This article is about the film industry during the year 1917. For the 2019 film titled '1917', see
1917 (2019 film) .
Overview of the events of 1917 in film
1917 in film was a particularly fruitful year for the art form, and is often cited as one of the years in the decade which contributed to the medium the most, along with1913 . Secondarily the year saw a limited global embrace of narrative film-making and featured innovative techniques such as continuity cutting. Primarily, the year is an American landmark, as 1917 is the first year where the narrative and visual style is typified as"Classical Hollywood" .
January –Panthea Joseph Schenck formed with his wife,Norma Talmadge , after leavingLoew's Consolidated Enterprises . February –Buster Keaton first meetsRoscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle in New York and is hired as a co-star and gag man. April 9 –Supreme Court of the United States rule inMotion Picture Patents Co. v. Universal Film Manufacturing Co. which ends theMotion Picture Patents Company appeal and results in the end of the company. April 23 – Release in the United States of the shortThe Butcher Boy Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle 's series of films with the Comique Film Corporation, andBuster Keaton 's film debut. April 25 –Thomas Lincoln Tally , in a meeting in New York, co-founds theFirst National Exhibitors Circuit.[ 1] [ 2] June –Thomas H. Ince andMack Sennett leaveTriangle Film Corporation followingStephen Andrew Lynch taking control. September 13 – Release in the United States ofThe Gulf Between Technicolor System 1, a two-color process. November 9 – World's firstfeature-length animated film is made inArgentina byQuirino Cristiani (El Apóstol December 18 – Foundation ofUniversum Film AG (UƒA), as a propaganda film company, in Berlin. Movette, another revision of the 17.5 mm film format, is made available. [ edit ] The top five 1917 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:
Films produced in theUnited States unless stated otherwise
Theda Bara as CleopatraAdvertisement, August 1917 Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman George Irving , starringJohn Barrymore Reaching for the Moon John Emerson , starringDouglas Fairbanks Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm Marshall Neilan , starringMary Pickford A Reckless Romeo Fatty Arbuckle A Romance of the Redwoods Cecil B. DeMille , starringMary Pickford The Rough House Fatty Arbuckle andBuster Keaton Runaway Romany George Lederer , starringMarion Davies Satan Triumphant (Satana likuyushchiy)Yakov Protazanov – (USSR )The Scarlet Car Joseph De Grasse , starringLon Chaney Seven Keys to Baldpate Hugh Ford , starringGeorge M. Cohan andAnna Q. Nilsson ; based on the1913 novel byEarl Derr Biggers [ 7] The Silent Man William S. Hart Straight Shooting John Ford , starringHarry Carey The Sultan's Wife Clarence Badger , starringGloria Swanson Selected films with 1914 release dates [ edit ] United States unless stated
January 8 –Great Expectations Jack Pickford January 22 –Easy Street Charlie Chaplin ,Edna Purviance January 22 –Her Right to Live Paul Scardon , starringPeggy Hyland ,Antonio Moreno ,Mae Costello ,John S. Robertson January 29 –A Man There Was Victor Sjöström – (Sweden ) February 2 –The Marriage of Luise Rohrbach Rudolf Biebrach , starringHenny Porten ,Emil Jannings – (Germany ) February 18 –The Bad Boy Robert Harron ,Mildred Harris ,Colleen Moore March 3 –The Tornado John Ford (his debut) March 5 –The Poor Little Rich Girl Mary Pickford March 7 –The Torture of Silence Abel Gance – (France ) April 15 –Teddy at the Throttle Gloria Swanson April 16 –The Cure Charlie Chaplin short. April 23 –The Butcher Boy "Fatty" Arbuckle withBuster Keaton May 7 –Kidnapped Alan Crosland , starringRaymond McKee , Joseph Burke, and Ray Hallor May 14 –A Romance of the Redwoods Cecil B. DeMille , starringMary Pickford May 19 –One Law for Both Ivan Abramson May 20 –Souls Triumphant Lillian Gish May 21 –A Reckless Romeo 