The year 1943 in film featured various significant events for the film industry.

Events

• January 3 - first missing persons telecast (NYC)
• February 20 - American film studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor films.
• November 23 - British Forces Broadcasting Service begins operation
• December 31 - NYC's Times Square greets Frank Sinatra at Paramount Theater

^[1]

Top-grossing films (U.S.)^[2]

Box office numbers were reported at the time as a percentage compared to 'normal' business at each theater. For example, For Whom the Bell Tolls performed at an extraordinary 254% while Thousands Cheer was a hit at 176%. This is why exact dollar grosses for the period are unreliable at best.

Awards

Top Ten Money Making Stars

1943 film releases

U.S.A.

January-March

• January 1943
  • 6 January
    • Hitler's Children
  • 12 January
    • Shadow of a Doubt
• February 1943
  • 3 February
    • Air Force
  • 5 February
    • The Outlaw
  • 11 February
    • No Place for a Lady
  • 12 February
    • Journey into Fear
  • 19 February
    • Saludos Amigos
  • 20 February
    • The Hard Way
• March 1943
  • 1 March
    • Squadron Leader X (GB)
  • 2 March
    • The Human Comedy
  • 3 March
    • Münchhausen (Germany)
  • 5 March
    • Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man
  • 10 March
    • It Ain't Hay
  • 11 March
    • Hello, Frisco, Hello
  • 15 March
    • The Silver Fleet (GB)
  • 22 March
    • Huella de luz (Spain)
  • 25 March
    • Sanshiro Sugata (Japan)
  • 26 March
    • Forever and a Day
  • 27 March
    • Hangmen Also Die!

April-June

• April 1943
  • 2 April
    • Border Patrol
  • 9 April
    • Cabin in the Sky
    • It Comes Up Love
  • 12 April
    • Fires Were Started
  • 15 April
    • We Dive at Dawn
  • 22 April
    • Crash Dive
  • 23 April
    • Clancy Street Boys
  • 24 April
    • Edge of Darkness
  • 30 April
    • I Walked with a Zombie
    • Sherlock Holmes in Washington
• May 1943
  • 4 May
    • Five Graves to Cairo
  • 7 May
    • They Came to Blow Up America
    • This Land Is Mine
  • 8 May
    • The Leopard Man
  • 13 May
    • The More the Merrier
  • 14 May
    • Bombardier
  • 16 May
    • Ossessione (Italy)
  • 17 May
    • The Bells Go Down
  • 21 May
    • Action in the North Atlantic
    • Cowboy in Manhattan
    • The Ox-Bow Incident
  • 22 May
    • Mission to Moscow
  • 27 May
    • Prelude to War
  • 28 May
    • Mr. Lucky
• June 1943
  • 2 June
    • Hit the Ice
  • 3 June
    • Bataan
  • 10 June
    • The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
  • 11 June
    • Coney Island
  • 22 June
    • Crime Doctor
    • So Proudly We Hail!
  • 23 June
    • Angels of the Streets (France)
    • The Constant Nymph

July-September

• July 1943
  • 3 July
    • Background to Danger
  • 14 July
    • For Whom the Bell Tolls
  • 17 July
    • Victory Through Air Power
  • 21 July
    • Stormy Weather
  • 26 July
    • Theatre Royal (GB)
• August 1943
  • 2 August
    • Hi Diddle Diddle
    • Nasreddin in Bukhara (U.S.S.R.)
  • 11 August
    • Heaven Can Wait
  • 12 August
    • Phantom of the Opera
  • 14 August
    • This is the Army
  • 19 August
    • Destroyer
    • DuBarry Was a Lady
  • 21 August
    • The Seventh Victim
  • 23 August
    • The Man in Grey (GB)
  • 27 August
    • Holy Matrimony
    • Watch on the Rhine
  • 30 August
    • We've Never Been Licked
• September 1943
  • 2 September
    • The Sky's the Limit
  • 10 September
    • The Kansan
  • 13 September
    • Thousands Cheer
  • 16 September
    • Doña Bárbara (Mexico)
  • 17 September
    • Sherlock Holmes Faces Death
    • Top Man
  • 24 September
    • The Adventures of Tartu (GB)
  • 25 September
    • Thank Your Lucky Stars
  • 28 September
    • Le Corbeau (France)
  • 29 September
    • Corvette K-225

