1919 in film

The year 1919 in film involved some significant events.

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Events

*February 5 - Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith launch United Artists
*Oscar Micheaux releases "The Homesteader", starring pioneering African-American actress Evelyn Preer, becoming the first African-American to produce and direct a motion picture.
* Harold Lloyd begins holding test screenings of his films and modifying them based on audience feedback, a technique which is still used today.
* Tri-Ergon sound-on-film technology is developed by three German inventors, Josef Engl, Hans Vogt, and Joseph Massole; however, the era of sound films is over 6 years away.
* Ken Hill and Kenny Hill launch Coplin Artists

Top grossing films

#"The Miracle Man (1919 film)"
#"Daddy-Long-Legs"
#"Madame DuBarry"
#"Roaring Road"
#"When the Clouds Roll By"
#"Hawthorne of the USA"
#"Broken Blossoms"

Films released in 1919

*"Anne of Green Gables", directed by William Desmond Taylor; starring Mary Miles Minter and Paul Kelly
*"Back Stage", a 'Fatty' Arbuckle / Buster Keaton short.
*"Barrabas"
*"Blind Husbands", directed by Erich von Stroheim.
*"Bolshevism on Trial", directed by Harley Knoles and backed by Lewis J. Selznick.
*"Broken Blossoms" starring Lillian Gish and Richard Barthelmess; directed by D.W. Griffith.
*"Cinema Week" ("Kino-nedelya")
*"Daddy-Long-Legs", starring Mary Pickford.
*"A Day's Pleasure", a Charlie Chaplin short.
*"The Delicious Little Devil", starring Mae Murray and Rudolph Valentino.
*"Different from the Others", starring Conrad Veidt; directed by Richard Oswald.
*"The Doll"
*"The Garage", a 'Fatty' Arbuckle / Buster Keaton short.
*"The Grim Game", starring Harry Houdini
*"Heart o' the Hills", starring Mary Pickford
*"The Homesteader", starring Evelyn Preer; directed by Oscar Micheaux.
*"J'accuse!"
*"Leaves from Satan's Book"
*"Lightning Bryce", a series of 15 "chapters", starring Jack Hoxie and Ann Little.
*"The Lost Battalion"
*"Love's Prisoner", starring Olive Thomas.
*"Madame DuBarry", starring Pola Negri and Emil Jannings.
*"Male and Female", starring Gloria Swanson; directed by Cecil B. DeMille.
*"The Miracle Man (1919 film)", starring Thomas Meighan
*"The Oyster Princess" ("Die Austerprinzessin")
*"The Sentimental Bloke", a feature-length Australian film.
*"Shackleton's Expedition to the Antarctic" (documentary)
*"Sons of Ingmar" ("Ingmarssönerna")
*"Sunnyside", a Charlie Chaplin short.
*"Test of Honor" starring John Barrymore in his first dramatic movie role.
*"True Heart Susie", starring Lillian Gish and Bobby Harron.
*"Unheimliche Geschichten" the original silent film version
*"When the Clouds Roll By", starring Douglas Fairbanks
*" [http://www.und.edu/instruct/cjacobs/WitnessfortheDefense.htm Witness For The Defense] starring Elsie Ferguson and Warner Oland.

hort film series

*"Harold Lloyd" (1913-1921)
*"Charlie Chaplin" (1914-1923)
*"Buster Keaton" (1917-1941)

Animated short film series

*"Koko the Clown" (1919-1934) (first animated movie cartoon series)
*"Felix the Cat" (1919-1930)

Births

*January 1 - Carole Landis, actress (d. 1948)
*January 13 - Robert Stack, actor (d. 2003)
*January 21 - Jinx Falkenburg, model, actress (d. 2003)
*January 23 - Ernie Kovacs, comedian, actor (d. 1962)
*February 5 - Red Buttons, actor (d. 2006)
* February 5 - Tim Holt, actor (d. 1973)
*February 11 - Eva Gabor, actress (d. 1995)
*February 18 - Jack Palance, actor (d. 2006)
*March 2 - Jennifer Jones, actress
*March 29 - Eileen Heckart, actress (d. 2001)
*April 13 - Howard Keel, actor (d. 2004)
*May 8 - Lex Barker, actor (d. 1973)
*May 23 - Betty Garrett, actress
*June 12 - Uta Hagen, actress (d. 2004)
*June 14 - Sam Wanamaker, director, actor (d. 1993)
*June 19 - Pauline Kael, film critic (d. 2001)
*June 19 - Louis Jourdan, actor
*June 29 - Slim Pickens, actor (d. 1983)
*July 7 - Jon Pertwee, actor (d. 1996)
*July 26 - Virginia Gilmore, actress (d. 1986)
*August 2 - Nehemiah Persoff, actor
*August 8 - Dino De Laurentiis, producer
*September 18 - Diana Lewis, actress (d. 1997)
*September 26 - Barbara Britton, actress (d. 1980)
*October 5 - Donald Pleasence, actor (d. 1995)
*November 13 - Mary Beth Hughes, actress (d. 1995)
*November 13 - Amelia Bence, actress
*November 14 - Veronica Lake, actress (d. 1973)
*November 15 - Nova Pilbeam, actress

Film Debuts

* Shemp Howard
* Boris Karloff
* Fritz Lang

Deaths

*January 14 - Shelly Hull, stage & film actor, husband of Josephine Hull, brother of Henry Hull.
*January 31 - Nat C. Goodwin, veteran stage star & silent film actor.
*February 17 - Vera Kholodnaya, Russian silent film actress
*April 9 - Sidney Drew, stage & film actor
*May 21 - Lamar Johnstone, American silent film actor
*November 24 - William Stowell, American silent film star