1907 in film

The year 1907 in film involved some significant events.

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Events

• January 19 – Variety publishes its first film review.
• The Kalem Company founded in New York City by Frank J. Marion, Samuel Long, and George Kleine.
• 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, British Columbia. Pieces of the film, the earliest surviving footage of the city,[1] have disappeared, only about 7 minutes remain.[2]
• May 29 – Salaviinanpolttajat, 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 and Gilbert M. Anderson. On August 10, the studio name was changed to Essanay Studios ("S and A").[3][4]
• November 28 - In Haverhill, Massachusetts, scrap-metal dealer Louis B. Mayer opens his first movie theater (in a few years he had the largest theater chain in New England and in 1917 he founded his own production company, which eventually became part of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer).
• December 7 – First Ben-Hur film, directed by Sidney Olcott and produced by the Kalem Company, released.
• Carl Laemmle, later of Universal, experiments with combining audio from phonographs with film. Laemmle's experiments lead to the German 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 Sidney Olcott
• The Bewildering Cabinet, directed by George Melies
• The Clock-Maker's Secret (French)
• A Curious Dream, directed by J. Stuart Blackton
• The Dancing Pig
• The Doll's Revenge, directed by Lewin Fitzhamon (British)
• The Eclipse, directed by Georges Melies
• The Enchanted Sedan Chair, directed by Georges Melies
• L'Enfant prodigue (The Prodigal Son), directed by Michel Carré. First feature film from Europe.
• The Fatal Hand, dirercted by J. H. Martin (British)
• Faust (French) credits unknown[5]
• First Prize for the Cello
• Flower of Youth (French/ Pathe)[6]
• The Ghost Holiday, directed by Lewin Fitzhamon (British)
• The Ghost Story, directed by J. Stuart Blackton
• The Good Glue Stick, directed by Georges Melies
• The Golden Beetle, directed by Segundo de Chomón (French)
• The Haunted Bedroom, directed by Walter R. Booth (British)
• The Haunted Hotel, or The Strange Adventures of a Traveler, directed by J. Stuart Blackton
• The Haunted House (aka La Maison Hantee) directed by Segundo de Chomon, French [7]
• A Knight Errant, directed by J. H. Martin (British)
• Laughing Gas, directed by Edwin S. Porter
• Legend of a Ghost (French/ Pathe)[8]
• Little Red Riding Hood (French/ Pathe)[9]
• The Lion Hunt
• The Madman's Bride, produced by Cecil M. Hepworth (British)
• La Marseillaise, directed by Georges Mendel [An 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)[10]
• The Pearl Fisher (Pathe)[11]
• The Pied Piper, directed by Percy Stow (British)[12]
• The Policemen's Little Run, directed by Ferdinand Zecca (French)
• The Professor and his Waxworks[13]
• The Race For The Sausage, directed by Alice Guy (French)
• The Red Spectre, directed by Segundo de Chomón and Ferdinand Zecca (French)
• Robert Macaire and Bertrand, directed by Georges Melies
• The Runaway Horse, directed by Louis J. Gasnier
• Salaviinanpolttajat
• El Sartorio (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, produced by Cecil Hepworth (British)
• The Thousand Pound Spook, directed by Walter R. Booth (British)[14]
• Tunneling the Channel, directed by Georges Melies
• Vancouver, directed by William Harbeck
• When the Devil Drives, directed by Walter R. Booth (British)
• The Witch Kiss (French/ Pathe)[15]

Births

• January 3 – Ray Milland, actor (d. 1986)
• January 6 – Helen Kleeb, actress (d. 2003)
• January 16 – Alexander Knox, actor (d. 1995)
• January 20 – Paula Wessely, actress, producer (d. 2000)
• January 22 – Mary Dresselhuys, actress, (d. 2004)
• February 12 – Joseph Kearns, actor (d. 1962)
• February 15 – Cesar Romero, actor (d. 1994)
• February 17 – Buster Crabbe, actor (d. 1983)
• February 22 – Robert Young, actor (d. 1998)
• March 11 – Jessie Matthews, actress, singer (d. 1981)
• March 19 – Kent Smith, actor (d. 1985)
• March 31 – Eddie Quillan, actor (d. 1990)
• April 11 – Paul Douglas, actor (d. 1959)
• April 19 – Lina Basquette, actress (d. 1994)
• April 29 – Fred Zinnemann, director (d. 1997)
• May 12 – Katharine Hepburn, American actress (d. 2003)
• May 22 – Lord Laurence Olivier, English actor (d. 1989)
• May 26 – John Wayne, actor (d. 1979)
• June 4 – Rosalind Russell, American actress (d. 1976)
• June 16 – Jack Albertson, actor (d. 1981)
• June 24 – Martha Sleeper, actress (d. 1987)
• July 14 – Olive Borden, actress (d. 1947)
• July 16 – Barbara Stanwyck, American actress (d. 1990)
• July 19 – Isabel Jewell, actress (d. 1972)
• July 27 – Ross Alexander, actor (d. 1937)
• August 3 – Adrienne Ames, actress (d. 1947)
• August 12 – Joe Besser, actor, comedian (d. 1988)
• September 15 – Fay Wray, actress (d. 2004)
• September 29 – Gene Autry, actor (d. 1998)
• November 10 – Salme Reek, Estonian actress (d. 1996)
• December 16 – Barbara Kent, actress (d. 2011)
• December 22 – Peggy Ashcroft, actress (d. 1991)
• December 25 – Mike Mazurki, Austrian-American actor (d. 1990)

Deaths

• August 30 – Richard Mansfield, stage actor who influenced many later film actors (born 1857)

Debuts

• Linda Arvidson – Mr. Gay and Mrs. (short)
• Robert Harron – Dr. Skinium (short)
• William S. Hart – Ben Hur (short)
• Florence Turner – How to Cure a Cold (short)

References

1. Vancouver History Archives: Harbeck film
2. Request by Vancouver Public Library for further information
3. Grossman, James R. (2004). The Encyclopedia of Chicago. University of Chicago Press. pp. 293–294. ISBN 0-226-31015-9.
4. Arnie Bernstein, Hollywood on Lake Michigan: 100 Years of Chicago & the Movies, Lake Claremont Press, 1998, p. 37. ISBN 978-0-9642426-2-3.
5. Kinnard,Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 22.
6. Kinnard,Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 22.
7. Kinnard,Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 22.
8. Kinnard,Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 22.
9. Kinnard,Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 22.
10. Kinnard,Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 22.
11. Kinnard,Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 22.
12. Kinnard,Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 23.
13. Kinnard,Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 23.
14. Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
15. Kinnard,Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 23.