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The History of American Cinema

July - December 1922

Robin Hood, Douglas Fairbank’s latest adventure film is released.   Directed by Allan Dwan for United Artists, the film reaches new heights of exuberance and technical wizardry.   Largely financed by the star, the film features gigantic sets built by art director William Buckland at new studios on Santa Monica Boulevard. [ADD]

The Audion, a system for synchronising pictures and sound is demonstrated by Western Electric’s Bell Laboratories to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers at Woolsey Hall, Yale University. [ADD]

Edward Venturini’s The Headless Horseman is released.   It is the first film to be shot on Panchromatic stock rather than orthochromatic, which rendered blue skies as pale white. [ADD]

Despite his acquittal over the homicide of Virginia Rappe in April, a New York Times editorial holds Roscoe Arbuckle up as “a symbol of the vices indulged in by the world of cinema.” [ADD]

Chester M Franklin’s The Toll of the Sea, the world’s first Technicolor film, premieres at the Rialto Theatre in New York.   Produced by Metro Pictures, the film stars Anna May Wong and Kenneth Harlan. [ADD]

Lee DeForest forms the DeForest Phonofilm Corporation to exploit his sound-on-film system. [ADD]

– The Mitchell ‘Standard’ film camera is produced. [ADD]

– Perfect Pictures produce The Power of Love, the first film to make use of stereoscopy (anaglyphic 3D). [ADD]

– Sid Grauman opens Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles.   The first film shown is Douglas Fairbanks' Robin Hood. [ADD]

– The average weekly movie attendance reaches 40 million (1.56 per household). [ADD]

– The New York State Court rules that actor’s cannot prevent the re-editing or re-release of films in which they appear. [ADD]

– Studios situated in or around Hollywood account for 84% of the country’s total film output. [MORE] [ADD]

Other Key Films of 1922

Blood and Sand (Fred Niblo) [ADD]

Cops (Buster Keaton) [ADD]

Fury (Edmund Goulding) [ADD]

Manslaughter (Cecil B. DeMille) [ADD]

Orphans of the Storm (D W Griffith) [ADD]

Our Gang series (Hal Roach) [ADD]

Salome (Charles Bryant) [ADD]