1912 in film

Events

• February – Babelsberg Studio outside Berlin begins operation with shooting of The Dance of the Dead by Danish director Urban Gad starring Asta Nielsen.
• April 30 – Universal Film Manufacturing Company is founded in New York, the oldest surviving film studio in the United States.
• May 8 – Famous Players Film Company, the forerunner of Paramount Pictures, is founded by Adolph Zukor.
• May 18 – Shree Pundalik by Dadasaheb Torne, the first Indian film, is released.
• June 8 – New York Motion Picture Company is merged with Universal, giving Universal a studio in Edendale, Los Angeles.
• July 4 – Mack Sennett, who has previously worked as an actor and comedy director with D. W. Griffith, forms a new company with New York City entrepreneur Adam Kessel, Keystone Studios. It will play an important role in developing slapstick comedy as the home to the Keystone Cops, English actor Charlie Chaplin, and others.
• July 12 – Queen Elizabeth is the first film released by Famous Players.
• July 26 – Edison Studios releases What Happened to Mary, the first ever motion picture serial.
• October 31 – The Musketeers of Pig Alley, directed by D. W. Griffith, debuts as the first gangster film.
• Edison introduces the Home Kinetoscope, a home film-projector which uses a 22 mm print consisting of three rows of frames.
• Pathé releases Pathe Kok, their first entry into the amateur market, with a gauge of 28 mm.
• Alexander F. Victor improves on the 17.5 mm format with his Duoscope, which uses two center perforations instead of the typical one.
• Bell & Howell introduce the first all-metal camera, the 2709 35mm.

  Films released in 1912

• 1812
• All for a Girl, directed by Frederick A. Thompson
• At the Foot of the Ladder, produced by the Thanhouser Company
• Aurora Floyd, directed by Theodore Marston
• Baby Hands
• The Bandit of Tropico
• A Battle of Wits
• The Beautiful Leukanida
• The Belle of Bar-Z Ranch, directed by Thomas Ricketts
• A Business Buccaneer
• The Cameraman's Revenge
• Cleopatra, directed by Charles L. Gaskill and starring Helen Gardner; one of the earliest American feature films
• Conductor 786, produced by the Thanhouser Company
• The Copper Beeches, starring Georges Treville as Sherlock Holmes
• The County Fair
• The Conquest of the Pole, directed by Georges Méliès
• Custer's Last Fight, directed by Francis Ford
• A Dash Through the Clouds, directed by Mack Sennett, starring Mabel Normand and American aviation pioneer Philip Parmelee.
• The Deserter, directed by Thomas H. Ince
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• The Female of the Species, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Mary Pickford
• The Fickle Spaniard, directed by Mack Sennett, starring Mabel Normand
• For His Son, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Blanche Sweet
• For the Cause of the South, directed by Bannister Merwin, starring Laura Sawyer, Ben F. Wilson, Charles Ogle
• Frankfurters and Quail
• Friends, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Mary Pickford and Lionel Barrymore
• From the Manger to the Cross, directed by Sidney Olcott
• Geronimo's Last Raid
• The Girl and Her Trust, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Dorothy Bernard and Wilfred Lucas
• The Half-Breed's Way
• The Honor of the Family
• Hot Stuff, starring Mack Sennett, Mabel Normand, and Dell Henderson
• How a Mosquito Operates
• Indian Romeo and Juliet
• In Nacht und Eis
• The Independence of Romania The first Romanian feature film to run for two hours.
• The Invaders
• It Happened Thus
• Keystone Comedy
• The Land Beyond the Sunset
• Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth, first film released by Famous Players Film Company, starring Sarah Bernhardt
• The Lesser Evil, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Blanche Sweet
• The Little Girl Next Door
• Mabel's Lovers, directed by Mack Sennett, starring Mabel Normand
• Making An American Citizen
• The Massacre, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Blanche Sweet and Lionel Barrymore
• Maud Muller
• The Mender Of Nets, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Mabel Normand and Mary Pickford
• The Miracle, the first full-color, full-length feature film
• Das Mirakel
• The Musketeers of Pig Alley, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Lillian Gish
• A New Cure for Divorce
• The New York Hat, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Mary Pickford and Lionel Barrymore
• The Old Actor
• The Old Doctor's Humanity
• Oliver Twist, possibly the first American feature film, with an original run time of over an hour; partly lost.
• Onesime, Clock-maker, directed by Jean Durand
• The Passer-By, directed by Oscar Apfel. Not the first moving camera shot, but it may be the first long-shot-to-close-up dolly moving camera shot. May also be the first dolly moving camera shot.
• Petticoat Camp
• Pilgrim's Progress
• Please Help the Pore
• The Power of Melody
• A Primitive Man's Career to Civilization
• Put Yourself in His Place
• Resurrection
• Richard III
• Robin Hood
• Saved From the Titanic
• A Six Cylinder Elopement
• A Spanish Dilemma, directed by Mack Sennett, starring Mabel Normand
• The Speed Demon, directed by Mack Sennett, starring Fred Mace
• Standing Room Only
• The Star of Bethlehem
• The Street Singer
• The Tell-Tale Message
• The Thunderbolt
• Tomboy Bessie, directed by Mack Sennett, starring Mabel Normand
• An Unseen Enemy, directed by D. W. Griffith, debuts of Lillian and Dorothy Gish
• The Voice of Conscience
• The Water Nymph, starring Mabel Normand and Mack Sennett. First Keystone comedy.
• What Happened to Mary?, starring Mary Fuller.
• When the Fire Bells Rang
• When the Heart Calls, starring Lee Moran, Russell Bassett and Louise Glaum
• With Our King and Queen Through India
• With the Mounted Police
• The Young Millionaire