'Fatty' Arbuckle short. May –Frank Hansen's Fortune Viggo Larsen – (Germany ) June 17 –The Immigrant Charlie Chaplin andEdna Purviance June 24 –Wild and Woolly Douglas Fairbanks June 25 –A Kentucky Cinderella Ruth Clifford June 25 –The Rough House 'Fatty' Arbuckle /Buster Keaton short. June –The Labour Leader Thomas Bentley , starringOwen Nares ,Fay Compton – (GB ) July 5 –Big Timber July –The Picture of Dorian Gray Germany ) August 12 –Golden Rule Kate Louise Glaum August 20 –His Wedding Night 'Fatty' Arbuckle /Buster Keaton short. August 27 –The Little American Mary Pickford ; directed byCecil B. DeMille . August 27 –Straight Shooting John Ford August 28 –Brcko in Zagreb Croatia ) August –The Gay Lord Quex Maurice Elvey and starringBen Webster andIrene Vanbrugh – (GB ) September 13 –The Gulf Between color movie. September 22 –Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm Mary Pickford September 30 –Camille Theda Bara September 30 –Oh Doctor! 'Fatty' Arbuckle /Buster Keaton short. September 30 –The Sultan's Wife Gloria Swanson September –Fear Robert Wiene and starringConrad Veidt – (Germany ) October 14 –Cleopatra Theda Bara October 21 –Satan Triumphant U.S.S.R. ) October 22 –The Adventurer Charlie Chaplin short. October 29 –Coney Island 'Fatty' Arbuckle /Buster Keaton short. November 9 –El Apóstol Quirino Cristiani – (Argentina ) November 11 –A Little Princess Marshall Neilan , starringMary Pickford ,Norman Kerry ,ZaSu Pitts November 12 –Harrison and Barrison Alexander Korda , starringMárton Rátkai – (Hungary ) November 25 –All Aboard Harold Lloyd short November 26 –The Silent Man William S. Hart December 10 –Tom Sawyer Jack Pickford December 24 –Bucking Broadway John Ford , starringHarry Carey December –Raffles the Amateur Cracksman John Barrymore January 2 –Vera Zorina , German-Norwegian ballerina, theatre film actress, and choreographer (died 2003) January 3 –Jesse White , American actor (died 1997) January 5 –Jane Wyman , American actress (died 2007) January 10 –Hilde Krahl , Austrian actress (died 1999) January 21 –Lally Bowers , English actress and singer (died 1984) January 24 –Ernest Borgnine , American actor (died 2012) February 6 –Zsa Zsa Gabor , Hungarian-American socialite and actress (died 2016) February 15 –Sam Kydd , British actor (died 1982) February 16 –George N. Neise , American actor (died 1996) February 21 –Lucille Bremer , American actress and dancer (died 1996) February 25 –Brenda Joyce , American actress (died 2009) March 2 –Desi Arnaz , Cuban-American actor, musician, producer, and bandleader (died 1986) March 12 –Googie Withers , English actress and dancer (died 2011) March 22 March 23 –Kenneth Tobey , American actor (died 2002) March 30 –Herbert Anderson , American character actor (died 1994) April 2 -Dabbs Greer , American character actor (died 2007) April 9 –Brad Dexter , American actor and film producer (died 2002) April 14 –Valerie Hobson , British actress (died 1998) April 15 –Hans Conried , American actor and comedian (died 1982) April 16 –William Benedict , American actor (died 1999) April 17 –R. G. Armstrong , American character actor and playwright (died 2012) April 28 –Robert Cornthwaite , American actor (died 2006) April 29 May 1 –Danielle Darrieux , French actress, singer and dancer (died 2017) May 3 –Leopoldo Trieste , Italian actor, film director and script writer (died 2003) May 5 -June Lang , American actress (died 2005) May 7 -David Tomlinson , English actor and comedian (died 2000) May 10 –Margo , Mexican actress and dancer (died 1985) May 16 –George Gaynes , Dutch-American singer, actor, and voice artist (died 2016) May 18 –James Donald , Scottish actor (died 1993) May 21 –Raymond Burr , Canadian actor (died 1993) May 22 - May 25 –Steve Cochran , American actor (died 1965) June 2 -Max Showalter , American actor and musician (died 2000) June 3 –Leo Gorcey , actor, comedian (died 1969) June 7 –Dean Martin , American singer, actor, and comedian (died 1995) June 8 –George D. Wallace , American