A Movie Trivia List: Which was the first film... Last Update: 07 May 2017
Satisfy your curiosity with this list in chronological order. Suggestions appreciated!
List activity
194 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
41 titles
- DirectorLouis Aimé Augustin Le PrinceStarsAnnie HartleyAdolphe Le PrinceJoseph WhitleyIn the garden, a man asks his friends to do something silly for him to record on film.First motion picture ever.
- DirectorWilliam K.L. DicksonStarsWilliam K.L. DicksonThe earliest extant sound film. William K.L. Dickson stands in the background next to a huge sound pickup horn connected to a Thomas Edison phonograph recorder. As he plays a violin, two men dance in the foreground. This film was made to demonstrate a new Thomas Edison machine, the Kinetophone. These machines were Kinetoscope peepshow viewers mated with Thomas Edison wax cylinder phonographs. But the Kinetophone never caught on and this film was never released. The film still exists, but the phonograph soundtrack has been lost.The first film with a notable form of homosexuality.
- DirectorLouis LumièreStarsFrançois ClercBenoît DuvalAn impudent child plays a prank on a gardener innocently watering his plants.The poster of this film has was the first poster ever designed to promote an individual film.
Also this movie is the earliest known instance of film comedy. - DirectorGeorges MélièsStarsJehanne d'AlcyJules-Eugène LegrisGeorges MélièsWith the help of a magic cauldron, Mephistopheles conjures up a variety of supernatural characters.The first horror, ghost and vampire film.
- DirectorGeorges MélièsStarsJeanne BradyJehanne d'AlcyThe first film to ever show a nudity scene on screen is a simple presentation of a servant preparing a bath for another woman.The first adult movie with a nude scene
- DirectorGeorges MélièsStarsGeorges MélièsVictor AndréBleuette BernonA group of astronomers go on an expedition to the Moon.The first sci-fi movie
- DirectorEdwin S. PorterStarsGilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' AndersonA.C. AbadieGeorge BarnesA group of bandits stage a brazen train hold-up, only to find a determined posse hot on their heels.The first Western movie.
- DirectorÉmile CohlThe first all-animated film in history, a series of scenes without much narrative structure, but morphing into each other.The first animated cartoon.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsFrank PowellArthur V. JohnsonMarion LeonardAn historical dramatization of a Spanish woman during the reign of Spanish and Mexican owned California in the early 19th century.First movie shot in Hollywood.
- DirectorDhundiraj Govind PhalkeStarsD.D. DabkeAnna SalunkeGanpat G. ShindeThe film opens with a Ravi Varma like tableau showing King Harishchandra, his wife Taramati and his young son. The king is teaching his son archery. They go on a hunt. The king enters an area controlled by the Sage Vishwamitra. Three furies appear before the king caught in flames. The king tries to rescue them. These fairies try to seduce the king into renouncing his kingdom for his love of truth. The king endures much hardship including being banished from his kingdom before a god appears to reassure everyone that the whole narrative was merely a test of the king's integrity.The first Indian movie
- DirectorHenry MacRaeStarsClarence BurtonMarie WalcampPhyllis GordonAn old Indian legend tells of the supposed ability of persons who have been turned into wolves through magic power to assume human form at will for purposes of vengeance.The first werewolf movie
- DirectorArthur Melbourne CooperAnimated dolls perform in a circus.The first film to use the stop-motion technique
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishRobert HarronMae MarshThe story of a poor young woman separated by prejudice from her husband and baby is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.The first splatter movie.
- DirectorThomas Dixon Jr.StarsLorraine HulingPercy StandingArthur ShirleyThree acts and a prologue. Act 1: A nation falls. Act 2: The heel of the conqueror. Act 3: The uprising two years later.The first movie sequel after the 1915 film "The Birth of a Nation".
- DirectorCecil B. DeMilleStarsElliott DexterAnn LittleKatherine MacDonaldCaptain Wynnegate leaves England, accepting the blame for embezzling charity funds though knowing that his cousin Sir Henry is guilty. Out West he and the Indian girl Nat-U-Rich save each other from the evil cattle rustler Cash Hawkins and marry. Lady Diana shows up to announce Sir Henry's death. After Nat-U-Rich's suicide Wynnegate takes his half-breed son and Lady Diana back to England as the new Earl of Kerhill.First movie remake.
- DirectorHarry GrossmanBurton L. KingStarsHarry HoudiniMarguerite MarshRuth StonehouseJustice Department agent Quentin Locke must investigate a powerful cartel protected by a robot (here referred to as "The Automaton") and using a gas weapon "The Madagascar Madness".The first appearance of a robot in cinema.
- DirectorFred NibloStarsDouglas FairbanksMarguerite De La MotteNoah BeeryA seemingly idiotic fop is really the courageous vigilante Zorro, who seeks to protect the oppressed.The first super-hero movie.
- DirectorNat G. DeverichHarry K. FairallStarsElliott SparlingBarbara BedfordNoah BeeryBecause of his financial trouble, Don Almeda (Noah Beery) promises his daughter, Maria (Barbara Bedford), to Don Alvarez (Albert Prisco). But Maria does not love Don Alvarez, and, in fact, she falls in love with Terry O'Neil (Elliott Sparling), a stranger who has been wounded by robbers associated with Alvarez. O'Neil takes Alvarez's place at a masked ball. Alvarez, in turn, robs the old Padre (John Herdman) of some pearls and stabs him to deal with O'Neil's knife. He then accuses O'Neil of the murder and tries to shoot him, but wounds Maria instead, because she has thrown herself in front of him. Maria recovers, and, after proving that Alvarez is a thief and a killer, weds O'Neil.The first 3D feature film worldwide.
- DirectorAlan CroslandStarsAl JolsonMay McAvoyWarner OlandThe son of a Jewish Cantor must defy the traditions of his religious father in order to pursue his dream of becoming a jazz singer.The first feature-length motion picture with synchronized recorded music score and lip-synchronous singing and speech.
- DirectorOtto MessmerFirst cartoon with sound.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanHarry d'Abbadie d'ArrastStarsClara BowCharles 'Buddy' RogersRichard ArlenTwo young men, one rich, one middle class, who are in love with the same woman, become fighter pilots in World War I.First film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
- DirectorUb IwerksWalt DisneyStarsWalt DisneyMickey Mouse is a mischievous deckhand on a riverboat that is under the command of the tyrannical Captain Pete.First cartoon with synchronized sound.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsAnny OndraJohn LongdenSara AllgoodAfter killing a man in self-defense, a young woman is blackmailed by a witness to the killing.First British "all-talkie" feature film.
- DirectorGennaro RighelliStarsDria PaolaIsa PolaElio SteinerLoose Pirandello adaptation: A young lady hides from her fiance that she is caring for a baby half brother left behind by her late mother.The fiance, like her an aspiring musical performer, has indicated he doesn't want a child yet.The first Italian talking film.
- DirectorRaoul WalshLouis R. LoefflerStarsJohn WayneMarguerite ChurchillEl BrendelBreck Coleman leads hundreds of settlers in covered wagons from the Mississippi River to their destiny out West.The first Hollywood movie to have a swear word: "they always told me women were dahm funny."