1897 in film

Events

• May 4th: During a film screening at the Charity Bazaar in Paris, a curtain catches on fire from the ether used to fuel the projector lamp. The fire spreads and becomes catastrophic, ultimately resulting in 126 deaths.
• June 20th: Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee procession filmed.
• Mitchell and Kenyon go into a film-making partnership.
• Enoch Rector develops a 63 mm film format called Veriscope, which films the Corbett-Fitzsimmons championship match.
• Thomas Henry Blair develops a 48 mm film format called Viventoscope.

Films released in 1897

• After The Ball, directed by Georges Méliès. First film to show human nudity.
• L'auberge ensorcelée, directed by Georges Méliès.
• Baignade dans le torrent, directed by Alice Guy-Blaché.
• La Bandera Argentina, believed for a long time to have been the first Argentine film. Now considered lost.
• Buffalo Police on Parade, produced by Edison Studios.
• Chicago Police Parade, directed by Louis Lumière.
• The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight, a documentary directed by Enoch J. Rector. The first film shot in widescreen. At an hour and 40 minutes, it is the first known feature film ever made.
• Cupid and Psyche, produced by Edison Studios.
• The Haverstraw Tunnel
• Horses Loading for Klondike, directed by James H. White.
• Kørsel med Grønlandske Hunde, directed by Peter Elfelt; the first Danish movie sequence ever filmed.
• Leander Sisters, produced by Edison Studios.
• Leaving Jerusalem by Railway, directed by Alexandre Promio and released by the Lumière brothers. May include the first moving camera shot in cinema.
• Lurline Baths, produced by Edison Studios.
• Making Sausages, directed by George Albert Smith.
• The Milker's Mishap, directed by James H. White; it is unknown whether or not this film has survived.
• New Pillow Fight, produced by Siegmund Lubin.
• Niagara Falls, directed by Louis Lumière.
• Old Man Drinking a Glass of Beer, directed by George Albert Smith.
• On the Roofs, directed by Georges Méliès.
• Seminary Girls, directed by James H. White.
• Spanish Bullfight, directed by Louis Lumière
• Sutro Baths, No. 1, produced by Edison Studios.
• The X-Rays, directed by George Albert Smith. Cited as one of the first examples of special effects by jump cut.

Births

• January 3
  • Marion Davies, American actress (died 1961)
  • Pola Negri, Polish-American actress (died 1987)
• January 10 - Lya De Putti, Hungarian actress (died 1931)
• February 10 - Judith Anderson, Australian actress (died 1992)
• February 12 - Vola Vale, American actress (died 1970)
• March 16 - Conrad Nagel, American actor (died 1970)
• June 16 - Elaine Hammerstein, American actress (died 1948)
• June 19 - Moe Howard, American actor and comedian (died 1975)
• June 23 - Alexandru Giugaru, Romanian actor (died 1986)
• July 10 â€" John Gilbert, American actor (died 1936)
• August 31 - Fredric March, American actor (died 1975)
• October 2 - Bud Abbott, American actor (died 1974)
• October 28 - Edith Head, American costume designer (died 1981)
• September 23 - Walter Pidgeon, American actor (died 1984)
• November 13 - Gertrude Olmstead, American actress (died 1975)
• November 25 - Ruth Etting, American actress, singer (died 1978)

References