1913 was a particularly fruitful year for film as an art form, and is often cited one of the years in the decade which contributed to the medium the most, along with 1917.
The year was one where filmmakers of several countries made great artistic advancements, producing notable pioneering masterpieces such as The Student of Prague (Stellan Rye), Suspense (Phillips Smalley and Lois Weber), Atlantis (August Blom), Raja Harischandra (D. G. Phalke), Juve contre Fantomas (Louis Feuillade), Quo Vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni), Ingeborg Holm (Victor Sjöström), The Mothering Heart (D. W. Griffith), Ma l’amor mio non muore! (Mario Caserini), L’enfant de Paris (Léonce Perret) and Twilight of a Woman's Soul (Yevgenii Bauer).
January 1 – The British Board of Film Censors is established.
April 21 – The first full-length Indian (and Marathi) feature film Raja Harishchandra (silent)[1][2] has its première (public release May 3).
May – Mary Pickford signs a contract with Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company for $500 per week, becoming the company's first superstar.[3]
Jesse L. Lasky, Cecil B. DeMille, Samuel Goldwyn and Oscar Apfel founded Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company.
November 24 - Traffic in Souls is an early example of the narrative style of Hollywood film.
December 29 – Charlie Chaplin signs a contract with Mack Sennett to begin making films at Keystone Studios.
December 29 – release of The Adventures of Kathlyn, the second American serial film and the first to feature cliffhanger endings that became popular with later serials.
December 29 – production starts on Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company's The Squaw Man, the first full-length Hollywood feature film.
D. W. Griffith ends his series of Biograph shorts, begun in 1908, and leaves the Biograph Company in New York City to make full-length motion pictures.
Cines-Palast in Berlin opens as a cinema with Quo Vadis.
Mitchell and Kenyon shoot their last known films in England.
Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle signs for Mack Sennett at Keystone Studios and his early films for them feature the first known instances of pie thrown on film.
Atlantis (Danish-German co-production/ Nordisk) produced by Ole Olsen, directed by August Blom, written by Gerhardt Hauptmann, starring Olaf Fons, Ida Orloff and Ebba Thomsen; Michael Curtiz was assistant director; the first Danish full-length feature film.[11]
Babes in the Woods (French/ Pathe Freres) based on the fairy tale[12]
Back to Life (Universal) directed by Allan Dwan, starring Lon Chaney and Pauline Bush[13]
Balaoo the Demon Baboon aka Balaoo (French/Eclair), directed by Victorin-Hyppolite Jasset, starring Lucien Bataille and Camille Bardou, based on the novel by Gaston Leroux; this film was remade as The Wizard (1927 film) and again as Dr. Renault's Secret (1942).[14]
Beauty and the Beast (Universal) directed by H. C. Matthews, based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale.[15]
The Bells, directed by Oscar Apfel, starring Edward P. Sullivan and Sue Balfour, based on the play The Polish Jew by Erckmann-Chatrian which was later adapted to English by Leopold Lewis retitled The Bells.[16]
The Bells, directed by George Lessey, produced by Thomas Edison, starring May Abbey and Robert Brower; based on the Edgar Allan Poe poem of the same name[17]
The Bewitched Matches (French/ Eclair) directed by Emile Cohl[18]
The Black Opal, (Ramo Films) based on the novel The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins[19]
The Blood Red Tape of Charity (Universal) directed by Edwin August, starring Lon Chaney[21]
Brand of Evil (Essanay Films) directed by Harry McRae Webster, written by Edward T. Lowe, starring Thomas Commerford and Ruth Stonehouse, based on the novel The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins[22]
The Dead Secret (Monopol Films) directed by Stanner E. V. Taylor, starring Marion Leonard, based on the 1857 short story of the same name by Wilkie Collins[27]
