1942 in film

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

Events

• January 16 – Actress Carole Lombard is killed in a plane crash west of Las Vegas while returning home to Los Angeles from a War Bond tour.
• June 4 – Mrs. Miniver, starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon, opens at Radio City Music Hall in New York, in what will become a record-breaking 10-week run.
• August 8 – Walt Disney's animated film Bambi opens in United Kingdom.
• November 11 – Road to Morocco, starring Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour, premieres.
• November 26 – The film Casablanca premieres at the Hollywood Theatre in New York City. Released nationally in the United States on January 23, 1943, it becomes one of the top-grossing pictures of 1943 and goes on to win the Best Picture and Best Director awards at the 16th Academy Awards.

  Academy Awards

• Best Picture: Mrs. Miniver – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
• Best Director: William Wyler – Mrs. Miniver
• Best Actor: James Cagney – Yankee Doodle Dandy
• Best Actress: Greer Garson – Mrs. Miniver
• Best Supporting Actor: Van Heflin – Johnny Eager
• Best Supporting Actress: Teresa Wright – Mrs. Miniver
• Special Academy Award: In Which We Serve

  1942 film releases

January–March

• January 1942
• *1 January
• **The Man Who Came to Dinner
• *6 January
• **Blue, White and Perfect
• *8 January
• **The Black Sheep of Whitehall
• *10 January
• **All Through the Night
• *19 January
• **The Big Blockade
• *23 January
• **O Pátio das Cantigas
• *24 January
• **The Fleet's In
• *29 January
• **
• February 1942
• *2 February
• **Kings Row
• *6 February
• **Valley of the Sun
• *16 February
• **The Man Who Wanted to Kill Himself
• *19 February
• **To Be or Not to Be
• **Woman of the Year
• *20 February
• **Ride 'Em Cowboy
• **Roxie Hart
• *21 February
• **Captains of the Clouds
• March 1942
• *3 March
• **The Great King
• *7 March
• **Bullet Scars
• *10 March
• **Un Garibaldino al Convento
• *11 March
• **Rio Rita
• *13 March
• **The Ghost of Frankenstein
• **Song of the Islands
• *18 March
• **Reap the Wild Wind
• *20 March
• **Rings on Her Fingers
• *21 March
• **This Was Paris
• *27 March
• **The Affairs of Jimmy Valentine''

  April–June

• April 1942
• *1 April
• **There Was a Father
• *2 April
• **Alias Boston Blackie
• **My Favorite Blonde
• *3 April
• **Jungle Book
• *4 April
• **The Male Animal
• *19 April
• **Hatter's Castle
• *22 April
• **Saboteur
• *24 April
• **Larceny, Inc.
• *29 April
• **The Great Man's Lady
• *30 April
• **My Gal Sal
• May 1942
• *8 May
• **The Corpse Vanishes
• **In This Our Life
• **The Spoilers
• *12 May
• **This Above All
• *13 May
• **This Gun for Hire
• *21 May
• **Pacific Rendezvous
• **Tortilla Flat
• *22 May
• **Syncopation
• *29 May
• **The Falcon Takes Over
• **Miss Annie Rooney
• **Yankee Doodle Dandy
• *31 May
• **In Old California
• June 1942
• *4 June
• **Mrs. Miniver
• *13 June
• **The Big Shot
• **Flying Fortress
• **Tombstone, the Town Too Tough to Die
• *15 June
• **The Next of Kin
• *16 June
• **Eagle Squadron
• *22 June
• **The Foreman Went to France
• *26 June
• **Ten Gentlemen from West Point
• **There's One Born Every Minute
• *27 June
• **One of Our Aircraft is Missing

