# 1908 in film

The year 1908 in film involved some significant events.

## Events

* July 3 - Malhabour Theater, the first film house in Iloilo City was opened to the public.
* July 14 – D. W. Griffith becomes a director at the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company in New York City. Between 1908 and 1913, Griffith will direct nearly 500 films starting with the release of The Adventures of Dollie.
* October 28 – The Russian Film Industry begins with the release of Russia's first fictional narrative film Stenka Razin.
* November 18 – Release in France of The Assassination of the Duke of Guise (La Mort du duc de Guise), the first film with a screenplay by an eminent man of letters, the playwright Henri Lavedan; it is also directed by two men of the theatre, Charles Le Bargy and André Calmettes, features actors of the Comédie-Française, and is accompanied by a score from Saint-Saëns.
* December - Thomas Edison forms the Motion Picture Patents Company, with goals of controlling production and distribution, raising theater admission prices, cooperating with censorship bodies, and preventing film stock from getting into the hands of nonmember producers.
* Pathé invents the newsreel that was shown in cinemas prior to a feature film.

## Notable films released in 1908
### A

* The Adventures of Dollie, directed by D. W. Griffith – (US)
* After Many Years, directed by D. W. Griffith, based on the 1864 narrative poem Enoch Arden by Alfred, Lord Tennyson – (US)
* Antony and Cleopatra, directed by J. Stuart Blackton and Charles Kent, based on the 17th-century play by William Shakespeare – (US)
* L'Arlésienne (The Girl from Arles), directed by Albert Capellani, based on the 1869 short story by Alphonse Daudet – (France)
* The Assassination of the Duke of Guise (L'Assassinat du duc de Guise), directed by Charles le Bargy and André Calmettes – (France)

### B

* Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bêtte) (Incomplete), directed by Albert Capellani, based on the 1740 fairy tale by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve – (France)
* The Beauty of the Sleeping Wood (La Belle au bois dormant), directed by Albert Capellani and Lucien Nonguet, based on the 1697 fairy tale Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault – (France)
* Betrayed by a Handprint, directed by D. W. Griffith – (US)

### C

* The Call of the Wild, directed by D. W. Griffith – (US)
* A Christmas Carol (lost), produced by Essanay Film Manufacturing Company, based on the 1843 novella by Charles Dickens – (US)
* Cupid's Pranks, directed by Edwin S. Porter – (US)

### D

* The Devil, directed by D. W. Griffith – (US)
* The Dog and His Various Merits (Les Chiens et ses services), produced by Pathé Frères – (France)
* Don Juan Tenorio, directed by Ricardo de Baños and Alberto Marro – (Spain)
* Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (lost), produced by William N. Selig, based on the 1886 novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson – (US)
* The Dream of an Opium Fiend (Le Rêve d'un fumeur d'opium), directed by Georges Méliès – (France)
* Dreams of Toyland, directed by Arthur Melbourne-Cooper – (GB)

### E

* Excursion to the Moon (Excursion dans la lune), directed by Segundo de Chomón – (France)

### F

* The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays (lost), directed by Francis Boggs and Otis Turner, based on the Oz books by L. Frank Baum – (US)
* Fantasmagorie, directed by Émile Cohl, the first animated cartoon – (France)
* Fun with the Bridal Party (Le Mariage de Thomas Poirot) (lost), directed by Georges Méliès – (France)

### I

* Incident from Don Quixote (La Toile d'araignée merveilleuse) (lost), directed by Georges Méliès – (France)

### L

* Legend of a Ghost (La légende du fantôme), directed by Segundo de Chomón – (France)
* Long Distance Wireless Photography (La Photographie électrique à distance), directed by Georges Méliès – (France)

### M

* Macbeth (lost), directed by J. Stuart Blackton, based on the 17th-century play by William Shakespeare – (US)
* Magic Bricks, directed by Segundo de Chomón – (France)
* The Magic Mirror (Le Miroir Magique), directed by Segundo de Chomón – (France)
* The Man and His Bottle, directed by Lewin Fitzhamon – (GB)

### N

* The New Lord of the Village (Le Nouveau Seigneur du village), directed by Georges Méliès – (France)

### O

* Over the Hill to the Poorhouse, directed by Stanner E.V. Taylor – (US)

### P

* Pharmaceutical Hallucinations (Hallucinations pharmaceutiques ou le Truc du potard), directed by Georges Méliès – (France)
* The Physician of the Castle (Le médecin du château), produced by Pathé Frères – (France)
* The Puppet's Nightmare (Le cauchemar de Fantoche), directed by Émile Cohl – (France)

### R

* The Reprieve: An Episode in the Life of Abraham Lincoln, directed by Van Dyke Brooke – (US)
* Rescued from an Eagle's Nest, directed by J. Searle Dawley, starring D. W. Griffith – (US)
* Romeo and Juliet, directed by J. Stuart Blackton, based on the 16th-century play by William Shakespeare – (US)
* The Runaway Horse (Le Cheval emballé), directed by Louis J. Gasnier – (France)

### S

* Stenka Razin, directed by Vladimir Romashkov – (Russia)

### T

* The Taming of the Shrew, directed by D. W. Griffith, based on the 16th-century play by William Shakespeare – (US)
* The Tempest, directed by Percy Stow, based on the 17th-century play by William Shakespeare – (GB)
* The Thieving Hand, possibly directed by J. Stuart Blackton – (US)
* Troubles of a Grass Widower (Vive la vie de garçon), directed by and starring Max Linder – (France)

