The year 1940 in film involved some significant events, including the premieres of the Walt Disney classics Pinocchio and Fantasia.

Events[link]

• February 7 - Walt Disney's animated film Pinocchio is released.
• February 10 - Tom and Jerry make their debut in the animated cartoon Puss Gets the Boot.
• May 17 - My Favorite Wife is released.
• May - A reproduction of "America's First Movie Studio", Thomas Edison's Black Maria, is constructed.
• July 27 - Bugs Bunny makes his official debut in the animated cartoon A Wild Hare.
• October 15 - The Great Dictator, a satiric social commentary film by and starring Charlie Chaplin, is released.
• November 13 - World premiere of Walt Disney's Fantasia, the first film to be released in a multichannel sound format (see Fantasound). The film also marked the first use of the click track while recording the soundtrack, overdubbing of orchestral parts, simultaneous multitrack recording and lead to the development of a multichannel surround system.
• In the United Kingdom, the Crown Film Unit supersedes the GPO Film Unit in the production of documentary films.

Top grossing films (U.S.)[link]

* After theatrical reissues

Academy Awards[link]

• Best Picture: Rebecca - David O. Selznick, United Artists
• Best Director: John Ford - The Grapes of Wrath
• Best Actor: James Stewart - The Philadelphia Story
• Best Actress: Ginger Rogers - Kitty Foyle
• Best Supporting Actor: Walter Brennan - The Westerner
• Best Supporting Actress: Jane Darwell - The Grapes of Wrath

Films released in 1940[link]

U.S.A. unless stated

• Abe Lincoln in Illinois, starring Raymond Massey
• All This and Heaven Too, starring Bette Davis and Charles Boyer
• Andy Hardy Meets Debutante, starring Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, and Fay Holden
• Angels Over Broadway, starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Rita Hayworth
• Arise, My Love
• Arizona
• Band Waggon, directed by Marcel Varnel, starring Arthur Askey - (U.K.)
• The Bank Dick, written by and starring W.C. Fields
• The Big Blockade, starring Leslie Banks, Michael Redgrave and Will Hay - (U.K.)
• The Biscuit Eater
• Black Friday
• The Blue Bird
• Boom Town, starring Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr
• Boys of the City
• Broadway Melody of 1940, starring Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell - final film of series
• Brother Orchid, starring Edward G. Robinson, Ann Sothern, Humphrey Bogart
• Castle on the Hudson, directed by Anatole Litvak, starring John Garfield and Ann Sheridan
• Charlie Chan in Panama
• A Chump at Oxford, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
• City for Conquest, starring James Cagney
• Confucius - (China)
• Contraband, directed by Michael Powell, starring Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson - U.K.)
• Crimes at the Dark House, directed by George King, starring Tod Slaughter - U.K.)
• Dark Command, starring John Wayne
• Doomed to Die, starring Boris Karloff
• Down Argentine Way, starring Don Ameche, Betty Grable and Carmen Miranda
• Dr. Cyclops, directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack, starring Albert Dekker
• Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet, starring Edward G. Robinson, Ruth Gordon, Otto Kruger, and Donald Crisp.
• East Side Kids
• Edison, the Man, starring Spencer Tracy
• Escape
• Fantasia
• The Fatal Hour, starred Boris Karloff
• Foreign Correspondent, directed by Alfred Hitchcock starring Joel McCrea
• Four Sons, directed by Archie Mayo, starring Don Ameche
• French Without Tears, starring Ray Milland - (U.K.)
• Gaslight, starring Anton Walbrook - U.K.)
• The Ghost Breakers
• Girl in the News, starring Margaret Lockwood - (U.K.)
• Give Us Wings
• Go West, starring the Marx Brothers
• The Grapes of Wrath, directed by John Ford, starring Henry Fonda
• The Great Dictator, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin with Paulette Goddard and Jack Oakie
• The Great McGinty, starring Brian Donlevy
• Green Hell
• Here Is the Point (Ahí está el detalle), starring Cantinflas - (Mexico)
• His Girl Friday, directed by Howard Hawks, starring Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy
• The House of the Seven Gables
• The Howards of Virginia, starring Cary Grant and Martha Scott
• I Love You Again
• The Invisible Man Returns
• The Invisible Woman
• It All Came True, starring Ann Sheridan, Jeffrey Lynn, and Humphrey Bogart
• June Nights (Juninatten), starring Ingrid Bergman - (Sweden)
• Kitty Foyle, starring Ginger Rogers
• Lady with Red Hair, starring Miriam Hopkins
• The Letter, starring Bette Davis
• The Long Voyage Home, starring John Wayne
• The Marines Fly High, starring Lucille Ball and Richard Dix
• The Mark of Zorro, starring Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell
• Mr. Bug Goes to Town
• The Mortal Storm, starring Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart
• The Mummy's Hand
• My Favorite Wife, starring Irene Dunne and Cary Grant
• My Little Chickadee
• New Moon, starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy
• Night Train to Munich, directed by Carol Reed, starring Margaret Lockwood and Rex Harrison - U.K.)
• North West Mounted Police
• Northwest Passage, starring Spencer Tracy
• One Million B.C., starring Carole Landis
• One Night in the Tropics, film debut of Abbott and Costello
• Our Town, starring William Holden and Martha Scott
• The Philadelphia Story, directed by George Cukor, starring Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, James Stewart
• Pinocchio
• Pride and Prejudice, starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier
• The Proud Valley, starring Paul Robeson - U.K.)
• Queen of the Yukon
• Rebecca directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier - Oscar for best picture
• Remember the Night, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray
• Rhythm on the River, starring Bing Crosby and Mary Martin
• Road to Singapore, starring Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour and Bob Hope - The first in the series
• The Sea Hawk, starring Errol Flynn
• The Shop Around the Corner, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart
• The Son of Monte Cristo
• The Stars Look Down, directed by Carol Reed, starring Michael Redgrave and Margaret Lockwood - U.K.)
• Strange Cargo, starring Clark Gable and Joan Crawford
• Stranger on the Third Floor, starring Peter Lorre
• Strike Up the Band
• That Gang of Mine
• They Drive by Night, starring George Raft
• They Knew What They Wanted
• The Thief of Bagdad, starring Conrad Veidt and Sabu - U.K.)
• 'Til We Meet Again
• Too Many Husbands
• Torrid Zone
• Vigil in the Night, starring Carole Lombard
• Virginia City, starring Errol Flynn and Miriam Hopkins
• Waterloo Bridge, starring Vivien Leigh and Robert Taylor
• The Well-Digger's Daughter (La Fille du puisatier), directed by Marcel Pagnol, starring Raimu and Fernandel - (France)
• The Westerner, starring Gary Cooper and Walter Brennan
• Young People
• You're Not So Tough

