1932 in film

Events

• Shirley Temple's film career begins
• Disney released Flowers and Trees their first cartoon in three-strip Technicolor film.

Academy Awards

• Best Picture: Grand Hotel – MGM

Note: Prior to 1933 awards were not based on calendar years, which is how there are no 'Best Actor' or 'Best Actress' awards for 1932 films. The 1931–32 awards went to 1931 films.

Movies released

Movies released in 1932 include:

• 20,000 Years in Sing Sing, starring Spencer Tracy and Bette Davis
• American Madness, starring Walter Huston, directed by Frank Capra
• As You Desire Me, starring Greta Garbo
• Back Street, starring Irene Dunne and John Boles
• The Beast of the City, starring Walter Huston, Jean Harlow and Wallace Ford
• The Big Broadcast, starring Bing Crosby
• Big City Blues, starring Eric Linden and Joan Blondell
• The Big Stampede, starring John Wayne
• A Bill of Divorcement, starring John Barrymore
• Bird of Paradise, starring Dolores del Rio and Joel McCrea
• Das Blaue Licht, starring and directed by Leni Riefenstahl
• Blonde Venus, starring Marlene Dietrich
• Broken Lullaby, starring Lionel Barrymore
• The Cabin in the Cotton, featuring Bette Davis
• Call Her Savage, starring Clara Bow
• The Dentist, a W.C. Fields short subject produced by Mack Sennett
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, starring Fredric March who won an Oscar for the role
• Emma, starring Marie Dressler
• A Farewell to Arms, starring Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes
• Freaks, directed by Tod Browning
• Grand Hotel, starring Lionel Barrymore, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Lewis Stone and Jean Hersholt
• Horse Feathers, starring the Marx Brothers
• I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, starring Paul Muni
• The Most Dangerous Game, starring Joel McCrea and Leslie Banks
• Movie Crazy, starring Harold Lloyd
• The Mummy, starring Boris Karloff
• Murders in the Rue Morgue, starring Bela Lugosi
• The Old Dark House, starring Boris Karloff
• One Hour with You, starring Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Genevieve Tobin and Charles Ruggles
• One Way Passage, starring William Powell and Kay Francis
• Pack Up Your Troubles, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
• Red Dust, starring Clark Gable and Jean Harlow
• Red-Headed Woman, starring Jean Harlow
• Scarface, starring Paul Muni
• Shanghai Express, starring Marlene Dietrich, Clive Brook, Anna May Wong and Warner Oland
• Tarzan the Ape Man, starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan
• Three on a Match, starring Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak and Bette Davis
• Tiger Shark, starring Edward G. Robinson
• Trouble in Paradise, starring Herbert Marshall, Kay Francis and Miriam Hopkins
• Two Seconds, starring Edward G. Robinson
• Vampyr, directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer
• White Zombie, starring Bela Lugosi

Births

• January 3 – Dabney Coleman, actor
• January 4 – Carlos Saura, director
• February 6 – François Truffaut, French film director (d. 1984)
• February 13 – Susan Oliver, actress, pilot
• April 4 – Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian movie director (d. 1986)
• April 10 – Delphine Seyrig, French actress (d. 1990)
• Mehmood, Indian actor, director, producer

Deaths

• August 10 – Rin Tin Tin, canine actor
• September 18 – Peg Entwistle, actress