actor (died 2005) June 18 June 22 –Russell Wade , American actor (died 2006) June 30Lena Horne , American singer, actress, dancer and civil rights activist (died 2010)Susan Hayward , American actress (died 1975) July 1 –Virginia Dale , American actress (died 1994) July 8 –Faye Emerson , American actress (died 1983) July 17 –Phyllis Diller , American stand-up comedian, actress, author, musician and visual artist (died 2012) July 26 –Lorna Gray , American actress (died 2017) July 27 –Bourvil , French actor and singer (died 1970) August 6 –Robert Mitchum , American actor (died 1997) August 8 –Earl Cameron , Bermudian actor (died 2020) August 12 –Marjorie Reynolds , American actress (died 1997) August 13 –Gloria Dickson , American actress (died 1945) August 17 –Gianni Agus , Italian actor (died 1994) August 25 –Mel Ferrer , American actor, director, and producer (died 2008) September 9 –Rolf Wenkhaus , German child actor (died 1942) September 11 –Herbert Lom , Czech-British actor (died 2012) September 18 -June Foray , American voice actress (died 2017) October 2 –Charles Drake , American actor (died 1994) October 7 October 11 -J. Edward McKinley , American character actor (died 2004) October 16 –Alice Pearce , American actress (died 1966) October 17 –Marsha Hunt , American actress (died 2022) October 22 –Joan Fontaine , British-American actress (died 2013) October 24 –John Alvin , American actor (died 2009) October 26 –Virgílio Teixeira , Portuguese actor (died 2010) November 2 –Ann Rutherford , Canadian-American actress (died 2012) November 4 – November 13 –Robert Sterling , American actor (died 2006) November 30 -Ilse Steppat , German actress (died 1969) December 7 –Hurd Hatfield , American actor (died 1998) December 12 –Margaret Marquis , Canadian-American actress (died 1993) December 13 -John Hart , American actor (died 2009) December 18 -Ossie Davis , American actor, director, writer, and activist (died 2005) December 22 –Frankie Darro , American actor (died 1976) December 28 -Kim Chan , Chinese-American actor and producer (died 2008) February 21 –Fred Mace , 38, American actor & comedian,What Happened to Jones His Last Scent ,A Lover's Might ,The Love Comet March 6 –Valdemar Psilander , 32, Danish actor,Rytterstatuen ,Lykken ,Lydia Klovnen ,Favoriten In Defense of a Nation ,John Redmond, the Evangelist July 2 –Herbert Beerbohm Tree , 64, English stage & screen actor,Beerbohm Tree, The Great English Actor ;Henry VIII Macbeth Trilby The Old Folks at Home October 13 –Florence La Badie , 29, American actress,The Man Without a Country War and the Woman ,The Woman in White When Love Was Blind October 25 –Jack Standing , 31, English actor,With Hoops of Steel ,The Curse of Eve ,The Innocent Sinner ,The Price of Her Soul ,One Touch of Sin November 5 –Howell Hansel , 46, American actor and director November 18 –Nino Oxilia , 28, Italian director,Rapsodia satanica Blue Blood December 20 –Eric Campbell , 38, Scottish actor,The Immigrant Behind the Screen The Count ,Easy Street The Adventurer (short) ,The Cure (short) ^ Films of the Golden Age. Archived 2004-12-16 at theWayback Machine ^ First National filmography. ^ Daugherty, Gregory N. (2022).The Reception of Cleopatra in the Age of Mass Media .ISBN 978-1-3503-4073-2 No data survives, but Bara herself claimed that the epic grossed a million dollars, quite an achievement since it reportedly cost $500,000 to make. ^a b c d Birchard, Robert S. (2004).Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood . University Press of Kentucky.ISBN 9780813123240 ^ Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 186. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2. ^ Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 189. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2. ^ Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 193. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2. ^ Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 196. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
