1916 in film

Years in film
1870s
1880s 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889
1890s 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899
1900s 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
1910s 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
1920s 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
1930s 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1940s 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
1950s 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020s 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029

The year 1916 in film involved some significant events.

Events

• Charlie Chaplin signs for Mutual Film for a salary of $10,000 a week and a signing on fee of $150,000 making him one of the highest paid people in the USA.
• June 24 - Mary Pickford signs a contract for $10,000 a week plus profit participation, guaranteeing her over $1 million per year.
• July 19 - Famous Players-Lasky is formed through a merger of Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company and Jesse L. Lasky's Feature Play Company. Later in the year, they acquire distributor Paramount Pictures.
• August 10 - The official British documentary propaganda film The Battle of the Somme is premièred in London. In the first six weeks of general release (from 20 August) 20 million people view it.
• September 5 - Release of D. W. Griffith's epic film Intolerance: Love's Struggle Through the Ages, starring Lillian Gish (as "The Eternal Motherhood") and Constance Talmadge (in two roles), in the United States. It is estimated to have cost around $2.5 million to make but is initially a commercial failure.
• October 17 - Release of A Daughter of the Gods, the first US production with a million dollar budget, with the first nude scene by a major star (Annette Kellerman).
• November 19 - Samuel Goldfish (later renamed Samuel Goldwyn) and Edgar Selwyn establish Goldwyn Pictures, later to become one of the most successful independent filmmakers.
• The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers is founded in the United States as the Society of Motion Picture Engineers.
• 11 mm, an amateur film gauge, appears on the market.

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

Notable films released in 1916

• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Directed by Stuart Paton
• The Adventures of Peg o' the Ring Directed by Francis Ford
• The Americano Directed by John Emerson
• The Battle of the Somme - (GB)
• Behind the Screen, directed by Charlie Chaplin, starring Chaplin and Edna Purviance
• La Bohème, by Albert Capellani
• Cenere, starring Eleonora Duse (the only film in which she appears) - (Italy)

Poster

• Civilization, directed by Reginald Barker and Thomas H. Ince, starring Howard C. Hickman and Enid Markey
• The Count, directed by Charlie Chaplin, starring Chaplin and Edna Purviance
• The Curse of Quon Gwon
• The Danger Girl, starring Gloria Swanson and Bobby Vernon
• A Daughter of the Gods, starring Annette Kellerman
• Disraeli, directed by Charles Calvert and Percy Nash - (GB)
• East Is East, starring Florence Turner - (GB)
• Farmer Al Falfa's Cat-Tastrophe, animation produced by Paul Terry
• Fatty and Mabel Adrift, directed by and starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle
• The Floorwalker, directed by and starring Charles Chaplin
• Frau Eva, directed by Robert Wiene and starring Emil Jannings (Germany)
• Habit of Happiness, starring Douglas Fairbanks
• Hell's Hinges, directed by Charles Swickard and William S. Hart, starring William S. Hart
• Hoodoo Ann, starring Mae Marsh and Robert Harron
• Hulda from Holland, starring Mary Pickford

Belshazzar's feast scene from Intolerance

• Intolerance, directed by D.W. Griffith, starring Lillian Gish and Constance Talmadge
• Joan the Woman, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Geraldine Farrar
• Judex, directed by Louis Feuillade, starring Musidora and René Cresté - (France)
• Lights of New York, directed by Van Dyke Brooke, starring Leah Baird and Walter McGrail
• The Lyons Mail, directed by Fred Paul - (Britain)
• A Maori Maid's Love, directed by Raymond Longford - (Australia/New Zealand)
• The Mutiny of the Bounty, directed by Raymond Longford - (Australia/New Zealand)
• The Mystery of the Leaping Fish, short directed by John Emerson, starring Douglas Fairbanks
• Oliver Twist, starring Marie Doro
• One A.M., directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin
• The Pawnshop, a Charles Chaplin short
• Police, a Charles Chaplin short with Edna Purviance and Wesley Ruggles
• The Return of Draw Egan, directed by and starring William S. Hart
• The Rink, a Charles Chaplin short
• Sally Bishop directed by George Pearson - (GB)
• Sally in Our Alley directed by Larry Trimble, starring Hilda Trevelyan, Mary Dibley, Reginald Owen - (GB)
• Sherlock Holmes, Starring William Gillette
• Snow White, starring Marguerite Clark
• Under Two Flags, starring Theda Bara
• The Vagabond, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin
• The Valley of Fear
• A Welsh Singer directed by Henry Edwards, starring Edwards, Florence Turner and Campbell Gullan - (GB)
• Where Are My Children?, directed by Phillips Smalley and Lois Weber, starring Tyrone Power, Sr. and Juan de la Cruz
• Willard-Johnson Boxing Match

