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1917 in film
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1917 in film was a particularly fruitful year for the art form, and is often cited as one of the years in the decade which contributed to the medium the most, along with 1913.
Secondarily the year saw a limited global embrace of narrative film-making and featured innovative techniques such as continuity cutting. Primarily, the year is an American landmark, as 1917 is the first year where the narrative and visual style is typified as "Classical Hollywood".
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Events
January – Panthea is released, the first film from the company that Joseph Schenck formed with his wife, Norma Talmadge, after leaving Loew's Consolidated Enterprises.
February – Buster Keaton first meets Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle in New York and is hired as a co-star and gag man.
April 9 – Supreme Court of the United States rule in Motion Picture Patents Co. v. Universal Film Manufacturing Co. which ends the Motion Picture Patents Company appeal and results in the end of the company.
April 23 – Release in the United States of the short The Butcher Boy, the first of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle's series of films with the Comique Film Corporation, and Buster Keaton's film debut.
April 25 – Thomas Lincoln Tally, in a meeting in New York, co-founds the First National Exhibitors Circuit.Films of the Golden Age. https://web.archive.org/web/20041216204706/http://www.filmsofthegoldenage.com/foga/1998/winter98/firstnational.shtml 2004-12-16 First National filmography.
June – Thomas H. Ince and Mack Sennett leave Triangle Film Corporation following Stephen Andrew Lynch taking control.
September 13 – Release in the United States of The Gulf Between, the first film made in Technicolor System 1, a two-color process.
November 9 – World's first feature-length animated film is made in Argentina by Quirino Cristiani (El Apóstol)
December 18 – Foundation of Universum Film AG (UƒA), as a propaganda film company, in Berlin.
Movette, another revision of the 17.5 mm film format, is made available.
Top-grossing films (U.S.)
The top five 1917 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:
+Highest-grossing films of 1917 Rank Title Studio Domestic rentals 1CleopatraFox Film $1,000,000Gregory N. Daugherty The Reception of Cleopatra in the Age of Mass Media 2022 978-1-3503-4073-2 No data survives, but Bara herself claimed that the epic grossed a million dollars, quite an achievement since it reportedly cost $500,000 to make. 2The Little AmericanParamount $446,236Birchard Robert S. 2004 Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood University Press of Kentucky 9780813123240 3A Romance of the Redwoods $424,718 4The Woman God Forgot $340,504 5The Devil Stone $296,031
Notable films
Films produced in the United States unless stated otherwise
#
'49–'17, directed by Ruth Ann Baldwin
A
The Adventurer, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin, with Edna Purviance
All Aboard, directed by Alfred J. Goulding, starring Harold Lloyd and Bebe Daniels
El Apóstol (The Apostle) (lost), animated film directed by Quirino Cristiani – (Argentina)
B
Bestia (US: The Polish Dancer), directed by Aleksander Hertz, starring Pola Negri – (Poland)
Betsy Ross, directed by Travers Vale and George Cowl, starring Alice Brady
Bucking Broadway, directed by John Ford, starring Harry Carey
thumb|Theda Bara as Cleopatra
The Butcher Boy, directed by and starring Fatty Arbuckle, with Buster Keaton
C
Cleopatra (incomplete), directed by J. Gordon Edwards, starring Theda Bara
Coney Island, directed by and starring Fatty Arbuckle, with Buster Keaton
The Cure, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin, with Edna Purviance
D
Down to Earth, directed by John Emerson, starring Douglas Fairbanks
E
Easy Street, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin, with Edna Purviance
F
Fear (Furcht), directed by Robert Wiene, starring Conrad VeidtWorkman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 186. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2. – (Germany)
G
Golden Rule Kate, directed by Reginald Barker, starring Louise Glaum
The Gulf Between (incomplete), directed by Wray Physioc
H
The Heart of Texas Ryan, directed by E.A. Martin, starring Tom Mix
Hilde Warren and Death (Hilde Warren und der Tod), directed by Joe May, starring Mia MayWorkman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 189. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2. – (Germany)
His Wedding Night, directed by and starring Fatty Arbuckle, with Buster Keaton
I
The Immigrant, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin, with Edna Purviance
L
The Little American, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Mary Pickford
A Little Princess, directed by Marshall Neilan, starring Mary Pickford, Norman Kerry and ZaSu Pitts
M
The Man from Painted Post, directed by Joseph Henabery, starring Douglas Fairbanks
A Man There Was (Terje Vigen), directed by and starring Victor Sjöström – (Sweden)
