1900 in film

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Years in film
1870s
1880s 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889
1890s 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899
1900s 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
1910s 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
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1930s 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1940s 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
1950s 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
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v t e

The year 1900 in film involved some significant events.

Events[edit]

• Reulos, Goudeau & Co. invent Mirographe, a 21 mm amateur format.
• The Lumière Brothers premiere their new Lumiere Wide format for the 1900 World Fair. At 75 mm wide, it has held the record for over 100 years as the widest format yet developed.
• Raoul Grimoin-Sanson also creates a sensation at the 1900 World Fair with his multi-projector Cinéorama spectacle, which uses ten 70 mm projectors to create a simulated 360-degree balloon ride over Paris. The exhibit is closed before it formally opens, however, due to legitimate health and safety concerns regarding the heat of the combined projectors ons, and releases the format as La Petite.
• Gaumont-Demeny release their own 15 mm amateur format, Pocket Chrono.
• Release of the first film version of Hamlet, an adaptation of the duel scene, with French actress Sarah Bernhardt playing the title rôle (sic.) and accompanying recorded sound.
• Making of the first film to feature the detective character Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes Baffled, by the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company.
• Jeanne d'Arc becomes the first film of considerable length (10 mins) to be shown entirely in colour.
• William N. Selig made The Chicago Stockyards—From Hoof to Market for Chicago-based Philip Danforth Armour, a prominent businessman in the meatpacking industry, showing the full meatpacking process from cattle being unloaded at the stockyards to canning. Studio lights didn't exist yet so stage spotlights had to be borrowed from the Richard Mansfield Theatrical Company to film inside the slaughterhouse.^[1]

Notable films released in 1900[edit]

• Army Life, a documentary directed by Robert W. Paul on the training techniques of British soldiers. Most of it is currently lost. It was one of the oldest proto-feature films (20 short films that when combined could have been seen as a feature film. Combined together it was originally over an hour in length, and over two hours when combined with a lecture and slides.).
• Attack on a China Mission, directed by James Williamson.
• As Seen Through a Telescope, directed by George Albert Smith. May be the first example of editing between medium and close-up shots in cinema.
• Automobile Parade, directed by William 'Daddy' Paley.
• The Beggar's Deceit, directed by Cecil Hepworth.
• Chinese Magic (aka Yellow Peril), British film directed by Walter R. Booth
• The Clown and the Alchemist, produced for the Edison Company^[2]
• Danse Serpentine (In A Lion's Cage), directed by Alice Guy.
• Davey Jones' Locker, directed by Frederick S. Armitage
• The Enchanted Drawing, directed by J. Stuart Blackton.
• Explosion of a Motor Car, directed by Cecil Hepworth.
• A Fantastical Meal, directed by George Melies
• Faust and Marguerite, directed by Edwin S. Porter, produced by Thomas Edison, used stop-motion animation^[3]
• Going to Bed Under Difficulties, directed by Georges Méliès; possibly contains the first "Infinite Clothing" trick.
• Grandma's Reading Glass, directed by George Albert Smith. One of the earliest examples of editing between medium and close-up shots in cinema.
• How He Missed His Train, directed by Georges Méliès.
• How It Feels to Be Run Over, directed by Cecil Hepworth.
• Joan of Arc, directed by Georges Méliès.
• A Jersey Skeeter, produced by American Mutoscope
• The (New) Kiss, remake from The Edison Studios of their popular (and controversial) 1896 film.
• Ladies' Skirt Nailed to a Fence, produced by Bamforth & Co Ltd.
• Let Me Dream Again, directed by George Albert Smith. May be the first attempt at a dissolve between 2 shots in cinema.
• Le village de Namo – Panorama pris d'une chaise à porteurs, directed by Gabriel Veyre.
• Messrs Lumb And Co., Leaving The Works, Huddersfield, produced by Mitchell and Kenyon.
• Eine moderne Jungfrau von Orléans, directed by Max Skladanowsky.
• The Mystic Swing, directed by Edwin S. Porter^[4]
• The One-Man Band, directed by Georges Méliès. One of the earliest use of multiple exposures in cinema (In this film, 7 exposures).
• Reproduction of the McGovern and Dixon Fight, starring Terry McGovern and George Dixon.
• Rough Sea, produced by Bamforth & Co Ltd.
• Sherlock Holmes Baffled, directed by Arthur Marvin.
• Soldiers of the Cross produced by the Limelight Department of the The Salvation Army in Australia
• 20,000 Employees Entering Lord Armstrong's Elswick Works, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, produced by Mitchell and Kenyon.
• The Two Blind Men, directed by Georges Méliès.
• Uncle Josh in a Spooky Hotel, directed by Edwin S. Porter for Edison
• Uncle Josh's Nightmare, directed by Edwin S. Porter for Edison
• Solser en Hesse, directed by M.H. Laddé.
• The Siege of Mafeking, by Edison Studios

Births[edit]

Deaths[edit]

• November 22 – Arthur Sullivan, producer of musicals, half of the team of Gilbert and Sullivan (born 1842)^[7]
• November 30 – Oscar Wilde, playwright whose works were made into films (born 1854)
• December 31 – Hannibal Goodwin, retired minister, in 1886 invented nitrate film roll. (born 1822)

Debut[edit]

• Sarah Bernhardt
• Benoit Constant Coquelin

External links[edit]

• 1900 in film playlist on YouTube

References[edit]