1943 in film

The year 1943 in film featured various significant events for the film industry.

Events

 * January 3 – first missing persons telecast (NYC)
 * February 20 – American film studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor films.
 * November 23 – British Forces Broadcasting Service begins operation
 * December 31 – NYC's Times Square greets Frank Sinatra at Paramount Theater

Top-grossing films (U.S.)
Box office numbers were reported at the time as a percentage compared to 'normal' business at each theater. For example, For Whom the Bell Tolls performed at an extraordinary 254% while Thousands Cheer was a hit at 176%. This is why exact dollar grosses for the period are unreliable at best.

1943 film releases
U.S.A.

January–March

 * January 1943
 * 6 January
 * Hitler's Children
 * 12 January
 * Shadow of a Doubt
 * February 1943
 * 3 February
 * Air Force
 * 5 February
 * The Outlaw
 * 11 February
 * No Place for a Lady
 * 12 February
 * Journey into Fear
 * 19 February
 * Saludos Amigos
 * 20 February
 * The Hard Way
 * March 1943
 * 1 March
 * Squadron Leader X (GB)
 * 2 March
 * The Human Comedy
 * 3 March
 * Münchhausen (Germany)
 * 5 March
 * Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man
 * 10 March
 * It Ain't Hay
 * 11 March
 * Hello, Frisco, Hello
 * 15 March
 * The Silver Fleet (GB)
 * 22 March
 * Huella de luz (Spain)
 * 25 March
 * Sanshiro Sugata (Japan)
 * 26 March
 * Forever and a Day
 * 27 March
 * Hangmen Also Die!

April–June

 * April 1943
 * 2 April
 * Border Patrol
 * 9 April
 * Cabin in the Sky
 * It Comes Up Love
 * 12 April
 * Fires Were Started
 * 15 April
 * We Dive at Dawn
 * 22 April
 * Crash Dive
 * 23 April
 * Clancy Street Boys
 * 24 April
 * Edge of Darkness
 * 30 April
 * I Walked with a Zombie
 * Sherlock Holmes in Washington
 * May 1943
 * 4 May
 * Five Graves to Cairo
 * 7 May
 * They Came to Blow Up America
 * This Land Is Mine
 * 8 May
 * The Leopard Man
 * 13 May
 * The More the Merrier
 * 14 May
 * Bombardier
 * 16 May
 * Ossessione (Italy)
 * 17 May
 * The Bells Go Down
 * 21 May
 * Action in the North Atlantic
 * Cowboy in Manhattan
 * The Ox-Bow Incident
 * 22 May
 * Mission to Moscow
 * 27 May
 * Prelude to War
 * 28 May
 * Mr. Lucky
 * June 1943
 * 2 June
 * Hit the Ice
 * 3 June
 * Bataan
 * 10 June
 * The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
 * 11 June
 * Coney Island
 * 22 June
 * Crime Doctor
 * So Proudly We Hail!
 * 23 June
 * Angels of the Streets (France)
 * The Constant Nymph

July–September

 * July 1943
 * 3 July
 * Background to Danger
 * 14 July
 * For Whom the Bell Tolls
 * 17 July
 * Victory Through Air Power
 * 21 July
 * Stormy Weather
 * 26 July
 * Theatre Royal (GB)
 * August 1943
 * 2 August
 * Hi Diddle Diddle
 * Nasreddin in Bukhara (U.S.S.R.)
 * 11 August
 * Heaven Can Wait
 * 12 August
 * Phantom of the Opera
 * 14 August
 * This is the Army
 * 19 August
 * Destroyer
 * DuBarry Was a Lady
 * 21 August
 * The Seventh Victim
 * 23 August
 * The Man in Grey (GB)
 * 27 August
 * Holy Matrimony
 * Watch on the Rhine
 * 30 August
 * We've Never Been Licked
 * September 1943
 * 2 September
 * The Sky's the Limit
 * 10 September
 * The Kansan
 * 13 September
 * Thousands Cheer
 * 16 September
 * Doña Bárbara (Mexico)
 * 17 September
 * Sherlock Holmes Faces Death
 * Top Man
 * 24 September
 * The Adventures of Tartu (GB)
 * 25 September
 * Thank Your Lucky Stars
 * 28 September
 * Le Corbeau (France)
 * 29 September
 * Corvette K-225

