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v t e

The year 1911 in film involved some significant events.

Events

• February: The Motion Picture Story Magazine, the first American film fan magazine, is published. It is followed later in the year by Photoplay.
• April 8: Winsor McCay releases his first film Little Nemo, one of the earliest animated films.
• October 23 (October 10 OS): Svetozar Botorić's The Life and Deeds of the Immortal Leader Karađorđe (Život i dela besmrtnog vožda Karađorđa, Живот и дела бесмртног вожда Карађорђа) premieres in Belgrade and becomes the first feature film made in Serbia and the Balkans.
• October 26: Defence of Sevastopol («Оборона Севастополя») premieres at the Crimean palace of Tsar Nicholas II and becomes the first feature-length film made in the Russian Empire and one of the first in the world. It is also the first known film to use a multiple-camera setup (2 cameras)
• October 27: David Horsley's Nestor Motion Picture Company opens the first motion picture studio in Hollywood.
• November: The Kalem Company of New York pays the estate of author Lew Wallace $25,000 in legal settlement for having adapted Ben Hur (1907 film) from his novel without securing prior rights.

Films released in 1911

• Aerial Anarchists
• Alkali Ike's Auto, starring Bronco Billy Anderson
• Les Aventures de Baron de Munchhausen (aka Baron Munchausen), directed by Georges Melies^[1][2]
• The Baby's Ghost (French/ Lux Film)^[3]
• Baseball and Bloomers
• The Battle, directed by D. W. Griffith
• Beneath the Tower Ruins (British-French co-production produced by Charles Urban)^[4]
• The Bells, Australian film in 1911 written and directed by W. J. Lincoln, based on the 1871 play by Leopold Lewis^[5]
• The Bewitched Window (French/ Pathe)^[6]
• Bill Bumper's Bargain, starring Francis X. Bushman as Mephistopheles ^[7]
• Bill Taken for a Ghost (French/ Lux Film) aka Patouillard Fantome, directed by Romeo Bosetti; one of a series of 60 silent films made in France all featuring the comic character Patouillard (the character's name was changed to "Bill" in the US)^[8]
• The Black Arrow, based on the Robert Louis Stevenson novel The Black Arrow^[9]
• Blood Vengeance, Italian film directed by Luigi Maggi, starring Antonietta Calderari, based on a story by Gabriele (Cabiria) D'Anunzio^[10]
• Brown of Harvard
• The Buddhist Priestess
• By the House That Jack Built (Imp/ Universal) directed by Thomas H. Ince, starring Mary Pickford^[11][12]
• Cally's Comet
• The Coffin Ship
• The Colonel and the King
• Courting Across the Court
• The Cowboy and the Lady
• Curse of the Wandering Minstrel (Walturdaw Films)^[13]
• Dandy Dick of Bishopgate, British film directed by Theo Frenkel, shot in the two-color Kinemacolor process^[14]
• David Copperfield (Thanhouser) directed by George O. Nichols^[15]
• Defence of Sevastopol, Russian film directed by Vasili Goncharov^[16]
• The Demon (an Italian/Russian co-production) directed by Giovanni Vitrotti, starring Madame Cemesnova and Mikhail Tamarov, based on a poem by Mikhail Lermontov^[17]
• The Devil as a Lawyer (German/ Messter Films, UFA) ^[18]
• The Devil's Sonata, Danish film based on a musical work by the 18th-century Italian composer Giuseppe Tarantini, plot is similar to the 1894 George du Maurier novel Trilby.^[19]
• The Diabolical Church Window, directed by Georges Melies
• Dr. Charlie is a Great Surgeon (Eclair Prods.)^[20]
• The Dream, directed by Thomas H. Ince, starring Mary Pickford
• Enoch Arden, directed by D. W. Griffith
• An Evil Power (Selig-Polyscope) written and directed by Francis Boggs, starring Sydney Ayres and Frank Clark^[21][22]
• The Fairy Jewel (Italian film directed by Giuseppe de Liguoro)^[23]
• The Fall Of Troy, directed by Giovanni Pastrone
• Faust (British/ Hepworth) directed by Cecil M. Hepworth, starring Hay Plumb and Jack Hulcup (as Mephistopheles).^[24]
• Faust and Marguerite (French/ Gaumont) directed by Jean Durand, starring Gaston Modot ^[25]
• First Indy 500 (First year footage from the auto race. Filmed on May 30, 1911.)
• The Fisherman's Nightmare (French/ Pathe)^[26]
• Flames and Fortune
• For Her Sake
• From Death to Life (Rex Films/ Universal) featured a mad scientist^[27]
• The Ghost's Warning (Edison Prods.) directed by Ashley Miller, starring Mary Fuller, Darwin Karr and Marc McDermott^[28][29]
• The Golden Beetle (Italian/ Cines-Kleine) ran 60 minutes^[30]
• The Haunted Cafe (German film/ Messter) aka The Bewitched Restaurant, produced by Oskar Messter, starring Henny Porten, featured trick photography effects a la Melies^[31]
• The Haunted House (French/ Gaumont)^[32]
