1919 in film
The year 1919 in film involved some significant events. Films also appear in the Classics of the Silent Cinema 1983 book.
| |||
---|---|---|---|
Years in film |
---|
![]() |
1870s |
Top-grossing films (U.S.)
The top three 1919 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:
Rank | Title | Studio | Box office gross rental |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Daddy-Long-Legs | First National Pictures | $1,250,000[1] |
2 | The Miracle Man | Paramount Pictures | $1,000,000[1] |
3 | Broken Blossoms Male and Female |
United Artists Paramount Pictures |
$600,000[2][3] |
Events
- February 5 – Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D. W. Griffith launch United Artists.
- March – Oscar Micheaux premieres The Homesteader, the first feature-length race film, starring pioneering African American actress Evelyn Preer, becoming the first African American to produce and direct a motion picture.
- May 13 – D. W. Griffith's first film to be released by United Artists, Broken Blossoms, has its premiere in New York City.
- August 29 – The Miracle Man displayed Lon Chaney's talent for make-up and made him famous as a character actor.
- September 1 – United Artists release their first film, His Majesty, the American starring Douglas Fairbanks.
- September 18 – Ufa-Palast am Zoo in Berlin opens rebuilt as a permanent cinema with the première of Ernst Lubitsch's Madame Dubarry.[4][5]
- September 25 - Dalagang Bukid (The Country Maiden), the first Filipino feature-length film made in the Philippines, released.[6]
- October 24 - The Capitol Theatre in New York City becomes one of the largest cinemas in the world with 4,000 seats.
- November 16 – Constance Talmadge becomes a star with the release of A Virtuous Vamp.[7]
- Harold Lloyd begins holding test screenings of his films and modifying them based on audience feedback, a technique which continues in use.
- Tri-Ergon sound-on-film technology is developed by three German inventors, Josef Engl, Hans Vogt (engineer), and Joseph Massole; however, the era of sound films is over 6 years away.
Notable films released in 1919 around the world
A
- Anne of Green Gables, directed by William Desmond Taylor; starring Mary Miles Minter and Paul Kelly
- The Avalanche directed by George Fitzmaurice starring Elsie Ferguson
B
- The Beetle, directed by Alexander Butler – (GB)
- The Belle of New York, directed by Julius Steger; starring Marion Davies
- The Better 'Ole – (GB)
- Blind Husbands, directed by and starring Erich von Stroheim
- Bolshevism on Trial, directed by Harley Knoles
- The Boy in Blue (Knabe in Blau), directed by F.W. Murnau – (Germany)
- Broken Blossoms, directed by D.W. Griffith, starring Lillian Gish and Richard Barthelmess
- Bumping into Broadway, starring Harold Lloyd and Bebe Daniels
C
- Captain Kidd's Kids, a Harold Lloyd short
- The Cinema Murder, directed by George D. Baker; starring Marion Davies
- Country Maiden (Dalagang Bukid), directed by Jose Nepomuceno; starring Atang de la Rama - Philippines
D
- Daddy-Long-Legs, starring Mary Pickford
- Damaged Goods, directed by Alexander Butler – (GB)
- The Dark Star, directed by Allan Dwan; starring Marion Davies and Norman Kerry
- The Delicious Little Devil, starring Mae Murray and Rudolph Valentino
- Different from the Others, directed by Richard Oswald, starring Conrad Veidt – (Germany)
- The Doll, directed by Ernst Lubitsch – (Germany)
- Don't Change Your Husband, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Gloria Swanson
E
- The Echo of Youth, directed by Ivan Abramson
F
- The False Faces, directed by Irvin Willat, starring Henry B. Walthall and Lon Chaney
- The First Men in the Moon – (GB)
G
- Getting Mary Married, directed by Allan Dwan; starring Marion Davies and Matt Moore
- The Grim Game, starring Harry Houdini
H
- Hawthorne of the U.S.A. directed by James Cruze, starring Wallace Reid
- Heart o' the Hills directed by Sidney Franklin, starring Mary Pickford
- Here Comes the Bride directed by John S. Robertson, starring John Barrymore, Faire Binney
- His Majesty, the American, starring Douglas Fairbanks
