April 15 – Sinking of the Titanic: British passenger liner Titanic sinks having struck an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean on her maiden voyage from the United Kingdom to the United States, killing more than 1,500. This is depicted in many works of popular culture, including films, beginning with the May 16 U.S. release Saved from the Titanic, starring and co-written by Dorothy Gibson, who is herself a survivor of the disaster.
April 30 –
Universal Film Manufacturing Company
is founded in New York, the oldest surviving film studio in the United States.
July 4 – Mack Sennett, who has previously worked as an actor and comedy director with D. W. Griffith, forms a new company with New York City entrepreneur Adam Kessel, Keystone Studios. It will play an important role in developing slapstick comedy as the home to the Keystone Cops, English actor Charlie Chaplin, and others.
July 12 – Queen Elizabeth is the first film released by Famous Players.
July 26 –
serial
.
Edison introduces the Home Kinetoscope, a home film-projector which uses a 22 mm print consisting of three rows of frames.
Pathe Kok
, their first entry into the amateur market, with a gauge of 28 mm.
Alexander F. Victor improves on the 17.5 mm format with his Duoscope, which uses two center perforations instead of the typical one.
Bell & Howell introduce the first all-metal camera, the 2709 35mm.
Bebe and Spiritualism (French/ Gaumont) directed by Louis Feuillade, starring child star Rene Dary and Paul Manson; this was one of a series of 64 films that featured the popular Bebe ("Baby") film character[3][4]
Conscience (Vitagraph), aka The Chamber of Horrors, produced by Albert E. Smith, directed by Maurice Costello, starring Rose Tapely and Robert Gaillard.[9]
Convicted by Hypnotism (French/ Eclair) aka A Double Life, directed by Victorin-Hippolyte Jasset, starring Cecile Guyon and Charles Krauss [10]
Faust (British) produced by Charles Urban, filmed in Kinemacolor; (a lost film today).[23]
Feathertop (French/ U.S. co-production) produced by Eclair/ American Standard; starring Muriel Ostriche and Julia Stuart; based on the 1852 short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne.[24]
Gavroche and the Ghosts, aka Gavroche and the Spirits (French/ Eclair) directed by Romeo Bosetti, starring Paul Bertho; one of a series of 40 short French silent films all featuring the comic character "Gavroche" [25]
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (French/ Eclair & American Standard Films) directed by Etienne Arnaud, starring Alec B. Francis and Muriel Ostriche, based on the story by Washington Irving[44]
Lucrezia Borgia (Italian/ Film d'Arte Films) directed by Gerolamo Lo Savio, written by Ugo Falena, starring Vittorio Lepanto as Lucrezia and Achille Vitti as Cesare.[47]
A Magnetic Influence (British/ Urbanora Films) produced by Charles Urban; yet another adaptation of the novel Trilby[49][50]
Making An American Citizen
Man's Genesis (Biograph) written and directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Robert Harron, Mae Marsh and Wilfred Lucas; this film was expanded in 1913 and re-released as The Primitive Man.[51]
The Mask of Horror (French/ Film Francais) written and directed by Abel Gance, starring Edouard de Max, Charles de Rochefort and Mathilde Thizeau (Gance's wife)[52]
The Mystery of Souls (Italian/ Itala Films) directed by Vincenzo Denizot, starring Alessandro Bernard and Lydia Quaranta; seems to have been inspired by the novel "Trilby".[55]
Mystery of the Glass Coffin (Eclair/ Tyler Films)[56]
The Mystical Maid of Jamasha Pass, directed by Allan Dwan (his first film), starring J. Warren Kerrigan and Jack Richardson.[57]
The Plague-Stricken City (French/ Gaumont) the filmmakers tried to emulate the 1912 Italian silent film Masque of the Red Death herein, which in turn was based on the famous story by Edgar Allan Poe[64]