The Death Stone of India (Bison) directed by Milton J. Fahrney, starring William Clifford, Belle Bennett and Paul Machette, based on the 1868 Wilkie Collins novel The Moonstone.[28]
Death's Marathon, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Blanche Sweet and Lionel Barrymore
The Devil and Tom Walker (Selig) directed by Hardee Kirkland, written by Edward McWade, starring Harry Lonsdale and William Stowell (as Satan); based on the story by Washington Irving.[29]
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Imp/ Universal) produced by Carl Laemmle, written and directed by Herbert Brenon, starring , Matt Snyder and Jane Gail.[30]
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (British/ Kineto-Kimemacolor) produced by Charles Urban, filmed in color; this film was very sparsely distributed; one of the earliest horror films ever made in Great Britain.[31]
Dr. Trimball's Verdict (British/ Hepworth Films) directed by Frank Wilson, produced by Cecil M. Hepworth, starring Alec Worcester[32]
From the Beyond (French/ U.S. co-production, Eclair Films/ American Standard) directed by Oscar A. C. Lund, starring Alec B. Francis and Barbara Tennant[41]
In the Power of a Hypnotist (Warner) directed by Sidney Olcott and T. Hayes Hunter, starring Sydney Olcott and Gene Gauntier[61]
In the Toils of the Devil (Italy/ Milano Film) story was based on Faust[62]
The Influence of a Child
Ingeborg Holm, once described as the first "realistic" feature film
The Island of Bliss (German/ Brandon Films) directed by Arthur Kahane; based on a Max Reinhardt play[63]
The Island of Terror (French/ Eclipse) directed by Joe Hamman (who also starred in it); an unauthorized film version of the 1896 H. G. Wells novel The Island of Dr. Moreau, made without Wells' permission.[64]
Isle of the Dead (Denmark/ Gluckstadt Films) directed by Wilhelm Gluckstadt [65]
It Is Never Too Late to Mend (Thomas Edison) directed by Charles M. Seay, starring Walter Edwin, Mary Fuller, Wyatt Burns and Charles Ogle, based on the 1856 Charles Reade novel of the same name[66]
The Last Days of Pompeii, directed by Mario Caserini and Eleuterio Rodolfi (One of the early blockbusters in cinema. One of the earliest feature films.)
Love From Out of the Grave (French/ Film d'Art) a lost film.[67]
The Man of the Wax Figures (French), directed by Maurice Tourneur, aka L'Homme aux Figures de Cire[70]
Maria Marten: or, The Murder in the Red Barn (British/ Motograph Films) written and directed by Maurice Elvey, starring Elizabeth Risdon, Nessie Blackford and Fred Groves; script incorporated ideas from several different stage play versions of the story; remade in 1928 and again in 1935.[71]
The Medium's Nemesis (Thanhauser Films) starring Mrs. Lawrence Marston, Sidney Bracey and Marie Eline[72]
The Occult, directed by Allan Dwan, starring Sydney Ayres, Jacques Jaccard and Violet Knights.[78]
The Other (Der Andere) aka Der Andere (German/ Vitascope), written and directed by Max Mack, starring Albert Basserman, Hanni Weisse and Emmerich Hanus; based on a stage play by Paul Lindau which in turn was inspired by the novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde[79]
The Phantom Signal (Thomas Edison Prods.) directed by George Lessey, starring Charles Ogle, Mary Abbey and Bessie Learn.[81]
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1913 film), written by Lois Weber, directed by Phillips Smalley; starring Wallace Reid and Lois Weber; based on the famous novel by Oscar Wilde.[82]
The Pied Piper of Hamlin (Edison Prods.) directed by George Lessey, starring Herbert Prior and Robert Brower.[83]
The Pit and the Pendulum, aka Rivals (Solax Films) directed by Alice Guy-Blache, starring Darwin Karr; based on the short story by Edgar Allan Poe.[84]
Poisoned Waters (Nestor Films/ Universal) directed by Milton J. Fahrney, produced by David Horsley, starring Valleria Alison and Louis Fitzroy[85]
Poor Jake's Demise (Imp/ Universal) directed by Allen Curtis, starring Lon Chaney (his first credited film appearance).[86]