October-December

• October 1943
  • 7 October
    • Lassie Come Home
  • 8 October
    • Best Foot Forward
    • Crazy House
  • 13 October
    • L'Éternel retour (France)
  • 19 October
    • Yellow Canary (GB)
  • 23 October
    • Princess O'Rourke
  • 29 October
    • Flesh and Fantasy
• November 1943
  • 4 November
    • The North Star
  • 5 November
    • Guadalcanal Diary
    • Millions Like Us (GB)
    • Son of Dracula
  • 10 November
    • No Time for Love
    • Titanic (Germany)
  • 11 November
    • The Return of the Vampire
    • Sahara
  • 12 November
    • The Mad Ghoul
  • 13 November
    • Day of Wrath (Denmark)
    • 'Northern Pursuit
  • 19 November
    • The Dancing Masters
  • 23 November
    • Cry 'Havoc'
  • 26 November
    • Girl Crazy
  • 27 November
    • Old Acquaintance
• December 1943
  • 3 December
    • Happy Land
  • 6 December
    • War of the Wildcats
  • 14 December
    • The Shipbuilders (GB)
  • 15 December
    • Madame Curie
  • 17 December
    • Calling Dr. Death
    • Immensee (Germany)
  • 20 December
    • The Demi-Paradise (GB)
  • 23 December
    • A Guy Named Joe
  • 24 December
    • The Gang's All Here
    • The Ghost Ship
    • Jack London
  • 29 December
    • Tender Comrade
  • 31 December
    • Destination Tokyo
    • The Woman of the Town

Notable films released in 1943

U.S.A. unless stated

A

• Above Suspicion, starring Joan Crawford and Fred MacMurray
• Action in the North Atlantic, starring Humphrey Bogart and Raymond Massey
• The Adventures of Tartu, starring Robert Donat and Valerie Hobson - (GB)
• Air Force, directed by Howard Hawks, starring John Garfield
• Angels of the Streets (Les anges du peche), directed by Robert Bresson - (France)

B

• Background to Danger, directed by Raoul Walsh, starring George Raft and Peter Lorre
• Bataan, directed by Tay Garnett, starring Robert Taylor and Lloyd Nolan
• The Bells Go Down, starring Tommy Trinder and James Mason - (GB)
• Best Foot Forward, starring Lucille Ball, William Gaxton, Virginia Weidler
• Bombardier, starring Pat O'Brien, Randolph Scott, Anne Shirley
• Border Patrol, starring William Boyd, George Reeves, Robert Mitchum

C

• Cabin in the Sky, directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Ethel Waters
• Calling Dr. Death, first of the Inner Sanctum Mysteries, starring Lon Chaney, Jr.
• Clancy Street Boys, starring The East Side Kids
• Coney Island, starring Betty Grable
• The Constant Nymph, starring Joan Fontaine
• Le Corbeau (The Raven), directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, starring Pierre Fresnay - (France)
• Corvette K-225, starring Randolph Scott
• O Costa do Castelo (The Costa from the Castle) - (Portugal)
• Cowboy in Manhattan
• Crash Dive, starring Tyrone Power and Anne Baxter
• Crazy House, starring Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson
• The Crew of the Dora (Besatzung Dora) - (Germany)
• Crime Doctor, starring Warner Baxter
• Cry 'Havoc', starring Margaret Sullavan, Ann Sothern, Joan Blondell