The Man Without a Country, directed by Ernest C. Warde, starring Florence La Badie
A Modern Musketeer, directed by Allan Dwan, starring Douglas Fairbanks
Mothers of Men, directed by Willis Robards, starring Dorothy Davenport
O
Oh Doctor!, directed by and starring Fatty Arbuckle, with Buster Keaton
P
The Poor Little Rich Girl, directed by Maurice Tourneur, starring Mary Pickford
The Pride of the Clan, directed by Maurice Tourneur, starring Mary Pickford and Matt Moore
R
thumb|Advertisement, August 1917
Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman, directed by George Irving, starring John Barrymore
Reaching for the Moon, directed by John Emerson, starring Douglas Fairbanks
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, directed by Marshall Neilan, starring Mary Pickford
A Reckless Romeo, directed by and starring Fatty Arbuckle
A Romance of the Redwoods, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Mary Pickford
The Rough House, directed by and starring Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton
Runaway Romany, directed by George Lederer, starring Marion Davies
S
Satan Triumphant (Satana likuyushchiy) (incomplete), directed by Yakov Protazanov – (USSR)
The Scarlet Car, directed by Joseph De Grasse, starring Lon Chaney
Seven Keys to Baldpate, directed by Hugh Ford, starring George M. Cohan and Anna Q. Nilsson; based on the 1913 novel by Earl Derr BiggersWorkman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 193. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
The Silent Man, directed by and starring William S. Hart
Straight Shooting, directed by John Ford, starring Harry Carey
The Sultan's Wife, directed by Clarence Badger, starring Gloria Swanson
T
Teddy at the Throttle, directed by Clarence Badger, starring Gloria Swanson and Wallace Beery
Thaïs, directed by Anton Giulio Bragaglia – (Italy)
Tom Sawyer, directed by William Desmond Taylor, starring Jack Pickford; based on the 1876 novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
W
Wild and Woolly, directed by John Emerson, starring Douglas Fairbanks
The Woman God Forgot, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Geraldine Farrar
The Woman in White, directed by Ernest C. Warde, starring Florence La Badie; based on the 1860 novel by Wilkie CollinsWorkman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 196. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
Selected films with 1917 release dates
United States unless stated
January 8 – Great Expectations, starring Jack Pickford
January 22 – Easy Street, starring Charlie Chaplin, Edna Purviance
January 22 – Her Right to Live, directed by Paul Scardon, starring Peggy Hyland, Antonio Moreno, Mae Costello, John S. Robertson
January 29 – A Man There Was (Terje Vigen), directed by Victor Sjöström – (Sweden)
February 2 – The Marriage of Luise Rohrbach, directed by Rudolf Biebrach, starring Henny Porten, Emil Jannings – (Germany)
February 18 – The Bad Boy, starring Robert Harron, Mildred Harris, Colleen Moore
March 3 – The Tornado, directed by John Ford (his debut)
March 5 – The Poor Little Rich Girl, starring Mary Pickford
March 7 – The Torture of Silence (Mater Dolorosa), directed by Abel Gance – (France)
April 15 – Teddy at the Throttle, a Keystone comedy starring Gloria Swanson
April 16 – The Cure, a Charlie Chaplin short.
April 23 – The Butcher Boy, starring "Fatty" Arbuckle with Buster Keaton
May 7 – Kidnapped, directed by Alan Crosland, starring Raymond McKee, Joseph Burke, and Ray Hallor
May 14 – A Romance of the Redwoods, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Mary Pickford
May 19 – One Law for Both directed by Ivan Abramson
May 20 – Souls Triumphant, starring Lillian Gish
May 21 – A Reckless Romeo, a 'Fatty' Arbuckle short.
May – Frank Hansen's Fortune directed by Viggo Larsen – (Germany)
June 17 – The Immigrant, starring Charlie Chaplin and Edna Purviance
June 24 – Wild and Woolly, starring Douglas Fairbanks
June 25 – A Kentucky Cinderella, starring Ruth Clifford
June 25 – The Rough House, a 'Fatty' Arbuckle / Buster Keaton short.
June – The Labour Leader, directed by Thomas Bentley, starring Owen Nares, Fay Compton – (GB)
July 5 – Big Timber
July – The Picture of Dorian Gray (Das Bildnis des Dorian Gray) – (Germany)
August 12 – Golden Rule Kate, a drama western starring Louise Glaum
August 20 – His Wedding Night, a 'Fatty' Arbuckle / Buster Keaton short.
August 27 – The Little American, starring Mary Pickford; directed by Cecil B. DeMille.
August 27 – Straight Shooting, directed by John Ford
August 28 – Brcko in Zagreb – (Croatia)
August – The Gay Lord Quex directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Ben Webster and Irene Vanbrugh – (GB)
September 13 – The Gulf Between, All color movie.
September 22 – Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, starring Mary Pickford
September 30 – Camille, starring Theda Bara
September 30 – Oh Doctor!, a 'Fatty' Arbuckle / Buster Keaton short.
September 30 – The Sultan's Wife, starring Gloria Swanson
September – Fear directed by Robert Wiene and starring Conrad Veidt – (Germany)
October 14 – Cleopatra, starring Theda Bara
October 21 – Satan Triumphant (Satana likuyushchiy) – (U.S.S.R.)
