1919 in film

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The year 1919 in film involved some significant events. Films also appear in the Classics of the Silent Cinema 1983 book.

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

The top three 1919 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

Highest-grossing films of 1919
Rank	Title	Studio	Box office gross rental
1	Daddy-Long-Legs	First National Pictures	$1,250,000^[1]
2	The Miracle Man	Paramount Pictures	$1,000,000^[1]
3	Broken Blossoms Male and Female	United Artists Paramount Pictures	$600,000^[2]^[3]

Events

February 5 – Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D. W. Griffith launch United Artists.
March – Oscar Micheaux premieres The Homesteader, the first feature-length race film, starring pioneering African American actress Evelyn Preer, becoming the first African American to produce and direct a motion picture.
May 13 – D. W. Griffith's first film to be released by United Artists, Broken Blossoms, has its premiere in New York City.
August 29 – The Miracle Man displayed Lon Chaney's talent for make-up and made him famous as a character actor.
September 1 – United Artists release their first film, His Majesty, the American starring Douglas Fairbanks.
September 18 – Ufa-Palast am Zoo in Berlin opens rebuilt as a permanent cinema with the première of Ernst Lubitsch's Madame Dubarry.^[4]^[5]
September 25 - Dalagang Bukid (The Country Maiden), the first Filipino feature-length film made in the Philippines, released.^[6]
October 24 - The Capitol Theatre in New York City becomes one of the largest cinemas in the world with 4,000 seats.
November 16 – Constance Talmadge becomes a star with the release of A Virtuous Vamp.^[7]
Harold Lloyd begins holding test screenings of his films and modifying them based on audience feedback, a technique which continues in use.
Tri-Ergon sound-on-film technology is developed by three German inventors, Josef Engl, Hans Vogt (engineer), and Joseph Massole; however, the era of sound films is over 6 years away.

Notable films released in 1919 around the world

O

The Oyster Princess (Die Austerprinzessin) – (Germany)

R

Ravished Armenia – directed by Oscar Apfel, starring Aurora Mardiganian
The Roaring Road, directed by James Cruze, starring Wallace Reid

S

Sahara, starring Louise Glaum, written by C. Gardner Sullivan
The Sentimental Bloke – (Australia)
Sir Arne's Treasure (Herr Arnes pengar), directed by Mauritz Stiller, starring Richard Lund – (Sweden)
A Society Exile directed by George Fitzmaurice starring Elsie Ferguson
Sons of Ingmar (Ingmarssönerna), directed by Victor Sjöström – (Sweden)
South (documentary of Sir Ernest Shackleton's Endurance Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition), filmed by Frank Hurley – (GB)

T

The Test of Honor, directed by John S. Robertson, starring John Barrymore , and Constance Binney
True Heart Susie, starring Lillian Gish and Bobby Harron

V

The Valley of the Giants, directed by James Cruze, starring Wallace Reid
Victory, directed by Maurice Tourneur, starring Lon Chaney, Seena Owen, Wallace Beery, Jack Holt

W

When the Clouds Roll By, starring Douglas Fairbanks
The White Heather, directed by Maurice Tourneur
The Wicked Darling, directed by Tod Browning, starring Lon Chaney and Priscilla Dean
The Witness for the Defense starring Elsie Ferguson and Warner Oland

Y

Yankee Doodle in Berlin, directed by F. Richard Jones, starring Bothwell Browne, Ford Sterling, Marie Prevost, produced by Mack Sennett
You're Fired, directed by James Cruze, starring Wallace Reid & Wanda Hawley

Comedy film series

Only the films of the series released in 1919 are collected.

Buster Keaton (1917–1941)

Films starring Roscoe Arbuckle, featuring Buster Keaton released in 1919:

September 7: Back Stage a 'Fatty' Arbuckle / Buster Keaton short.
October 26: The Hayseed as a Manager, general store.

Charlie Chaplin (1914–1923)

Charlie Chaplin wrote, produced, directed, and starred in 9 films for his own production company between 1918 and 1923. These films were distributed by First National. Below the movies filmed in 1919:

May 15: Sunnyside; Three reels Score composed for 1974 re-release
December 15: A Day's Pleasure; Two reels. First film with Jackie Coogan, future star of "The Kid"

Score composed for 1973 re-release

Uncompleted and unreleased films

The Professor as Professor Bosco, Slated as a two-reeler, but never issued

Harold Lloyd (1913–1921)

Glasses character ("The Boy"):

Wanted – $5,000
Going! Going! Gone!
Ask Father
On the Fire, aka. The Chef
I'm on My Way
Look Out Below
The Dutiful Dub
Next Aisle Over
A Sammy in Siberia
Just Dropped In
Young Mr. Jazz
Crack Your Heels
Ring Up the Curtain, aka Back-Stage!
Si, Senor
Before Breakfast
The Marathon
Pistols for Breakfast
Swat the Crook
Off the Trolley
Spring Fever
Billy Blazes, Esq. – as Billy Blazes; the film was a parody of Westerns of the time
Just Neighbors
At the Old Stage Door
Never Touched Me
A Jazzed Honeymoon
Count Your Change
Chop Suey & Co.
Heap Big Chief
Don't Shove
Be My Wife
The Rajah
He Leads, Others Follow
Soft Money
Count the Votes
Pay Your Dues
His Only Father
Bumping Into Broadway
Captain Kidd's Kids
From Hand to Mouth

