1899 in film explained

The following is an overview of the events of 1899 in film, including a list of films released and notable births.

Events

• September
  • King John, a silent compilation of three short scenes from a forthcoming stage production by Herbert Beerbohm Tree with film direction by William Kennedy Dickson and Walter Pfeffer Dando, is filmed in London, the first known film based on a Shakespeare play.
  • Mitchell and Kenyon of Blackburn in the north of England release three fiction films under the 'Norden' brand which attract national attention – The Tramp's Surprise, The Tramps and the Artist and Kidnapping by Indians, the latter being the first Western.
• November – The oldest surviving Japanese film, Momijigari, is shot by Tsunekichi Shibata in Tokyo as a record of kabuki actors Onoe Kikugorō V and Ichikawa Danjūrō IX performing a scene from the play Momijigari.
• T. C. Hepworth invents Biokam,^[1] a 17.5 mm format which also is the first format to have a center perforation.
• John Alfred Prestwich invents a 13 mm amateur format.^[2]

Films released in 1899

• Beauty and the Beast, produced for Pathe (French)^[3]
• The Biter Bit, produced by Bamforth & Co Ltd
• Cagliostro's Mirror, directed by George Melies
• Cinderella (Cendrillon), directed by Georges Méliès
• Cleopatra, directed by George Melies, later re-released as Cleopatra's Tomb^[4]
• Cripple Creek Bar-Room Scene, produced by Edison Studios
• The Demon Barber, produced by American Mutoscope
• The Devil in a Convent, directed by Georges Méliès, later re-released as The Sign of the Cross
• The Dreyfus Affair, a series of docudramas directed by Georges Méliès
• The Haunted House, directed by Siegmund Lubin
• How Would You Like to Be the Ice Man?
• The Jeffries-Sharkey Fight, a documentary that is in all likelihood lost; running over two hours, this is one of the oldest feature films
• Kidnapping by Indians
• King John
• The Kiss in the Tunnel, directed by George Albert Smith; has been cited as cinema's first example of narrative editing
• Major Wilson's Last Stand
• A Midnight Episode, directed by George Melies, aka A Good Bed
• The Miser's Doom (British), directed by Walter R. Booth
• A Mysterious Portrait, directed by Georges Méliès
• The Pillar of Fire (aka The Column of Fire), directed by George Melies, adapting a scene from the novel "She" by H. Rider Haggard^[5]
• Raising Spirits, directed by George Melies

Births

Month	Date	Name	Country	Profession	Died
January	6		US	Actress
30		UK	Actress
February	6		Mexico	Actor
15		US	Actress
21		Sweden	Actress
22		US	Actor, Screenwriter
March	6		US	Actor
14		Norway	Actress
23		Germany	Actress
27		US	Actress
April	19		US	Actor
26		US	Actor
May	10		US	Actor, Dancer
June	4		US	Actor
15		Sweden	Actor
30		US	Actress
July	1		UK	Actor
7		US	Director
14		US	Actress
17		US	Actor
August	9		US	Actor
13		UK	Director
16		US	Actor
19		US	Actress
28		France	Actor
September	1		US	Actor
9		US	Actor
November	6		Austria-Hungary	Actor
11		US	Actor
17		Canada	Sound Engineer
21		US	Actress
December	8		Canada	Actor
16		UK	Actor, Playwright, Composer
25		US	Actor

External links

• • List of 1899 films at IMDb
• List of 1899 deaths at IMDb
• List of 1899 births at IMDb

Notes and References

1. Book: Abel, Richard. Encyclopedia of Early Cinema. 2010. Routledge. London and New York. 978-0415778565. 26.
2. Web site: Herbert. Stephen. John Alfred Prestwich. Who's Who of Victorian Cinema. 2013-02-24.
3. Book: Haase . Donald . The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales: A-F . 2008 . Greenwood Publishing Group . 978-0-313-33442-9 . 386 . en.
4. Kinnard,Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. . Page 12.
5. Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. .