D

• The Dancing Masters, starring Laurel and Hardy
• Day of Wrath (Vredens Dag), directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer - (Denmark)
• The Demi-Paradise, starring Laurence Olivier - (GB)
• Desert Victory, a propaganda documentary - (GB)
• Destination Tokyo, starring Cary Grant and John Garfield
• Destroyer, starring Glenn Ford and Edward G. Robinson
• Doña Bárbara, directed by Fernando de Fuentes - (Mexico)
• DuBarry Was a Lady, starring Lucille Ball and Red Skelton

E-F

• Edge of Darkness, starring Errol Flynn and Ann Sheridan
• L'Éternel retour (The Eternal Return), directed by Jean Cocteau, starring Jean Marais - (France)
• Fires Were Started, directed by Humphrey Jennings - (GB)
• Five Graves to Cairo, directed by Billy Wilder, starring Franchot Tone and Anne Baxter
• Flesh and Fantasy, starring Edward G. Robinson, Barbara Stanwyck and Charles Boyer
• Flor Silvestre, starring Dolores del Río - (Mexico)
• Forces Occultes, directed by Jean Marny, starring Maurice Rémy, Marcel Vibert, Auguste Bovério, Giséle Parry - (France)
• For Whom the Bell Tolls, directed by Sam Wood, starring Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman
• Forever and a Day, featuring an all-star cast
• Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man starring Lon Chaney, Jr. and Béla Lugosi
• Der Fuehrer's Face, Donald Duck's Academy Award-winning short

G

• The Gang's All Here, directed by Busby Berkeley, starring Alice Faye and Carmen Miranda
• The Ghost Ship, starring Richard Dix
• Girl Crazy, starring Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney
• Guadalcanal Diary, starring Lloyd Nolan, Richard Conte, Preston Foster, William Bendix, Anthony Quinn
• A Guy Named Joe, starring Spencer Tracy and Irene Dunne

H

• Hangmen Also Die!, starring Brian Donlevy and Walter Brennan
• Happy Land, starring Don Ameche and Frances Dee
• The Hard Way, starring Ida Lupino
• Heaven Can Wait, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Gene Tierney and Don Ameche
• Hello, Frisco, Hello, starring Alice Faye
• Hi Diddle Diddle, starring Adolphe Menjou and Pola Negri
• Hit the Ice, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
• Hitler's Children, directed by Edward Dmytryk
• Holy Matrimony, starring Monty Woolley and Gracie Fields
• Huella de luz (A Sight of Light) - (Spain)
• The Human Comedy, starring Mickey Rooney

I

• I Walked with a Zombie, starring Frances Dee
• Immensee (aka Immensee: A German Folksong) - (Germany)
• It Ain't Hay, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
• It Comes Up Love, starring Gloria Jean and Donald O'Connor

J-K

• Jack London, starring Michael O'Shea and Susan Hayward
• Jane Eyre, directed by Robert Stevenson, starring Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine
• Journey into Fear, starring Joseph Cotten, Dolores Del Rio, Orson Welles
• The Kansan, starring Richard Dix and Jane Wyatt
• Kismet, starring Ashok Kumar - (India)

L-M

• Lassie Come Home, starring Roddy McDowall and Donald Crisp
• The Leopard Man, directed by Jacques Tourneur, starring Dennis O'Keefe
• The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, starring Roger Livesey, Deborah Kerr, Anton Walbrook - (GB)
• The Mad Ghoul, starring George Zucco
• Madame Curie, starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon
• The Man in Grey, the first of the Gainsborough melodramas starring Margaret Lockwood and James Mason - (GB)
• María Candelaria, starring Dolores del Río and Pedro Armendáriz - (Mexico)
• Millions Like Us, directed by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder - (GB)
• Mission to Moscow, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Walter Huston
• Mister Big, starring Donald O'Connor and Gloria Jean
• The More the Merrier, directed by George Stevens, starring Jean Arthur and Joel McCrea
• Mr. Lucky, starring Cary Grant
• Münchhausen - (Germany)
• My Learned Friend, starring Will Hay - (GB)