Animated short film series

Koko the Clown (1919–1934)

Koko the Clown was the first animated movie cartoon series. Below list of short films released in 1919:

The Tantalizing Fly
The Clown's Pups
Out of the Inkwell
Slides
Experiment No. 2
Experiment No. 3
Out of the Inkwell

Felix the Cat (1919–1936)

Below list of Felix the Cat short films released in 1919:

November 9: Feline Follies

November 16: The Musical Mews

December 14: The Adventures of Felix

Births

January 1 – Carole Landis, actress (died 1948)
January 13 – Robert Stack, actor (died 2003)
January 21 – Jinx Falkenburg, model, actress (died 2003)
January 23 – Ernie Kovacs, comedian, actor (died 1962)
January 24 – Coleman Francis, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1973)
February 4 – Janet Waldo, actress (died 2016)
February 5
- Red Buttons, actor (died 2006)
- Tim Holt, actor (died 1973)
February 11 – Eva Gabor, actress (died 1995)
February 18 – Jack Palance, actor (died 2006)
March 2 – Jennifer Jones, actress (died 2009)
March 25 – Jeanne Cagney, actress (died 1984)
March 29 – Eileen Heckart, actress (died 2001)
April 13 – Howard Keel, actor (died 2004)
April 18 – Vondell Darr, child actress (died 2012)
April 18 – Virginia O'Brien, American actress (died 2001)
May 8 – Lex Barker, actor (died 1973)
May 23 – Betty Garrett, actress (died 2011)
June 12 – Uta Hagen, actress (died 2004)
June 14 – Sam Wanamaker, director, actor (died 1993)
June 19 – Pauline Kael, film critic (died 2001)
June 24 – Al Molinaro, actor (died 2015)
June 29 – Slim Pickens, actor (died 1983)
July 7 – Jon Pertwee, actor (died 1996)
July 26 – Virginia Gilmore, actress (died 1986)
August 2 – Nehemiah Persoff, actor
August 7 – Bertha Moss, Argentine-Mexican actress (died 2008)
August 8 – Dino De Laurentiis, producer (died 2010)
September 2 – Marge Champion, dancer, actress, choreographer (died 2020)
September 18 – Diana Lewis, actress (died 1997)
September 24 – Rick Vallin, Russian-born actor (died 1977)
September 26 – Barbara Britton, actress (died 1980)
October 5 – Donald Pleasence, actor (died 1995)
November 4
- Shirley Mitchell, actress (died 2013)
- Martin Balsam, actor (died 1996)
November 13
- Mary Beth Hughes, actress (died 1995)
- Amelia Bence, actress (died 2016)
November 15 – Nova Pilbeam, actress (died 2015)
November 19 – Alan Young, actor (died 2016)
December 7 – Lis Løwert, Danish actress (d. 2009)
December 21 – Ove Sprogøe, Danish actor (d. 2004)

Deaths

January 14 – Shelley Hull, 34, American stage & film actor, husband of Josephine Hull, brother of Henry Hull
January 31 – Nat C. Goodwin, 59, veteran stage star & silent film actor
February 3 – Mary Moore (actress), 29, Irish actress, sister of Joe, Matt, Owen and Tom Moore A Million a Minute
February 17 – Vera Kholodnaya, 25, Russian silent film actress, A Corpse Living, The Woman Who Invented Love, Her Sister's Rival, Song of Triumphant Love
April 9 – Sidney Drew, 55, American stage & film actor A Florida Enchantment
May 3 – Daniel Gilfether, 70, American actor of stage & screen
May 21 – Lamar Johnstone, 34, American silent film actor
November 24 – William Stowell, 34, American silent film star

Film debuts

Vilma Bánky – Im letzten Augenblick
Shemp Howard – Spring Fever (short)
Boris Karloff – The Lightning Raider
Fritz Lang – Halbblut
Norma Shearer – The Star Boarder (short) (uncredited)
Otis Skinner – Tom's Little Star
Claire Windsor – Eyes of Youth (uncredited)
Anna May Wong – The Red Lantern (uncredited)

References

^ ^a ^b Quigley Publishing Company "The All Time Best Sellers", International Motion Picture Almanac 1937–38 (1938) p 942 accessed January 28, 2017
^ Balio, Tino (2009). United Artists: The Company Built by the Stars. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-23004-3.p30-31
^ Fragias, Leonidas (2017). Annual US Top Film Rentals 1912 - 1979 (Kindle ed.). Leonidas Fragias.
^ Kreimeier, Klaus (1996). The Ufa Story: A History of Germany's Greatest Film Company, 1918–1945. University of California Press. p. 56. premiere of Passion.
^ Silberman, Marc (1995). German Cinema: Texts in Context. Detroit: Wayne State University. p. 3. ISBN 978-0814325605.
^ "Dalagang Bukid (1919)". imdb.com.
^ "Brief Descriptions and Expanded Essays of National Film Registry Titles". Library of Congress. Retrieved May 27, 2018.