The year 1918 in film involved some significant events.
Events
- Following litigation for anti-trust activities, the US Supreme Court orders the Motion Picture Patents Company to disband.
- 28 mm safety standard film, designed by Alexander Victor, becomes one of the earliest film formats to use "safety film" bases in order to safeguard the amateur market against nitrate fires.
- Warner Bros. Pictures is established.
Top grossing films (U.S.)
Notable films released in 1918
U.S.A. unless stated
- Alraune, directed by Michael Curtiz - (Hungary)
- Alraune, die Henkerstochter, genannt die rote Hanne - (Germany)
- Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley, directed by Marshall Neilan, starring Mary Pickford
- Among the Cannibal Isles of the South Pacific
- Are Crooks Dishonest?, a Harold Lloyd short
- Arizona, starring Douglas Fairbanks
- The Bell Boy, a 'Fatty' Arbuckle / Buster Keaton short
- The Blue Bird, directed by Maurice Tourneur
- The Bond, starring Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Sydney Chaplin
- Bound in Morocco, directed by Allan Dwan, starring Douglas Fairbanks
- Carmen, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Pola Negri (Germany)
- The Cook, a 'Fatty' Arbuckle/Buster Keaton short
- A Dog's Life, a Charlie Chaplin short
- The Eyes of Julia Deep, starring Mary Miles Minter
- Fabiola directed by Enrico Guazzoni - (Italy)
- Father Sergius, directed by Yakov Protazanov, starring Ivan Mozzukhin - (U.S.S.R.)
- The Ghost of Slumber Mountain
- The Goddess of Lost Lake, starring Louise Glaum
- Headin' South, directed by Allan Dwan, starring Douglas Fairbanks
- The Heart of Humanity, starring Erich von Stroheim
- Hearts of the World, directed by D.W. Griffith, starring Lillian Gish and Dorothy Gish
- The House of Mirth, directed by Albert Capellani, starring Katherine Corri Harris
- Huck and Tom
- I Don't Want to Be a Man (Ich möchte kein Mann sein), directed by Ernst Lubitsch - (Germany)
- The Lamb, a Harold Lloyd short.
- Men Who Have Made Love to Me, starring Mary MacLane
- Mickey, directed by F. Richard Jones, starring Mabel Normand
- M'Liss, directed by Marshall Neilan, starring Mary Pickford
- Moonshine, a 'Fatty' Arbuckle/Buster Keaton short
- On the Quiet, directed by Chester Withey, starring Jack Barrymore
- Out of the Inkwell, an animated film directed by Max Fleischer
- Out West, a 'Fatty' Arbuckle/Buster Keaton short
- The Outlaw and His Wife (Berg-Ejvind och hans hustru), directed by & starring Victor Sjöström - (Sweden)
- The Romance of Tarzan, starring Elmo Lincoln
- Salomé, directed by J. Gordon Edwards, starring Theda Bara
- Shoulder Arms, directed by Charlie Chaplin, starring Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Sydney Chaplin
- The Sinking of the Lusitania, a short animated propaganda film by Winsor McCay
- Stella Maris, directed by Marshall Neilan, starring Mary Pickford
- Tarzan of the Apes, directed by Scott Sidney, starring Elmo Lincoln and Enid Markey
- The Tenth Symphony (La Dixième Symphonie), directed by Abel Gance, starring Séverin-Mars and Jean Toulout - (France)
- Tih Minh, directed by Louis Feuillade, starring René Cresté - (France)
- Triple Trouble, a Charlie Chaplin short.
- Vendemiaire, directed by Louis Feuillade - (France)
- Victory and Peace, directed by Herbert Brenon (GB)
- Under the Yoke, directed by J. Gordon Edwards, starring Theda Bara
- Under the Greenwood Tree directed by Emile Chautard starring Elsie Ferguson
- Why Pick on Me?, starring Harold Lloyd and Bebe Daniels
Comedy film series
- Harold Lloyd (1913â€"1938)
- Charlie Chaplin (1914â€"1940)
- Lupino Lane (1915â€"1939)
- Buster Keaton (1917â€"1944)
Births
- January 29 - John Forsythe, actor (died 2010)
- February 4 - Ida Lupino, actress, director (died 1995)
- February 16 - Patty Andrews, singer, actress, member of The Andrews Sisters (died 2013)
- March 1 - Roger Delgado, actor (died 1973)
- March 9 - Mickey Spillane, writer, actor (died 2006)
- April 17
- Anne Shirley, actress (died 1993)
- William Holden, actor (died 1981)
- May 14 - June Duprez, actress (died 1984)
- May 26 - John Dall, actor (died 1971)
- June 8 - Robert Preston, actor, singer (died 1987)
- June 11 - Jane Bryan, actress (died 2009)
- July 6 - Sebastian Cabot, actor (died 1977)
- July 14 - Ingmar Bergman, actor, writer, director (died 2007)
- July 18 - Jane Frazee, singer, actress (died 1985)
- July 26 - Marjorie Lord, actress
- August 9 - Robert Aldrich, director (died 1983)
- August 17 - Evelyn Ankers, actress (died 1985)
- September - Rin Tin Tin, canine actor (died 1932)
- September 13 - Dick Haymes, actor, singer (died 1980)
- September 21 - Rand Brooks, actor (died 2003)
- September 28 - Arnold Stang, actor and comedian (died 2009)
- October 9 - Lila Kedrova, actress (died 2000)
- October 13 - Robert Walker, actor (died 1951)
- October 17 - Rita Hayworth, actress (died 1987)
- October 26 - Diana Serra Cary, (Baby Peggy) actress
- October 27 - Teresa Wright, actress (died 2005)
- November 4
- Art Carney, actor (died 2003)
- Cameron Mitchell, actor (died 1994)
- November 30 - Efrem Zimbalist Jr., actor (died 2014)
- December 15 - Jeff Chandler, actor (died 1961)
Deaths
- January 12 - Simeon Wiltsie, American actor
- February 1 - Joseph Kaufman, 36, American silent film actor & director, married to film star Ethel Clayton
- February 15 - Vernon Castle, 30, American dancer & writer
- March 13 - William Courtleigh, Jr., 26, American actor
- April 30 - "Mother" Mary Maurice, 73, American veteran stage & film actress
- May 19 - S. Rankin Drew, 26, American actor and director.
- June 29 - John van den Broek, 23, Dutch cinematographer
- July 4 - Walter Stradling, 43, British cinematographer
- August 12 - Anna Held, 46, Polish actress & singer
- September 21 - Hal August, 28, American actor; brother of Edwin August
- October 19 - Harold Lockwood, 31, American actor
- October 22 - Julian L'Estrange, 38, English actor
- October 28 - Louise Vale, American actress
- November 6 - William Shea, 67, Scottish veteran film actor & director
- December 6 - Charles Gunn, 35, American actor
- December 29 - Jode Mullally, 32, American actor
Debuts
- Noël Coward - Hearts of the World
- Will Rogers - Laughing Bill Hyde