October 22 – The Adventurer, a Charlie Chaplin short.
October 29 – Coney Island, a 'Fatty' Arbuckle / Buster Keaton short.
November 9 – El Apóstol (The Apostle), animated by Quirino Cristiani – (Argentina)
November 11 – A Little Princess, directed by Marshall Neilan, starring Mary Pickford, Norman Kerry, ZaSu Pitts
November 12 – Harrison and Barrison, directed by Alexander Korda, starring Márton Rátkai – (Hungary)
November 25 – All Aboard, a Harold Lloyd short
November 26 – The Silent Man, starring William S. Hart
December 10 – Tom Sawyer, starring Jack Pickford
December 24 – Bucking Broadway, directed by John Ford, starring Harry Carey
December – Raffles the Amateur Cracksman, starring John Barrymore
Comedy film series
Harold Lloyd (1913–1938)
Charlie Chaplin (1914–1940)
Lupino Lane (1915–1939)
Buster Keaton (1917–1944)
Births
January 2 – Vera Zorina, German-Norwegian ballerina, theatre film actress, and choreographer (died 2003)
January 3 – Jesse White, American actor (died 1997)
January 5 – Jane Wyman, American actress (died 2007)
January 10 – Hilde Krahl, Austrian actress (died 1999)
January 21 – Lally Bowers, English actress and singer (died 1984)
January 24 – Ernest Borgnine, American actor (died 2012)
February 6 – Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hungarian-American socialite and actress (died 2016)
February 15 – Sam Kydd, British actor (died 1982)
February 16 – George N. Neise, American actor (died 1996)
February 21 – Lucille Bremer, American actress and dancer (died 1996)
February 25 – Brenda Joyce, American actress (died 2009)
March 2 – Desi Arnaz, Cuban-American actor, musician, producer, and bandleader (died 1986)
March 12 – Googie Withers, English actress and dancer (died 2011)
March 22
Virginia Grey, American actress (died 2004)
Paul Rogers, English actor (died 2013)
March 23 – Kenneth Tobey, American actor (died 2002)
March 30 – Herbert Anderson, American character actor (died 1994)
April 2 - Dabbs Greer, American character actor (died 2007)
April 9 – Brad Dexter, American actor and film producer (died 2002)
April 14 – Valerie Hobson, British actress (died 1998)
April 15 – Hans Conried, American actor and comedian (died 1982)
April 16 – William Benedict, American actor (died 1999)
April 17 – R. G. Armstrong, American character actor and playwright (died 2012)
April 28 – Robert Cornthwaite, American actor (died 2006)
April 29
Celeste Holm, American actress (died 2012)
Maya Deren, American experimental filmmaker (died 1961)
May 1 – Danielle Darrieux, French actress, singer and dancer (died 2017)
May 3 – Leopoldo Trieste, Italian actor, film director and script writer (died 2003)
May 5 - June Lang, American actress (died 2005)
May 7 - David Tomlinson, English actor and comedian (died 2000)
May 10 – Margo, Mexican actress and dancer (died 1985)
May 16 – George Gaynes, Dutch-American singer, actor, and voice artist (died 2016)
May 18 – James Donald, Scottish actor (died 1993)
May 21 – Raymond Burr, Canadian actor (died 1993)
May 22 -
Nathan Davis (actor), American actor (died 2008)
Sid Melton, American actor (died 2011)
May 25 – Steve Cochran, American actor (died 1965)
June 2 - Max Showalter, American actor and musician (died 2000)
June 3 – Leo Gorcey, actor, comedian (died 1969)
June 7 – Dean Martin, American singer, actor, and comedian (died 1995)
June 8 – George D. Wallace, American actor (died 2005)
June 18
Richard Boone, American actor (died 1981)
Ross Elliott, American character actor (died 1999)
June 22 – Russell Wade, American actor (died 2006)
June 30
Lena Horne, American singer, actress, dancer and civil rights activist (died 2010)
Susan Hayward, American actress (died 1975)
July 1 – Virginia Dale, American actress (died 1994)
July 8 – Faye Emerson, American actress (died 1983)
July 17 – Phyllis Diller, American stand-up comedian, actress, author, musician and visual artist (died 2012)
July 26 – Lorna Gray, American actress (died 2017)
July 27 – Bourvil, French actor and singer (died 1970)
August 6 – Robert Mitchum, American actor (died 1997)
August 8 – Earl Cameron, Bermudian actor (died 2020)
August 12 – Marjorie Reynolds, American actress (died 1997)
August 13 – Gloria Dickson, American actress (died 1945)
August 17 – Gianni Agus, Italian actor (died 1994)