October–December

 * October 1943
 * 7 October
 * Lassie Come Home
 * 8 October
 * Best Foot Forward
 * Crazy House
 * 13 October
 * L'Éternel retour (France)
 * 19 October
 * Yellow Canary (GB)
 * 23 October
 * Princess O'Rourke
 * 29 October
 * Flesh and Fantasy
 * November 1943
 * 4 November
 * The North Star
 * 5 November
 * Guadalcanal Diary
 * Millions Like Us (GB)
 * Son of Dracula
 * 10 November
 * No Time for Love
 * Titanic (Germany)
 * 11 November
 * The Return of the Vampire
 * Sahara
 * 12 November
 * The Mad Ghoul
 * 13 November
 * Day of Wrath (Denmark)
 * 'Northern Pursuit 
 * 19 November
 * The Dancing Masters
 * 23 November
 * Cry 'Havoc' 
 * 26 November
 * Girl Crazy
 * 27 November
 * Old Acquaintance
 * December 1943
 * 3 December
 * Happy Land
 * 6 December
 * War of the Wildcats
 * 14 December
 * The Shipbuilders (GB)
 * 15 December
 * Madame Curie
 * 17 December
 * Calling Dr. Death
 * Immensee (Germany)
 * 20 December
 * The Demi-Paradise (GB)
 * 23 December
 * A Guy Named Joe
 * 24 December
 * The Gang's All Here
 * The Ghost Ship
 * Jack London
 * 29 December
 * Tender Comrade
 * 31 December
 * Destination Tokyo
 * The Woman of the Town

