The Star Film Company was the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 film production division of Georges Méliès

Georges Méliès

Georges 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...

' French

France

The 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...

 company Star-Film. The company was managed by Méliès' older brother Gaston Méliès

Gaston Méliès

Gaston Méliès was the brother of the more-famous French film director Georges Méliès. He also produced and directed a large number of early films in the United States....

 and produced film

Film

A 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...

s in New York City

New York City

New 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...

, San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...

 and Santa Paula, California

Santa Paula, California

Santa Paula is a city within Ventura County, California, United States. The population was 29,321 at the 2010 census, up from 28,598 at the 2000 census...

. Star Film Company existed from 1902 to 1913. Its most significant film was The Immortal Alamo

The Immortal Alamo

The Immortal Alamo was an American silent film produced by Star Film Company, directed by Gaston Melies, and released on May 25, 1911. The Immortal Alamo is the earliest film version of the events surrounding the 1836 Battle of the Alamo. No known copies of the film exist today, and it is...

(1911).

History

Georges Méliès had produced films in France, which had become popular around the world. Some distributors

Film distributor

A film distributor is a company or individual responsible for releasing films to the public either theatrically or for home viewing...

 began pirating

Copyright infringement of audio-visual works

Copyright infringement of audio-visual works, often referred to as piracy or warez, occurs when unauthorized copies are made of music, movies and similar works. Incidence of copyright infringement has grown dramatically since the late 1970s, as technology has facilitated the unauthorized...

 Méliès' work, especially in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Méliès asked his brother Gaston to go the United States and guard Méliès copyright

Copyright

Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...

s.

Gaston arrived in New York City in 1902 and began distributing his brother's films. By 1903, Gaston began making films himself, mostly documentaries

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

. The films were not successful. The company moved to San Antonio looking for warmer winters and leased twenty acres including a two-story house and large barn that became the "Star Film Ranch" movie studio

Movie studio

A movie studio is a term used to describe a major entertainment company or production company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to film movies...

. Star Film Company was the earliest non-Texas production company to operate in Texas.

The studio had actors Edith Storey, Francis Ford

Francis Ford (actor)

Francis Ford was a prolific film actor, writer, and director. He was the older brother of film director John Ford. He also appeared in many of John Ford's movies, including Young Mr. Lincoln and The Quiet Man.He starred in the 1912 two-reeler The Deserter by Thomas H. Ince and acted in over 400...

, and William Clifford

William Clifford (actor)

William Clifford was an American actor and screenwriter of the silent era. He appeared in 170 films between 1910 and 1929...

 under contract along with writer Anne Nichols

Anne Nichols

Anne Nichols was an American playwright.Born in Dales Mill, Georgia, Nichols penned a number of Broadway plays, several of which were made into motion pictures...

. The studio also hired local ranchers and cowboy

Cowboy

A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of...

s to give its Westerns

Western (genre)

The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...

 genuine character. The films were normally one reel in length with an average running time of fifteen miunutes. Of the seventy films made in San Antonio, only three are known to have survived.

Star Film Company moved to California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 in April 1911 and settled just north of Santa Paula, California

Santa Paula, California

Santa Paula is a city within Ventura County, California, United States. The population was 29,321 at the 2010 census, up from 28,598 at the 2000 census...

. After making films in California for a year, they made films at various exotic locations such as Tahiti

Tahiti

Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...

, Bora Bora

Bora Bora

The commune of Bora-Bora is made up of the island of Bora Bora proper with its surrounding islets emerging from the coral reef, 29.3 km² in total, and of the atoll of Tupai , located north of Bora Bora...

, and Java

Java

Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...

. These films were not successful and Gaston shut the company down in May 1913.

Selected Filmorgraphy

• The Kiss of Mary Jane (1911)
• When the Tables Turned (1911)
• The Immortal Alamo
  The Immortal Alamo
  The Immortal Alamo was an American silent film produced by Star Film Company, directed by Gaston Melies, and released on May 25, 1911. The Immortal Alamo is the earliest film version of the events surrounding the 1836 Battle of the Alamo. No known copies of the film exist today, and it is...
  
  (1911)
• Mary's Strategem (1911)
• In the Hot Lands (1911)
• Salt on the Bird's Tail (1910)
• The Yacht Race (1903)