1910
IMP
introduces star system by promoting Florence Lawrence (previously
one of Biograph's anonymous stars) through major publicity campaign
in St. Louis.
Trust
tries to control film distribution through new General Film Company
(GF) by trying to buy up ALL film exchanges
independent
William Fox responds to GF by making his own movies
first
Hollywood purchase of rights to a novel, Ramona by Helen Hunt Jackson
Pathé
launches Australian Animated Gazette newsreel
Nestor
Studio is first studio in Hollywood
US
boasts 9,500 cinemas
Danish
Association of Theatres for Moving Pictures established
1911
UK
and Australian Copyright Acts set standard to provide protection
for author's lifetime plus 50 years
West's
Pictures buys Pathé's Australian division
Photoplay
and Motion Picture Story magazine launched - called first 'fanzines'
Pathé
Weekly is first US-wide newsreel
Eastman
begins to sell film stock to independent producers
Amalgamated
Picture Co founded in Melbourne through merger of J&N Tait with
Johnson & Gibson Chemicals
Pennsylvania
establishes first US state film censorship law
Edison
consolidates interests into Thomas A. Edison, Inc
Nordisk
Film goes public
81
cinemas in Finland
William
Astor buys Observer from Northcliffe
The
first Edison multi-reel films released
Edison
Home Projecting Kinetoscope uses 21mm film
Vitagraph
Studio launched at Hollywood
National
Board of Film Censors established in Sweden
Kalem
v Harper Bros dispute over unauthorised adaptation of Ben Hur is
landmark copyright case
1912
British
Board of Film Censors established by industry
first
Edison serial released
first
airmail
Carl
Laemmle founds Universal Film Manufacturing Co (later Universal
Pictures) in New York, based on his IMP
Universal
absorbs US operations of France's Eclair
Mutual
Film Corporation founded in US
Mack
Sennett founds Keystone Film Company
General
Film Co established through merger of Amalgamated Picture, Wests
Pictures & Spencers Pictures in Australia
US
federal government sues Trust's General Film Company for illegal
restraint of trade
US
federal appeals court rejects Trust's control of patents for movie
camera
cinema
attendance reaches 5 million per day in US
release
of US feature film Richard III (oldest surviving US feature, second
US feature and world's first Shakespeare film)
Alfred Duskes forms Literaria Film in Germany
Indian
amateurs N G Chitre & R G Torney film Marathi play Pundalik
Adolph
Zukor imports Sarah Bernhardt film Queen Elizabeth to US
Nippon
Katsudoshashin Co (Nikkatsu) trust formed in Japan
Adolph
Zukor forms Famous Players
1913
portable
phonograph launched
Literaria
builds a new glass studio in Tempelhof
JD
Williamson Amusement Co and General Film Co form production (Australasia
Films) and exhibition (Union Theatres) partnership in Australia
Mack
Sennett, Thomas Ince & DW Griffiths found Triangle Films
Dhundiraj
Govind Phalke releases Raja Harishchandra, Indian cinema's first
feature
Asia
Film & Theatre Co founded by Zhang Shichuan and Zheng Zhengqiu,
releases Nanfu nanqi (Suffering Husband and Wife) - first Chinese
fiction film
Zhuangzi
shiqi (Zhuangzi Tests His Wife) is first Hong Kong fiction film
Oskar
Messter founds Messter Film GmbH
Carreras
family founds Blue Hall theatre chain
Atelier
Apollo in Finland closes
A
Message from Mars is first UK sci-fi?
Cecil
B DeMille, Jesse Lasky and Samuel Goldfish form Jesse L Lasky Feature
Play Company
William
Fox forms Box Office Attraction Co
1914
35mm
still camera invented
ASCAP
(American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers) founded
World War I begins
Messter-Woche
weekly newsreel in Germany
Chaplin
makes first picture for Keystone Films
Pathé
ceases production in US
Percy
Nash & John East found Neptune Films, build studio at Borehamwood
(Elstree)
Vitagraph
expands from production into distribution
Tenkatsu
studio and Nippon Kinetophone founded in Japan
Jupp
forms London Film
Windsor
Film formed in UK
Kodachrome
patented
1915
Technicolor
Co founded by Herbert Kalmus, Daniel Comstock & Burton Westcott
DW
Griffith's Birth of a Nation released
Erich Pommer founds Deutsche-Eclair Film (DECLA)
Kashii
Film buys Pathé interests in Japan
Pathé's
US arm becomes Pathé Exchange
William
Fox founds Fox Film Corporation, integrating production, distribution
and exhibition
Metro
Pictures incorporated in US
150
permanent cinemas in Vienna
US
court declares Trust to be illegal restraint on trade
Vitagraph,
Selig, Essanay & Lubin form VLSE joint distribution company
Universal's
Los Angeles studio (later Universal City) opens
Vachel
Lindsay's pioneering The Art of the Moving Picture
US
Supreme Court rules in Mutual v Ohio that "cinema is a business
pure and simple" and does not enjoy First Amendment protection
"as part of the press or as organs of public opinion"
Bell
& Howell 2709 movie camera allows close-ups without physically
moving the camera
1916
cameras
first use of optical rangefinders
radios
get tuners
Society
of Motion Picture Engineers (SMPE) formed in US
Vitagraph
buys out partners in VLSE
Vitagraph
buys Kalem
US
postal inspectors solve last known stagecoach robbery
German High Command establishes Bild & Film Amt (BUFA) - Office
of Photography & Film - to influence public opinion
Cinematograph
Film Censor Act in New Zealand
Christiana
Film Co formed in Norway
Zukor's
Famous Players merges with Lasky's Feature Play, buys Hodkinson's
Paramount
Goldwyn
Pictures created by Samuel Goldfish
1917
Universum
Film Aktiengesellschaft (aka UFA) established with 25m mark capital
from government and private sector, absorbing DECLA, PAGU and Nordisk
Samuel
Goldwyn Picture Corp founded
Neptune
Film in UK closes
Karol
Capek coins term 'robot' in Opilek
Technicolor
Corporation founded in US
Lincoln
Motion Picture Company, first black studio
1918
Louis
B. Mayer Pictures Company incorporated
first
direct radio message from UK to Australia received at AWA's Wahroonga
facility
Samuel
Goldfish officially changes his name to Samuel Goldwyn
Selig
Polyscope ceases production
Trust's
appeal against 1916 decision is dismissed
Thomas
A. Edison Inc sells studio to Lincoln & Parker Film Company,
ending Edison's involvement in film production
movie
business declared an 'essential industry' under US wartime legislation
Pathé
splits into Pathé-Frères (phonographs and recordings)
managed by Emile Pathé and Pathé-Cinéma (exhibition,
distribution, production)
1919
Munich
Film Art Company (Emelka) restructured to form a south German counterbalance
to UFA
United
Artists formed by Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks Sr, Charlie Chaplin
and DW Griffith
Treaty
of Versailles ends World War I
Ernst
Lubitsch's Madame Dubarry
The
first rotary dial telephones
shortwave
radio used
Walt
and Ubbe Iwerks (later Ub Iwerks) form Iwerks-Disney Commercial
Artists
Svensk
Filmindustri (SF) formed through merger of Svenska Bio and Skandia
Unione
Cinematografica Italiana (UCI) established
<-1900's
+ 1920's ->
