1909 in film

The year 1909 in film involved some significant events.

Events

Carl Laemmle founds the Independent Moving Pictures Company (IMP).
Selig Polyscope Company establish the first permanent film studio in Los Angeles in Edendale, Los Angeles.
The New York Motion Picture Company is founded and also open a film studio in Edendale. The studio is later used by Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios and then Mascot Pictures, which become part of Republic Pictures.
February 4 – The Paris Film Congress begins, an attempt by leading European producers to form a cartel similar to that of the Motion Picture Patents Company in the United States.
February 26 – Kinemacolor is shown to the public for the first time in the Palace Theatre in London.
March 16 – Charles Urban forms the Natural Color Kinematograph Company.
May 12 – Mr. Flip is released, the first film to feature someone being hit in the face with a pie.
May 23 – The first news cinema, The Daily Bioscope, opens in London.
June 17 – In the Sultan's Power, directed by Francis Boggs, is the first film ever completely made in Los Angeles, California.
October 25 – IMP release their first film, Hiawatha, based on the 1855 poem The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
November 5 - A Nature Movie by Arthur C. Pillsbury using film to explore the wonders of Yosemite. This first showing was for John Muir, a friend and associate of Pillsbury. Included was footage of the Hetch Hetchy. This film was then shown for the 1910 season at the Pillsbury Studio in Yosemite, advertised using postcards.
December 2 – Matsunosuke Onoe, who will become the first superstar of Japanese cinema, appears in his first film, Goban Tadanobu.
December 20 – James Joyce opens the Volta Cinematograph, the first cinema in Dublin.

Notable films released in 1909

United States unless stated

A

The Airship Destroyer, directed by Walter R. Booth – (GB)
At the Altar, directed by D. W. Griffith

C

A Corner in Wheat, directed by D. W. Griffith
The Country Doctor, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Mary Pickford
The Cowboy Millionaire, directed by Francis Boggs and Otis Turner, starring Tom Mix
The Curtain Pole, directed by D. W. Griffith

D

The Death Disc: A Story of the Cromwellian Period, directed by D. W. Griffith
The Diabolic Tenant (Le Locataire diabolique), directed by Georges Méliès – (France)
The Doctor's Secret (Hydrothérapie fantastique), directed by Georges Méliès – (France)
A Drunkard's Reformation, directed by D. W. Griffith

E

Edgar Alln Poe, directed by D. W. Griffith

F

The Fitzsimmons-Bill Lang Fight
Fools of Fate, directed by D. W. Griffith
Fortune Favors the Brave (Le Génie des cloches ou le Fils du sonneur) (lost), directed by Georges Méliès – (France)

G

The Golden Louis, directed by D. W. Griffith

H

Hansel and Gretel, directed by J. Searle Dawley, based on the 1812 fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm
The Hessian Renegades, directed by D. W. Griffith
Hiawatha, directed by William V. Ranous, based on the 1855 epic poem The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I

The Invisible Thief (Le voleur invisible), directed by Segundo de Chomón, based of the 1897 novel The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells – (France)

L

Lady Helen's Escapade, directed by D. W. Griffith
The Life of Moses , directed by J. Stuart Blackton
The Lonely Villa, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Mary Pickford

M

Macbeth, directed by André Calmettes, based on the 17th-century play by William Shakespeare – (France)
The Merry Microbes (Les joyeux Microbes), directed by Émile Cohl – (France)
A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Charles Kent and J. Stuart Blackton, based on the 16th-century play by William Shakespeare
Les Misérables, directed by J. Stuart Blackton, based on the 1862 novel by Victor Hugo
Moscow Clad in Snow, directed by Joseph-Louis Mundwiller – (France)
Mr. Flip, directed by Broncho Billy Anderson

N

Nerone (Nero, or the Fall of Rome), directed by Luigi Maggi and Arturo Ambrosio – (Italy)

O

Oliver Twist, directed by J. Stuart Blackton, based on the 1838 novel by Charles Dickens

