The year 1942 in film involved some significant events, in particular the release of a film consistently rated as one of the greatest films of all time, Casablanca..

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 13 - Walt Disney's animated film Bambi opens at Radio City Music Hall in New York.
• November 11 - Road to Morocco, starring Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour, premieres.
• November 26 - The film Casablanca premieres at the Hollywood Theater in New York City.

Top grossing films (U.S.)

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

Films released in 1942

• Across the Pacific
• Ala-Arriba!
• Alias Boston Blackie, Starring Chester Morris, Adele Mara, and Richard Lane
• Andy Hardy's Double Life, starring Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, and Fay Holden
• Arabian Nights
• Bambi
• The Black Swan
• Bullet Scars
• Captains of the Clouds
• Casablanca
• Cat People
• Commandos Strike at Dawn
• The Courtship of Andy Hardy,starring Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, and Fay Holden
• Flying Tigers
• Gentleman Jim
• The Ghost of Frankenstein starring Lon Chaney Jr.
• The Great Man's Lady, directed by William A. Wellman, and starring Barbara Stanwyck
• Holiday Inn
• I Married a Witch
• In Old California, starring John Wayne
• In Which We Serve
• Invisible Agent
• Johnny Eager
• Jungle Book
• Kings Row, starring Ronald Reagan and Claude Rains
• Listen to Britain, British propaganda film directed by Humphrey Jennings
• The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe
• The Magnificent Ambersons
• The Major and the Minor, directed by Billy Wilder
• The Man Who Came to Dinner
• Mrs. Miniver
• The Mummy's Tomb
• My Sister Eileen
• Now, Voyager
• The Palm Beach Story
• Pardon My Sarong, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
• The Pied Piper
• Pittsburgh, starring John Wayne, Marlene Dietrich, and Shemp Howard
• Pride of the Yankees starring Gary Cooper and Babe Ruth
• Random Harvest, starring Ronald Colman
• Reap the Wild Wind
• Reunion in France
• Ride 'Em Cowboy
• Rings on Her Fingers
• Rio Rita, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
• Road to Morocco
• Roxie Hart, starring Ginger Rogers
• Saboteur
• Saludos Amigos
• Somewhere I'll Find You, starring Clark Gable
• Song of the Islands, a Darryl F. Zanuck production
• Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake
• Sons of the Pioneers, starring Roy Rogers and George 'Gabby' Hayes
• The Spoilers
• Tales of Manhattan, all-star cast
• The Talk of the Town
• Tennessee Johnson
• To Be or Not to Be, the last film starring Carole Lombard
• Tombstone, the Town Too Tough to Die
• Tortilla Flat
• Trinity House
• The Undying Monster
• Wake Island
• Went the Day Well?
• Who Done It?, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
• Woman of the Year
• Yankee Doodle Dandy

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 (1921-1943)
• Our Gang (1922-1944)
• 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 (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 (MGM) (1940-1958)
• Woody Woodpecker (1941-1949)
• Swing Symphonies (1941-1945)
• The Fox and the Crow (1941-1950)

Births

• January 3 - John Thaw, actor (+ 2002)
• January 8 - Yvette Mimieux, actress
• January 9 - Susannah York, actress
• January 19 - Michael Crawford, singer, actor
• February 13 - Peter Tork, musician/actor
• March 28 - Mike Newell, British film director
• April 23 - Sandra Dee, actress
• July 1 – Geneviève Bujold, French-Canadian actress
• July 13 - Harrison Ford, American actor/producer
• October 22 - John Broderick, producer, director, actor
• October 22 - Annette Funicello, American actress, singer
• October 31 - David Ogden Stiers, American actor
• November 2 - Stefanie Powers, American actress
• November 21 - Al Matthews, American actor
• November 17 - Martin Scorsese, director

Deaths

• January 16 - Carole Lombard, actress
• January 31 - Rolf Wenkhaus, actor
• May 29 - John Barrymore, actor
• August 18 - Rafaela Ottiano, actress
• October 20 - May Robson, stage & film actress
• November 5 - George M. Cohan, actor, songwriter, entertainer
• November 9 - Edna May Oliver, stage & film actress
• November 12 - Laura Hope Crews, stage & screen actress
• December 12 - Helen Westley, stage & screen actress

ca:Cinema el 1942 de:Filmjahr 1942 es:Anexo:Cine en 1942 fr:1942 au cinéma hu:1942 a filmm?vészetben nl:Film in 1942 pl:1942 w filmie ru:1942 ??? ? ???? sq:1942 në film fi:Elokuvavuosi 1942 sv:Filmåret 1942 uk:1942 ? ????