- The Homesteader, directed by Oscar Micheaux, starring Evelyn Preer
I
- Intoxication, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Asta Nielsen (Germany)
J
- The Jack of Hearts, starring Hoot Gibson
- J'accuse, directed by Abel Gance – (France)
K
- The Knickerbocker Buckaroo, starring Douglas Fairbanks
L
- The Life Line, directed by Maurice Tourneur, starring Wallace Beery
- The Lost Battalion
- Love's Prisoner, starring Olive Thomas
- La Venganza de Don Silvestre, directed by Jose Nepomuceno - (Philippines)
M
- Madame DuBarry, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Pola Negri and Emil Jannings – (Germany)
- Male and Female, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Gloria Swanson and Thomas Meighan
- The Master Mystery, (serial), starring Harry Houdini
- The Miracle Man, starring Thomas Meighan, Lon Chaney and Betty Compson
- The Mistress of the World, directed by Joe May (Weimar Republic)
- My Lady's Garter, directed by Maurice Tourneur
- My Wife, the Movie Star, directed by Ernst Lubitsch (Germany)
O
- The Oyster Princess (Die Austerprinzessin) – (Germany)
R
- Ravished Armenia – directed by Oscar Apfel, starring Aurora Mardiganian
- The Roaring Road, directed by James Cruze, starring Wallace Reid
S
- Sahara, starring Louise Glaum, written by C. Gardner Sullivan
- The Sentimental Bloke – (Australia)
- Sir Arne's Treasure (Herr Arnes pengar), directed by Mauritz Stiller, starring Richard Lund – (Sweden)
- A Society Exile directed by George Fitzmaurice starring Elsie Ferguson
- Sons of Ingmar (Ingmarssönerna), directed by Victor Sjöström – (Sweden)
- South (documentary of Sir Ernest Shackleton's Endurance Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition), filmed by Frank Hurley – (GB)
T
- The Test of Honor, directed by John S. Robertson, starring John Barrymore , and Constance Binney
- True Heart Susie, starring Lillian Gish and Bobby Harron
V
- The Valley of the Giants, directed by James Cruze, starring Wallace Reid
- Victory, directed by Maurice Tourneur, starring Lon Chaney, Seena Owen, Wallace Beery, Jack Holt
W
- When the Clouds Roll By, starring Douglas Fairbanks
- The White Heather, directed by Maurice Tourneur
- The Wicked Darling, directed by Tod Browning, starring Lon Chaney and Priscilla Dean
- The Witness for the Defense starring Elsie Ferguson and Warner Oland
Y
- Yankee Doodle in Berlin, directed by F. Richard Jones, starring Bothwell Browne, Ford Sterling, Marie Prevost, produced by Mack Sennett
- You're Fired, directed by James Cruze, starring Wallace Reid & Wanda Hawley
Comedy film series
Only the films of the series released in 1919 are collected.
Buster Keaton (1917–1941)
Films starring Roscoe Arbuckle, featuring Buster Keaton released in 1919:
- September 7: Back Stage a 'Fatty' Arbuckle / Buster Keaton short.
- October 26: The Hayseed as a Manager, general store.
Charlie Chaplin (1914–1923)
Charlie Chaplin wrote, produced, directed, and starred in 9 films for his own production company between 1918 and 1923. These films were distributed by First National. Below the movies filmed in 1919:
- May 15: Sunnyside; Three reels Score composed for 1974 re-release
- December 15: A Day's Pleasure; Two reels. First film with Jackie Coogan, future star of "The Kid"
Score composed for 1973 re-release
- Uncompleted and unreleased films
- The Professor as Professor Bosco, Slated as a two-reeler, but never issued
Harold Lloyd (1913–1921)
Glasses character ("The Boy"):
- Wanted – $5,000
- Going! Going! Gone!
- Ask Father
- On the Fire, aka. The Chef
- I'm on My Way
- Look Out Below
- The Dutiful Dub
- Next Aisle Over
- A Sammy in Siberia
- Just Dropped In
- Young Mr. Jazz
- Crack Your Heels
- Ring Up the Curtain, aka Back-Stage!
- Si, Senor
- Before Breakfast
- The Marathon
- Pistols for Breakfast
- Swat the Crook
- Off the Trolley
- Spring Fever
- Billy Blazes, Esq. – as Billy Blazes; the film was a parody of Westerns of the time
- Just Neighbors
- At the Old Stage Door
- Never Touched Me
- A Jazzed Honeymoon
- Count Your Change
- Chop Suey & Co.
- Heap Big Chief
- Don't Shove
- Be My Wife
- The Rajah
- He Leads, Others Follow
- Soft Money
- Count the Votes
- Pay Your Dues
- His Only Father
- Bumping Into Broadway
- Captain Kidd's Kids
- From Hand to Mouth
Animated short film series
![](../I/Out-of-the-inkwell.jpg.webp)
Koko the Clown (1919–1934)
Koko the Clown was the first animated movie cartoon series. Below list of short films released in 1919:
- The Tantalizing Fly
- The Clown's Pups
- Out of the Inkwell
- Slides
- Experiment No. 2
- Experiment No. 3
- Out of the Inkwell
Felix the Cat (1919–1936)
![](../I/Felix_1919.jpg.webp)
Below list of Felix the Cat short films released in 1919:
- November 9: Feline Follies
- November 16: The Musical Mews
- December 14: The Adventures of Felix
Births
- January 1 – Carole Landis, actress (died 1948)
- January 13 – Robert Stack, actor (died 2003)
- January 21 – Jinx Falkenburg, model, actress (died 2003)
- January 23 – Ernie Kovacs, comedian, actor (died 1962)
- January 24 – Coleman Francis, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1973)
- February 4 – Janet Waldo, actress (died 2016)
- February 5
- Red Buttons, actor (died 2006)
- Tim Holt, actor (died 1973)
- February 11 – Eva Gabor, actress (died 1995)
- February 18 – Jack Palance, actor (died 2006)
- March 2 – Jennifer Jones, actress (died 2009)
- March 25 – Jeanne Cagney, actress (died 1984)
- March 29 – Eileen Heckart, actress (died 2001)
- April 13 – Howard Keel, actor (died 2004)
- April 18 – Vondell Darr, child actress (died 2012)
- April 18 – Virginia O'Brien, American actress (died 2001)
- May 8 – Lex Barker, actor (died 1973)
- May 23 – Betty Garrett, actress (died 2011)
- June 12 – Uta Hagen, actress (died 2004)
- June 14 – Sam Wanamaker, director, actor (died 1993)
- June 19 – Pauline Kael, film critic (died 2001)
- June 24 – Al Molinaro, actor (died 2015)
- June 29 – Slim Pickens, actor (died 1983)
- July 7 – Jon Pertwee, actor (died 1996)
- July 26 – Virginia Gilmore, actress (died 1986)
- August 2 – Nehemiah Persoff, actor
- August 7 – Bertha Moss, Argentine-Mexican actress (died 2008)
- August 8 – Dino De Laurentiis, producer (died 2010)
- September 2 – Marge Champion, dancer, actress, choreographer (died 2020)
- September 18 – Diana Lewis, actress (died 1997)
- September 24 – Rick Vallin, Russian-born actor (died 1977)
- September 26 – Barbara Britton, actress (died 1980)
- October 5 – Donald Pleasence, actor (died 1995)
- November 4
- Shirley Mitchell, actress (died 2013)
- Martin Balsam, actor (died 1996)
- November 13
- Mary Beth Hughes, actress (died 1995)
- Amelia Bence, actress (died 2016)
- November 15 – Nova Pilbeam, actress (died 2015)
- November 19 – Alan Young, actor (died 2016)
- December 7 – Lis Løwert, Danish actress (d. 2009)
- December 21 – Ove Sprogøe, Danish actor (d. 2004)
Deaths
- January 14 – Shelley Hull, 34, American stage & film actor, husband of Josephine Hull, brother of Henry Hull
- January 31 – Nat C. Goodwin, 59, veteran stage star & silent film actor
- February 3 – Mary Moore (actress), 29, Irish actress, sister of Joe, Matt, Owen and Tom Moore A Million a Minute
- February 17 – Vera Kholodnaya, 25, Russian silent film actress, A Corpse Living, The Woman Who Invented Love, Her Sister's Rival, Song of Triumphant Love
- April 9 – Sidney Drew, 55, American stage & film actor A Florida Enchantment
- May 3 – Daniel Gilfether, 70, American actor of stage & screen
- May 21 – Lamar Johnstone, 34, American silent film actor
- November 24 – William Stowell, 34, American silent film star
Film debuts
- Vilma Bánky – Im letzten Augenblick
- Shemp Howard – Spring Fever (short)
- Boris Karloff – The Lightning Raider
- Fritz Lang – Halbblut
- Norma Shearer – The Star Boarder (short) (uncredited)
- Otis Skinner – Tom's Little Star
- Claire Windsor – Eyes of Youth (uncredited)
- Anna May Wong – The Red Lantern (uncredited)
References
- Quigley Publishing Company "The All Time Best Sellers", International Motion Picture Almanac 1937–38 (1938) p 942 accessed January 28, 2017
- Balio, Tino (2009). United Artists: The Company Built by the Stars. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-23004-3.p30-31
- Fragias, Leonidas (2017). Annual US Top Film Rentals 1912 - 1979 (Kindle ed.). Leonidas Fragias.
- Kreimeier, Klaus (1996). The Ufa Story: A History of Germany's Greatest Film Company, 1918–1945. University of California Press. p. 56.
premiere of Passion.
- Silberman, Marc (1995). German Cinema: Texts in Context. Detroit: Wayne State University. p. 3. ISBN 978-0814325605.
- "Dalagang Bukid (1919)". imdb.com.
- "Brief Descriptions and Expanded Essays of National Film Registry Titles". Library of Congress. Retrieved May 27, 2018.