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Films before the 1920s.
See also: Films of the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s.
Early Short Films (plus one major)
- 1888 — Roundhay Garden Scene
and Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge — possibly the first movies ever, and certainly the oldest known to still exist, were shot by Louis Le Prince on experimental camera.
- 1893-1895 — William K.L. Dickson, working at Thomas Edison's studio, shot Blacksmith Scene
, Fred Ott's Sneeze , Carmencita , The Great Sandow , and others — The first commercial movies ever. Dickson Experimental Sound Film , the first sound picture, and The Execution of Mary Stuart , the first cinematic special effects, were also produced at the studio. In 1897, it introduced the world to the first pornographic movie with The Dolorita Passion Dance or Dolorita in the Passion Dance. The film was removed from Atlantic City Kinetoscope parlors in 1895, this being perhaps the first instance of film Censorship.
- 1895-1896 — The Lumière brothers shot movies, including The Sprinkler Sprinkled
, Employees Leaving the Factory , and Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat , establishing tropes such as the Practical Joke, Faux Documentary, and cinematic narrative in general.
- 1898-1905 — Georges Méliès shot pioneering movies, establishing many kinds of Special Effects and the first filmed examples of genres such as Science Fiction and Fantasy:
- 1903 — Edwin Porter directed The Great Train Robbery (video link
) at Edison's studio.
- 1906 — The first ever feature-length film, The Story of the Kelly Gang, was filmed in Melbourne, Australia. Of course, in 1906, "feature-length" meant about forty-five minutes long, which was still many times longer than any other film made at that point. (Interestingly, The Story of the Kelly Gang was originally planned as a short film, but its runtime ballooned out as the film-makers kept adding more and more footage.)
Pre-1920 majors
1915-1919
- D.W. Griffith directed some of the earliest feature films, including:
- The Birth of a Nation — Groundbreaking cinematography, but horrendously racist plot.
- Intolerance — Equally impressive cinematography, but with a much more palatable plot.
- Broken Blossoms — Notably sympathetic portrayal of Chinese people for its time, but of course they were played by white actors.
1916-1919
- Charlie Chaplin produced and starred in a series of pioneering Slapstick comedies at Mutual studios and First National studios, including:
- Fantomas (Serial, made over several years.)
1919
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