• The Haunted House (Universal/ Imp) directed by William F. Haddock, starring King Baggot^[33]
• His Trust, directed by D. W. Griffith
• His Trust Fulfilled, directed by D. W. Griffith. The sequel to Griffith's earlier 1911 short film "His Trust"
• Her Crowning Glory
• The Higher Law
• The Hunchback (British) directed by A. E. Coleby, starring Edwin J. Collins as the hunchback^[34]
• Hypnotism (French/ Lux) starring James Mapelli, based on the 1894 George du Maurier novel Trilby^[35]
• The Inferno (L'Inferno) (Italian) aka Dante's Inferno, a big budget spectacular adapted from Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy; directed by Francesco Bertolini and Giuseppe De Liguoro, starring Salvatore Anzelmo Papa and Arturo Pirovano^[36]
• The Inner Mind (Selig-Polyscope Co.)^[37]
• It Is Never Too Late to Mend (Australian film) written and directed by W. J. Lincoln, based on the 1856 Charles Reade novel, later remade in 1937 starring Tod Slaughter^[38]
• Jones' Nightmare; or, The Lobster Still Pursued Him (British/ Acme Films) directed by Fred Rains (Claude Rains' father) who also starred.^[39][40]
• Kitty in Dreamland (British/ Klein-Urban)^[41]
• The Legend of the Lake (Italian/ Cines Films) based on the Legend of the Undines^[42]
• The Life of a Nun (Danish/ Nordisk) starring Edith Buemann Psilander, possibly the first ever "nunsploitation" film, said to have inspired comic book artist Bob Kane to create a 1940s "Batman" comic book villain called The Monk^[43]
• Little Nemo, silent animated short film by American cartoonist Winsor McCay
• Little Red Riding Hood (British/ C&M Prods.)^[44]
• Little Red Riding Hood (Essanay Films) starring Eva Prout ^[45]
• Little Red Riding Hood (Majestic) starring Mary Pickford^[46]
• The Lobster Nightmare (British/ Walturdaw Films) not to be confused with Jones' Nightmare above.^[47]
• The Lonedale Operator, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Blanche Sweet
• The Love of a Siren, aka Amore di sirena (Italian/ Cines)^[48]
• The Man-Monkey (British/ C&M)^[49]
• The Masque of the Red Death (Italian/ Ambrosio) based on the famous 1842 story by Edgar Allan Poe; said to have influenced Charles Beaumont when he wrote the screenplay for the 1964 Roger Corman-produced remake.^[50]
• The Miser's Heart, directed by D. W. Griffith
• A Modern Yarn (French/ Pathe)^[51]
• The Moonstone (British) produced by Charles Urban, based on the 1868 novel by Wilkie Collins^[52]
• Der Müller und sein Kind (translation from Austrian: The Miller and His Child)
• The Mummy (French/ Pathe)^[53]
• The Mummy (Thanhouser)^[54]
• The Mummy (British/ Charles Urban Films)^[55]
• The Mysterious Stranger (French/ Eclipse)^[56]
• Notre Dame de Paris (French/ Pathe) aka The Hunchback of Notre Dame, directed by Albert Capellani, starring Henri Krauss as Quasimodo and Stacia Mapierkowska as Esmeralda, based on the Victor Hugo novel ^[57]
• The Odyssey (L'Odissea)
• An Old Time Nightmare (Powers Films) features giant birds^[58]
• The Pasha's Daughter
• The Pied Piper of Hamlin (French/ Pathe)^[59]
• The Pied Piper of Hamlin (Thanhouser Prods.)^[60]
• Princess Clementina
• Purgatory (Italian/ Helios Films) directed by Giuseppe Berardi (who also stars) and Arturo Busnego; a sequel to Helios' Inferno (1910).^[61]
• Queen of Spades (Italian/ Cines) based on the 1834 story Pikovaya dama by Russian writer Alexander Pushkin; a lost film.^[62]
• The Railroad Builder
• Rosalie and Spiritisme (French/ Pathe-Lux)^[63]
• Satan Defeated, aka Satan Vaincu (French/ Pathe); a lost film.^[64]
• Satan on Mischief Bent (British) produced by Charles Urban^[65]
• The Saving of Faust (French/ Pathe) ^[66]
• The Scarlet Letter
• She (Thanhouser) written by Theodore Marston, directed by George Nichols, starring Marguerite Snow, James Cruze; based on the 1886 H. Rider Haggard novel^[67]
• The Smuggler
• A Spiritualistic Seance (French/ Pathe)^[68]
• Sweet Memories
• Swords and Hearts, directed by D. W. Griffith
• A Tale of Two Cities
• That's Happiness
• Trilby and Svengali (British/ Kinematograph) produced by Charles Urban, directed by Theo Frankel (who also starred in it); filmed in color; based on the 1894 George du Maurier novel Trilby^[69]
• What Shall We Do with Our Old?
• Willy the Ghost (French/ Eclair Films) aka Willy Fantome, directed by Joseph Faivre, starring Willy Saunders (who starred in around 70 films all featuring the character "Willy".^[70][71]
• Winsor McCay And His Animated Pictures
• The Witch of Abruzzi (Belgian/ Le Lion Films) this Belgium film was partially shot in France.^[72][73]
• The Witch of Seville (Italian/ Itala Films) aka La Strega de Siviglia^[74]
• Won by Wireless