Polidor at the Death Club (Italian/ Pasquali Films) one of dozens of silent films featuring the "Polidor" character all starring Ferdinando Guillaume; this film was a spoof on the Robert Louis Stevenson novel The Suicide Club[65][66]
The Raven (Eclair/ American Standard) a French-American co-production purporting to be the "true story" of Edgar Allan Poe's life, starring Guy Oliver and Muriel Ostriche; inspired by the poem by Edgar Allan Poe and incorporating images from eight of Poe's short stories (filmed in Fort Lee, Texas)[68]
The Reincarnation of Karma (Vitagraph Films) directed by Van Dyke Brooke, starring Courtenay Foote and Rosemary Theby[69]
St. George and the Dragon (Italian/ Milano Films) this film was hand-colored.[70]
Satan, aka Satana, aka Satan, the Destroyer of Humanity (Italian/ Ambrosio Films) directed by Luigi Maggi, written by Guido Volante, starring Rina Alby, Antonio Grisanti and Mario Bonnard (as Satan); photography by Giovanni Vitrotti; inspired by John Milton's Paradise Lost[71]
Saved From the Titanic
The Sea's Shadow/ Der Schatten des Meeres, aka In the Shadow of the Sea (German) directed by Curt A. Stark (also star), also starring Lizzy Krueger, Henry Porten and Fran Retzlag; produced by Otto Messter.[72]
The Secrets of House Number Five (Russian-French co-production/ Pathe Films) said to be one of the first films to feature vampires[73][74]
The Serpents (Vitagraph) starring Ralph Ince and Edith Storey [75]
Sherlock Holmes Film Series (Eclair, British-French); a series of 8
Georges Treville (who also played Holmes); includes "The Speckled Band", "Silver Blaze", "The Beryl Coronet", "The Musgrave Ritual", "The Reigate Squires", "The Stolen Papers", "The Boscombe Valley Muystery" and "The Copper Beeches"[76]
The Silent Castle (French/ Gaumont) based on the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty[77]
Simple Simon and the Devil, aka Onesime and the Devil (French/ Gaumont) directed by Jean Durand, starring Ernest Bourbon and Gaston Modot; one of a series of 60 "Onesime" films made in France (the character's name was changed to "Simple Simon" in the U.S.) [78][79]
Supernatural Power (French/ Pathe) features a seance with spirits[89]
The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether, aka The Lunatics (French/ Eclair) directed by Maurice Tourneur, written by Andre de Lord, starring Henri Gouget and Henri Roussell; based on the Edgar Allan Poe short story[90]
Les terreurs de Rigadin (French/Pathe) directed by George Monca, starring Charles Prince as "Rigadin"; this film was one in a series of over 100 "Rigadin" comedies made in France.[91]
The Thief and the Porter's Head (Italian/ Milano Films)[92]
Trilby (Austrian-Hungarian co-production) directed by Luise and Anton Kolm (with Jakob Fleck), starring Elsa Galafrés Hubermann and Paul Askonas, based on the 1894 novel by George du Maurier[93]
Trilby (British/ Standard Films) based on the 1894 novel by George du Maurier [94]
Undine (Thanhouser) directed by Lucius Henderson, starring Florence La Badie and Marguerite Snow; written by Lloyd Lonergan, based on the fairy tale “Undine” by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué; released 9/24/12; prints exist in museums.[95][96]
The Vengeance of Edgar Poe (French/ Lux Film) directed by Gerard Bourgeois, written by Abel Gance and Bourgeois, starring Edouard de Max and Jean Worms; biopic that deals with Poe's real-life drug addiction.[97][98]
The Woman in White (Universal Pictures) starring Janet Salzberg, Charles Perley and Alexander F. Frank; based on the famous 1859 Wilkie Collins novel of the same name.[103][104]
Yotsuya Kaidan (translation: The Ghost of Yotsuya) (Japanese/ Nikkatsu Films) directed by Shozo Makino, starring Matsunosuke Onoe; based on the famous 1825 kabuki play of the same name.[106]
