1890s in film
Encyclopedia
| 1880s 1880s in film The decade of the 1880s in film involved some significant events.-Events:*1880 - American George Eastman begins to commercially manufacture dry plates for photography.... . 1890s in film . 1900s 1900s in film The decade of the 1900s in film involved some significant films.-L:* Lady Helen's Escapade * Life of an American Fireman * L'Enfant Prodigue -S:* Star Theatre * The Story of the Kelly Gang -T:... |
| Other events: 1890s 1890s The 1890s were sometimes referred to as the "Mauve Decade" - because William Henry Perkin's aniline dye allowed the widespread use of that colour in fashion - and also as the "Gay Nineties", under the then-current usage of the word "gay" which referred simply to merriment and frivolity, with no... . Film timeline |
Events
- 1890 - Wordsworth DonisthorpeWordsworth DonisthorpeWordsworth Donisthorpe was an English individualist anarchist and inventor, pioneer of cinematography and chess enthusiast. His father was George E...
and W. C. Crofts, filmed London's Trafalgar SquareLondon's Trafalgar SquareLondon's Trafalgar Square is a 1890 British silent black-and-white short film, shot by inventors and film pioneers Wordsworth Donisthorpe and William Carr Crofts at approximately 10 frames per second with an oval or circular frame on celuloid film using their 'kinesigraph' camera, showing traffic...
using a camera patented in 1889. - 1891 - Designed around the work of Muybridge, Marey, and Eastman, Thomas EdisonThomas EdisonThomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
's employee, William K. L. Dickson finishes work on a motion-picture camera, and a viewing machine, called the KinetoscopeKinetoscopeThe Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device. Though not a movie projector—it was designed for films to be viewed individually through the window of a cabinet housing its components—the Kinetoscope introduced the basic approach that would become the standard for all cinematic...
. - May 20, 1891 - Thomas EdisonThomas EdisonThomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
holds the first public presentation of his KinetoscopeKinetoscopeThe Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device. Though not a movie projector—it was designed for films to be viewed individually through the window of a cabinet housing its components—the Kinetoscope introduced the basic approach that would become the standard for all cinematic...
for the National Federation of Women's Clubs. - August 24, 1891 - Thomas EdisonThomas EdisonThomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
files for a patent of the KinetoscopeKinetoscopeThe Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device. Though not a movie projector—it was designed for films to be viewed individually through the window of a cabinet housing its components—the Kinetoscope introduced the basic approach that would become the standard for all cinematic...
. - 1892 In FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Charles-Émile ReynaudCharles-Émile ReynaudCharles-Émile Reynaud was a French science teacher, responsible for the first projected animated cartoon films....
began to have public screenings in ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
at the Theatre OptiqueThéâtre OptiqueThe Théâtre Optique was a moving picture show presented by Charles-Émile Reynaud in 1892. It was the first presentation of projected moving images to an audience, predating Auguste and Louis Lumière's first public performance by three years.- History :...
, with hundreds of drawings on a reel that he wound through his Zeotrope projector to construct moving images that continued for 15 minutes. - 1892 - The Eastman Company becomes the Eastman Kodak Company.
- March 14, 1893 - Thomas EdisonThomas EdisonThomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
is granted Patent #493,426 for "An Apparatus for Exhibiting Photographs of Moving Objects" (The KinetoscopeKinetoscopeThe Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device. Though not a movie projector—it was designed for films to be viewed individually through the window of a cabinet housing its components—the Kinetoscope introduced the basic approach that would become the standard for all cinematic...
). - 1893 Thomas EdisonThomas EdisonThomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
builds a motion-picture studio near his laboratory, dubbed the "Black Maria" by his staff. - May 9, 1893 - In AmericaUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Thomas EdisonThomas EdisonThomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
holds the first public exhibition of films shot using his Kinetograph at the Brooklyn Institute. Unfortunately, only one person at a time could use his viewing machine, the KinetoscopeKinetoscopeThe Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device. Though not a movie projector—it was designed for films to be viewed individually through the window of a cabinet housing its components—the Kinetoscope introduced the basic approach that would become the standard for all cinematic...
