The year 1919 in film involved some significant events.
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Top-grossing films (U.S.) The top six 1919 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows: +Highest-grossing films of 1919 Rank Title Studio Domestic rentals 1Male and FemaleParamount $1,256,267 2Daddy-Long-LegsFirst National $1,250,000Quigley Publishing Company "The All Time Best Sellers", International Motion Picture Almanac 1937–38 (1938) p 942 accessed January 28, 2017 3The Miracle Man Paramount $1,000,000 4Broken BlossomsUnited Artists $600,000p30-31 5Don't Change Your HusbandParamount $292,394 6For Better, for Worse $256,072
Events February 5 – Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D. W. Griffith launch United Artists. March – Oscar Micheaux premieres The Homesteader, the first feature-length race film, starring pioneering African American actress Evelyn Preer, becoming the first African American to produce and direct a motion picture. May 13 – D. W. Griffith's first film to be released by United Artists, Broken Blossoms, has its premiere in New York City. August 29 – The Miracle Man displayed Lon Chaney's talent for make-up and made him famous as a character actor. September 1 – United Artists release their first film, His Majesty, the American starring Douglas Fairbanks. September 18 – Ufa-Palast am Zoo in Berlin opens rebuilt as a permanent cinema with the première of Ernst Lubitsch's Madame Dubarry. September 25 – Dalagang Bukid (The Country Maiden), the first Filipino feature-length film made in the Philippines, released. October 24 – The Capitol Theatre in New York City becomes one of the largest cinemas in the world with 4,000 seats. November 16 – Constance Talmadge becomes a star with the release of A Virtuous Vamp. November 23 – Cecil B. DeMille's Male and Female is released and grosses $1,256,226.59, establishing Gloria Swanson as a worldwide star. Harold Lloyd begins holding test screenings of his films and modifying them based on audience feedback, a technique which continues in use. Tri-Ergon sound-on-film technology is developed by three German inventors, Josef Engl, Hans Vogt (engineer), and Joseph Massole; however, the era of sound films is over 6 years away.
Notable films released in 1919 around the world
A Anne of Green Gables, directed by William Desmond Taylor; starring Mary Miles Minter and Paul Kelly The Avalanche directed by George Fitzmaurice starring Elsie Ferguson L'atleta fantasma/ The Ghost Athlete (Italian), directed by Raimondo Scotti, starring Mario Guaita-Ausonia and Elsa Zara, features a masked superhero/ wrestler characterWorkman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 203. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
B The Beetle, directed by Alexander Butler – (GB) based on the 1897 novel The Beetle: A Mystery by Richard Marsh The Belle of New York, directed by Julius Steger; starring Marion Davies The Better 'Ole – (GB) Blind Husbands, directed by and starring Erich von Stroheim Bolshevism on Trial, directed by Harley Knoles The Boy in Blue (Knabe in Blau), directed by F. W. Murnau – (Germany) Broken Blossoms, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Lillian Gish and Richard Barthelmess Bumping into Broadway, starring Harold Lloyd and Bebe Daniels
C Captain Kidd's Kids, a Harold Lloyd short The Cinema Murder, directed by George D. Baker; starring Marion Davies Country Maiden (Dalagang Bukid), directed by José Nepomuceno; starring Atang de la Rama – Philippines Creaking Stairs (aka Dearie) directed by Rupert Julian for Universal Pictures, starring Mary MacLaren and Herbert PriorWorkman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 205. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
D Daddy-Long-Legs, starring Mary Pickford Damaged Goods, directed by Alexander Butler – (GB) Dance of Death/ Totentanz (German) written by Fritz Lang, directed by Otto Rippert, starring Werner KraussWorkman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 206. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2. The Dark Star, directed by Allan Dwan; starring Marion Davies and Norman Kerry The Delicious Little Devil, starring Mae Murray and Rudolph Valentino The Devil's Locksmith (Austrian) directed by Franz Ferdinand, starring Ferdinand and Herr Ruibar Different from the Others, directed by Richard Oswald, starring Conrad Veidt – (Germany) The Doll, directed by Ernst Lubitsch – (Germany) Don't Change Your Husband, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Gloria Swanson
E The Echo of Youth, directed by Ivan Abramson
F The Face at the Window (Australian) directed by Charles Villiers, starring D.B. O'Conner, Agnes Dobson and Claude Turton, based on the 1897 stage play by F. Brooke Warren The False Faces, directed by Irvin Willat, starring Henry B. Walthall and Lon Chaney The First Men in the Moon – (GB)
G Getting Mary Married, directed by Allan Dwan; starring Marion Davies and Matt Moore The Grim Game, starring Harry Houdini
H The Haunted Bedroom (aka The Ghost of Whispering Oaks) directed by Fred Niblo for Thomas H. Ince, starring Enid Bennett (Niblo's wife) and Dorcas Matthews Haunting Shadows, directed by Henry King, starring H. B. Warner and Edward Peil Sr., based on the 1906 novel The House of a Thousand Candles by Meredith NicholsonWorkman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 222. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2. Hawthorne of the U.S.A. directed by James Cruze, starring Wallace Reid Heart o' the Hills directed by Sidney Franklin, starring Mary Pickford Here Comes the Bride directed by John S. Robertson, starring John Barrymore, Faire Binney His Majesty, the American, starring Douglas Fairbanks The Homesteader, directed by Oscar Micheaux, starring Evelyn Preer
I Intoxication, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Asta Nielsen (Germany)
J The Jack of Hearts, starring Hoot Gibson J'accuse (French), written and directed by Abel Gance for Pathe Films – (France) starring Romuald Joubé, Severin-Mars, and Maryse Dauvray; this was Gance's most acclaimed film and he remade it with sound in 1938 Juan Sin Ropa, Argentine film directed by Georges Benoît, starring Camila Quiroga and Héctor G. Quiroga, and produced by Quiroga-Benoît Film, a company made up of the three of them. It was one of the great successes of Argentina's silent film boom of the mid-to-late 1910s and continues to be celebrated retrospectively.
