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1926

Paramount release Robert J. Flaherty’s Moana, which was shot in the South Seas using panchromatic film. [MORE] [ADD]

Film distributors and exhibitors in Hollywood draw up a contract intended to provide standards of business in the industry. [MORE] [ADD]

Mare Nostrum, directed by Rex Ingram for MGM at the Victorine Studios in Nice is released following location shooting in Italy, France, Spain and Monaco.   Michael Powell works on the film as an apprentice. [MORE] [ADD]

The release of Douglas Fairbanks’ The Black Pirate makes it the first full-length feature film to be distributed in two-tone Technicolor. [MORE] [ADD]

Joan Crawford makes an early appearance in Harry Langdon’s full-length comedy, Tramp, Tramp, Tramp.   Frank Capra is one of the film’s seven uncredited writers. [MORE] [ADD]

Exquisite Sinner, disowned by its original director Josef von Sternberg in protest at MGM’s methods, is released.   Filming was completed by Phil Rosen while Sternberg went to work on A Woman of the Sea for Charles Chaplin Productions. [MORE] [ADD]

President Calvin Coolidge declares himself opposed to a federal institution for film censorship, believing ‘the producers themselves have undertaken to reform their industry,’ by creating the MMPDA. [MORE] [ADD]

Warner Brothers form the Vitaphone Corporation in partnership with Electrical Research Products Inc. to continue researching sound on film with Western Electric. [MORE] [ADD]

Filming of Josef von Sternberg’s A Woman of the Sea is completed.   However, the film is never officially released, and the negative is destroyed in 1933 on the suggestion of its producer, Charles Chaplin. [MORE] [ADD]

Hungarian director Mihaly Kertesz arrives in Hollywood to work for Warner Brothers, and anglicises his name to Michael Curtiz. [MORE] [ADD]

Louise Brooks marries Edward Sutherland, her director in the film It’s The Old Army Game in which she appears with W. C. Fields. [MORE] [ADD]

So This is Paris, Ernst Lubitsch’s last film for Warner Brothers, proves a hit with critics upon its release. [MORE] [ADD]

Will Hay’s powers and salary are increased following an extension to his tenure as head of the MPPDA from three to five years. [MORE] [ADD]

Don Juan, the first feature film with a synchronised soundtrack premieres at the Warner Theatre in New York.   The Vitaphone presentation, including classical music and a speech by MPPDA president Will Hays proves a resounding success, boosting the standing of Warners, previously one of the lesser Hollywood studios. [MORE] [ADD]

Clara Bow signs a five-year contract with Paramount, but refuses to agree to a morality clause that enables the studio to cancel the contract if she becomes involved in a scandal. [MORE] [ADD]

31-year-old Rudolph Valentino dies of peritonitis at the height of his success and while $200,000 in debt.   Rumours claim he was poisoned by a jilted lover. [MORE] [ADD]

40,000 people – most of them distraught women – turn out for Valentino’s funeral in New York.   The actor’s coffin was carried by Douglas Fairbanks, Marcus Loew, Adolph Zukor, and Joseph M. Schenck. [MORE] [ADD]

The Fox Film Corporation buys 100 acres of land in West Los Angeles on which it will build its new studios. [MORE] [ADD]

After appearing as an extra in a number of films, 25-year-old Gary Cooper wins his first starring role in Henry King’s The Winning of Barbara Worth opposite Vilma Banky. [MORE] [ADD]

Sam Taylor’s Exit Smiling, starring theatrical comedienne Beatrice Lillie, is released. [MORE] [ADD]

Soviet actor Ivan Mosjoukine arrives in the country to begin a five year contract with Universal. [MORE] [ADD]

Paramount’s Old Ironsides is shown at the Rivoli Theater using the Magnascope projection system during two sequences.   The system employed a lens that doubled the image size to 30ft x 40ft. [MORE] [ADD]

Buster Keaton’s classic comedy The General, which is based on a true incident, premieres today before going on general release.   It proves to be a financial disaster, inducing Keaton to give up his own production company and sign with MGM. [MORE] [ADD]

The Flesh and the Devil, director Clarence Brown’s first film for MGM, marks the first screen pairing of John Gilbert and Greta Garbo, premieres.   The couple became lovers during filming. [MORE] [ADD]

– Amkino, a US film distribution company formed by the Soviet government, begins trading in New York.  [MORE] [ADD]

– $1,500m is invested in the US film industry in this year. [MORE] [ADD]

– Theodore W. Case and E. I. Sponable demonstrate their sound-on-film system to William Fox and executives of the Fox Film Corporation.   Their system will later become known as Movietone.  [MORE] [ADD]