1908 in film

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The year 1908 in film involved some significant events.

Events

• July 3 - Malhabour Theater, the first film house in Iloilo City was opened to the public.
• July 14 – D. W. Griffith becomes a director at the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company in New York City. Between 1908 and 1913, Griffith will direct nearly 500 films starting with the release of The Adventures of Dollie.
• October 28 – The Russian Film Industry begins with the release of Russia's first fictional narrative film Stenka Razin.
• November 18 – Release in France of The Assassination of the Duke of Guise (La Mort du duc de Guise), the first film with a screenplay by an eminent man of letters, the playwright Henri Lavedan; it is also directed by two men of the theatre, Charles Le Bargy and André Calmettes, features actors of the Comédie-Française, and is accompanied by a score from Saint-Saëns.
• December - Thomas Edison forms the Motion Picture Patents Company, with goals of controlling production and distribution, raising theater admission prices, cooperating with censorship bodies, and preventing film stock from getting into the hands of nonmember producers.
• Pathé invents the newsreel that was shown in cinemas prior to a feature film.

Films released in 1908

• The Adventures of Dollie, directed by D. W. Griffith
• After Many Years
• Antony and Cleopatra, directed by J. Stuart Blackton and Charles Kent
• L'Arlésienne, directed by Albert Capellani
• The Assassination of the Duke of Guise
• Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bette) (French/ Pathe)
• Beauty of the Sleeping Woods, directed by Segundo de Chomon (French/ Pathe), based on the story of Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault
• Betrayed by a Handprint, directed by D. W. Griffith
• The Bloodstone, produced by Siegmund Lubin
• The Call of the Wild
• The Castle Ghosts (Italian film)
• The Cat's Revenge (French)
• Cave of the Spooks, directed by Segundo de Chomon (French)
• A Christmas Carol (Essanay Film Co.)
• Cupid's Prank, directed by Edwin S. Porter
• The Devil, directed by D. W. Griffith for Thomas Edison Co., starring Harry Solter, Claire McDowell and Mack Sennett
• The Gambler and the Devil (Vitagraph)
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, produced by William N. Selig, reissued as A Modern Dr. Jekyll; first film adaptation of the 1886 Robert Louis Stevenson novel
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, directed by Sidney Olcott for Kalem Films, starring Frank Oakes Rose, this was the 2nd ever film adaptation of the eponymous 1886 Robert Louis Stevenson novel
• The Doctor's Experiment (French)
• The Dog And His Various Merits, produced by Pathé
• Don Juan Tenorio, directed by Ricardo de Banos and Alberto Marro (made in Spain)
• Dream of an Opium Fiend, directed by George Melies
• Dreams of Toyland, directed by Arthur Melbourne-Cooper
• A L'Ecu d'Or ou la bonne auberge, a French film regarded as one of the first pornographic films
• Excursion To The Moon, directed by Segundo de Chomón
• The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays
• The Fairy's Sword, directed by Lewin Fitzhamon (British)
• A Faithless Friend, directed by Lewin Fitzhamon (British)
• Fantasmagorie, directed by Émile Cohl (first fully animated film)
• Fantoche's Nightmare (aka The Puppet's Nightmare), directed by Emile Cohl (French/ Gaumont)
• The Flower of Youth (French/ Pathe)
• Fun with the Bridal Party, directed by George Melies
• The Hanging Lamp (French/ Pathe) starring Max Linder
