The year 1920 in film involved some significant events.

The top five films released in 1920 by U.S. gross are as follows:

• March 28 – "America's Sweetheart" Mary Pickford and "Everybody's Hero" Douglas Fairbanks marry, becoming the first supercouple of Hollywood.
• August – Jack Cohn, Joe Brandt and Harry Cohn form C. B. C. Film Sales Corporation^[4] which would later become Columbia Pictures.^[5]
• August 15 – Robert J. Flaherty arrives in northern Canada to begin filming Nanook of the North (1922).
• November 27 – The Mark of Zorro, starring Douglas Fairbanks, opens.

• The Son of Tarzan, a 15-chapter film series

The following is a list of animated shorts of the year 1920 that belong to series that lasted several years.

• Felix the Cat (1919–1936)
  • A Frolic with Felix (January 25, 1920)
  • Felix the Big Game Hunter (February 22, 1920)
  • Wrecking a Romeo (March 7, 1920)
  • Felix the Food Controller (April 11, 1920)
  • Felix the Pinch Hitter (April 18, 1920)
  • Foxy Felix (May 16, 1920)
  • A Hungry Hoodoo (June 6, 1920)
  • The Great Cheese Robbery (June 13, 1920)
  • Felix and the Feed Bag (July 18, 1920)
  • Nifty Nurse (August 22, 1920)
  • The Circus (September 26, 1920)
  • My Hero (October 24, 1920)
  • Felix the Landlord (November 21, 1920)
  • Felix's Fish Story (December 26, 1920)
• Out of the Inkwell (1918–1929)

A major animated series of the silent era produced by Max Fleischer from 1918 to 1929 in which it appeared Koko the Clown:

• The Boxing Kangaroo
• The Chinaman
• The Circus
• The Ouija Board
• The Clown's Little Brother
• Perpetual Motion
• Poker
• The Restaurant

• January 4 - Rosalie Crutchley, British actress (died 1997)
• January 6 - Henry Corden, Canadian-American actor (died 2005)
• January 7
  • Vincent Gardenia, actor (died 1992)^[30]
  • Witold Sadowy, Polish actor (died 2020)^[31]
• January 16 - Elliott Reid, American actor (died 2013)
• January 19 - Johnny Haymer, American actor (died 1989)
• January 20
  • DeForest Kelley, actor (died 1999)^[32]
  • Federico Fellini, film director (died 1993)^[33]
• January 24 - Jerry Maren, American actor (died 2018)
• January 27 – John Box, production designer, four-time Oscar winner (died 2005)
• January 30
  • Michael Anderson, director (died 2018)
  • Delbert Mann, director (died 2007)
• February 8 – Bengt Ekerot, Swedish actor and director (died 1971)
• February 11 – Billy Halop, actor (died 1976)
• February 26 – Tony Randall, actor (died 2004)
• February 29 – Michèle Morgan, actress (died 2016)
• March 3 – James Doohan, actor (died 2005)
• March 6 – Lewis Gilbert, director (died 2018)^[34]
• March 16 – Leo McKern, actor (died 2002)^[35]
• March 19 – Paul Hagen, Danish actor (died 2003)
• March 22
  • Werner Klemperer, German actor (died 2000)
  • Ross Martin, Polish-American actor (died 1981)
• April 1
  • Toshiro Mifune, actor (died 1997)^[36]
  • Susanna Ramel, Swedish actress (died 2020)
• April 2 – Jack Webb, actor (died 1982)
• April 17 - Arnold Yarrow, retired English actor and screenwriter
• April 20 – Gianrico Tedeschi, actor (died 2020)
• May 2
  • John Boswall, British actor (died 2011)
  • Preben Neergaard, Danish actor (died 1990)
• May 7 – Rendra Karno, Indonesian actor (died 1985)
• May 11 – Denver Pyle, actor (died 1997)
• May 16 – Martine Carol, actress (died 1967)
• May 20 – Virginia Vale, actress (died 2006)
• May 26
  • John Dall, American actor (died 1971)^[37]
  • Peggy Lee, singer, songwriter, actress (died 2002)^[38]
• May 29 – Clifton James, actor (died 2017)
• June 1 - Alethea McGrath, Australian actress and comedian (died 2016)
• June 12 – Jim Siedow, American actor (died 2003)
• June 13 – Rex Everhart, American actor (died 2000)
• June 15 – Alberto Sordi, Italian actor (died 2003)^[39]
• June 17 – Setsuko Hara, Japanese film actress (died 2015)
• June 18 – Ian Carmichael, English stage, film and television actor (died 2010)
• June 29 – Ray Harryhausen, producer, visual effects artist (died 2013)
• July 1 – Harold Sakata, American film actor (died 1982)
• July 5 - Viola Harris, American actress (died 2017)
• July 11 – Yul Brynner, actor (died 1985)^[40]
• July 12 – Keith Andes, American actor (died 2005)
• July 16 – Phillip Pine, American actor (died 2006)^[41]
• July 28 – Andrew V. McLaglen, film & TV director, son of Victor McLaglen (died 2014)
• July 29 – Rodolfo Acosta, actor (died 1974)
• July 31 – Franca Valeri, actress (died 2020)
• August 6 – Ella Raines, actress (died 1988)
• August 8 - Dominique Marcas, French actress (died 2022)
• August 13 – Neville Brand, actor (died 1992)
• August 17 – Maureen O'Hara, actress (died 2015)
• August 18 – Shelley Winters, actress (died 2006)
• August 22 – Ray Bradbury, writer (died 2012)
• August 30 - Leonid Shvartsman, Russian animator (died 2022)
• August 31
  • James Lanphier, American actor (died 1969)
  • G. D. Spradlin, American actor (died 2011)
• September 1 - Richard Farnsworth, American actor and stuntman (died 2000)
• September 13 - John Crawford, American actor (died 2010)
• September 18 – Jack Warden, actor (died 2006)
• September 23 – Mickey Rooney, actor (died 2014)
• September 26 – Barbara Britton, actress (died 1980)
• September 27 – William Conrad, actor (died 1994)
• October 1 – Walter Matthau, actor (died 2000)
• October 9 - Jason Wingreen, American actor (died 2015)
• October 10 - Noah Keen, actor (died 2019)
• October 13 – Laraine Day, actress (died 2007)
• October 15 - Mario Puzo, American author and screenwriter (died 1999)
• October 17 – Montgomery Clift, actor (died 1966)
• October 18 – Melina Mercouri, actress (died 1994)
• October 19 - LaWanda Page, American actress and comedian (died 2002)
• October 21
  • Hy Averback, actor (died 1997)
  • Ruth Terry, actress, singer (died 2016)
• October 22 – Mitzi Green, actress (died 1969)
• October 27 – Nanette Fabray, actress (died 2018)
• October 29 - Hilda Bernard, Argentine actress (died 2022)
• November 10 – Jennifer Holt, actress (died 1997)
• November 13 – Jack Elam, actor (died 2003)
• November 19 – Gene Tierney, actress (died 1991)
• November 21 – Ralph Meeker, actor (died 1988)
• November 25
  • Shelagh Fraser, English actress (died 2000)
  • Ricardo Montalbán, actor (died 2009)
  • Noel Neill, actress (died 2016)
• November 30 – Virginia Mayo, actress (died 2005)
• December 7 – Frances Gifford, actress (died 1994)
• December 29 – Viveca Lindfors, actress (died 1995)
• December 30 – Jack Lord, actor (died 1998)
• December 31 – Rex Allen, American cowboy actor, singer (died 1999)