  July–September

• July 1942
• *2 July
• **Sons of the Pioneers
• *8 July
• **The Murderer Lives at Number 21
• *9 July
• **I Married an Angel
• *10 July
• **The Magnificent Ambersons
• *14 July
• **Pride of the Yankees
• *16 July
• **Her Cardboard Lover
• *29 July
• **The Kids Grow Up
• *31 July
• **Invisible Agent
• August 1942
• *4 August
• **Holiday Inn
• *5 August
• **Tales of Manhattan
• *7 August
• **A-Haunting We Will Go
• **Pardon My Sarong
• *10 August
• **Alibi
• *11 August
• **Wake Island
• *20 August
• **The Talk of the Town
• *21 August
• **Bambi
• **The Pied Piper
• *24 August
• **Uncensored
• *25 August
• **Attack on Baku
• *27 August
• **Somewhere I'll Find You
• *28 August
• **The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe
• *31 August
• **A Pistol Shot
• September 1942
• **A Yank at Eton
• *4 September
• **Across the Pacific
• **The Big Street
• *14 September
• **The First of the Few
• *15 September
• **Ala-Arriba!
• *16 September
• **The Major and the Minor
• *17 September
• **In Which We Serve
• *18 September
• **Kokoda Front Line!
• **Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror
• *21 September
• **The Young Mr. Pitt
• *25 September
• **Desperate Journey

  October–December

• October 1942
• *8 October
• **Flying Tigers
• *16 October
• **Eyes in the Night
• *23 October
• **The Glass Key
• **The Mummy's Tomb
• *24 October
• **Northwest Rangers
• *30 October
• **I Married a Witch
• *31 October
• **Now, Voyager
• November 1942
• *6 November
• **Springtime in the Rockies
• **Who Done It?
• *9 November
• **The Great Mr. Handel
• *10 November
• **Road to Morocco
• *19 November
• **You Were Never Lovelier
• *20 November
• **The Gaucho War
• **'Neath Brooklyn Bridge
• *25 November
• **Gentleman Jim
• *26 November
• **For Me and My Gal
• *27 November
• **The Undying Monster
• *28 November
• **George Washington Slept Here
• December 1942
• *4 December
• **The Black Swan
• **Thunder Rock
• *5 December
• **Whom the Gods Love
• *6 December
• **Cat People
• *7 December
• **Went the Day Well?
• *9 December
• **Johnny Eager
• *11 December
• **American Empire
• **Pittsburgh
• *17 December
• **Random Harvest
• *18 December
• **Aniki-Bóbó
• **The Great Impersonation
• *23 December
• **Four Steps in the Clouds
• *24 December
• **Time to Kill
• *25 December
• **Arabian Nights
• **Reunion in France
• *30 December
• **Commandos Strike at Dawn''

  Notable films released in 1942

A

• Across the Pacific, starring Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor
• The Affairs of Jimmy Valentine, starring Dennis O'Keefe and Ruth Terry
• A-Haunting We Will Go, starring Laurel and Hardy
• Ala-Arriba! –
• Alias Boston Blackie, Starring Chester Morris, Adele Mara, and Richard Lane
• Alibi, starring Margaret Lockwood and James Mason –
• All Through the Night, starring Humphrey Bogart
• American Empire, starring Richard Dix
• Andy Hardy's Double Life, starring Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, Fay Holden
• Aniki-Bóbó –
• Arabian Nights, starring Sabu, Jon Hall, Maria Montez
• Attack on Baku, starring Willy Fritsch, René Deltgen

  B

• El Baisano Jalil –
• Bambi, directed by David Hand, starring Bobby Stewart, Donnie Dunagan, Hardie Albright and John Sutherland
• The Battle of Midway, documentary directed by John Ford
• The Big Blockade, starring Leslie Banks, Michael Redgrave and Will Hay –
• The Big Shot, starring Humphrey Bogart
• The Big Street, starring Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball
• The Black Sheep of Whitehall, starring Will Hay and John Mills –
• The Black Swan, starring Tyrone Power
• Blue, White and Perfect, starring Lloyd Nolan
• Bullet Scars, starring Regis Toomey

  C-D

• Captains of the Clouds, starring James Cagney
• Casablanca, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Peter Lorre, Claude Rains
• Cat People, starring Simone Simon and Tom Conway
• Commandos Strike at Dawn, starring Paul Muni
• The Corpse Vanishes, starring Bela Lugosi
• The Courtship of Andy Hardy, starring Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, Fay Holden
• Derailed –
• Desperate Journey, starring Errol Flynn and Ronald Reagan
• The Devil's Envoys, directed by Marcel Carné, starring Arletty –

