1917 in film was a particularly fruitful year for the art form, and is often cited as one of the years in the decade which contributed to the medium the most, along with 1913.
Secondarily the year saw a limited global embrace of narrative film-making and featured innovative techniques such as continuity cutting. Primarily, the year is an American landmark, as 1917 is the first year where the narrative and visual style is typified as "Classical Hollywood".
Black Orchids (aka The Fatal Orchid), directed by Rex Ingram for Universal Pictures, starring Cleo Madison and Jean Hersholt[5]
The Bottle Imp (aka The Mountain Devil) directed by Marshall Neilan, produced by Jesse Lasky, starring Sessue Hayakawa and Lehua Waipahu; this was the 2nd ever film adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson novel[5]
Brand of Satan, directed by George Archianbaud, starring Montagu Love and Gerda Holmes
The Darling of Paris, directed by J. Gordon Edwards for Fox Films, starring Theda Bara and Walter Law; an early film adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame[6]
Le Cygne (film) ("Umirayushchii Lebed") – (U.S.S.R.)
The Enchanted Kiss, directed by David Smith for Vitagraph, starring Chet Ryan and a young Jack Pierce; based on a short story by O. Henry
The Eternal Sin (aka Lucretia Borgia), directed by Herbert Brenon, starring Florence Reed and Richard Barthelmess, based on the 1833 Victor Hugo novel Lucretia Borgia[7]
Even As You and I, directed by Lois Webber for Universal Pictures, starring Harry Carter (as Satan), Ben F. Wilson and Priscilla Dean[7]
The Fall of the Romanoffs, directed by Herbert Brenon, starring Edward Connelly as Rasputin, based on a book written by a monk named Iliodor (who also played himself in the film)
The Fatal Ring, a 20-chapter serial directed by George B. Seitz for Pathe/Aster, starring Warner Oland, Earl Foxe and Pearl White
Fear/ Furcht (German) directed by Robert Wiene, starring Conrad Veidt and Bruno Decarli; this was the first time Wiene and Veidt worked together on a film[8]
Flames (British) directed by Maurice Elvey, starring Owen Nates, Clifford Cobb and Douglas Munro; based on the novel by Richard Hichens
Ghost Hounds, comedy short starring Lloyd Hamilton and Bud Duncan
The Ghost House, directed by William C. DeMille (Cecil's brother) for producer Jesse L. Lasky, starring Jack Pickford (Mary's brother), Eugene Pallette and Louise Huff
The Ghost of Old Morro directed by Richard Ridgely for producer Thomas Edison, starring Mabel Trunnelle and Helen Strickland
The Golem and the Dancing Girl/ Der Golem und die Tanzerin (German), a lost 1917 parody of the 1915 film The Golem, written and directed by Paul Wegener, starring Wagner as the Golem and Lydia Salmonova as the dancer[9]
The Haunted House, directed by Albert Parker, starring Winifred Allen, Richard Rosson and Albert Parker
Hilde Warren and Death (German) directed by Joe May, written by Fritz Lang, starring Mila May, Bruno Kastner and Georg John as "Death"[10]
The Image Maker, directed by Eugene Moore for Thanhouser Films, starring Valda Valkyrien and Harris Gordon, deals with reincarnation
The Inspirations of Harry Larrabee, directed by Bertram Bracken, starring Clifford Grey and Margaret Landis, based on the short story by Howard Fielding[10]
It's Never Too Late to Mend (British) directed by Dave Aylott, starring George Leyton and Margaret Hope, based on the political novel by Charles Reade[11]
Kaidan Chibusa Enoki/ Ghost Story of the Breast-Nettle Tree (Japanese) produced by Nikkatsu Films, starring Matsunosuke Onoe and Kakumatsuro Arashi
Magia (Hungarian) directed by Alexander Korda, starring Mihaly Varkony and Lucie Labass; plot involves Baron Munchausen as a vampire[11]
The Magic Girdle ("Der Magische Gürtel") (Germany)
The Memoirs of Satan (German) directed by Robert Heymann, starring Kurt Brenkendorf and Friedrich Kuhne; a 3-chapter serial that relates the misadventures of Satan[11]
Midnight, 11-minute short starring and directed by Allen Holubar for Universal Pictures, scripted by E.J. Clawson
Nabeshima Kaibyo (Japanese) a Ghost-cat horror film produced by Nikkatsu, starring Matsunosuke Onoe and Suminojo Ichikawa
The Picture of Dorian Gray/ Das Bildnis des Dorian Gray (Germany) written and directed by Richard Oswald, starring Bernd Aldor and Lupu Pick, based on Oscar Wilde's 1890 novel[12]
Rasputin (German) directed by Herr Arno, starring Max Hiller and Fritz Holbauer
Rasputin, the Black Monk, directed by Arthur Ashley, starring Montagu Love and Henry Hull
Saga no yozakura (Japanese) ghost-cat film directed by Shozo Makino, starring Matsunosuke Onoe
Satan Triumphant (Russian) directed by Yakov Protazanov, starring Pavel Pavlov and Ivan Mozhukhin
Seven Keys to Baldpate, directed by Hugh Ford, starring Geoge M. Cohan and Hedda Hopper; first American film to be based on the 1913 novel by Earl Derr Biggers[13]
She, directed by Kenean Buel for Fox Films, starring Valeska Suratt (as "She") and Ben Taggart as Leo Vincey; based on the eponymous novel by H. Rider Haggard (a lost film today)[13]
A Sleeping Memory, directed by George D. Baker for Metro Films, starring Emily Stevens and Frank Mills, based on the 1902 novel by Edward Phillips Oppenheim[14]
The Sorrows of Satan (British) directed by Alexander Butler, starring Ceceil Humphreys and Gladys Cooper, based on the 1895 novel by Marie Corelli
Tangled Lives, directed by J. Gordon Edwards for Fox Films, starring Genevieve Hamper and Stuart Holmes, based on the Wilkie Collins novel The Woman in White
Unconquered, directed by Frank Reicher for Paramount, written by Beatrice DeMille, starring Mabel Van Buren, Tully Marshall (wearing blackface) and Hobart Bosworth[15]
The Voice on the Wire, a 15-chapter Universal serial directed by Stuart Paton, starring Ben Wilson, Neva Gerber, Hoot Gibson and Nigel De Brulier, based on the 1915 novel by Eustace Hale Ball
The Woman in White, directed by Ernest C. Warde for Thanhouser Films, starring Florence La Badie, Richard Neill and Gertrude Dallas, this was Thanhouser's second film adaptation of the eponymous Wilkie Collins novel (he also produced a 1912 version); the film was re-released in the early 1920s as The Unfortunate Marriage.[16]
^Daugherty, Gregory N. (2022). The Reception of Cleopatra in the Age of Mass Media. ISBN978-1-3503-4073-2. No data survives, but Bara herself claimed that the epic grossed a million dollars, quite an achievement since it reportedly cost $500,000 to make.
^ abcdBirchard, Robert S. (2004). Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN9780813123240.
^ abWorkman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 181. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
^Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 183. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
^ abWorkman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 185. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
^Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 186. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
^Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 188. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
^ abWorkman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 189. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
^ abcWorkman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 190. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
^Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 192. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
^ abWorkman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 193. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
^Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 194. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
^Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 195. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
^Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 196. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