P

Princess Nicotine; or, The Smoke Fairy, directed by J. Stuart Blackton

R

The Red Man's View, directed by D. W. Griffith
Resurrection, directed by D. W. Griffith, based on the 1899 novel by Leo Tolstoy

S

The Sealed Room, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Mary Pickford
Slippery Jim (Pickpock ne craint pas les entraves), directed by Segundo de Chomón – (France)
The Spider and the Butterfly (Le papillon fantastique), directed by Georges Méliès – (France)

T

Theodore Roosevelt in Africa, directed by Cherry Kearton
Those Awful Hats, directed by D. W. Griffith
A Trap for Santa Claus, directed by D. W. Griffith

V

Viy (lost), directed by Vasily Goncharov – (Russia)

Y

The Yiddisher Boy, directed by Siegmund Lubin

Births

January 1 – Dana Andrews, actor (died 1992)
January 3 – Victor Borge, musician, actor (died 2000)
January 8 - Willy Millowitsch, actor (died 1999)
January 15 – Gene Krupa, musician, actor (died 1973)
January 22 – Ann Sothern, actress (died 2001)
January 24 – Ann Todd, actress (died 1993)
January 29 – Alan Marshal, actor (died 1961)
February 2 – Frank Albertson, actor (died 1964)
February 6 – Aino Talvi, Estonian actress (d. 1992)
February 9
- Carmen Miranda, singer, actress (died 1955)
- Heather Angel, actress (died 1986)
February 11
- Max Baer – boxer, actor (died 1959)
- Joseph L. Mankiewicz – director, screenwriter, producer (died 1993)
February 16
- Hugh Beaumont, actor, director, writer (died 1982)
- Jeffrey Lynn, actor (died 1995)
March 19 – Louis Hayward, actor (died 1995)
March 26 – Chips Rafferty, actor (died 1971)
April 4 – Bobby Connelly, child actor (died 1922)
April 22– Ralph Byrd, actor (died 1952)
April 29 – Tom Ewell, actor (died 1994)
May 4 – Howard Da Silva, actor, director (died 1986)
May 15 – James Mason, actor (died 1984)
May 16 – Margaret Sullavan, actress (died 1960)
May 30 – Benny Goodman, musician, actor (died 1986)
June 7 – Jessica Tandy, actress (died 1994)
June 8 – Robert Carson, actor (died 1979)
June 14 – Burl Ives, actor (died 1995)
June 20 – Errol Flynn, actor (died 1959)
June 26- Wolfgang Reitherman, director, producer, animator (died 1985)
July 1 – Madge Evans, actress (died 1981)
July 11
- Irene Hervey, actress (died 1998)
- John 'Dusty' King, actor, singer (died 1987)
July 12 – Curly Joe DeRita, actor (died 1993)
July 23 – Helen Martin, American actress (died 2000)
July 24 - Sydney Bromley, English character actor (died 1987)
August 25
- Ruby Keeler, singer, actress (died 1993)
- Michael Rennie, actor (died 1971)
August 26 – Jim Davis, American actor (died 1981)
September 7 – Elia Kazan, director (died 2003)
September 27 - Amerigo Tot, Hungarian actor (died 1984)
October 6 – Robert Carson, screenwriter (died 1983)
October 20 – Carla Laemmle, actress (died 2014)
October 29 – Douglass Montgomery, actor (died 1966)
November 11 – Robert Ryan, actor (died 1973)
November 26 – Frances Dee, actress (died 2004)
December 9 – Douglas Fairbanks Jr., actor (died 2000)
December 12 – Karen Morley, actress (died 2003)
December 20 – Diane Ellis, actress (died 1930)
December 22 - Patricia Hayes, English character actress (died 1998)

Deaths

January 27 – Benoît-Constant Coquelin, actor, Cyrano de Bergerac (born 1841)
September 4 – Clyde Fitch, author & playwright whose works have been adapted into films. (born 1865)