. - January 7, 1894 - Thomas EdisonThomas EdisonThomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
films his assistant, Fred OttFred OttFrederick P. Ott was an employee of Thomas Edison's laboratory in the 1890s. His likeness appears in two of the earliest surviving motion pictures – Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze Frederick P. Ott (1860; New Jersey – October 24, 1936; West Orange, New Jersey) was an employee of...
sneezing with the KinetoscopeKinetoscopeThe Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device. Though not a movie projector—it was designed for films to be viewed individually through the window of a cabinet housing its components—the Kinetoscope introduced the basic approach that would become the standard for all cinematic...
at the "Black Maria." - April 14, 1894 - The first commercial presentation of the KinetoscopeKinetoscopeThe Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device. Though not a movie projector—it was designed for films to be viewed individually through the window of a cabinet housing its components—the Kinetoscope introduced the basic approach that would become the standard for all cinematic...
took place in the Holland Brothers' Kinetoscope Parlor at 1155 Broadway, New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. - 1894 - KinetoscopeKinetoscopeThe Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device. Though not a movie projector—it was designed for films to be viewed individually through the window of a cabinet housing its components—the Kinetoscope introduced the basic approach that would become the standard for all cinematic...
viewing parlors begin to open in major cities. Each parlor contains several machines. - 1895 - In FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, brothers named Auguste and Louis Lumière, designed and built a lightweight, hand-held motion picture camera called the CinématographeCinematographeA cinematograph is a film camera, which also serves as a film projector and developer. It was invented in the 1890s.Note that this was not the first 'moving picture' device. Louis Le Prince had built early devices in 1886. His 1888 film Roundhay Garden Scene still survives.There is much dispute as...
. The Lumière brothers discovered that their machine could also be used to project images onto a large screen. The Lumière brothers created several short films at this time that are considered to be pivotal in the history of motion pictures. - November, 1895 - In Germany, Emil and Max SkladanowskyMax SkladanowskyMax Skladanowsky was a German inventor and early filmmaker. Along with his brother Emil, he invented the Bioscop, an early movie projector the Skladanowsky brothers used to display the first moving picture show to a paying audience on November 1, 1895, some two months before the public debut of...
develop their own film projector. - December, 1895 - In FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Auguste and Louis Lumière hold their first public screening of films shot with their CinématographeCinematographeA cinematograph is a film camera, which also serves as a film projector and developer. It was invented in the 1890s.Note that this was not the first 'moving picture' device. Louis Le Prince had built early devices in 1886. His 1888 film Roundhay Garden Scene still survives.There is much dispute as...
. - January, 1896 - In BritainUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Birt AcresBirt AcresBirt Acres was a photographer and film pioneer.Born in Richmond, Virginia to English parents, he invented the first British 35 mm moving picture camera, the first daylight loading home movie camera and projector, Birtac, was the first travelling newsreel reporter in international film history and...
and Robert W. PaulRobert W. PaulRobert W. Paul was a British electrician, scientific instrument maker and early pioneer of British film.-Early career:...
developed their own film projector, the Theatrograph (later known as the Animatograph). - January, 1896 - In the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, a projector called the VitascopeVitascopeVitascope was an early film projector first demonstrated in 1895 by Charles Francis Jenkins and Thomas Armat. They had made modifications to Jenkins patented "Phantoscope", which cast images via film & electric light onto a wall or screen...
was designed by Charles Francis JenkinsCharles Francis JenkinsCharles Francis Jenkins was an American pioneer of early cinema and one of the inventors of television, though he used mechanical rather than electronic technologies...
and Thomas ArmatThomas ArmatThomas J. Armat was an American mechanic and inventor, a pioneer of cinema best known through the co-invention of the Edison Vitascope.-Biography:...
. Armat began working with Thomas EdisonThomas EdisonThomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
to manufacture the VitascopeVitascopeVitascope was an early film projector first demonstrated in 1895 by Charles Francis Jenkins and Thomas Armat. They had made modifications to Jenkins patented "Phantoscope", which cast images via film & electric light onto a wall or screen...