Notable films released in 1943
U.S.A. unless stated

A B C D E-F G H I J-K L-M N O P Q-S T-V W-Z
 * Above Suspicion, starring Joan Crawford and Fred MacMurray
 * Action in the North Atlantic, starring Humphrey Bogart and Raymond Massey
 * The Adventures of Tartu, starring Robert Donat and Valerie Hobson – (GB)
 * Air Force, directed by Howard Hawks, starring John Garfield
 * Angels of the Streets (Les anges du peche), directed by Robert Bresson – (France)
 * Background to Danger, directed by Raoul Walsh, starring George Raft and Peter Lorre
 * Bataan, directed by Tay Garnett, starring Robert Taylor and Lloyd Nolan
 * The Bells Go Down, starring Tommy Trinder and James Mason – (GB)
 * Best Foot Forward, starring Lucille Ball, William Gaxton, Virginia Weidler
 * Bombardier, starring Pat O'Brien, Randolph Scott, Anne Shirley
 * Border Patrol, starring William Boyd, George Reeves, Robert Mitchum
 * Cabin in the Sky, directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Ethel Waters
 * Calling Dr. Death, first of the Inner Sanctum Mysteries, starring Lon Chaney, Jr.
 * Clancy Street Boys, starring The East Side Kids
 * Coney Island, starring Betty Grable
 * The Constant Nymph, starring Joan Fontaine
 * Le Corbeau (The Raven), directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, starring Pierre Fresnay – (France)
 * Corvette K-225, starring Randolph Scott
 * O Costa do Castelo (The Costa from the Castle) – (Portugal)
 * Cowboy in Manhattan
 * Crash Dive, starring Tyrone Power and Anne Baxter
 * Crazy House, starring Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson
 * The Crew of the Dora (Besatzung Dora) – (Germany)
 * Crime Doctor, starring Warner Baxter
 * Cry 'Havoc' , starring Margaret Sullavan, Ann Sothern, Joan Blondell
 * The Dancing Masters, starring Laurel and Hardy
 * Day of Wrath (Vredens Dag), directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer – (Denmark)
 * The Demi-Paradise, starring Laurence Olivier – (GB)
 * Desert Victory, a propaganda documentary – (GB)
 * Destination Tokyo, starring Cary Grant and John Garfield
 * Destroyer, starring Glenn Ford and Edward G. Robinson
 * Doña Bárbara, directed by Fernando de Fuentes – (Mexico)
 * DuBarry Was a Lady, starring Lucille Ball and Red Skelton
 * Edge of Darkness, starring Errol Flynn and Ann Sheridan
 * L'Éternel retour (The Eternal Return), directed by Jean Cocteau, starring Jean Marais – (France)
 * Fires Were Started, directed by Humphrey Jennings – (GB)
 * Five Graves to Cairo, directed by Billy Wilder, starring Franchot Tone and Anne Baxter
 * Flesh and Fantasy, starring Edward G. Robinson, Barbara Stanwyck and Charles Boyer
 * Flor Silvestre, starring Dolores del Río – (Mexico)
 * Forces Occultes, directed by Jean Marny, starring Maurice Rémy, Marcel Vibert, Auguste Bovério, Giséle Parry – (France)
 * For Whom the Bell Tolls, directed by Sam Wood, starring Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman
 * Forever and a Day, featuring an all-star cast
 * Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man starring Lon Chaney, Jr. and Béla Lugosi
 * Der Fuehrer's Face, Donald Duck's Academy Award-winning short
 * The Gang's All Here, directed by Busby Berkeley, starring Alice Faye and Carmen Miranda
 * The Ghost Ship, starring Richard Dix
 * Girl Crazy, starring Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney
 * Guadalcanal Diary, starring Lloyd Nolan, Richard Conte, Preston Foster, William Bendix, Anthony Quinn
 * A Guy Named Joe, starring Spencer Tracy and Irene Dunne
 * Hangmen Also Die!, starring Brian Donlevy and Walter Brennan
 * Happy Land, starring Don Ameche and Frances Dee
 * The Hard Way, starring Ida Lupino
 * Heaven Can Wait, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Gene Tierney and Don Ameche
 * Hello, Frisco, Hello, starring Alice Faye
 * Hi Diddle Diddle, starring Adolphe Menjou and Pola Negri
 * Hit the Ice, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
 * Hitler's Children, directed by Edward Dmytryk
 * Holy Matrimony, starring Monty Woolley and Gracie Fields
 * Huella de luz (A Sight of Light) – (Spain)
 * The Human Comedy, starring Mickey Rooney
 * I Walked with a Zombie, starring Frances Dee
 * Immensee (aka Immensee: A German Folksong) – (Germany)
 * It Ain't Hay, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
 * It Comes Up Love, starring Gloria Jean and Donald O'Connor