K The Knickerbocker Buckaroo, starring Douglas Fairbanks
L The Life Line, directed by Maurice Tourneur, starring Wallace Beery Lilith and Ly (Austrian) written by Fritz Lang, directed by Erich Kober, starring Elga Beck and Ernst Escherich The Lost Battalion The Love Cheat, starring June Caprice and Creighton Hale Love's Prisoner, starring Olive Thomas Lucrezia Borgia (Italian) directed by Augusto Genina, starring Diana Karenne
M Madame Dubarry, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Pola Negri and Emil Jannings – (Germany) Madness / Wahnsinn (German) produced and directed by Conrad Veidt, who also starred in the film; adapted from a novel by Kurt Muenzner Male and Female, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Gloria Swanson and Thomas Meighan The Master Mystery, (serial), starring Harry Houdini The Miracle Man, starring Thomas Meighan, Lon Chaney and Betty Compson The Mistress of the World, directed by Joe May (Weimar Republic) The Monkey's Paw (British), lost film based on the story by W. W. Jacobs first published by 1902, and the related one-act stage play written by Louis N. Parker in 1907 My Lady's Garter, directed by Maurice Tourneur My Wife, the Movie Star, directed by Ernst Lubitsch (Germany)
N Nabeshima Neko Sodo (Japanese) a ghost-cat film produced by Nikkatsu Films, starring Matsunosuke Onoe, based on the Kabuki play by Joko Segawa IIIWorkman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 209. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2. Okazaki Kaibyo-den (Japanese) starring Matsunosuke Onoe, another ghost-cat movie based on an early 1820s Japanese novel (which was adapted as a Kabuki play in 1827)
O The Oyster Princess (Die Austerprinzessin) – (Germany)
P The Phantom Honeymoon, written and directed by J. Searle Dawley (who directed the 1910 Thomas Edison Frankenstein), starring Leon Dadmun and Marguerite Marsh The Plague of Florence / Die Pest in Florenz (German) written by Fritz Lang, directed by Otto Rippert, starring Otto Mannstaedt and Anders Wikman; this was Fritz Lang's adaptation of The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe
R Ravished Armenia (aka Auction of Souls) – directed by Oscar Apfel, starring Aurora Mardiganian The Roaring Road, directed by James Cruze, starring Wallace Reid
S Sahara, starring Louise Glaum, written by C. Gardner Sullivan Satanas / Satan (German) written by Robert Wiene, directed by F. W. Murnau, starring Fritz Kortner and Conrad Veidt; a small fragment of this film still exists at the Cinémathèque FrançaiseWorkman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 210. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2. The Sentimental Bloke – (Australia) Sir Arne's Treasure (Herr Arnes pengar), directed by Mauritz Stiller, starring Richard Lund – (Sweden) A Society Exile directed by George Fitzmaurice starring Elsie Ferguson Sons of Ingmar (Ingmarssönerna), directed by Victor Sjöström – (Sweden) South (documentary of Sir Ernest Shackleton's Endurance Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition), filmed by Frank Hurley – (GB)
T The Test of Honor, directed by John S. Robertson, starring John Barrymore, and Constance Binney The Thirteenth Chair, directed by Leonce Perret, starring Yvonne Delva and Creighton Hale, based on a play by Bayard Veiller; this film was later remade by Tod Browning in 1929 with sound To Let (British) short ghost film directed by James Reardon, starring Reardon and Peggy PattersonWorkman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 211. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2. The Trembling Hour, directed by George Siegmann for Universal Films, starring Kenneth Harlan and Helen Jerome Eddy; parts of this film were shot in San Quentin State Prison in California True Heart Susie, starring Lillian Gish and Bobby Harron The Twin Pawns (aka The Curse of Greed) written and directed by Leonce Perret, starring Mae Murray (playing twins) and Warner Oland, based on the Wilkie Collins novel The Woman in White
V The Valley of the Giants, directed by James Cruze, starring Wallace Reid La Venganza de Don Silvestre, directed by José Nepomuceno – (Philippines) Victory, directed by Maurice Tourneur, starring Lon Chaney, Seena Owen, Wallace Beery, Jack Holt
W Weird Tales/ Unheimliche Geschichten/ Uncanny Tales (German) horror anthology written and directed by Richard Oswald, starring Conrad Veidt and Anita Berber; composed of 5 weird stories adapted from the works of Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson and others When the Clouds Roll By, starring Douglas Fairbanks The White Heather, directed by Maurice Tourneur The Wicked Darling, directed by Tod Browning, starring Lon Chaney and Priscilla Dean The Witness for the Defense starring Elsie Ferguson and Warner Oland
Y Yankee Doodle in Berlin, directed by F. Richard Jones, starring Bothwell Browne, Ford Sterling, Marie Prevost, produced by Mack Sennett You're Fired, directed by James Cruze, starring Wallace Reid & Wanda Hawley
Comedy film series Only the films of the series released in 1919 are collected.
Buster Keaton (1917–1941)
Films starring Roscoe Arbuckle, featuring Buster Keaton released in 1919: September 7: Back Stage a "Fatty" Arbuckle / Buster Keaton short. October 26: The Hayseed as a Manager, general store.
Charlie Chaplin (1914–1923)