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The History of American Cinema: 1925

January - June

Paramount boss Adolph Zukor terminates producer/director Cecil B. DeMille’s contract. [ADD]

D. W. Griffith reaches an agreement with United Artists whereby he must produce a final film for the company in return for his contractual freedom.   The shares Griffith owns in the company are to be placed in a fiduciary deposit. [ADD]

A solar eclipse is filmed from an airship over Long Island. [ADD]

Nearly two years after filming began, Erich von Stroheim’s adaptation of 19th century naturalist writer Frank Norris’ Greed goes on general release following its premiere on 4 December 1924.   Filmed mostly on location in San Francisco and at Death Valley, Stroheim’s version ran for 22 reels (5 ½ hours) but was cut, at MGM’s insistence, to 10 reels – a move which resulted in the director disowning the finished product.   Gibson Gowland and ZaSu Pitts star. [ADD]

Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg recall the crew of the out-of-control production of Ben-Hur from Italy.   Completion of filming – including the spectacular chariot race sequence will be carried out in Culver City. [ADD]

Louis B. Mayer re-hires temperamental director Erich von Stroheim after firing him following conflict between Stroheim and leading lady Mae Murray. [ADD]

Josef von Sternberg’s The Salvation Hunters is released. [ADD]

Imperial Airways become the first airline to show movies on a scheduled flight when they screen First National’s The Lost World. [ADD]  

Léonce Perret’s Madame Sans-Gêne, produced in France by Paramount is released.   Gloria Swanson stars in the adaptation of the Sardou play about Napoleon's laundress.   The film is the first of a number that Paramount plan to make in France despite protests from the organisations such as La Société des Auteurs de Films. [ADD]

Laurence Trimble’s adaptation of Jack London's White Fang is released.   Theodore von Eltz, Ruth Dwyer and Strongheart the Dog star.  [ADD]

Donald Crisp’s Don Q Son of Zorro is released.   Crisp also appears in the film, which stars Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Astor, Jack McDonald, Warner Oland and Jean Hersholt. [ADD]

Warner Bros forms the Vitaphone Company in partnership with Western Electric for the purpose of developing sound-on-disc technology.   British-born Stanley S A Watkins lead the 11-strong development team at the Vitagraph Studio in Brooklyn, New York. [ADD]

Charles Chaplin's The Gold Rush premieres at Graumann's Eqyptian Theater in Hollywood.   Donning the guise of the Little Tramp once more, Chaplin plays an impoverished prospector in the frozen North.   Mack Swain plays Chaplin’s companion who believes Chaplin is a giant chicken whilst in the grip of starvation, and Georgia Hale is the singer he falls for.   The film took Chaplin over a year to make. [ADD]