  E-F

• Eagle Squadron, directed by Arthur Lubin
• Escape from Hong Kong, starring Marjorie Lord
• Eyes in the Night, directed by Fred Zinneman, starring Edward Arnold, Ann Harding, Donna Reed
• The Falcon Takes Over, starring George Sanders
• The First of the Few, directed by Leslie Howard, starring Howard and David Niven –
• The Fleet's In, starring Dorothy Lamour and William Holden
• Flying Fortress, starring Richard Greene
• Flying Tigers, starring John Wayne
• The Foreman Went to France, starring Clifford Evans and Tommy Trinder –
• For Me and My Gal, starring Judy Garland and Gene Kelly
• Four Steps in the Clouds –

  G-H

• Un Garibaldino al Convento, directed by Vittorio De Sica –
• The Gaucho War –
• Gentleman Jim, a biopic of boxer James J. Corbett, starring Errol Flynn
• George Washington Slept Here, starring Jack Benny
• The Ghost of Frankenstein starring Lon Chaney Jr.
• The Glass Key, starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake
• The Goose Steps Out, starring Will Hay –
• The Great Impersonation, directed by John Rawlins, starring Ralph Bellamy
• The Great King –
• The Great Man's Lady, directed by William A. Wellman, and starring Barbara Stanwyck
• The Great Mr. Handel, directed by Norman Walker, starring Wilfrid Lawson
• Hatter's Castle, starring Robert Newton, Deborah Kerr, James Mason –
• Her Cardboard Lover, starring Robert Taylor and Norma Shearer
• Holiday Inn, starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire
• Historia de un gran amor –

  I

• I Married an Angel, starring Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald
• I Married a Witch, starring Veronica Lake and Fredric March
• In Old California, starring John Wayne
• In This Our Life, starring Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland
• In Which We Serve, directed by David Lean and Noël Coward, starring Coward and John Mills –
• Invisible Agent, starring Jon Hall

  J-K

• Jackass Mail, starring Wallace Beery and Marjorie Main
• Johnny Eager, starring Robert Taylor and Lana Turner
• Jungle Book, directed by Zoltan Korda, starring Sabu
• Kid Glove Killer, the directorial debut of Fred Zinnemann
• The Kids Grow Up –
• Kings Row, starring Ann Sheridan, Ronald Reagan, Claude Rains
• Kokoda Front Line!, an Academy Award winning documentary film –

  L-M

• Larceny, Inc., starring Edward G. Robinson, Jane Wyman, Broderick Crawford
• Listen to Britain, propaganda film directed by Humphrey Jennings –
• The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe, starring Linda Darnell
• The Magnificent Ambersons, directed by Orson Welles, starring Joseph Cotten and Dolores Costello
• The Major and the Minor, directed by Billy Wilder, starring Ginger Rogers and Ray Milland
• The Male Animal, starring Henry Fonda and Olivia De Havilland
• The Man Who Came to Dinner, starring Bette Davis, Monty Woolley, Jimmy Durante
• The Man Who Wanted to Kill Himself –
• Miss Annie Rooney, starring Shirley Temple
• Moontide, starring Jean Gabin and Ida Lupino
• Mrs. Miniver, directed by William Wyler, starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon
• The Mummy's Tomb, starring Lon Chaney Jr.
• The Murderer Lives at Number 21, directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, starring Pierre Fresnay –
• My Favorite Blonde, starring Bob Hope and Madeleine Carroll
• My Gal Sal, starring Rita Hayworth
• My Sister Eileen, starring Rosalind Russell

  N-O

• 'Neath Brooklyn Bridge, starring The East Side Kids
• The Next of Kin, starring Mervyn Johns –
• Northwest Rangers
• Now, Voyager, starring Bette Davis and Paul Henreid
• One of Our Aircraft is Missing, directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger –
• Overland Mail, starring Lon Chaney, Jr., Noah Beery, Jr., Noah Beery, Sr.