 * Jack London, starring Michael O'Shea and Susan Hayward
 * Jane Eyre, directed by Robert Stevenson, starring Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine
 * Journey into Fear, starring Joseph Cotten, Dolores Del Rio, Orson Welles
 * The Kansan, starring Richard Dix and Jane Wyatt
 * Kismet, starring Ashok Kumar – (India)
 * Lassie Come Home, starring Roddy McDowall and Donald Crisp
 * The Leopard Man, directed by Jacques Tourneur, starring Dennis O'Keefe
 * The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, starring Roger Livesey, Deborah Kerr, Anton Walbrook – (GB)
 * The Mad Ghoul, starring George Zucco
 * Madame Curie, starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon
 * The Man in Grey, the first of the Gainsborough melodramas starring Margaret Lockwood and James Mason – (GB)
 * María Candelaria, starring Dolores del Río and Pedro Armendáriz – (Mexico)
 * Millions Like Us, directed by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder – (GB)
 * Mission to Moscow, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Walter Huston
 * Mister Big, starring Donald O'Connor and Gloria Jean
 * The More the Merrier, directed by George Stevens, starring Jean Arthur and Joel McCrea
 * Mr. Lucky, starring Cary Grant
 * Münchhausen – (Germany)
 * My Learned Friend, starring Will Hay – (GB)
 * Nasreddin in Bukhara – (U.S.S.R.)
 * No Place for a Lady, starring William Gargan and Phyllis Brooks
 * No Time for Love, starring Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray
 * The North Star, starring Anne Baxter and Dana Andrews
 * Northern Pursuit, starring Errol Flynn
 * Old Acquaintance, starring Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins
 * Ossessione (Obsession), directed by Luchino Visconti – (Italy)
 * The Outlaw, controversial western directed by Howard Hughes, starring Jane Russell
 * The Ox-Bow Incident, directed by William Wellman, starring Henry Fonda, Harry Morgan, Dana Andrews
 * Phantom of the Opera, starring Claude Rains
 * Prelude to War, directed by Frank Capra
 * Princess O'Rourke, starring Olivia de Havilland and Robert Cummings
 * The Return of the Vampire, starring Béla Lugosi
 * Riding High, starring Dorothy Lamour and Dick Powell
 * Sahara, starring Humphrey Bogart
 * Saludos Amigos, a Walt Disney animated film starring Donald Duck and Goofy
 * Sanshiro Sugata, directed by Akira Kurosawa – (Japan)
 * The Seventh Victim, starring Tom Conway
 * Shadow of a Doubt, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten
 * Sherlock Holmes Faces Death, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce
 * Sherlock Holmes in Washington, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce
 * The Shipbuilders, directed by John Baxter – (GB)
 * The Silver Fleet, starring Ralph Richardson and Googie Withers – (GB)
 * The Sky's the Limit, starring Fred Astaire and Joan Leslie
 * So Proudly We Hail!, starring Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard, Veronica Lake
 * Son of Dracula, starring Lon Chaney Jr.
 * The Song of Bernadette, starring Jennifer Jones
 * Squadron Leader X, starring Eric Portman and Ann Dvorak – (GB)
 * Stormy Weather, starring Lena Horne, Bill Robinson, Cab Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers
 * A Stranger in Town, starring Frank Morgan
 * Tender Comrade, starring Ginger Rogers and Robert Ryan
 * Thank Your Lucky Stars, starring Eddie Cantor
 * Theatre Royal, starring Bud Flanagan and Chesney Allen – (GB)
 * They Came to Blow Up America, starring George Sanders
 * This is the Army, directed by Michael Curtiz
 * This Land Is Mine, directed by Jean Renoir, starring Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara
 * Thousands Cheer, starring Gene Kelly, Kathryn Grayson, Mary Astor
 * Titanic – (Germany)
 * Top Man, starring Donald O'Connor
 * Ukraine in Flames (Bitva za nashu Sovetskuyu Ukrainu) – (U.S.S.R.)
 * Victory Through Air Power, a propaganda film by Disney
 * Le Voyageur de la Toussaint – (France)
 * War of the Wildcats (a.k.a. In Old Oklahoma), starring John Wayne
 * Watch on the Rhine, starring Paul Lukas and Bette Davis
 * We Dive at Dawn, directed by Anthony Asquith, starring John Mills – (GB)
 * We've Never Been Licked, starring Richard Quine and Noah Beery, Jr.
 * Whistling in Brooklyn, starring Red Skelton
 * The Woman of the Town, starring Claire Trevor and Albert Dekker
 * Yellow Canary, starring Anna Neagle and Richard Greene – (GB)

