Events
★
January 10 - The film ''
Metropolis'' by
Fritz Lang premieres.
★
April 12 -
The Marx Brothers'
Zeppo Marx marries
Marion Benda.
★
May 11 - The
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was formed. The first
Academy Awards (Oscars) went to films released in 1927 or 1928.
★
October 6 - ''
The Jazz Singer'', starring
Al Jolson and
May McAvoy, is released. Although not the first
'talkie', ''The Jazz Singer'' is the first big hit and popularizes sound motion pictures.
★
FOX Films acquires the rights to the
Tri-Ergon sound-on-film technology, which had been developed in 1919 by three
German inventors,
Josef Engl,
Hans Vogt, and
Joseph Massole.
★ Italian
Alberto Rabagliati wins a
Rudolph Valentino look-alike contest and moves to
Hollywood to start his acting career.
Top grossing films
# ''
The Jazz Singer''
Academy Awards
★
Best Production: '''Wings'''
★
Best Artistic Quality: '''Sunrise'''
★
Best Actor: 'Emil Jannings' for ''The Way of All Flesh'' and the 1928 movie ''The Last Command''
★
Best Actress: 'Janet Gaynor' for ''Seventh Heaven'' and ''Sunrise'', as well as the 1928 movie ''Street Angel''
Films released in 1927
★ '' (documentary)
★ ''
The Cat and the Canary''
★ ''
College'', starring
Buster Keaton
★ ''
The General'', starring
Buster Keaton
★ ''
Hula'', starring
Clara Bow
★ ''
Huntingtower'', by
George Pearson (
John Buchan novel)
★ ''
It'', starring
Clara Bow and
Antonio Moreno
★ ''
The Jazz Singer'', starring
Al Jolson &
May McAvoy
★ ''
The Kid Brother'', a comedy starring
Harold Lloyd
★ ''
The Lodger''
★ ''
London After Midnight'', starring
Lon Chaney, Sr.,
Conrad Nagel and
Marceline Day, directed by
Tod Browning
★ ''
Metropolis'', directed by
Fritz Lang
★ ''
Napoléon'' directed by
Abel Gance
★ ''
★ ''
The Private Life of Helen of Troy''
★ ''
The Scar of Shame'', a
race movie starring
Harry Henderson and
Lucia Lynn Moses
★ ''
Seventh Heaven'', starring
Janet Gaynor and
Charles Farrell
★ ''
The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg'', starring
Ramón Novarro and
Norma Shearer, directed by
Ernst Lubitsch
★ ''
Sunrise'', starring
George O'Brien and
Janet Gaynor, directed by
F.W. Murnau
★ ''
Underworld''
★ ''
The Unknown''
★ ''
The Way of All Flesh'', starring Emil Jannings
★ ''
Wings'', starring
Clara Bow,
Charles 'Buddy' Rogers,
Richard Arlen and
Jobyna Ralston
Short film series
★ ''
Buster Keaton'' (
1917-
1941)
★ ''
Our Gang'' (
1922-
1944)
★ ''
Laurel and Hardy'' (1921-
1943)
Animated short film series
★ ''
Felix the Cat'' (
1919-
1930)
★ ''
Aesop's Film Fables'' (
1921-
1933)
★ ''
Ko-Ko Song Car-Tunes'' (
1924-1927)
★ ''
Alice Comedies'' (
1924-1927)
★ ''
Krazy Kat'' (
1925-
1940)
★ ''
Un-Natural History'' (
1925-1927)
★ ''
Pete the Pup'' (
1926-1927)
★ ''
Inkwell Imps'' (1927-
1929)
★ ''
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit'' (1927-
1938)
★ ''
Newslaffs'' (1927-
1928)
Births
★
January 17 -
Eartha Kitt, actress, singer
★
February 7 -
Juliette Greco singer, actress
★
February 20 -
Sidney Poitier, actor
★
March 1 -
Harry Belafonte actor, singer
★
March 20 - Cairbre (also known as Leo),
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's lion mascot, born in
Dublin Zoo
★
May 13 -
Herbert Ross, director
★
June 23 -
Bob Fosse, director
★
July 4 -
Gina Lollobrigida, actress
★
July 6 -
Janet Leigh, actress (d.
2004)
★
September 16 -
Peter Falk, actor
★
October 14 -
Roger Moore, actor
★
October 18 -
George C. Scott, film and stage actor (d.
1999)
★
October 31 -
Lee Grant, actress
Deaths
★
June 03 -
Einar Hanson, Swedish actor
★
Robert McKim,
June 4, actor (the villain in Fairbank's "Mark of Zorro")