August 25 – Mel Ferrer, American actor, director, and producer (died 2008)
September 9 – Rolf Wenkhaus, German child actor (died 1942)
September 11 – Herbert Lom, Czech-British actor (died 2012)
September 18 - June Foray, American voice actress (died 2017)
October 2 – Charles Drake, American actor (died 1994)
October 7
Helmut Dantine, Austrian-American actor (died 1982)
June Allyson, American actress (died 2006)
October 11 - J. Edward McKinley, American character actor (died 2004)
October 16 – Alice Pearce, American actress (died 1966)
October 17 – Marsha Hunt, American actress (died 2022)
October 22 – Joan Fontaine, British-American actress (died 2013)
October 24 – John Alvin, American actor (died 2009)
October 26 – Virgílio Teixeira, Portuguese actor (died 2010)
November 2 – Ann Rutherford, Canadian-American actress (died 2012)
November 4 –
Leonardo Cimino, American actor (died 2012)
Virginia Field, British actress (died 1992)
November 13 – Robert Sterling, American actor (died 2006)
November 30 - Ilse Steppat, German actress (died 1969)
December 7 – Hurd Hatfield, American actor (died 1998)
December 12 – Margaret Marquis, Canadian-American actress (died 1993)
December 13 - John Hart, American actor (died 2009)
December 18 - Ossie Davis, American actor, director, writer, and activist (died 2005)
December 22 – Frankie Darro, American actor (died 1976)
December 28 - Kim Chan, Chinese-American actor and producer (died 2008)
Deaths
February 21 – Fred Mace, 38, American actor & comedian, What Happened to Jones, His Last Scent, A Lover's Might, The Love Comet
March 6 – Valdemar Psilander, 32, Danish actor, Rytterstatuen, Lykken, Lydia, Klovnen, Favoriten, In Defense of a Nation, John Redmond, the Evangelist
July 2 – Herbert Beerbohm Tree, 64, English stage & screen actor, Beerbohm Tree, The Great English Actor; Henry VIII; Macbeth; Trilby; The Old Folks at Home
October 13 – Florence La Badie, 29, American actress, The Man Without a Country, War and the Woman, The Woman in White, When Love Was Blind
October 25 – Jack Standing, 31, English actor, With Hoops of Steel, The Curse of Eve, The Innocent Sinner, The Price of Her Soul, One Touch of Sin
November 5 – Howell Hansel, 46, American actor and director
November 18 – Nino Oxilia, 28, Italian director, Rapsodia satanica, Blue Blood
December 20 – Eric Campbell, 38, Scottish actor, The Immigrant, Behind the Screen, The Count, Easy Street, The Adventurer(short), The Cure(short)
Film debuts
Maude Allen – The Moth
Mabel Ballin - When Bobby Broke His Arm
Wesley Barry - Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Marjorie Bennett – The Girl, Glory
Mercedes Brignone - Hamlet
Eduardo Ciannelli – The Food Gamblers
Jackie Coogan – Skinner's Baby
Ricardo Cortez - The Fringe of Society
Marion Davies – Runaway Romany
Vittorio De Sica – The Clemenceau Affair
Jean Del Val - The Fortunes of Fifi
Cleo Desmond - The Easiest Way
Rachel Devirys – La grande vedette
Richard Dix – One of Many
Annie Esmond – Dawn
Fritz Feld – The Golem and the Dancing Girl
Helen Ferguson – Filling His Own Shoes
John Ford (director) – Straight Shooting
J. Morris Foster - The Gray Ghost
Mona Geijer-Falkner – Alexander den store
Ferdinand Gottschalk – Please Help Emily
Ray Hallor - Kidnapped
Charles Halton – The Adventurer
Taylor Holmes – Fools for Luck
Leslie Howard – The Happy Warrior
Isabel Jeans – The Profligate
Buck Jones – A Rough Shod Fighter
Buster Keaton – The Butcher Boy
Madge Kennedy – Baby Mine
Raymond Lee - The Babes in the Woods
Bela Lugosi – Leoni Leo
Bert Lytell – The Lone Wolf
May McAvoy – Hate
Rex McDougall - Please Help Emily
Bull Montana - In Again, Out Again
Chester Morris – An Amateur Orphan
Pinna Nesbit - The Page Mystery
ZaSu Pitts – Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Marjorie Rambeau – The Greater Woman
Forrest Seabury - The Girl and the Crisis
Gustav von Seyffertitz – Down to Earth
Henry Stephenson – The Spreading Dawn
Zeffie Tilbury - Blind Man's Luck
Virginia Valli - Filling His Own Shoes
Amy Veness – Please Help Emily
Clifton Webb – National Red Cross Pageant
Marjorie Wood – National Red Cross Pageant
Loretta Young – The Primrose Ring
References
External links
List of 1917 films at IMDb
List of 1917 deaths at IMDb
List of 1917 births at IMDb
Category:Film by year