N

• Nasreddin in Bukhara - (U.S.S.R.)
• No Place for a Lady, starring William Gargan and Phyllis Brooks
• No Time for Love, starring Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray
• The North Star, starring Anne Baxter and Dana Andrews
• Northern Pursuit, starring Errol Flynn

O

• Old Acquaintance, starring Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins
• Ossessione (Obsession), directed by Luchino Visconti - (Italy)
• The Outlaw, controversial western directed by Howard Hughes, starring Jane Russell
• The Ox-Bow Incident, directed by William Wellman, starring Henry Fonda, Harry Morgan, Dana Andrews

P

• Phantom of the Opera, starring Claude Rains
• Prelude to War, directed by Frank Capra
• Princess O'Rourke, starring Olivia de Havilland and Robert Cummings

Q-S

• The Return of the Vampire, starring Béla Lugosi
• Riding High, starring Dorothy Lamour and Dick Powell
• Sahara, starring Humphrey Bogart
• Saludos Amigos, a Walt Disney animated film starring Donald Duck and Goofy
• Sanshiro Sugata, directed by Akira Kurosawa - (Japan)
• The Seventh Victim, starring Tom Conway
• Shadow of a Doubt, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten
• Sherlock Holmes Faces Death, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce
• Sherlock Holmes in Washington, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce
• The Shipbuilders, directed by John Baxter - (GB)
• The Silver Fleet, starring Ralph Richardson and Googie Withers - (GB)
• The Sky's the Limit, starring Fred Astaire and Joan Leslie
• So Proudly We Hail!, starring Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard, Veronica Lake
• Son of Dracula, starring Lon Chaney Jr.
• The Song of Bernadette, starring Jennifer Jones
• Squadron Leader X, starring Eric Portman and Ann Dvorak - (GB)
• Stormy Weather, starring Lena Horne, Bill Robinson, Cab Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers
• A Stranger in Town, starring Frank Morgan

T-V

• Tender Comrade, starring Ginger Rogers and Robert Ryan
• Thank Your Lucky Stars, starring Eddie Cantor
• Theatre Royal, starring Bud Flanagan and Chesney Allen - (GB)
• They Came to Blow Up America, starring George Sanders
• This is the Army, directed by Michael Curtiz
• This Land Is Mine, directed by Jean Renoir, starring Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara
• Thousands Cheer, starring Gene Kelly, Kathryn Grayson, Mary Astor
• Titanic - (Germany)
• Top Man, starring Donald O'Connor
• Ukraine in Flames (Bitva za nashu Sovetskuyu Ukrainu) - (U.S.S.R.)
• Victory Through Air Power, a propaganda film by Disney
• Le Voyageur de la Toussaint - (France)

W-Z

• War of the Wildcats (a.k.a. In Old Oklahoma), starring John Wayne
• Watch on the Rhine, starring Paul Lukas and Bette Davis
• We Dive at Dawn, directed by Anthony Asquith, starring John Mills - (GB)
• We've Never Been Licked, starring Richard Quine and Noah Beery, Jr.
• Whistling in Brooklyn, starring Red Skelton
• The Woman of the Town, starring Claire Trevor and Albert Dekker
• Yellow Canary, starring Anna Neagle and Richard Greene - (GB)

Serials

• Adventures of the Flying Cadets
• The Adventures of Smilin' Jack
• Batman, starring Lewis Wilson
• Daredevils of the West, starring Allan Lane, directed by John English
• Don Winslow of the Coast Guard
• G-Men vs the Black Dragon, starring Rod Cameron, directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet
• The Masked Marvel, directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet
• The Phantom, starring Tom Tyler
• Secret Service in Darkest Africa, starring Rod Cameron, directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet

Comedy film series

• Buster Keaton (1917-1944)
• Laurel and Hardy (1921-1945)
• Our Gang (1922-1944)
• The Marx Brothers (1929-1946)
• The Three Stooges (1934-1959)

