1907 in film explained

The year 1907 in film involved some significant events.__TOC__

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 theatre (in a few years he had the largest theatre 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

B

• Ben Hur, directed by Sidney Olcott, based on the 1880 novel by Lew Wallace – (US)
• The Bewildering Cabinet (Le Placard infernal) (lost), directed by Georges Méliès – (France)

C

• The Clock-Maker's Secret (Le Secret de l'horloger), directed by Gaston Velle – (France)
• Le Cochon Danseur (The Dancing Pig), directed by Millard Mercury – (France)
• A Curious Dream, directed by J. Stuart Blackton – (US)

D

• The Doll's Revenge, directed by Cecil Hepworth – (GB)

E

• The Eclipse, or the Courtship of the Sun and Moon (L'éclipse du soleil en pleine lune), directed by Georges Méliès – (France)
• L'Enfant prodigue (The Prodigal Son), directed by Michel Carré, starring Georges Wague – (France)

F

• First Prize for the Cello (Premier Prix de violoncelle) – (France)

G

• The Golden Beetle (Le Scarabée d'or), directed by Segundo de Chomón – (France)
• Good Glue Sticks (La Colle universelle), directed by Georges Méliès – (France)

H

• The Haunted Hotel, directed by J. Stuart Blackton – (US)

L

• Laughing Gas, directed by Edwin S. Porter – (US)
• Løvejagten (The Lion Hunt), directed by Viggo Larsen – (Denmark)

M

• La Marseillaise, directed by Georges Mendel – (France)

P

• The Policemen's Little Run (La Course des sergents de ville), directed by Ferdinand Zecca – (France)

R

• The Race for the Sausage (Course à la saucisse), directed by Alice Guy – (France)
• The Red Spectre (Le spectre rouge), directed by Segundo de Chomón and Ferdinand Zecca – (France)
• Robert Macaire and Bertrand (Robert Macaire et Bertrand, les rois de cambrioleurs), directed by Georges Méliès – (France)

S

• Salaviinanpolttajat (The Moonshiners) (lost), directed by Louis Sparre and Teuvo Puro – (Finland)
• Satan s'amuse (Satan at Play), directed by Segundo de Chomón – (France)

T

• That Fatal Sneeze, directed by Lewin Fitzhamon – (GB)
• Tunneling the English Channel (Le Tunnel sous la Manche ou le Cauchemar franco-anglais), directed by Georges Méliès – (France)

U

• Under the Seas (Deux Cents Milles sous les mers ou le Cauchemar du pêcheur) (incomplete), directed by Georges Méliès, based on the 1870 novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas by Jules Verne – (France)

V

• Vancouver, directed by William Harbeck – (Canada)

W

• When the Devil Drives, directed by Walter R. Booth – (GB)

Births

Month	Date	Name	Country	Profession	Died
January	3		UK	Actor, Director
6		US	Actress
16		Canada	Actor
20		Austria	Actress, Producer
22		Netherlands	Actress
February	12		US	Actor
15		US	Actor
22		US	Actor, Director, Producer, Writer
22		US	Actor
March	4		US	Actor		1964
19		US	Actor
27		US	Actress
31		US	Actor, Singer
April	11		US	Actor
19		US	Actress
29		Austria	Director
May	12		US	Actress
22		UK	Actor, Director
26		US	Actor
June	4		US	Actress, Comedienne, Screenwriter, Singer
16		US	Actor, Comedian, Dancer, Singer
27		US	Actor
29		US	Actress
July	14		France	Actress
14		US	Actress
15		US	Actor
16		US	Actress, Model, Dancer
19		US	Actress
22		US	Actor
27		US	Actor
August	3		US	Actress
3		US	Actress
12		US	Actor, Comedian, Musician
September	10		Romania	Actress
15		Canada	Actress
29		US	Singer, Songwriter, Actor
October	17		US	Actor
November	10		Estonia	Actress
16		US	Actor, Filmmaker
December	16		Canada	Actress
22		UK	Actress
25		Austria-Hungary	Actor, Wrestler
25		US	Actor

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)

External links

• • List of 1907 films at IMDb
• List of 1907 deaths at IMDb
• List of 1907 births at IMDb

Notes and References

1. Web site: Vancouver History Archives: Harbeck film . 2008-04-06 . 2020-11-12 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201112024554/http://www.vancouverhistory.ca/archives_harbeck_film.htm . dead .
2. http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/amia-l/2005/11/msg00202.html Request by Vancouver Public Library for further information
3. Book: Grossman, James R. . James R. Grossman

   . James R. Grossman . The Encyclopedia of Chicago . . 2004 . 293–294 . 0-226-31015-9.

4. Arnie Bernstein, Hollywood on Lake Michigan: 100 Years of Chicago & the Movies, Lake Claremont Press, 1998, p. 37. .