1930 in film
overview of the events of 1930 in film
The following is an overview of 1930 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.
Events
February 21: Anna Christie, Greta Garbo's first sound film is released, it grosses $1.5 million.
February 23: Silent screen legend Mabel Normand dies at the age of 37 in Monrovia, California after a lengthy battle with tuberculosis.
March 10: Release of Goodbye Argentina (Adiós Argentina), the first Argentine film with a (musical) soundtrack. Ada Cornaro has her first starring role and Libertad Lamarque makes her film debut.
April 6: William Fox sells his interest in Fox Film for $18 million and Harley L. Clarke becomes president.
May 27: Howard Hughes' epic film Hell's Angels premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood and features Jean Harlow in her first major role as well as some impressive aerial sequences. Although not a financial success upon its release due to its bloated budget, the film is acclaimed by critics and launches Harlow as one of the 1930s' biggest stars.
August 9: Cartoon character Betty Boop appears for the first time on screen, in the animated film Dizzy Dishes.
September 3: The Hollywood Reporter is first published.
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Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q514763. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1930.
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This entry incorporates text from “1930 in film” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.