Births

• January 5 – Jean-Pierre Aumont, actor (died 2001)
• January 7 – Butterfly McQueen, actress (died 1995)
• January 22 – Mary Hayley Bell, actress, writer and dramatist, wife of Sir John Mills (d 2005)
• January 30 – Hugh Marlowe, actor (died 1982)
• January 31 – Eddie Byrne, actor (died 1981)
• February 6 – Ronald Reagan, actor, United States President (died 2004)
• February 9 – Gypsy Rose Lee, actress and burlesque dancer (died 1970)
• February 14 – Florence Rice, actress (died 1974)
• February 19 – Merle Oberon, actress (died 1979)
• February 20 – Margot Grahame, actress (died 1982)
• March 3 – Jean Harlow, actress (died 1937)
• March 10 – Edward Norris, actor, (died 2002)
• March 18 – Smiley Burnette, actor, musician (died 1967)
• April 23 – Ronald Neame, cinematographer, producer and director (died 2010)
• May 7 – Ishirō Honda, director (died 1993)
• May 11
  • Louise Campbell, actress (died 1997)^[75]
  • Phil Silvers, actor (died 1985)
• May 17 – Maureen O'Sullivan, actress (died 1998)
• May 18 – Sigrid Gurie, actress (died 1969)
• May 27 – Vincent Price, actor (died 1993)
• May 30 – Douglas Fowley, actor (died 1998)
• June 1 – Gertrude Michael, actress (died 1964)
• June 3 – Ellen Corby, actress (died 1999)
• June 20 – Gail Patrick (died 1980)
• June 29 – Bernard Hermann, composer (died 1975)
• July 6 – Laverne Andrews, singer, actress, member of Andrews Sisters (died 1967)
• July 14 – Terry-Thomas, actor (died 1990)
• July 16 – Ginger Rogers, actress, dancer (died 1995)
• July 18 – Hume Cronyn, actor (died 2003)
• July 28 – Ann Doran, actress (died 2000)
• August 2 – Ann Dvorak, American actress (died 1979)
• August 3 – Alex McCrindle, British actor (died 1990)
• August 5 – Robert Taylor, actor (died 1969)
• August 6 – Lucille Ball, actress (died 1989)
• August 7 – Nicholas Ray, director (died 1979)
• August 12 – Cantinflas, actor (died 1993)
• August 19 – Constance Worth, actress (died 1963)
• September 2 – Erwin Hillier, cinematographer (died 2005)
• September 10 – Renée Simonot, actress and voice artist (died 2021)
• October 13 – Ashok Kumar, actor, India (died 2001)
• October 20 – Will Rogers, Jr., actor (died 1993)
• October 27 – Leif Erickson, actor (died 1986)
• October 30 – Ruth Hussey, actress (died 2005)
• October 31 – Sheila Bromley, actress, (died 2003)
• November 5
  • Roy Rogers, singer, actor (died 1998)
  • Baby Marie Osborne, child actress (died 2010)
• November 10 – Harry Andrews, actor (died 1989)
• December 8 – Lee J. Cobb, actor (died 1976)
• December 9 – Broderick Crawford, actor (died 1986)
• December 23 – James Gregory, actor (died 2002)
• December 29 – Claire Dodd, actress (died 1973)
• December 30 – Jeanette Nolan, actress (died 1998)

Deaths

• January 18 – Arthur Marvin, cinematographer, (born 1859)
• May 29 – W. S. Gilbert, producer of musicals, half of the team of Gilbert and Sullivan, (born 1836)
• July 18 – Genevieve Lantelme, actress, (born 1883)
• August 11 – Verner Clarges, actor, (born 1846)
• October 27 – Francis Boggs, director, (born 1870)
• November 2 – Kyrle Bellew, actor, (born 1855)
• December 22 – Wright Lorimer, stage actor, screenwriter, (born 1874)
• Unknown – Woodville Latham, producer and exhibitor whose desire to shoot an entire boxing match on a single reel of film led to the invention of the Latham loop (born 1837)

Debuts

• Lionel Barrymore – The Battle (*debatable; film debut much earlier)
• Francis X. Bushman – His Friend's Wife (short)
• Paul Kelly – Jimmie's Job (short)
• Edgar Kennedy – Brown of Harvard
• Ann Little – The Indian Maiden's Lesson (short)
• Harold Lockwood – The White Red Man (short)
• Anna Q. Nilsson – Molly Pitcher (short)
• Anita Stewart – A Tale of Two Cities as Anna Stewart
• Lenore Ulric – The First Man (1911 short)
• Lois Weber – director, actress, A Heroine of '76 (short); writer, On the Brink (short)