, which projected motion pictures. - April, 1896 - Thomas EdisonThomas EdisonThomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
and Thomas ArmatThomas ArmatThomas J. Armat was an American mechanic and inventor, a pioneer of cinema best known through the co-invention of the Edison Vitascope.-Biography:...
's VitascopeVitascopeVitascope was an early film projector first demonstrated in 1895 by Charles Francis Jenkins and Thomas Armat. They had made modifications to Jenkins patented "Phantoscope", which cast images via film & electric light onto a wall or screen...
is used to project motion pictures in public screenings in New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and... - 1896 - French magician and filmmaker Georges MélièsGeorges MélièsGeorges Méliès , full name Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès, was a French filmmaker famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest cinema. He was very innovative in the use of special effects...
begins experimenting with the new motion picture technology, developing a lot of early special effects techniques, including stop-motion photography. - 1897 - A total of 125 people die during a film screening at the Charity Bazaar in ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
after a curtain catches on fire from the ether used to fuel the projector lamp. - 1899 - Pathé-Frères is founded.
Films
This is an incomplete list of films made in the 1890s:- London's Trafalgar SquareWordsworth DonisthorpeWordsworth Donisthorpe was an English individualist anarchist and inventor, pioneer of cinematography and chess enthusiast. His father was George E...
(Wordsworth Donisthorpe and W. C. Crofts 1890) - Monkeyshines (William Dickson and William Heise 1890)
- Dickson GreetingDickson GreetingDickson Greeting is credited as one of the world's first films. Directed, produced by and starring motion-picture pioneer William Dickson, it displays a 3 second clip of him passing a hat in front of himself, and reaching for it with his other hand...
(William Dickson 1891) - Blacksmith SceneBlacksmith SceneBlacksmith Scene is an 1893 American short black-and-white silent film directed by William K.L...
(William Dickson 1893) - Fred Ott's SneezeFred Ott's SneezeFred Ott's Sneeze is an 1894 American, short, black-and-white, silent documentary film shot by William K.L. Dickson and starring Fred Ott. It was the first motion picture to be copyrighted in the United States.In the five-second film one of Thomas Edison's assistants, Fred Ott, takes a pinch of...
(William Dickson 1894) - Fred Ott Holding a Bird (William Dickson 1894)
- Buffalo Dance (William Dickson 1894)
- Dickson Experimental Sound FilmDickson Experimental Sound FilmThe Dickson Experimental Sound Film is a film made by William Dickson in late 1894 or early 1895. It is the first known film with live-recorded sound and appears to be the first motion picture made for the Kinetophone, the proto-sound-film system developed by Dickson and Thomas Edison...
(William Dickson 1895) - L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La CiotatL'Arrivée d'un train en gare de la CiotatL'arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat is an 1895 French short black-and-white silent documentary film directed...
(Auguste and Louis Lumière 1895) - Workers Leaving the Lumière FactoryWorkers Leaving the Lumiere FactoryWorkers Leaving The Lumière Factory in Lyon Workers Leaving The Lumière Factory in Lyon Workers Leaving The Lumière Factory in Lyon (also known as La Sortie des usines Lumière à Lyon (original title), Employees Leaving the Lumière Factory and Exiting the Factory (US titles) is an 1895 French short...
(Louis Lumière 1895) - L'Arroseur ArroséL'Arroseur ArroséL'Arroseur arrosé is an 1895 French short black-and-white silent comedy film directed and produced by Louis Lumière and starring François Clerc and Benoît Duval...
(Louis Lumière 1895) - Baignade en merBaignade en merBaignade en mer is an 1896 French short black-and-white silent film directed and produced by French magician Georges Méliès....
(Georges Méliès 1896) - Le Manoir du diableLe Manoir du diableThe Haunted Castle is a 1896 three-minute-long French film and directorial debut of Georges Méliès and number 78-80 on the Star Films catalog. The film contained many traditional pantomime elements and was intentionally meant to amuse people, rather than frighten them...
(Georges Méliès 1896) - The Kiss (William Heise 1896)
- La Fée aux ChouxLa Fée aux ChouxLa Fée aux Choux is one of the earliest narrative fiction films ever made. It was probably made before the first Méliès fiction film, but after the Lumière brothers' L'Arroseur Arrosé. The confusion stems from the uncertainty in the dating of these three films...