• January 31 – Gilda Langer, 23, German actress
• February 11 – Gaby Deslys, 38, French actress, dancer, singer
• February 17 – Thomas Commerford, 64, American veteran character actor
• March 2 – Harry Solter, 46, American actor
• April 12 – Walter Edwards, 50, American director
• April 25 – Clarine Seymour, 21, American actress
• May 22 – Hal Reid, 59, American actor & director (father of Wallace Reid)
• June 14 – Gabrielle Réjane, 64, stage and film actress
• August 1 – Eugene Gaudio, 33, Italian born cinematographer (brother of Tony Gaudio)
• August 2 – Ormer Locklear, 29, American stunt flier
• August 13 – Gladys Field, 31, actress (died in childbirth)
• August 28 – Suzanne Grandais, 27, French actress
• September 5 – Robert Harron, 27, American actor
• September 10 – Olive Thomas, 25, American actress
• November 19 – Will S. Davis, 38, American film director
• December 9 – Mollie McConnell, 55, American actress

• Madge Bellamy – The Riddle: Woman
• Noah Beery Jr. – The Mark of Zorro
• Charles Boyer – L'homme du large
• Edward Brophy – Yes or No?
• Bud Geary – What Would You Do?
• Vera Gordon – Humoresque
• Ralf Harolde – Headin' Home
• Buster Keaton – The Saphead
• Barbara La Marr – Harriet and the Piper
• Cyril McLaglen – The Call of the Road
• Victor McLaglen – The Call of the Road
• Charles Middleton – Wits vs. Wits
• Eva Moore – The Law Divine
• Margaret Morris – Her First Elopement
• Nita Naldi – Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• Claude Rains – Build Thy House
• Max Schreck – The Mayor of Zalamea
• Bob Steele – The Adventures of Bill and Bob
• Clarence Wilson – Duds

There are films released in later years whose plot is developed totally or partially in 1920:

• Manhattan Melodrama (1934)
• Winterset (1936)
• The Road Back (1937)
• Clash of Loyalties (1938)
• Three Comrades (1938)
• Hostile Whirlwinds (1953): Film portrays the first years of Soviet government, biography of Felix Dzerzhinsky in 1918–1921.
• Kappalottiya Thamizhan (1961)
• The Ball of Count Orgel (1970): Set in 1920, the Comte hosts a soirée and dance for the upper echelons of Parisian society.
• Vengeance (1970): The film is set in 1920 Peking, and centers on a revenge plight of Chiang.
• Reds (1981)
• Once Upon a Time in America (1984): David "Noodles" Aaronson struggles as a street kid in Manhattan's Lower East Side in 1920.
• The Man Who Planted Trees (1987)
• A Month in the Country (1987): Set in rural Yorkshire during the summer of 1920, the film follows a destitute World War I veteran employed to carry out restoration work on a Medieval mural discovered in a rural church while coming to terms with the after-effects of the war.
• Life and Nothing But (1989): Set in October 1920, it tells the story of Major Delaplane, a man whose job is to find the identities of unknown dead soldiers after World War I.
• The Treaty (1991): The film is about the Anglo-Irish Treaty that Michael Collins bargained for with the British government in 1921.
• Michael Collins (1996)
• The Image Makers (2000): The drama is set in the year 1920 at Filmstaden where the film director Victor Sjöström is shooting the film The Phantom Carriage.
• The Admiral (2008)
• 1920 film series (2008–2016)

1920 (2008)

1920: The Evil Returns (2012)

1920: London (2016)

• Battle of Warsaw 1920 (2011)
• Sunstroke (2014)

• List of American films of 1920