  Births

• February 19 – Saul Chaplin, American film composer
• February 19 – Dorothy Janis, American actress
• February 21 – Arline Judge, American actress
• February 26 – Dane Clark, American actor
• March 22 – Karl Malden, American actor
• April 8 – Sonja Henie, Norwegian Olympic ice-skater, actress
• April 16 – Catherine Scorsese, American actress
• April 18 – Wendy Barrie, English actress
• May 9 – Pedro Armendáriz, Mexican actor
• May 18 – Perry Como, American singer, actor
• May 23
• *Marius Goring, English actor
• *John Payne, American actor
• May 29 – Iris Adrian, American actress
• June 1 – Doris Wishman, American filmmaker
• June 26 – Jay Silverheels, Canadian actor
• July 4 – Viviane Romance, French actress
• July 5 – Ilona Massey, Hungarian-born American actress
• August 2 – Ann Dvorak, American actress
• August 12 – Samuel Fuller, American director
• August 15 – Wendy Hiller, English actress
• August 23 – Gene Kelly, American actor
• August 29 – Barry Sullivan, American actor
• September 5
• *Kristina Söderbaum, Swedish-born German actress
• *Frank Thomas, American animator
• September 21 – Chuck Jones, American animator
• September 23 – Martha Scott, American actress
• September 29 – Michelangelo Antonioni, Italian director
• October 11 – Betty Noyes American singer/dubber
• October 12 – Peer Guldbrandsen, Danish screenwriter, actor, film director and producer
• October 13 – Cornel Wilde, Hungarian-born American actor
• October 31 – Dale Evans, American actress
• November 8 – June Havoc, American actress
• November 21 – Eleanor Powell, American dancer, actress
• November 24 – Garson Kanin, American writer
• December 11 – Carlo Ponti, Italian producer

  Deaths

• March 30 – Karl May, writer, Apache Gold
• April 15 – Jacques Futrelle, writer, The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes,
• April 20 – Bram Stoker, writer, Dracula
• May 14 – August Strindberg, writer, Miss Julie
• May 19 – Bolesław Prus, writer, Faraon
• June 1 – Philip Parmalee, actor ; pioneer aviator for the Wright brothers
• July 1 – Harriet Quimby, writer ; actress in one film; pioneer American aviator
• December 14 – Harry Cashman, comedy producer and actor for the Chicago-based Essanay company.

  Film debuts

• John Barrymore – The Dream of a Moving Picture Director
• Frank Borzage – On Secret Service
• Charlotte Burton – The Would-Be Heir
• Lon Chaney – The Honor of the Family
• Dorothy Gish – An Unseen Enemy
• Lillian Gish – An Unseen Enemy
• Louise Glaum – Brave Heart's Hidden Love
• Mildred Harris – The Post Telegrapher
• Cleo Madison – A Business Buccaneer
• Mary Miles Minter – The Nurse
• Antonio Moreno – Iola's Promise
• Warner Oland – Pilgrim's Progress
• Olga Petrova – Departure of a Grand Old Man
• Victor Sjöström – director, A Ruined Life; actor, The Gardener
• Frederick Warde – Richard III