1900 in film

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The year 1900 in film involved some significant events.

Events

• Reulos, Goudeau & Co. invent Mirographe, a 21 mm amateur format.
• The Lumière Brothers premiere their new Lumiere Wide format for the 1900 World Fair. At 75 mm wide, it has held the record for over 100 years as the widest format yet developed.
• Raoul Grimoin-Sanson also creates a sensation at the 1900 World Fair with his multi-projector Cinéorama spectacle, which uses ten 70 mm projectors to create a simulated 360-degree balloon ride over Paris. The exhibit is closed before it formally opens, however, due to legitimate health and safety concerns regarding the heat of the combined projectors ons, and releases the format as La Petite.
• Gaumont-Demeny release their own 15 mm amateur format, Pocket Chrono.
• Release of the first film version of Hamlet, an adaptation of the duel scene, with French actress Sarah Bernhardt playing the title rôle (sic.) and accompanying recorded sound.
• Making of the first film to feature the detective character Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes Baffled, by the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company.
• Jeanne d'Arc becomes the first film of considerable length (10 mins) to be shown entirely in colour.

Notable films released in 1900

Joan burning at the stake at the climax of Joan of Arc.

Sherlock Holmes Baffled.

• Army Life, a documentary directed by Robert W. Paul on the training techniques of British soldiers. Most of it is currently lost. It was one of the oldest proto-feature films (20 short-films that when combined could have been seen as a feature film. Combined together it was originally over an hour in length, and over two hours when combined with a lecture and slides.).
• Attack on a China Mission, directed by James Williamson.
• As Seen Through a Telescope, directed by George Albert Smith. May be the first example of editing between medium and close-up shots in cinema.
• Automobile Parade, directed by William 'Daddy' Paley.
• The Beggar's Deceit, directed by Cecil Hepworth.
• Danse Serpentine (In A Lion's Cage), directed by Alice Guy.
• The Enchanted Drawing, directed by J. Stuart Blackton.
• Explosion of a Motor Car, directed by Cecil Hepworth.
• Going to Bed Under Difficulties, directed by Georges Méliès; possibly contains the first "Infinite Clothing" trick.
• Grandma's Reading Glass, directed by George Albert Smith. One of the earliest examples of editing between medium and close-up shots in cinema.
• How He Missed His Train, directed by Georges Méliès.
• How It Feels to Be Run Over, directed by Cecil Hepworth.
• Joan of Arc, directed by Georges Méliès.
• The (New) Kiss, remake from The Edison Studios of their popular (and controversial) 1896 film.
• Ladies' Skirt Nailed to a Fence, produced by Bamforth & Co Ltd.
• Let Me Dream Again, directed by George Albert Smith. May be the first attempt at a dissolve between 2 shots in cinema.
• Le village de Namo - Panorama pris d'une chaise à porteurs, directed by Gabriel Veyre.
• Messrs Lumb And Co., Leaving The Works, Huddersfield, produced by Mitchell and Kenyon.
• Eine moderne Jungfrau von Orléans, directed by Max Skladanowsky.
• The One-Man Band, directed by Georges Méliès. One of the earliest use of multiple exposures in cinema (In this film, 7 exposures).
• Reproduction of the McGovern and Dixon Fight, starring Terry McGovern and George Dixon.
• Rough Sea, produced by Bamforth & Co Ltd.
• Sherlock Holmes Baffled, directed by Arthur Marvin.
• 20,000 Employees Entering Lord Armstrong's Elswick Works, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, produced by Mitchell and Kenyon.
• The Two Blind Men, directed by Georges Méliès.
• Solser en Hesse, directed by M.H. Laddé.

Births

Deaths

• November 22 - Arthur Sullivan, producer of musicals, half of the team of Gilbert and Sullivan (born 1842)
• November 30 - Oscar Wilde, playwright whose works were made into films (born 1854)
• December 31 - Hannibal Goodwin, retired minister, in 1886 invented nitrate film roll. (born 1822)

Debut

• Sarah Bernhardt
• Benoit Constant Coquelin

External links

• 1900 in film playlist on YouTube