Events

• Katharine Hepburn's film career begins
• Shirley Temple's film career begins
• Disney released Flowers and Trees their first cartoon in three-strip Technicolor film.
• Santa, first sound film made in Mexico released.

Top grossing films

1. Shanghai Express
2. The Kid from Spain
3. Grand Hotel
4. Emma
5. Tarzan the Ape Man
6. Movie Crazy
7. Strange Interlude
8. As You Desire Me
9. The Beast of the City
10. The Saddle Buster

Academy Awards

• Best Picture: Grand Hotel - MGM

Note: Prior to 1933 awards were not based on calendar years, which is how there are no 'Best Actor' or 'Best Actress' awards for 1932 films. The 1931-32 awards went to 1931 films.

Films released in 1932

• 20,000 Years in Sing Sing, starring Spencer Tracy and Bette Davis
• American Madness, starring Walter Huston, directed by Frank Capra
• As You Desire Me, starring Greta Garbo
• Back Street, starring Irene Dunne and John Boles
• The Beast of the City, starring Walter Huston, Jean Harlow and Wallace Ford
• The Big Broadcast, starring Bing Crosby
• Big City Blues, starring Eric Linden and Joan Blondell
• The Big Stampede, starring John Wayne
• A Bill of Divorcement, starring John Barrymore -(film mentioned in article)
• Bird of Paradise, starring Dolores del Rio and Joel McCrea
• Das Blaue Licht, starring and directed by Leni Riefenstahl
• Blonde Venus, starring Marlene Dietrich
• Broken Lullaby, starring Lionel Barrymore
• The Cabin in the Cotton, featuring Bette Davis
• Call Her Savage, starring Clara Bow
• The Dentist, a W.C. Fields short subject produced by Mack Sennett
• Emma, starring Marie Dressler
• A Farewell to Arms, starring Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes
• Flowers and Trees
• Freaks, directed by Tod Browning
• Grand Hotel, starring Greta Garbo, Lionel Barrymore, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Lewis Stone and Jean Hersholt
• Horse Feathers, starring the Marx Brothers
• I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, starring Paul Muni
• If I Had A Million
• Impatient Maiden
• Love Me Tonight, starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeannette MacDonald
• The Most Dangerous Game, starring Joel McCrea, Fay Wray, and Leslie Banks
• The Mouthpiece, starring Warren William
• Movie Crazy, a comedy starring Harold Lloyd
• The Mummy, starring Boris Karloff
• Murders in the Rue Morgue, starring Bela Lugosi, Sidney Fox and Leon Ames
• The Old Dark House, starring Boris Karloff
• One Hour with You, starring Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Genevieve Tobin and Charles Ruggles
• One Way Passage, starring William Powell and Kay Francis
• Pack Up Your Troubles, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
• Red Dust, starring Clark Gable and Jean Harlow
• Red-Headed Woman, starring Jean Harlow
• Scarface, starring Paul Muni
• Shanghai Express, starring Marlene Dietrich, Clive Brook, Anna May Wong and Warner Oland
• The Sign of the Cross
• Smilin' Through, starring Norma Shearer
• Tarzan the Ape Man, starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan
• Three on a Match, starring Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak and Bette Davis
• Tiger Shark, starring Edward G. Robinson
• Trouble in Paradise, starring Herbert Marshall, Kay Francis and Miriam Hopkins
• Two Seconds, starring Edward G. Robinson
• Unheimliche Geschichten remake w/ sound of the 1919 film
• Union Depot, starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Joan Blondell
• Vampyr, directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer
• Virtue, starring Carole Lombard and Pat O'Brien
• White Zombie, starring Bela Lugosi

Serials

• The Airmail Mystery
• Detective Lloyd
• The Devil Horse
• Heroes of the West
• The Hurricane Express, starring John Wayne
• The Jungle Mystery
• The Last Frontier
• The Last of the Mohicans
• The Lost Special
• The Shadow of the Eagle, starring John Wayne

Short film series

• Buster Keaton (1917–1941)
• Our Gang (1922-1944)
• Laurel and Hardy (1921-1943)

Animated short film series

• Flowers and Trees (1933)
• Aesop's Film Fables (1921-1933)
• Krazy Kat (1925-1940)
• Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (1927-1938)
• Mickey Mouse (1928-1953)
• Silly Symphonies (1929-1939)
• Screen Songs (1929-1938)
• Talkartoons (1929-1932)
• Looney Tunes (1930-1969)
• Flip the Frog (1930-1933)
• Terrytoons (1930-1964)
• Merrie Melodies (1931-1969)
• Scrappy (1931-1941)
• Tom and Jerry (Van Beuren) (1931-1933)
• Betty Boop (1932-1939)
• Pooch the Pup (1932-1933)

Births

• January 3 - Dabney Coleman, actor
• January 4 - Carlos Saura, director
• February 6 - François Truffaut, French film director (d. 1984)
• February 13 - Susan Oliver, actress, pilot
• February 18 ? Milo? Forman, director
• February 23 - Majel Barrett, United States actress
• February 27 - Elizabeth Taylor, actress
• April 4 - Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian movie director (d. 1986)
• April 10 - Delphine Seyrig, French actress (d. 1990)
• August 2 - Peter O'Toole, actor
• September 29 - Mehmood, Indian actor, director, producer (d. 2004)
• October 20 - William Christopher, United States actor
• November 15 - Petula Clark, British actress/film composer

Film debuts

• Kate Smith
• Mae West

Deaths

• February 15 - Minnie Maddern Fiske, stage star made silent films
• August 1 - Rin Tin Tin, canine actor
• September 1 - Peg Entwistle, actress
• November 2 - Evelyn Preer, actress, singer

de:Filmjahr 1932 es:Anexo:Cine en 1932 fr:1932 au cinéma hu:1932 a filmm?vészetben nl:Film in 1932 pl:1932 w filmie ru:1932 ??? ? ???? sq:1932 në film fi:Elokuvavuosi 1932 sv:Filmåret 1932 uk:1932 ? ???? ((ph:ramon vogel was born