Serials

 * Adventures of the Flying Cadets
 * The Adventures of Smilin' Jack
 * Batman, starring Lewis Wilson
 * Daredevils of the West, starring Allan Lane, directed by John English
 * Don Winslow of the Coast Guard
 * G-Men vs the Black Dragon, starring Rod Cameron, directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet
 * The Masked Marvel, directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet
 * The Phantom, starring Tom Tyler
 * Secret Service in Darkest Africa, starring Rod Cameron, directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet

Comedy film series

 * Buster Keaton (1917–1944)
 * Laurel and Hardy (1921-1945)
 * Our Gang (1922–1944)
 * The Marx Brothers (1929–1946)
 * The Three Stooges (1934–1959)

Animated short film series

 * 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 (1934–1956)
 * Daffy Duck (1937 – 1966)
 * Goofy (1939–1955)
 * Andy Panda (1939–1949)
 * Tom and Jerry (1940–1958)
 * Woody Woodpecker (1941–1949)
 * Swing Symphonies (1941–1945)
 * The Fox and the Crow (1941–1950)
 * Red Hot Riding Hood (1943–1949)
 * Chip 'n Dale (1943–1956)
 * Droopy (1943–1958)

Births

 * January 13 – Richard Moll, actor
 * January 24 – Sharon Tate, actress and model (died 1969)
 * January 25 – Tobe Hooper, director and screenwriter (died 2017)
 * January 28 – John Beck, actor
 * February 3 – Blythe Danner, actress
 * February 9 – Joe Pesci, actor
 * February 20 – Mike Leigh, English director
 * February 25 – George Harrison, English musician and songwriter (died 2001)
 * March 8 – Lynn Redgrave, English actress (died 2010)
 * March 15 – David Cronenberg, Canadian director and screenwriter
 * March 31 – Christopher Walken, actor
 * April 20 – Edie Sedgwick, actress, socialite, model and heiress (died 1971)
 * June 7 – Michael Pennington, English actor, director and writer
 * June 13 – Malcolm McDowell, English actor
 * June 23 – Patrick Bokanowski, French director
 * July 3 – Kurtwood Smith, actor
 * July 21 – Edward Herrmann, actor (died 2014)
 * August 15 – Barbara Bouchet, German-American actress
 * August 17 – Robert De Niro, actor
 * August 27 – Tuesday Weld, actress
 * September 21 – Jerry Bruckheimer, producer
 * September 28 – J. T. Walsh, actor (died 1998)
 * October 4 – John Bindon, English actor and bodyguard
 * October 8 – Chevy Chase, actor and comedian
 * October 15 – Penny Marshall, American television actress, film director and producer (died 2018)
 * October 22 – Catherine Deneuve, French actress
 * November 5 – Sam Shepard, American actor (died 2017)
 * November 12 – Wallace Shawn, American actor
 * November 28 – Randy Newman, American singer, film composer
 * December 13 – Arturo Ripstein, Mexican director
 * December 21 – Jack Nance, actor (died 1996)
 * December 23 – Harry Shearer, actor
 * December 31 – Ben Kingsley, English actor

Deaths

 * February 14 – Dora Gerson, 43, German actress, Caravan of Death, On the Brink of Paradise
 * February 19 – Lynne Overman, 58, American actress, Little Miss Marker, Union Pacific, Dixie
 * February 20 – Donald Haines, 23, American child actor, Skippy, A Tale of Two Cities
 * April 3 – Conrad Veidt, 50, German actor, Casablanca, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Thief of Baghdad, The Spy in Black
 * June 1 – Leslie Howard, 50, Academy Award-nominated British actor, Gone with the Wind, Pygmalion, The Petrified Forest, Of Human Bondage
 * June 30 – Carlo Wieth, 57, Danish actor
 * July 16 – Arthur Byron, 71, American actor, 20,000 Years in Sing Sing, Gabriel Over the White House

Film Debuts

 * June Allyson – Best Foot Forward
 * Hume Cronyn – Shadow of a Doubt
 * Rhonda Fleming – In Old Oklahoma
 * Kim Hunter – The Seventh Victim
 * Richard Jaeckel – Guadalcanal Diary
 * Dorothy McGuire – Claudia
 * Robert Mitchum – The Human Comedy
 * Dorothy Malone – Gildersleeve on Broadway
 * Ella Raines – Corvette K-225
 * Jane Russell – The Outlaw
 * Cliff Robertson – We've Never Been Licked
 * Lawrence Tierney – Gildersleeve on Broadway
 * Shelley Winters – There's Something About a Soldier
 * Natalie Wood – The Moon Is Down