• The Haunted Castle (French/ Pathe)
• The Haunted House, directed by Segundo de Chomón (French), aka The House of Ghosts
• Incident from Don Quixote, directed by George Melies (French)
• In the Bogie Man's Cave, directed by George Melies (French)
• Legend of a Ghost (La légende du fantôme), directed by Segundo de Chomón – (France)
• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, produced by Kalem Co., first ever film adaptation of the 1820 short story by Washington Irving
• Long Distance Wireless Photography, directed by Georges Melies
• Lord Feathertop, directed by Edwin S. Porter, adapted from the story by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Macbeth, directed by J. Stuart Blackton
• Magic Bricks, directed by Segundo de Chomón
• The Magic Mirror, directed by Ferdinand Zecca (French/ Pathe)
• The Man and His Bottle, directed by Lewin Fitzhamon (British)
• The Monkey Man
• Moscow Clad In Snow, produced by Pathé
• The New Lord of the Village, directed by George Melies
• The Nursemaid's Dream, directed by Lewin Fitzhamon, starring Gertie Potter (British)
• Oriental Black Art, directed by George Melies (French)
• Over The Hill To The Poorhouse
• Pharmaceutical Hallucinations, directed by George Melies
• The Physician Of The Castle
• A Poor Knight and the Duke's Daughter (French)
• Prehistoric Man, produced by Urban-Eclipse Prods.
• The Princess in the Vase, directed by Wallace McCutcheon, starring D.W. Griffith
• The Professor's Secret (French/ Gaumont)
• The Red Barn Crime, or Maria Marten, directed by William Haggar, starring Walter and Violet Haggar (British)
• The Reprieve: An Episode in the Life of Abraham Lincoln
• Rescued from an Eagle's Nest, directed by J. Searle Dawley, starring D. W. Griffith
• La Revolution en Russie, directed by Ferdinand Zecca
• Romeo and Juliet, directed by J. Stuart Blackton
• The Runaway Horse (Le Cheval emballé), directed by Louis J. Gasnier – (France)
• The Saloon Keeper's Nightmare (French/ Gaumont)
• Satan Finds Mischief (French/ Pathe)
• She, directed by Edwin S. Porter for Thomas Edison Co., based on the H. Rider Haggard novel; starring Florence Auer and William V. Ranous
• Sherlock Holmes in the Great Murder Mystery, produced by Crescent Films (made in Denmark); incorporates scenes from Murders in the Rue Morgue by Poe
• The Snowman, directed by Wallace McCutcheon, starring Edward Dillon and Florence Auer
• The Spectre (aka The Specter)(French/ Pathe)
• The Spirit (French/ Gaumont)
• Spiritualistic Seance (French/ Pathe)
• Spooks Do The Moving (French/ Pathe)
• Stenka Razin (Russian) historical drama
• The Taming of the Shrew, directed by D. W. Griffith
• The Tempest, directed by Percy Stow
• The Thieving Hand, directed by J. Stuart Blackton for Vitagraph, starring Paul Panzer
• Tilly Bébé, die berühmte Löwenbändigerin (Tilly Bébé, the Famous Lion Tamer)
• Too Much Champagne (U.S./ Vitagraph); features scenes from Dante's Inferno
• Toula's Dream (French/ Pathe)
• Trilby (Danish) directed by Viggo Larsen and A.R. Nielsen, starring Oda Alstrup and Viggo Larsen
• Trouble Of A Grass Widower, starring Max Linder
• Troubles Of A Manager Of A Burlesque Show
• The Tyrant Feudal Lord (French/ Gaumont) loosely based on Edgar Allan Poe's Masque of the Red Death
• Un dame vraiment bien (Feuillade)
• The Wages of Sin: an Italian Tragedy (Vitagraph) an American film
• Wave of Spooks (French/ Pathe)
• Wedding Feast and Ghosts (made in Italy)
• Whaling Afloat And Ashore, directed by Robert W. Paul
• The Witch of Seville (made in Italy)
• The Witch's Donkey (French/ Pathe)
• The Wonderful Charm, directed by George Melies (French)