Animated short film series

• Mickey Mouse (1928-1953)
• Looney Tunes (1930-1969)
• Terrytoons (1930-1964)
• Merrie Melodies (1931-1969)
• Scrappy (1931-1941)
• Popeye (1933-1957)
• Color Rhapsodies (1934-1949)
• Donald Duck (1934-1956)
• Daffy Duck (1937 - 1966)
• Goofy (1939-1955)
• Andy Panda (1939-1949)
• Tom and Jerry (1940-1958)
• Woody Woodpecker (1941-1949)
• Swing Symphonies (1941-1945)
• The Fox and the Crow (1941-1950)
• Red Hot Riding Hood (1943-1949)
• Chip 'n Dale (1943-1956)
• Droopy (1943-1958)

Births

• January 13 - Richard Moll, actor
• January 24 - Sharon Tate, actress and model (died 1969)
• January 25 - Tobe Hooper, director and screenwriter (died 2017)
• January 28 - John Beck, actor
• February 3 - Blythe Danner, actress
• February 9 - Joe Pesci, actor
• February 20 - Mike Leigh, English director
• February 25 - George Harrison, English musician and songwriter (died 2001)
• March 8 - Lynn Redgrave, English actress (died 2010)
• March 15 - David Cronenberg, Canadian director and screenwriter
• March 31 - Christopher Walken, actor
• April 20 - Edie Sedgwick, actress, socialite, model and heiress (died 1971)
• June 7 - Michael Pennington, English actor, director and writer
• June 13 - Malcolm McDowell, English actor
• June 23 - Patrick Bokanowski, French director
• July 3 - Kurtwood Smith, actor
• July 21 - Edward Herrmann, actor (died 2014)
• August 15 - Barbara Bouchet, German-American actress
• August 17 - Robert De Niro, actor
• August 27 - Tuesday Weld, actress
• September 21 - Jerry Bruckheimer, producer
• September 28 - J. T. Walsh, actor (died 1998)
• October 4 - John Bindon, English actor and bodyguard
• October 8 - Chevy Chase, actor and comedian
• October 15 - Penny Marshall, American television actress, film director and producer (died 2018)
• October 22 - Catherine Deneuve, French actress
• November 5 - Sam Shepard, American actor (died 2017)
• November 12 - Wallace Shawn, American actor
• November 28 - Randy Newman, American singer, film composer
• December 13 - Arturo Ripstein, Mexican director
• December 21 - Jack Nance, actor (died 1996)
• December 23 - Harry Shearer, actor
• December 31 - Ben Kingsley, English actor

Deaths

• February 14 - Dora Gerson, 43, German actress, Caravan of Death, On the Brink of Paradise
• February 19 - Lynne Overman, 58, American actress, Little Miss Marker, Union Pacific, Dixie
• February 20 - Donald Haines, 23, American child actor, Skippy, A Tale of Two Cities
• April 3 - Conrad Veidt, 50, German actor, Casablanca, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Thief of Baghdad, The Spy in Black
• June 1 - Leslie Howard, 50, Academy Award-nominated British actor, Gone with the Wind, Pygmalion, The Petrified Forest, Of Human Bondage
• June 30 - Carlo Wieth, 57, Danish actor
• July 16 - Arthur Byron, 71, American actor, 20,000 Years in Sing Sing, Gabriel Over the White House

Film Debuts

• June Allyson - Best Foot Forward
• Hume Cronyn - Shadow of a Doubt
• Rhonda Fleming - In Old Oklahoma
• Kim Hunter - The Seventh Victim
• Richard Jaeckel - Guadalcanal Diary
• Dorothy McGuire - Claudia
• Robert Mitchum - The Human Comedy
• Dorothy Malone - Gildersleeve on Broadway
• Ella Raines - Corvette K-225
• Jane Russell - The Outlaw
• Cliff Robertson - We've Never Been Licked
• Lawrence Tierney - Gildersleeve on Broadway
• Shelley Winters - There's Something About a Soldier
• Natalie Wood - The Moon Is Down

References

Further reading

• Historical Events for Year 1943 (Part 5)