1899 in film

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	Phyllis Haver	US	Actress	1960
	24	Beulah Ashley	US	Actress, Screenwriter, script Supervisor	1965	^[6]^[7]^[8]
	30	Martita Hunt	UK	Actress	1969
February	6	Ramon Novarro	Mexico	Actor	1968
	15	Gale Sondergaard	US	Actress	1985
	21	Sigrid Holmquist	Sweden	Actress	1970
	22	George O'Hara	US	Actor, Screenwriter	1966
March	6	Jay C. Flippen	US	Actor	1971
	14	Ada Kramm	Norway	Actress	1981
	23	Dora Gerson	Germany	Actress	1943
	27	Gloria Swanson	US	Actress	1983
April	19	George O'Brien	US	Actor	1985
April	26	Guinn "Big Boy" Williams	US	Actor	1962
May	10	Fred Astaire	US	Actor, Dancer	1987
June	4	Lane Chandler	US	Actor	1972
	15	Einar Hanson	Sweden	Actor	1927
	30	Madge Bellamy	US	Actress	1990
July	1	Charles Laughton	UK	Actor	1962
	7	George Cukor	US	Director	1983
	14	Martha Mansfield	US	Actress	1923
	17	James Cagney	US	Actor	1986
August	9	Paul Kelly	US	Actor	1956
	13	Alfred Hitchcock	UK	Director	1980
	16	Glenn Strange	US	Actor	1973
	19	Colleen Moore	US	Actress	1988
	28	Charles Boyer	France	Actor	1978
September	1	Richard Arlen	US	Actor	1976
September	9	Neil Hamilton	US	Actor	1984
November	6	Francis Lederer	Austria-Hungary	Actor	2000
	11	Pat O'Brien	US	Actor	1983
	17	Douglas Shearer	Canada	Sound Engineer	1971
	21	Jobyna Ralston	US	Actress	1967
December	8	John Qualen	Canada	Actor	1987
	16	Noël Coward	UK	Actor, Playwright, Composer	1973
	25	Humphrey Bogart	US	Actor	1957

External links

References

^ Abel, Richard (2010). Encyclopedia of Early Cinema. London and New York: Routledge. p. 26. ISBN 978-0415778565.
^ Herbert, Stephen. "John Alfred Prestwich". Who's Who of Victorian Cinema. Retrieved 2013-02-24.
^ Haase, Donald (2008). The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales: A-F. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 386. ISBN 978-0-313-33442-9.
^ Kinnard, Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 12.
^ Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
^ "Obituaries: Beulah Ashley". Variety. July 14, 1965. p. 63. ProQuest 1014826554. Beulah Ashley, pioneer screen actress who in later years was a script supervisor at a majority of studios, died after a lengthy illness in Hollywood, July 6. Actor Joe Ashley[sic], a son, survives.
^ "Funeral Slated Monday for Beulah Ashley". Hollywood Citizen-News. July 10, 1965. p. 3. "Funeral services for Beulah Maria Ashley, 66, who died July 6 [...] Born in Meridian, Miss., Mrs. Ashley lived at 5416 La Mirada Ave., Hollywood. She had been a script clerk with Republic Motion Picture Co. for many years. She leaves son, Joel of Hollywood; sisters, Mrs. Inie Hatcher, Mrs. Julia Soresi, Mrs. Louise Lloyd of Los Angeles, and Mrs. Ruth Gerster of Los Angeles."
^ Vazzana, Eugene Michael (1995). Silent Film Necrology: Births and Deaths of Over 9000 Performers, Directors, Producers, and Other Filmmakers of the Silent Era, Through 1993. Jefferson, NC: MacFarland & Company. p. 11. ISBN 9780786401321.

[1] Abel, Richard (2010). Encyclopedia of Early Cinema. London and New York: Routledge. p. 26. ISBN 978-0415778565.

[2] Herbert, Stephen. "John Alfred Prestwich". Who's Who of Victorian Cinema. Retrieved 2013-02-24.

[3] Haase, Donald (2008). The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales: A-F. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 386. ISBN 978-0-313-33442-9.

[4] Kinnard, Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 12.

[5] Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.

[variety_obit-6] "Obituaries: Beulah Ashley". Variety. July 14, 1965. p. 63. ProQuest 1014826554. Beulah Ashley, pioneer screen actress who in later years was a script supervisor at a majority of studios, died after a lengthy illness in Hollywood, July 6. Actor Joe Ashley[sic], a son, survives.

[fsm-7] "Funeral Slated Monday for Beulah Ashley". Hollywood Citizen-News. July 10, 1965. p. 3. "Funeral services for Beulah Maria Ashley, 66, who died July 6 [...] Born in Meridian, Miss., Mrs. Ashley lived at 5416 La Mirada Ave., Hollywood. She had been a script clerk with Republic Motion Picture Co. for many years. She leaves son, Joel of Hollywood; sisters, Mrs. Inie Hatcher, Mrs. Julia Soresi, Mrs. Louise Lloyd of Los Angeles, and Mrs. Ruth Gerster of Los Angeles."

[8] Vazzana, Eugene Michael (1995). Silent Film Necrology: Births and Deaths of Over 9000 Performers, Directors, Producers, and Other Filmmakers of the Silent Era, Through 1993. Jefferson, NC: MacFarland & Company. p. 11. ISBN 9780786401321.

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