Births

Month	Date	Name	Country	Profession	Died
January	10	Paul Henreid	Italy	Actor, Director, Producer, Writer	1992
	10	Bernard Lee	UK	Actor	1981
	11	Lionel Stander	US	Actor	1994
	12	Jean Delannoy	France	Actor, Editor, Screenwriter, Director	2008
	16	Ethel Merman	US	Actress, Singer	1984
	25	Howard Wendell	US	Actor	1975
	26	Dennis Moore	US	Actor	1994
February	4	Gwili Andre	Denmark	Model, Actress	1959
	5	Peg Entwistle	UK	Actress	1932
	6	Russell Gleason	US	Actor	1945
	7	Buster Crabbe	US	Actor, Olympic Swimmer	1983
	11	Philip Dunne	US	Screenwriter, Director, Producer	1992
	22	John Mills	UK	Actor	2005
March	5	Rex Harrison	UK	Actor	1990
	7	Anna Magnani	Italy	Actress	1973
	20	Michael Redgrave	UK	Actor, Director	1985
	25	Phillip Reed	US	Actor	1996
	29	Dennis O'Keefe	US	Actor, Writer	1968
April	2	Buddy Ebsen	US	Actor, Dancer	2003
	5	Bette Davis	US	Actress	1989
	15	Lita Grey	US	Actress	1995
	19	Irena Eichlerówna	Poland	Actress	1990
	24	Marceline Day	US	Actress	2000
	30	Eve Arden	US	Actress	1990
May	2	William Bakewell	US	Actor	1993
	6	Lucien Ballard	US	Cinematographer	1988
	20	James Stewart	US	Actor	1997
	25	Barbara Luddy	US	Voice Actress	1979
	26	Robert Morley	UK	Actor	1992
	27	Lita Chevret	US	Actress	2001
	30	Mel Blanc	US	Voice Actor	1989
	31	Don Ameche	US	Actor, Comedian	1993
June	17	Frank Sully	US	Actor	1975
July	1	Raúl de Anda	Mexican	Actor, Screenwriter, Producer, Director	1997
	12	Milton Berle	US	Actor, Comedian	2002
	17	Enzo Fiermonte	Italy	Actor, Boxer	1993
	18	Lupe Vélez	Mexican	Actress, Singer, Dancer	1944
August	6	Will Lee	US	Actor	1982
	13	Gene Raymond	US	Actor	1998
	30	Fred MacMurray	US	Actor	1991
September	13	Mae Questel	US	Voice Actress	1998
	15	Penny Singleton	US	Actress	2003
October	5	Joshua Logan	US	Director, Writer, Actor	1988
	6	Carole Lombard	US	Actress	1942
	22	John Sutton	UK	Actor	1963
	25	Tauno Palo	Finland	Actor, Singer	1982
	25	Polly Ann Young	US	Actress	1997
December	3	Robert Kent	US	Actor	1955
	3	Anna Sten	Ukraine	Actress	1993
	11	Manoel de Oliveira	Portugal	Director, Screenwriter	2015
	11	Sally Eilers	US	Actress	1978
	13	Van Heflin	US	Actor	1971
	18	Celia Johnson	UK	Actress	1982
	20	Dennis Morgan	US	Actor, Singer	1994
	28	Lew Ayres	US	Actor	1996

Deaths

• May 23 – Peter F. Dailey, actor, singer (born 1868)

Film debuts

• Hobart Bosworth – The Count of Monte Cristo (short)
• Sidney Drew – Cupid's Realm or A Game of Hearts (short)
• Julia Swayne Gordon – Othello (short)
• D.W. Griffith – actor/writer When Knighthood was in Flower (short); producer Deceived Slumming Party (short); director The Adventures of Dollie (short)
• Marion Leonard – At the Crossroads of Life (short)
• Owen Moore – The Guerilla (short)
• Miriam Nesbitt – Saved by Love
• Mack Sennett – Old Isaacs, the Pawnbroker (short)
• Earle Williams – Barbara Fritchie: The Story of a Patriotic Woman (short)
• Kathlyn Williams – On Thanksgiving Day (short)

External links

• 1908 in film playlist on YouTube
• List of 1908 films at IMDb
• List of 1908 deaths at IMDb
• List of 1908 births at IMDb