Glenarvon (Der Fuchs von Glenarvon), propaganda film directed by Max W. Kimmich – (Germany)
G Gaslight, directed by Thorold Dickinson, starring Anton Walbrook and Diana Wynyard – (GB) The Ghost Breakers, directed by George Marshall, starring Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard Go West, directed by Edward Buzzell, starring the Marx Brothers The Grapes of Wrath, directed by John Ford, starring Henry Fonda The Great Dictator, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin with Paulette Goddard and Jack Oakie The Great McGinty, directed by Preston Sturges, starring Brian Donlevy Green Hell, directed by James Whale, starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Joan Bennett
H His Girl Friday, directed by Howard Hawks, starring Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell and Ralph Bellamy The House of the Seven Gables, directed by Joe May, starring George Sanders and Vincent Price The Howards of Virginia, directed by Frank Lloyd, starring Cary Grant and Martha Scott
I I Love You Again, directed by W. S. Van Dyke, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy I Take This Woman, directed by W. S. Van Dyke, starring Spencer Tracy and Hedy Lamarr The Invisible Man Returns, directed by Joe May, starring Cedric Hardwicke and Vincent Price The Invisible Woman, directed by A. Edward Sutherland, starring Virginia Bruce and John Barrymore It All Came True, directed by Lewis Seiler, starring Ann Sheridan, Jeffrey Lynn and Humphrey Bogart
J June Night (Juninatten), directed by Per Lindberg, starring Ingrid Bergman – (Sweden)
K The King of the White Elephant (Phra Chao Chang Phueak), directed by Sunh Vasudhara – (Thailand) Kitty Foyle, directed by Sam Wood, starring Ginger Rogers
L Laddie, directed by Jack Hively, starring Tim Holt Lady with Red Hair, directed by Curtis Bernhardt, starring Miriam Hopkins and Claude Rains The Letter, directed by William Wyler, starring Bette Davis and Herbert Marshall Lillian Russell, directed by Irving Cummings, starring Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Henry Fonda and Edward Arnold Little Men, directed by Norman Z. McLeod, starring Kay Francis, Jack Oakie and George Bancroft The Long Voyage Home, directed by John Ford, starring John Wayne and Thomas Mitchell
M The Mark of Zorro, directed by Rouben Mamoulian, starring Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell and Basil Rathbone The Mortal Storm, directed by Frank Borzage, starring Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Robert Young and Frank Morgan The Mummy's Hand, directed by Christy Cabanne, starring Dick Foran My Favorite Wife, directed by Garson Kanin, starring Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Randolph Scott and Gail Patrick My Little Chickadee, directed by Edward F. Cline, starring Mae West and W. C. Fields
N New Moon, directed by Robert Z. Leonard, starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy Night Train to Munich, directed by Carol Reed, starring Margaret Lockwood and Rex Harrison – (GB) North West Mounted Police, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Gary Cooper, Madeleine Carroll and Paulette Goddard Northwest Passage, directed by King Vidor, starring Spencer Tracy and Robert Young
O One Million B.C., directed by Hal Roach and Hal Roach Jr., starring Victor Mature, Carole Landis and Lon Chaney Jr. One Night in the Tropics, directed by A. Edward Sutherland, starring Abbott and Costello Our Town, directed by Sam Wood, starring William Holden and Martha Scott
P The Philadelphia Story, directed by George Cukor, starring Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn and James Stewart Pinocchio, Disney Classic directed by Ben Sharpsteen and Hamilton Luske, starring Dickie Jones and Cliff Edwards Pride and Prejudice, directed by Robert Z. Leonard, starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier Primrose Path, directed by Gregory La Cava, starring Ginger Rogers and Joel McCrea The Proud Valley, directed by Pen Tennyson, starring Paul Robeson – (GB)
R Rebecca, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier Remember the Night, directed by Mitchell Leisen, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray