The year 1907 in film involved some significant events. __TOC__

Events

* January 19 – ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' publishes its first film review. * The

Kalem Company The Kalem Company was an early American film studio founded in New York City in 1907. It was one of the first companies to make films abroad and to set up winter production facilities, first in Florida and then in California. Kalem was sold to V ...

founded in New York City by

Frank J. Marion Frank Joseph Marion (July 25, 1869 – March 28, 1963) was an American motion picture pioneer. He was born in Tidioute, Pennsylvania. He had a wife named Florence and 4 daughters and a son. He was married to Florence until her death. Career ...

, Samuel Long, and

George Kleine George Kleine (1864June 8, 1931) was an American film producer and cinema pioneer. Biography Klein's father, Charles, was a New York optician who sold optical devices and stereopticons. Klein joined the family firm, moving to Chicago in 189 ...

. * May 7 – Seattle film maker William Harbeck sets up a camera at the front of a B.C. Electric streetcar and films the downtown streets of

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. Pieces of the film, the earliest surviving footage of the city, have disappeared, only about 7 minutes remain. * May 29 – ''

Salaviinanpolttajat ''Salaviinanpolttajat'' (''The Moonshiners'') ( sv, Lönnbrännare) is a Finnish film made in 1907. While only 20 minutes in length, it is generally considered the first fictional film made in the country and as such, the starting point of Finnish ...

'', also known as ''The Moonshiners'', the first fictional film made in Finland, is released. * June 20 – '' L'Enfant prodigue'', the first feature-length motion picture produced in Europe, opens in Paris. * Peerless Film Manufacturing Company was founded in Chicago by

George K. Spoor George Kirke Spoor (December 18, 1871 – 24 November 1953) was an early film pioneer who, with Gilbert M. "Broncho Billy" Anderson, founded Essanay Studios in Chicago in 1907. He was a founding partner of V-L-S-E, Incorporated, a film distri ...

and

Gilbert M. Anderson Gilbert M. "Broncho Billy" Anderson (born Maxwell Henry Aronson; March 21, 1880 – January 20, 1971) was an American actor, writer, film director, and film producer, who was the first star of the Western (genre), Western film genre. He was a ...

. On August 10, the studio name was changed to

Essanay Studios The Essanay Film Manufacturing Company was an early American motion picture studio. The studio was founded in 1907 in Chicago, and later developed an additional film lot in Niles Canyon, California. Its various stars included Francis X. Bushman, ...

("S and A"). * November 28 - In

Haverhill, Massachusetts Haverhill ( ) is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Haverhill is located 35 miles north of Boston on the New Hampshire border and about 17 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. The population was 67,787 at the 2020 United States Cen ...

, scrap-metal dealer

Louis B. Mayer Louis Burt Mayer (; born Lazar Meir; July 12, 1882 or 1884 or 1885 – October 29, 1957) was a Canadian-American film producer and co-founder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios (MGM) in 1924. Under Mayer's management, MGM became the film industr ...

opens his first

movie theater A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall ( Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...

(in a few years he had the largest theater chain in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

and in 1917 he founded his own production company, which eventually became part of

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

). * December 7 – First '' Ben-Hur'' film, directed by

Sidney Olcott Sidney Olcott (born John Sidney Allcott, September 20, 1872 – December 16, 1949) was a Canadian-born film producer, director, actor and screenwriter. Biography Born John Sidney Allcott in Toronto, he became one of the first great direc ...

and produced by the

, released. *

Carl Laemmle Carl Laemmle (; born Karl Lämmle; January 17, 1867 – September 24, 1939) was a film producer and the co-founder and, until 1934, owner of Universal Pictures. He produced or worked on over 400 films. Regarded as one of the most important o ...

, later of

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a ...

, experiments with combining audio from

phonograph A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

s with film. Laemmle's experiments lead to the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

development of "Syncroscope." Syncroscope had several successful demonstrations, but was eventually abandoned.

Films released in 1907

* '' 20,000 Lieues Sous les Mers'' * ''Aunt Eliza Recovers her Pet'' (French) * '' Ben-Hur'', directed by

* ''The Bewildering Cabinet'' (aka ''The Closet''), directed by George Melies * ''The Clock-Maker's Secret'' (French) * ''

A Curious Dream ''A Curious Dream'' is a 1907 short drama film based on Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecture ...

'', directed by

J. Stuart Blackton James Stuart Blackton (January 5, 1875 – August 13, 1941) was a British-American film producer and director of the silent era. One of the pioneers of motion pictures, he founded Vitagraph Studios in 1897. He was one of the first filmmakers to ...

* '' The Dancing Pig'' * ''The Doll's Revenge'', directed by Lewin Fitzhamon, starring Gertie Potter and Bertie Potter (British) * ''The Eclipse'', directed by

Georges Melies Georges may refer to: Places *Georges River, New South Wales, Australia *Georges Quay (Dublin) * Georges Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania Other uses * Georges (name) * ''Georges'' (novel), a novel by Alexandre Dumas * "Georges" (song), a 19 ...

* ''The Enchanted Sedan Chair'', directed by

* '' L'Enfant prodigue (The Prodigal Son)'', directed by Michel Carré. First

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

from Europe. * ''The Fatal Hand'', directed by J. H. Martin (British) * ''Faust'' (French) credits unknown * ''

First Prize for the Cello ''First Prize for the Cello ''is a French silent comedy directed by an anonymous director and released in 1907. Plot A man walks along with a cello under his arm. He then sits down on a stool and proceeds to play it, very badly, while the neigh ...

'' * ''Flower of Youth'' (French/ Pathe) * ''The Ghost Holiday'', directed by Lewin Fitzhamon, starring Gertie Potter (British) * ''The Ghost Story'', directed by

* ''The Good Glue Stick'', directed by

* ''The Golden Beetle'', directed by

Segundo de Chomón Segundo Víctor Aurelio Chomón y Ruiz (also Chomont or Chaumont ; 17 October 1871 – 2 May 1929) was a pioneering Spanish film director, cinematographer and screenwriter. He produced many short films in France while working for Pathé, Pat ...

(French) * ''The Haunted Bedroom'', directed by Walter R. Booth (British) * ''

The Haunted Hotel ''The Haunted Hotel '' is a 1907 American silent short comedy film written, produced, and directed by J. Stuart Blackton. One of the oldest surviving animated films, it combines live action and stop motion to animate objects. Plot The film start ...

, or The Strange Adventures of a Traveler'', directed by

* ''The Haunted House'' (aka ''La Maison Hantee'') directed by Segundo de Chomon, French * ''A Knight Errant'', directed by J. H. Martin (British) * ''Laughing Gas'', directed by

Edwin S. Porter Edwin Stanton Porter (April 21, 1870 – April 30, 1941) was an American film pioneer, most famous as a producer, director, studio manager and cinematographer with the Edison Manufacturing Company and the Famous Players Film Company. Of over ...

* ''Legend of a Ghost'' (French/ Pathe) * ''Little Red Riding Hood'' (French/ Pathe) * '' The Lion Hunt'' * ''The Madman's Bride'', produced by Cecil M. Hepworth (British) * ''La Marseillaise'', directed by Georges Mendel n early sound film that has the singing of the French National Anthem. May be the longest sound film up to that point in time.* ''Nature Fakirs'', produced by the Kalem Co. * ''Oh That Molar!'', directed by Arthur Cooper (British) * ''The Pearl Fisher'' (Pathe) * ''The Pied Piper'', directed by Percy Stow (British) * ''The Policemen's Little Run'', directed by

Ferdinand Zecca Ferdinand Zecca (19 February 1864 – 23 March 1947) was a Innovator, pioneer French film director, film producer, actor and screenwriter. He worked primarily for the Pathé company, first in artistic endeavors then in administration of the inter ...

(French) * ''The Professor and his Waxworks'' * ''The Race For The Sausage'', directed by

Alice Guy Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...

(French) * ''The Red Spectre'', directed by

and

(French) * '' Robert Macaire and Bertrand'', directed by

* ''The Runaway Horse'', directed by

Louis J. Gasnier Louis Joseph Gasnier (September 15, 1875 – February 15, 1963) was a French-American film director, producer, screenwriter and stage actor. A cinema pioneer, Gasnier shepherded the early career of comedian Max Linder, co-directed the enormously ...

* ''

'' * ''

El Sartorio ''El Satario'', also known as ''El Sartorio'', is the name of one of the earliest surviving pornographic films. It was supposedly produced in Argentina in 1907, and includes possibly the first use of extreme close-ups of genitalia. Others date i ...

'' (disputable, it's a 1920s film) * '' Satan s'amuse'' (''Satan at Play''), directed by Segundo de Chomon (French) * '' That Fatal Sneeze'', directed by

Lewin Fitzhamon Lewin "Fitz" Fitzhamon (5 June 1869 – 10 October 1961) was a British filmmaker, who worked as Cecil Hepworth's principal director in the early decades of the twentieth century. His best-known film is ''Rescued by Rover'' (1905). Other directing ...

, produced by

Cecil Hepworth Cecil Milton Hepworth (19 March 1874 – 9 February 1953) was a British film director, producer and screenwriter. He was among the founders of the British film industry and continued making films into the 1920s at his Hepworth Studios. In ...

(British) * ''The Thousand Pound Spook'', directed by Walter R. Booth, produced by Charles Urban (British) * '' Tunneling the Channel'', directed by

* ''Vancouver'', directed by William Harbeck * ''When the Devil Drives'', directed by Walter R. Booth (British) * ''The Witch Kiss'' (French/ Pathe)Kinnard,Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. . Page 23.

Births

Deaths

* August 30 –

Richard Mansfield Richard Mansfield (24 May 1857 – 30 August 1907) was an English actor-manager best known for his performances in Shakespeare plays, Gilbert and Sullivan operas, and the play '' Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde''. Life and career Mansfield was born ...

, stage actor who influenced many later film actors (born 1857)

Debuts

Linda Arvidson Linda Arvidson (born Linda Arvidson Johnson, July 12, 1884 – July 26, 1949; sometimes credited as Linda Griffith) was an American stage and film actress who became one of America's early motion picture stars while working at Biograph Studios i ...

– Mr. Gay and Mrs. (short) *

Robert Harron Robert Emmett Harron (April 12, 1893 – September 5, 1920) was an American motion picture actor of the early silent film era. Although he acted in over 200 films, he is possibly best recalled for his roles in the D.W. Griffith directed film ...

– Dr. Skinium (short) *

William S. Hart William Surrey Hart (December 6, 1864 – June 23, 1946) was an American silent film actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He is remembered as a foremost Western star of the silent era who "imbued all of his characters with honor and integ ...

– Ben Hur (short) *

Florence Turner Florence Turner (January 6, 1885 – August 28, 1946) was an American actress who became known as the "Vitagraph Girl" in early silent films. Biography Born in New York City, Turner was pushed into appearing on the stage at age three by he ...

– How to Cure a Cold (short)

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1907 In Film Film by year