  P

• Pacific Rendezvous, starring Lee Bowman
• The Palm Beach Story, directed by Preston Sturges, starring Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Rudy Vallée
• Panama Hattie, starring Ann Sothern and Lena Horne
• Pardon My Sarong, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
• O Pátio das Cantigas –
• People of the Mountains, directed by István Szőts –
• The Pied Piper, starring Monty Woolley and Roddy McDowall
• A Pistol Shot, starring Assia Noris, Fosco Giachetti
• Pittsburgh, starring John Wayne, Marlene Dietrich, Randolph Scott, Shemp Howard
• The Pride of the Yankees, starring Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, Walter Brennan, Babe Ruth

  Q-R

• Random Harvest, starring Ronald Colman and Greer Garson
• Reap the Wild Wind, starring John Wayne, Paulette Goddard, Ray Milland
• Reunion in France, starring Joan Crawford
• Ride 'Em Cowboy, starring Abbott and Costello
• Rings on Her Fingers, starring Henry Fonda and Gene Tierney
• Rio Rita, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
• Road to Morocco, starring Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour, Bob Hope
• The Rock of the Souls –
• Roti –
• Roxie Hart, starring Ginger Rogers

  S

• Saboteur, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Priscilla Lane and Robert Cummings
• Saludos Amigos, a Walt Disney animated film starring Donald Duck and Goofy
• Somewhere I'll Find You, starring Clark Gable and Lana Turner
• , starring Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney
• Song of the Islands, a Darryl F. Zanuck production starring Betty Grable and Victor Mature
• Sons of the Pioneers, starring Roy Rogers and George 'Gabby' Hayes
• The Spoilers, starring Marlene Dietrich and John Wayne
• Springtime in the Rockies, starring Betty Grable, John Payne, Carmen Miranda and Cesar Romero
• Star Spangled Rhythm, featuring an all-star cast
• Sweater Girl, starring Eddie Bracken, June Preisser, and Betty Jane Rhodes
• Syncopation, starring Adolphe Menjou

  T-V

• Tales of Manhattan, directed by Julien Duvivier with an all-star cast
• The Talk of the Town, starring Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Ronald Colman
• Tarzan's New York Adventure, starring Johnny Weissmuller
• Ten Gentlemen from West Point, starring George Montgomery and Maureen O'Hara
• Tennessee Johnson, starring Van Heflin and Ruth Hussey
• There Was a Father, directed by Yasujirō Ozu
• There's One Born Every Minute, starring Hugh Herbert and Peggy Moran
• This Above All, starring Tyrone Power
• This Gun for Hire, starring Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd
• This Was Paris, starring Ann Dvorak –
• Time to Kill, starring Lloyd Nolan
• Thunder Rock, starring Michael Redgrave and James Mason –
• To Be or Not to Be, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Jack Benny and Carole Lombard
• Tombstone, the Town Too Tough to Die, starring Richard Dix
• Tortilla Flat, starring Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr, John Garfield
• Uncensored, directed by Anthony Asquith –
• The Undying Monster, starring James Ellison
• Valentin the Good, directed by Martin Frič –
• Valley of the Sun, starring Lucille Ball and James Craig
• The Voice of Terror, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce

  W-Z

• Wake Island, starring Brian Donlevy and Robert Preston
• Went the Day Well?, directed by Cavalcanti, starring Leslie Banks and Mervyn Johns –
• Who Done It?, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
• Whom the Gods Love, directed by Karl Hartl
• Woman of the Year, starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn
• A Yank at Eton, starring Mickey Rooney
• Yankee Doodle Dandy, starring James Cagney
• The Young Mr. Pitt, directed by Carol Reed, starring Robert Donat – biopic of William Pitt the Younger –
• You Were Never Lovelier, starring Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth

  Serials

• Captain Midnight, starring Dave O'Brien, directed by James W. Horne
• Don Winslow of the Navy
• Gang Busters
• Junior G-Men of the Air, starring the Dead End Kids
• King of the Mounties, starring Allan Lane, directed by William Witney
• Overland Mail
• Perils of Nyoka, starring Kay Aldridge & Clayton Moore, directed by William Witney
• Perils of the Royal Mounted, directed by James W. Horne
• The Secret Code, directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet
• Spy Smasher, starring Kane Richmond, directed by William Witney
• The Valley of Vanishing Men, directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet

  Short film series

• Laurel and Hardy
• Our Gang
• The Three Stooges

  Animated short film series

• Mickey Mouse
• Looney Tunes
• Terrytoons
• Merrie Melodies
• Scrappy
• Popeye
• Color Rhapsodies
• Donald Duck
• Pluto
• Walter Lantz Cartune
• Goofy
• Andy Panda
• Tom and Jerry
• Woody Woodpecker
• Swing Symphonies
• The Fox and the Crow