### V

* A Very Fine Lady (Un dame vraiment bien), directed by Louis Feuillade and Romeo Bosetti – (France)

### W

* Whaling Afloat and Ashore, directed by Robert W. Paul – (GB)

## Births

| Month | Date | Name | Country | Profession | Died |
| January | 10 | Paul Henreid | Italy | Actor, Director, Producer, Writer | 1992 |
| January | 10 | Bernard Lee | UK | Actor | 1981 |
| January | 11 | Lionel Stander | US | Actor | 1994 |
| January | 12 | Jean Delannoy | France | Actor, Editor, Screenwriter, Director | 2008 |
| January | 16 | Ethel Merman | US | Actress, Singer | 1984 |
| January | 25 | Howard Wendell | US | Actor | 1975 |
| January | 26 | Dennis Moore | US | Actor | 1994 |
| February | 4 | Gwili Andre | Denmark | Model, Actress | 1959 |
| February | 5 | Peg Entwistle | UK | Actress | 1932 |
| February | 6 | Russell Gleason | US | Actor | 1945 |
| February | 7 | Buster Crabbe | US | Actor, Olympic Swimmer | 1983 |
| February | 11 | Philip Dunne | US | Screenwriter, Director, Producer | 1992 |
| February | 22 | John Mills | UK | Actor | 2005 |
| March | 5 | Rex Harrison | UK | Actor | 1990 |
| March | 7 | Anna Magnani | Italy | Actress | 1973 |
| March | 20 | Michael Redgrave | UK | Actor, Director | 1985 |
| March | 25 | Phillip Reed | US | Actor | 1996 |
| March | 29 | Dennis O'Keefe | US | Actor, Writer | 1968 |
| April | 2 | Buddy Ebsen | US | Actor, Dancer | 2003 |
| April | 5 | Bette Davis | US | Actress | 1989 |
| April | 15 | Lita Grey | US | Actress | 1995 |
| April | 19 | Irena Eichlerówna | Poland | Actress | 1990 |
| April | 24 | Marceline Day | US | Actress | 2000 |
| April | 30 | Eve Arden | US | Actress | 1990 |
| May | 2 | William Bakewell | US | Actor | 1993 |
| May | 6 | Lucien Ballard | US | Cinematographer | 1988 |
| May | 20 | James Stewart | US | Actor | 1997 |
| May | 25 | Barbara Luddy | US | Voice Actress | 1979 |
| May | 26 | Robert Morley | UK | Actor | 1992 |
| May | 27 | Lita Chevret | US | Actress | 2001 |
| May | 30 | Mel Blanc | US | Voice Actor | 1989 |
| May | 31 | Don Ameche | US | Actor, Comedian | 1993 |
| June | 17 | Frank Sully | US | Actor | 1975 |
| July | 1 | Raúl de Anda | Mexican | Actor, Screenwriter, Producer, Director | 1997 |
| July | 12 | Milton Berle | US | Actor, Comedian | 2002 |
| July | 17 | Enzo Fiermonte | Italy | Actor, Boxer | 1993 |
| July | 18 | Lupe Vélez | Mexican | Actress, Singer, Dancer | 1944 |
| August | 6 | Will Lee | US | Actor | 1982 |
| August | 13 | Gene Raymond | US | Actor | 1998 |
| August | 30 | Fred MacMurray | US | Actor | 1991 |
| September | 13 | Mae Questel | US | Voice Actress | 1998 |
| September | 15 | Penny Singleton | US | Actress | 2003 |
| October | 5 | Joshua Logan | US | Director, Writer, Actor | 1988 |
| October | 6 | Carole Lombard | US | Actress | 1942 |
| October | 22 | John Sutton | UK | Actor | 1963 |
| October | 25 | Tauno Palo | Finland | Actor, Singer | 1982 |
| October | 25 | Polly Ann Young | US | Actress | 1997 |
| December | 3 | Robert Kent | US | Actor | 1955 |
| December | 3 | Anna Sten | Ukraine | Actress | 1993 |
| December | 11 | Manoel de Oliveira | Portugal | Director, Screenwriter | 2015 |
| December | 11 | Sally Eilers | US | Actress | 1978 |
| December | 13 | Van Heflin | US | Actor | 1971 |
| December | 18 | Celia Johnson | UK | Actress | 1982 |
| December | 20 | Dennis Morgan | US | Actor, Singer | 1994 |
| December | 25 | Quentin Crisp | UK | Actor | 1999 |

## Deaths

* May 23 – Peter F. Dailey, actor, singer (born 1868)

## Film debuts

* Hobart Bosworth – The Count of Monte Cristo (short)
* Sidney Drew – Cupid's Realm or A Game of Hearts (short)
* Julia Swayne Gordon – Othello (short)
* D.W. Griffith – actor/writer When Knighthood was in Flower (short); producer Deceived Slumming Party (short); director The Adventures of Dollie (short)
* Marion Leonard – At the Crossroads of Life (short)
* Owen Moore – The Guerilla (short)
* Miriam Nesbitt – Saved by Love
* Mack Sennett – Old Isaacs, the Pawnbroker (short)
* Earle Williams – Barbara Fritchie: The Story of a Patriotic Woman (short)
* Kathlyn Williams – On Thanksgiving Day (short)