Short film series

• Broncho Billy Anderson (1910–1916)
• Harold Lloyd (1913–1921)
• Charlie Chaplin (1914–1923)

Births

• January 3
  • Maxene Andrews, singer, actress, member of Andrews Sisters (died 1995)
  • Betty Furness, actress, consumer activist (died 1994)
• January 4 - Lionel Newman, composer (died 1989)
• February 14
  • Sally Gray, born Constance Stevens, actress (died 2006)
  • Masaki Kobayashi, director (died 1996)
• February 26 - Jackie Gleason, actor (died 1987)
• February 29 - Dinah Shore, singer, actress, television presenter (died 1994)
• March 17 - Mercedes McCambridge, actress (died 2004)
• March 26 - Sterling Hayden, actor (died 1986)
• April 4 - David White, actor (died 1990)
• April 5 - Gregory Peck, actor (died 2003)
• April 26 - Vic Perrin, voice actor (died 1989)
• April 30 - Phil Brown, actor (2006)
• May 1 - Glenn Ford, actor (died 2006)
• May 16 - Adriana Caselotti, singer, voice actress (died 1997)
• June 12 - Irwin Allen, director, producer (died 1991)
• June 14 - Dorothy McGuire, actress (died 2001)
• June 23 - Irene Worth, actress (died 2002)
• July 1 - Olivia de Havilland, actress
• July 27 - Keenan Wynn, actor (died 1986)
• August 25 - Van Johnson, actor (died 2008)
• August 27 - Martha Raye, actress (died 1994)
• September 1 - Arleen Whelan, actress (died 1993)
• September 14 - Douglas Kennedy, actor (died 1973)
• September 15 - Margaret Lockwood, actress (died 1990)
• September 18 - Rossano Brazzi, actor (died 1994)
• September 28 - Peter Finch, actor (died 1977)
• November 20 - Evelyn Keyes, actress (died 2008)
• December 9 - Kirk Douglas, actor
• December 18 - Betty Grable, actress (died 1973)
• December 19 - Roy Baker, director (died 2010)

Deaths

• January 17, Arthur V. Johnson, 39, American screen actor and director, The Sealed Room, The Unchanging Sea, The Adventures of Dollie, The Voice of the Violin, tuberculosis
• June 22
  • Page Peters, 26, American screen actor, The Warrens of Virginia, The Purple Scar, An International Marriage, Davy Crockett, Pasquale, drowned swimming
  • Maurice Vinot, 27, French screen actor, airplane crash
• September 9 - Sydney Ayres, 37, American stage & screen actor and director, The Sting of Conscience, The Avenger, As in a Dream, multiple sclerosis
• September 17 - Arthur Hoops, 45, American stage & screen actor, The Secret of Eve, Bridges Burned, Extravagance, The Eternal Question, The Scarlet Woman, heart attack
• September 27 - Camille D'Arcy, 37, American actress, The Prince Chap, Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines, A Daughter of the City, The White Sister, The Pacifist, infection from bathing
• October 6 - Henry Woodruff, 47, American stage & screen actor, A Beckoning Flame, A Man and His Mate, Bright's disease
• November 30 - Dorrit Weixler, 23, German comic actress, Maria, Kammermusik, Heimgekehrt, Todesrauchen, suicide by hanging
• unknown - Jean, the Vitagraph Dog (born 1902), American Border Collie, Jean and the Calico Doll, Fraid Cat

Debuts

• Richard Barthelmess - Gloria's Romance (uncredited)
• Constance Bennett - The Valley of Decision
• Billie Burke - Peggy
• Ann Dvorak - Ramona
• Edmund Gwenn - The Real Thing at Last
• Hedda Hopper - The Battle of Hearts (as Elda Furry)
• Colleen Moore - The Prince of Graustark (uncredited)
• Mae Murray - To Have and to Hold
• Alla Nazimova - War Brides
• Ramon Novarro - Joan the Woman
• Edward G. Robinson - Arms and the Woman
• Conrad Veidt - Der Weg des Todes