  Births

• January 3 – John Thaw, English actor
• January 8 – Yvette Mimieux, American actress
• January 10 – Walter Hill, American director, producer and screenwriter
• January 19 – Michael Crawford, English actor and singer
• February 1 – Terry Jones, Welsh comedic actor, director and screenwriter
• February 9 – Ada Lundver, Estonian actress and singer
• February 21 – Margarethe von Trotta, German director
• March 25 – Richard O'Brien, English actor and writer
• March 27 – Michael York, English actor
• March 28 – Mike Newell, English director and producer
• April 3 – Marsha Mason, American actress
• April 6 – Barry Levinson, American director, producer and screenwriter
• April 23 – Sandra Dee, American actress
• April 24 – Barbra Streisand, American actress, singer, director and producer
• June 18
• *Roger Ebert, American film critic of the Chicago Sun Times
• *Paul McCartney, English musician and composer
• July 1 – Geneviève Bujold, Canadian actress
• July 9 – Richard Roundtree, American actor
• July 13 – Harrison Ford, American actor and producer
• July 24 – Chris Sarandon, American actor
• August 7 – Tobin Bell, actor
• September 29
• *Madeline Kahn, American actress
• *Ian McShane, English actor
• October 4 – Christopher Stone, American actor
• October 6 – Britt Ekland, Swedish actress
• October 11 – Amitabh Bachchan, Indian actor
• October 13 – Suzzanna, Indonesian actress
• October 22 – Annette Funicello, American actress and singer
• October 26
• *Bob Hoskins, English actor and director
• *Eili Sild, Estonian actress
• October 31 – David Ogden Stiers, American actor
• November 17 – Martin Scorsese, American director, producer, screenwriter and actor
• November 24 – Billy Connolly, Scottish comedian and actor
• December 4 – Gemma Jones, English actress

  Deaths

• January 16 – Carole Lombard, 33, American actress, To Be or Not to Be, My Man Godfrey, Made for Each Other, Nothing Sacred
• January 31 – Rolf Wenkhaus, 24, German actor, Emil and the Detectives, S.A.-Mann Brand
• April 10 – Carl Schenstrøm, 60, Danish actor, Cocktails, The Last Laugh
• May 29 – John Barrymore, 60, American actor, Grand Hotel, Twentieth Century, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dinner at Eight
• June 4 – Virginia Lee Corbin, 31, American actress, Hands Up!, X Marks the Spot
• July 5 – Karin Swanström, 69, Swedish actress, director, His English Wife, Black Roses
• August 18 – Rafaela Ottiano, 54, Italian-born American actress, Grand Hotel, She Done Him Wrong, The Devil-Doll, Curly Top
• October 20 – May Robson, 84, Australian-born American stage & film actress, Bringing Up Baby, A Star is Born, Lady for a Day, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
• October 22 – Olga Svendsen, 59, Danish actress, Kidnapped
• November 5 – George M. Cohan, 64, American actor, songwriter, entertainer, The Phantom President, Broadway Jones, subject of Yankee Doodle Dandy
• November 9 – Edna May Oliver, 59, American stage & film actress, David Copperfield, Drums Along the Mohawk, Little Women, A Tale of Two Cities
• November 12 – Laura Hope Crews, 62, American stage & screen actress, Gone with the Wind, Camille, Angel, The Blue Bird
• November 15 – Sidney Fox, 30, American actress, Murders in the Rue Morgue, Bad Sister, Six Cylinder Love
• December 12 – Helen Westley, 67, American stage & screen actress, Heidi, Roberta, All This, and Heaven Too, Alexander's Ragtime Band

  Film Debuts

• Richard Attenborough – In Which We Serve
• Betty Hutton – The Fleet's In
• Anne Jeffreys – Billy the Kid Trapped
• Gene Kelly – For Me and My Gal
• Harry Morgan – To the Shores of Tripoli
• Eleanor Parker – The Big Shot
• Simone Signoret – Bolero
• Elizabeth Taylor – There's One Born Every Minute
• Peter Ustinov – One of Our Aircraft Is Missing
• Esther Williams – Andy Hardy's Double Life
• Tweety Bird – A Tale of Two Kitties