July 31, 1928: Audiences first hear MGM mascot Leo the Lion’s mighty roar with the studio’s first sound film, White Shadows in the South Seas.
August 3, 1929: Groucho, Chico, Harpo and Zeppo, the Marx Brothers, make their film debuts in Paramount’s The Cocoanuts.
August 4, 1956: The concluding chapter in the history of movie serials is written with the release of the genre’s final entry, Columbia’s Blazing the Overland Trail.
July 29, 1957: James Whale, director of the horror staples Frankenstein and The Invisible Man, is found drowned in his swimming pool at age 67.
August 3, 1965: British actress Julie Christie‘s star continues to rise with her performance as an ambitious, self-absorbed fashion model in John Schlesinger‘s Darling.
July 30, 1966: With all of the “BIFF! POW! SOCK!” of the campy TV show, Batman, starring Adam West, makes his first film appearance since 1943.
August 1, 1973: American Graffiti, George Lucas‘ nostalgic time capsule, opens. The cast of then-unknowns includes Richard Dreyfuss and Harrison Ford.
August 2, 1976: Fritz Lang, the Austrian-born helmer of Metropolis and The Big Heat, dies in Los Angeles at the age of 85.
July 31, 1987: Timothy Dalton takes over the role of secret agent James Bond with the 007 adventure The Living Daylights.