(Alice Guy Blaché 1896) - Rip van Winkle (William Dickson 1896)
- Admiral Cigarette (William Heise 1897)
- The Milker's MishapThe Milker's MishapThe Milker's Mishap is a very early short 1897 comedy film about a man milking a Holstein, which becomes frisky and kicks over the milker and the pail of milk. The man blames some farm hands, and a quarrel ensues....
(director unknown 1897) - New Pillow FightNew Pillow FightNew Pillow Fight, also titled Daughters' Pillow Fight, is the name of a very early short comedy film, released in 1897. This scene shows three little girls indulging in a pillow fight. Eventually, the feathers are flying all around....
(director unknown 1897) - The Nearsighted School TeacherThe Nearsighted School TeacherThe Nearsighted School Teacher was an early short comedy film released in July 1898. It stars Augusta Selmer as a young lady.-Plot:In this case it is the schoolmaster who comes to grief. He is seated at this desk busily engrossed in private business and letting his students run riot...
(director unknown 1898) - Jeanne d'Arc (1899 film)Jeanne d'Arc (1899 film)Jeanne d'Arc is a short silent film about Joan of Arc. The medieval film, released in 1900, was written and directed by Georges Méliès....
(Georges Méliès 1899)
Births
- January 22, 1893 - Conrad Veidt
- October 4, 1895 - Buster KeatonBuster KeatonJoseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...
- January 3, 1897 - Marion DaviesMarion DaviesMarion Davies was an American film actress. Davies is best remembered for her relationship with newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, as her high-profile social life often obscured her professional career....
- September 30, 1898 - Renee AdoreeRenée AdoréeRenée Adorée was a French actress who had appeared in Hollywood silent movies during the 1920s.-Early life:...
See also
- FilmFilmA film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, History of cinema, List of movies. - Decades in Film:
- 1870s1870s in filmThe decade of the 1870s in film involved some significant events.-Events:*1870s - French inventor Charles-Émile Reynaud improved on the Zoetrope idea by placing mirrors at the center of the drum. He called his invention the Praxinoscope...
1880s1880s in filmThe decade of the 1880s in film involved some significant events.-Events:*1880 - American George Eastman begins to commercially manufacture dry plates for photography....
-- 1900s1900s in filmThe decade of the 1900s in film involved some significant films.-L:* Lady Helen's Escapade * Life of an American Fireman * L'Enfant Prodigue -S:* Star Theatre * The Story of the Kelly Gang -T:...
1910s 1920s1920s in filmThe decade of the 1920s in film involved many significant films.----Contents# Events# List of films: # A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z.-Events:Many full-length films were produced during the decade of the 1920s....
1930s1930s in filmThe decade of the 1930s in film involved many significant films. 1939 was one of the biggest years in Hollywood.----Contents# Events# List of films: # A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z....
1940s1940s in filmThe decade of the 1940s in film involved many significant films. Hundreds of full-length films were produced during the decade of the 1940s. The great actor Humphrey Bogart made his most memorable films in this decade. Orson Welles's masterpiece Citizen Kane was also released...
1950s1950s in filmThe decade of the 1950s in film involved many significant films.----Contents1 Events2 List of films: # A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z.-Events:...
1960s1960s in filmThe decade of the 1960s in film involved many significant films.----Contents1 Events2 List of films: # A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z.Hundreds of full-length films were produced during the 1960s....
1970s1970s in filmThe decade of the 1970s in film involved many significant films.----Contents1 World cinema2 Hollywood3 List of films: # A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z.4 Events-World cinema:...
1980s1980s in filmThe decade of the 1980s in film involved many significant films.----Contents1 Events2 Top Grossing films3 Trends4 List of films: # A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z.-Events:...
1990s1990s in filmThe decade of the 1990s in film involved many significant films.-Events:* Thousands of full-length films were produced during the 1990s....
2000s2000s in filmThis article is about 2000s decade in film.-Events:Thousands of full-length films were produced during the first decade of the 21st Century...
- 1870s