1912 in film
The year 1912 in film involved some significant events.
Events
- February – Babelsberg Studio outside Berlin begins operation with the shooting of The Dance of the Dead by Danish director Urban Gad, starring Asta Nielsen.
- April 15 – Sinking of the Titanic: British passenger liner Titanic sinks having struck an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean on her maiden voyage from the United Kingdom to the United States, killing more than 1,500. This is depicted in many works of popular culture, including films, beginning with the May 16 U.S. release Saved from the Titanic, starring and co-written by Dorothy Gibson, who is herself a survivor of the disaster.
- April 30 – Universal Film Manufacturing Company is founded in New York, the oldest surviving film studio in the United States.
- May 8 – Famous Players Film Company, the forerunner of Paramount Pictures, is founded by Adolph Zukor.
- May 18 – Shree Pundalik by Dadasaheb Torne, the first Indian film, is released.
- June 8 – New York Motion Picture Company is merged with Universal, giving Universal a studio in Edendale, Los Angeles.
- July 4 – Mack Sennett, who has previously worked as an actor and comedy director with D. W. Griffith, forms a new company with New York City entrepreneur Adam Kessel, Keystone Studios. It will play an important role in developing slapstick comedy as the home to the Keystone Cops, English actor Charlie Chaplin, and others.
- July 12 – Queen Elizabeth is the first film released by Famous Players.
- July 26 – Edison Studios releases What Happened to Mary, the first ever motion picture serial.
- Edison introduces the Home Kinetoscope, a home film-projector which uses a 22 mm print consisting of three rows of frames.
- Pathé releases Pathe Kok, their first entry into the amateur market, with a gauge of 28 mm.
- Alexander F. Victor improves on the 17.5 mm format with his Duoscope, which uses two center perforations instead of the typical one.
- Bell & Howell introduce the first all-metal camera, the 2709 35mm.
Notable films
Films produced in the United States unless stated otherwiseA
- At It Again, directed by and starring Mack Sennett, with Mabel Normand
B
- The Beautiful Leukanida , directed by Władysław Starewicz –
C
- The Cameraman's Revenge , directed by Władysław Starewicz –
- The Charge of the Light Brigade, directed by J. Searle Dawley
- Cleopatra, directed by Charles L. Gaskill, starring Helen Gardner
- The Conquest of the Pole , directed by Georges Méliès –
- Custer's Last Fight, directed by Francis Ford
D
- A Dash Through the Clouds, directed by Mack Sennett, starring Mabel Normand and American aviation pioneer Philip Parmelee
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, directed by Lucius Henderson, starring James Cruze, based on the 1886 novella by Robert Louis Stevenson
F
- For His Son, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Blanche Sweet
- For the Cause of the South, directed by Bannister Merwin
- Friends, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Mary Pickford, Lionel Barrymore and Harry Carey
- From the Manger to the Cross, directed by Sidney Olcott
- From the Submerged, directed by Theodore Wharton
H
- How a Mosquito Operates, directed by Winsor McCay
I
- In Nacht und Eis , directed by Mime Misu –
- The Independence of Romania , directed by Aristide Demetriade –
- The Invaders, directed by Francis Ford and Thomas H. Ince
K
- The Knight of the Snows , directed by Georges Méliès –
L
- The Land Beyond the Sunset, directed by Harold M. Shaw
M
- Making an American Citizen, directed by Alice Guy-Blaché
- Man's Genesis, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Mae Marsh and Robert Harron
- The Miracle, directed by Michel-Antoine Carré, based on the 1911 play by Karl Vollmöller –
- Das Mirakel , directed by Mime Misu, based on the 1911 play by Karl Vollmöller –
- The Musketeers of Pig Alley, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Lillian Gish
N
- The New York Hat, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Mary Pickford and Lionel Barrymore
O
- Oliver Twist, directed by Thomas Bentley, based on the 1838 novel by Charles Dickens –
Q
- Queen Elizabeth , directed by Louis Mercanton and Henri Desfontaines, starring Sarah Bernhardt –
R