The Queen of Spades (Italy/ Cines, Aquila) directed by Baldassare Negroni, starring Leda Gys, Hesperia and Ignazio Lupi; based on the story by Alexander Pushkin and its 1890 opera adaptation by Tchaikovsky.[87]
The Queen of Spades (Fidelity Films) based on the story by Alexander Pushkin; a lost film.[88]
Scrooge (British/ Big Features) directed by Leedham Bantock, starring Sir Seymour Hicks (who also wrote the screenplay); based on the Charles Dickens novel A Christmas Carol.[93]
The Sea Urchin (1913 film) (Universal) directed by Edwin August, starring Lon Chaney and Jeanie MacPherson[94]
Simple Simon and the Haunted House, aka Onesime et la maison hante (French/ Gaumont) directed by Jean Durand, starring Ernest Bourbon and Gaston Modot; one in a series of more than 60 French silent films featuring the character Onesime (which means Simple Simon in English).[96]
Simple Simon and the Suicide Club (French/ Gaumont) directed by Jean Durand, starring Ernest Bourbon and Gaston Modot; a comic satire on Robert Louis Stevenson's 1878 novel, The Suicide Club.[97]
The Spectre of Jago (Italy/ Savoia Films) directed by Alberto Carlo Lolli, starring Ubaldo Maria Del Colle; based on the novel by Charles Darlington.[100]
The Star of India (Blache Films) directed by Herbert Blache and Alice Guy-Blache, starring Frannie Fraunholz and Claire Whitney; based on the 1868 novel The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins[102]
Strangers from Nowhere, aka Two Strangers from Nowhere (Blache Films) produced by Herbert Blache; plot was similar to "Faust".[103]
The Student of Prague (Germany/Denmark) produced by Apex/ Deutsch-Bioscop, directed by Stellan Rye and Paul Wegener, written by Hanns Heinz Ewers, starring Paul Wegener, John Gottowt, Grete Berger and Lyda Salmonova; adapting the 1839 Edgar Allan Poe story William Wilson, the film explored the concept of the "doppelganger"; only inferior prints exist, edited down from 85 minutes to 41 minutes; the film was remade in 1926 and again in 1935.[104]
The Suicide Club (German/ Eichberg Films) directed by Joseph Delmont, starring Fred Sauer and Ilse Bois; based on the 1878 Robert Louis Stevenson short story of the same name.[105]
Suspense, directed by Lois Weber; contains early usage of split-screen
The Tempter (British) filmed in Color; directed by F. Martin Thornton and R. H. Callum, produced by Charles Urban, starring Harry Agar Lyons and Alfred de Manby; an early anthology fantasy film that predated Dead of Night (1945).[106]
The Tenderfoot's Ghost (produced by / St. Louis Motion Picture Co.)[107]
The Thief and the Porter's Head (Italy/ Milano Film) [108]
The Vampire (British/ Searchlight Films) remade in 1915 as Heba, the Snake Woman.[112]
The Vampire (U.S./ Kalem Films) directed by Robert G. Vignola, starring Harry Millarde, Marguerite Cortot, Alice Eis and Bert French; print exists in a museum.[113][114]
The Vampire of the Desert (Vitagraph) directed by Charles Gaskill, starring Helen Gardner and Teffi Johnson; a non-supernatural film based on a poem called The Vampire by Rudyard Kipling[115]
Voodoo Fires (Tampa Films) directed by Frank Whitman, written by Joe Brandt; one of the earliest films to depict voodoo rituals, quite possibly an influence on the later Bela Lugosi film, White Zombie (1932).
The Werewolf (U.S./ Bison Films, Universal) first known film to deal with the "werewolf" concept; filmed in Canada, directed by , written by Ruth Ann Baldwin, starring Clarence Barton, Marie Walcamp and Phyllis Gordon; based on an 1898 story called "The Werewolves" by Honore Beaugrand; the last known print was destroyed in a fire in 1924.[116]
What the Gods Decree (French/ Eclair) directed by Victorin-Hippolyte Jasset, starring Charles Krauss and Josette Andriot (a statue of Kali comes to life).[117]
The Witch of Salem, directed by Raymond B. West, produced by Thomas H. Ince, starring Charles Ray and Clara Williams; plot is similar to D. W. Griffith's Rose O'Salem Town (1910).[120]