Serials[link]

• Adventures of Red Ryder, directed by William Witney and John English
• Deadwood Dick, directed by James W. Horne
• Drums of Fu Manchu, starring Henry Brandon and Robert Kellard, directed by William Witney and John English
• Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe, starring Buster Crabbe
• The Green Archer, starring Victor Jory, directed by James W. Horne
• The Green Hornet Strikes Again!, starring Warren Hull
• Junior G-Men, starring the Dead End Kids
• King of the Royal Mounted starring Allan Lane, directed by William Witney and John English
• Mysterious Doctor Satan, starring Eduardo Ciannelli, directed by William Witney and John English
• The Shadow, starring Victor Jory, directed by James W. Horne
• Terry and the Pirates, starring William Tracy, directed by James W. Horne
• Winners of the West, starring Dick Foran and Anne Nagel

Short film series[link]

• Buster Keaton (1917–1941)
• Laurel and Hardy (1921–1943)
• Our Gang (1922–1944)
• Charley Chase (1924-1940)
• The Three Stooges (1934–1959)

Animated short film series[link]

• Krazy Kat (1925-1940)
• 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 (1937–1956)
• Pluto (1937–1951)
• Walter Lantz Cartunes (also known as New Universal Cartoons or Cartune Comedies) (1938–1942)
• Goofy (1939–1955)
• Andy Panda (1939–1949)
• Tom and Jerry (1940-1958)

Births[link]

• January 10 - Walter Hill, American director, producer and screenwriter
• January 22 - John Hurt, English actor
• January 27 - James Cromwell, American actor
• February 27 - Bill Hunter, Australian actor (died 2011)
• January 29 - Katharine Ross, American actress
• February 4 - George A. Romero, American director, producer and screenwriter
• February 12 - Ralph Bates, English actor (died 1991)
• February 23 - Peter Fonda, American actor
• March 9 - Raúl Juliá, Puerto Rican actor (died 1994)
• March 10 - Chuck Norris, American actor and martial artist
• March 26 - James Caan, American actor
• April 25 - Al Pacino, American actor
• May 5 - Lance Henriksen, American actor
• May 15 - Lainie Kazan, American actress and singer
• June 1 - Rene Auberjonois, American actor
• June 20 - John Mahoney, English-born American actor
• July 7 - Ringo Starr, English drummer (The Beatles)
• July 13 - Patrick Stewart, English actor
• July 18 - James Brolin, American actor
• August 3 - Martin Sheen, American actor
• August 19 - Jill St. John, American actress
• August 31 - Jack Thompson, Australian actor
• September 5 - Raquel Welch, American actress
• September 11 - Brian De Palma, American director, producer and screenwriter
• October 9 - John Lennon, English singer-songwriter and musician (The Beatles) (died 1980)
• October 19 - Michael Gambon, Irish-born British actor
• November 5 - Elke Sommer, German actress
• November 15 - Sam Waterston, American actor
• November 27 - Bruce Lee, Chinese-American martial artist and actor (died 1973)
• December 1 - Richard Pryor, American comedian and actor (died 2005)

Deaths[link]

• February 20 - George Periolat, actor
• March 5 - Maxine Elliott, stage & film actress
• April 9 - Mrs Patrick Campbell, stage & film actress
• May 25 - Joe De Grasse, pioneer Hollywood film director
• July 1 - Ben Turpin, comic actor (born 1869)
• September 25 - Marguerite Clark, stage & silent film star
• October 10 - Berton Churchill, pioneer Hollywood actor
• December 5 - Wilfred Lucas, actor, screenwriter, director

Debuts[link]

• Dana Andrews
• Robert Ryan
• Gene Tierney

References[link]