1910 in film
The year 1910 in film involved some significant events.
Events
- March 10 – Release of In Old California, the first film made in Hollywood, California, directed by D. W. Griffith.
- March 12 – American actress Florence Lawrence becomes "the first true movie star" after movie mogul Carl Laemmle of Independent Moving Pictures names her in advertisements announcing that he has signed the leading lady who has hitherto only been billed as "The Biograph Girl" by Biograph Studios. Until now, studios had a policy of not releasing the names of their players, and prohibiting distributors from revealing the information. Lawrence's first I.M.P. release is The Broken Oath.
- March 18 – The first cinematic version of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is released in the United States by Edison Studios. One of the first horror films, it features actor Charles Ogle as the monster.
- May 6 – Newsreel footage of the funeral of Edward VII in London is shot in Kinemacolor, making it the first color newsreel.
- July – The Johnson-Jeffries Fight footage causes race riots and is banned in the South of the US.
- August 2 – A Danish melodrama, The White Slave Trade , marks the first time film is used to study prostitution.
- August – Kalem Studios director Sidney Olcott becomes the first American to make a motion picture outside of the United States, The Lad from Old Ireland.
- Pathé News is formed in London, producing newsreels and documentaries in the UK until 1970.
- Marcus Loew partners with Adolph Zukor, Joseph Schenck and Nicholas Schenck renaming his theatre chain Loew's Consolidated Enterprises.
Notable films
Films produced in the [List of Americans|American films of 1910|United States] unless stated otherwiseA
- The Abyss, drama directed by Urban Gad, starring Asta Nielsen –
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, fantasy directed by Edwin S. Porter for the Edison Manufacturing Company; based on the 1865 novel by Lewis Carroll
- An Arcadian Maid, drama directed by D. W. Griffith for the Biograph Company, starring Mary Pickford
- As It Is in Life, drama directed by D. W. Griffith for the Biograph Company, starring Mary Pickford
C
- A Christmas Carol, drama directed by J. Searle Dawley for the Edison Manufacturing Company; based on the 1843 novella by Charles Dickens
F
- Frankenstein, horror directed by J. Searle Dawley for the Edison Manufacturing Company, starring Charles Stanton Ogle; based on the 1818 novel by Mary Shelley
- The Fugitive, drama directed by D. W. Griffith for the Biograph Company
H
- The House with Closed Shutters, drama directed by D. W. Griffith for the Biograph Company, starring Henry B. Walthall
I
- In Old California, western directed by D. W. Griffith for the Biograph Company, starring Frank Powell
J
L
- A Lad from Old Ireland, drama directed by Sidney Olcott for the Kalem Company
M
- Marvellous Melbourne, documentary directed by Cosens Spencer for West's Pictures –
R
- Ramona, drama directed by D. W. Griffith for the Biograph Company, starring Mary Pickford and Henry B. Walthall; based on the 1884 novel by Helen Hunt Jackson
T
- Thunderbolt, drama directed by John Gavin for West's Pictures –
- Twelfth Night, romantic comedy directed by Eugene Mullin and Charles Kent for the Vitagraph Company, starring Florence Turner; based on the 17th-century play by William Shakespeare
W
- White Fawn's Devotion, drama directed by James Young Deer for Pathé-Frères
- The White Slave Trade, drama directed by August Blom for Nordisk Film –
- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, fantasy directed by Otis Turner for the Selig Polyscope Company; based on the 1900 novel by L. Frank Baum
Births
- January 3 – John Sturges, American film director
- January 12
- *Patsy Kelly, American actress
- *Luise Rainer, German-born film actress
- January 28 – John Banner, Austrian-American actor
- February 2 – David Sharpe, American actor and stunt performer
- February 8
- *Steffi Duna, Hungarian-born film actress
- *Marc Lawrence, American character actor
- February 10 – Joyce Grenfell, English diseuse, singer, actress and writer
- February 17 – Arthur Hunnicutt, American actor
- February 21 – Paul Bryar, American actor
- February 27
- *Joan Bennett, American actress
- *Wolfgang Preiss, German actor
- March 1 – David Niven, English actor, soldier, raconteur, memoirist and novelist
- March 5 – Sheila Terry, American film actress
- March 8 – Claire Trevor, American actress
- March 17
- *Frank de Kova, American character actor
- *Sari Maritza, British film actress
- *Patrick McVey, American actor
- March 22 – Herbert Rudley, American character actor
- March 23 – Akira Kurosawa, Japanese filmmaker
- March 24 – Richard Conte, American actor
- April 23 – Simone Simon, French film actress
- May 4 – James Ellison, American film actor
- May 11 – Johnnie Davis, American actor, singer and trumpeter
- May 14 – Richard Rober, American actor
- May 15 – Constance Cummings, American-British actress
- May 23 – Scatman Crothers, American actor and musician
- June 3 – Paulette Goddard, American actress and socialite
- June 7 – Arthur Gardner, American actor and film producer
- June 9 – Robert Cummings, American actor
- June 13 – Mary Wickes, American character actress
- June 16 – Ilona Massey, Hungarian-American actress
- June 24 – Martha Sleeper, American actress
- July 4 – Gloria Stuart, American actress, visual artist and activist
- July 11 – Sally Blane, American actress
- July 15 – Ken Lynch, American actor
- July 27 – Lupita Tovar, Mexican-American actress
- July 28 – Bill Goodwin, American radio announcer and actor
- August 4 – Anita Page, American actress
- August 6 – Charles Crichton, English film director and editor
- August 8 – Sylvia Sidney, American actress
- August 12 – Jane Wyatt, American actress
- August 16 – Mae Clarke, American actress
- August 18 – Emile Meyer, American actor
- August 22 – Lucille Ricksen, American actress
- August 30 – Donald Bisset, English actor
- September 9 – Kitty Carlisle, American actress, opera singer, television personality and spokesperson
- September 19 – Margaret Lindsay, American film actress
- September 29 – Virginia Bruce, American actress and singer
- October 8 – Paulette Dubost, French actress
- October 23 – Hayden Rorke, American actor
- October 27 – Jack Carson, Canadian-American actor
- November 26 – Cyril Cusack, Irish actor
- December 4 – Alex North, American composer
- December 7
- *Rod Cameron, Canadian actor
- *Louis Prima, American trumpeter, singer, entertainer, and bandleader
- December 13 – Lillian Roth, American singer and actress
- December 26 – Marguerite Churchill, American actress
- December 31 – Roy Rowland, American film director
Debuts
- Leah Baird – Jean and the Waif
- Carlyle Blackwell – Uncle Tom's Cabin (short)
- Eleanor Caines – The New Boss of Bar X Ranch
- Grace Cunard – The Duke's Plan
- Margarita Fischer – There, Little Girl, Don't Cry
- Helen Gardner – How She Won Him
- Hoot Gibson – Pride of the Range
- Alice Joyce – The Deacon's Daughter
- J. Warren Kerrigan – A Voice from the Fireplace
- Mae Marsh – Ramona (short)
- Asta Nielsen – The Woman Always Pays (short)
- Mabel Normand – Indiscretions of Betty
- Wallace Reid – The Phoenix
- Marin Sais – Twelfth Night
- Norma Talmadge – The Household Pest
- Pearl White – The Missing Bridegroom