1923 in film

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

Notable films released in 1923

• Adam's Rib, directed by Cecil B. DeMille
• The Ancient Law, directed by E. A. Dupont and starring Henny Porten –
• Ashes of Vengeance, starring Norma Talmadge
• The Audacious Mr. Squire directed by Edwin Greenwood; starring Jack Buchanan, Valia –
• The Balloonatic, a Buster Keaton short
• Black Oxen, directed by Frank Lloyd
• The Blizzard, directed by Mauritz Stiller –
• Bonnie Prince Charlie directed by Charles Calvert, starring Ivor Novello and Gladys Cooper –
• 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, directed by Jean Epstein –
• 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, directed by Robert Wiene; starring Werner Krauss –
• Drakula halala –
• 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 –
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame, starring Lon Chaney
• I Will Repay directed by Henry Kolker; starring Holmes Herbert, Flora Le Breton –
• I.N.R.I., directed by Robert Wiene –
• 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 –
• 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 –
• Der Mann mit der eisernen Maske, directed by Max Glass –
• The Merchant of Venice, starring Henny Porten and Werner Krauss –
• 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 –
• Our Hospitality, directed by & starring Buster Keaton
• Out to Win, directed by Denison Clift; starring Catherine Calvert, Clive Brook –
• Paddy the Next Best Thing, directed by Graham Cutts, starring Mae Marsh
• 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 –
• Rosita, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Mary Pickford
• Le Retour à la Raison –
• La Roue, directed by Abel Gance –
• 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, directed by Arthur Robison –
• 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 –
• Squibs M.P. directed by George Pearson; starring Betty Balfour –
• 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 –
• 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 –
• The Treasure, directed by G.W. Pabst –
• Under the Red Robe, directed by Alan Crosland; starring Robert B. Mantell
• The Unknown Tomorrow, directed by Alexander Korda –
• The White Shadow, starring Betty Compson and Clive Brook –
• 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 –

  Short film series

• Charlie Chaplin
• Buster Keaton
• Laurel and Hardy
• Our Gang

  Animated short film series

• Felix the Cat
• Koko the Clown
• Aesop's Film Fables
• Alice Comedies
• * Alice's Wonderland
• The Red Head Comedies.

  Births

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

  Deaths

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

  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