- Richard III, directed by André Calmettes and James Keane, starring Frederick Warde, based on the 16th-century play by William Shakespeare –
S
- Saved from the Titanic, directed by Étienne Arnaud, starring Dorothy Gibson
- The Star of Bethlehem, directed by Lawrence Marston
U
- An Unseen Enemy, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish and Harry Carey
V
- The Voyage of the Bourrichon Family , directed by Georges Méliès –
W
- The Water Nymph, directed by Mack Sennett, starring Mabel Normand
- What Happened to Mary, film serial directed by Ashley Miller and Charles Brabin, starring Mary Fuller
- With Our King and Queen Through India, documentary produced by Charles Urban –
Births
- January 8 – José Ferrer, Puerto Rican-American actor and director
- January 13 – Paul Birch, American actor
- February 4 – James Craig, American actor
- February 5 – Willard Parker, American actor
- February 19 – Saul Chaplin, American film composer
- February 19 – Dorothy Janis, American actress
- February 21 – Arline Judge, American actress
- February 26 – Dane Clark, American actor
- March 22 – Karl Malden, American actor
- April 5 – Gordon Jones, American actor
- April 8 – Sonja Henie, Norwegian Olympic ice-skater, actress
- April 11 – John Larkin, American actor
- April 12 – Walt Gorney, Austrian-American actor
- April 16 – Catherine Scorsese, American actress
- April 18 – Wendy Barrie, English actress
- April 29 – Richard Carlson, American actor and director
- May 9 – Pedro Armendáriz, Mexican actor
- May 18 – Perry Como, American singer, actor
- May 23
- *Marius Goring, English actor
- *John Payne, American actor
- May 29 – Iris Adrian, American actress
- May 31 – Dave O'Brien, American actor, director, writer
- June 1 – Doris Wishman, American filmmaker
- June 26 – Jay Silverheels, Canadian actor
- July 4 – Viviane Romance, French actress
- July 5 – Ilona Massey, Hungarian-born American actress
- August 1 – Henry Jones, American actor
- August 12 – Samuel Fuller, American director
- August 15 – Wendy Hiller, English actress
- August 23 – Gene Kelly, American actor
- August 25 – Ted Key, writer
- August 29 – Barry Sullivan, American actor
- September 5
- *Kristina Söderbaum, Swedish-born German actress
- *Frank Thomas, American animator
- September 10 – Mary Walter, Filipina actress
- September 21 – Chuck Jones, American animator
- September 23 – Martha Scott, American actress
- September 29 – Michelangelo Antonioni, Italian director
- October 10 – Rudy Bond, American actor
- October 11 – Betty Noyes American singer/dubber
- October 12 – Peer Guldbrandsen, Danish screenwriter, actor, film director and producer
- October 13 – Cornel Wilde, Hungarian-born American actor
- October 31 –
- * Dale Evans, American actress
- * Ollie Johnston, American animator
- November 5 – Paul Dehn, English screenwriter and poet
- November 8 – June Havoc, American actress
- November 21 – Eleanor Powell, American dancer, actress
- November 24 – Garson Kanin, American writer
- December 11 – Carlo Ponti, Italian producer
Deaths
- March 30 – Karl May, writer, Apache Gold
- April 15 – Jacques Futrelle, writer, The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes,
- April 20 – Bram Stoker, writer, Dracula
- May 14 – August Strindberg, writer, Miss Julie
- May 19 – Bolesław Prus, writer, Faraon
- June 1 – Philip Orin Parmelee, actor ; pioneer aviator for the Wright brothers
- July 1 – Harriet Quimby, writer ; actress in one film; pioneer American aviator
- December 14 – Harry Cashman, comedy producer and actor for the Chicago-based Essanay company.
Film debuts
- John Barrymore – The Dream of a Moving Picture Director
- May Buckley - Paid in His Own Coin
- Frank Borzage – On Secret Service (short)
- Charlotte Burton – The Would-Be Heir
- Lon Chaney – The Honor of the Family (short)
- Dorothy Gish – An Unseen Enemy (short)
- Lillian Gish – An Unseen Enemy (short)
- Louise Glaum – Brave Heart's Hidden Love
- Mildred Harris – The Post Telegrapher
- Cleo Madison – A Business Buccaneer (short)
- Mary Miles Minter – The Nurse (short)
- Antonio Moreno – Iola's Promise
- Warner Oland – Pilgrim's Progress
- Olga Petrova – Departure of a Grand Old Man (short)
- Victor Sjöström – director, A Ruined Life; actor, The Gardener
- Frederick Warde – Richard III