1914 in film
The year 1914 in film involved some significant events, including the debut of Cecil B. DeMille as a director.
Events
- February 2 – Charlie Chaplin's first film, Making a Living is released.
- February 7 – Release of Charlie Chaplin's second film, the Keystone comedy Kid Auto Races at Venice, in which his character of The Tramp is introduced to audiences.
- February 8 - Winsor McCay's Gertie the Dinosaur greatly advances filmed animation movement techniques.
- February 10 - Release of the film Hearts Adrift; the name of Mary Pickford, the star, is displayed above the title on movie marquees.
- February – Lewis J. Selznick and Arthur Spiegel organize the World Film Corporation, a distributor of independently produced films located in Fort Lee, New Jersey,
- March 8 - D. W. Griffith's first feature film, Judith of Bethulia, is released. It was his last production for the Biograph Company.
- March 20 - Tess of the Storm Country makes Mary Pickford an icon in the US and a celebrity around the world.
- March 31 – The serial The Perils of Pauline is an early example of the damsel in distress in film.
- April 12 – The 3,300-seat Mark Strand Theatre opens in New York City.
- April 18 – The film Cabiria is released featuring extensive use of a moving camera for the first time in film.
- May 8 – Paramount Pictures is formed as a film distributor by William Wadsworth Hodkinson.
- November 19 – William Fox's Box Office Attractions Company releases its first production, Life's Shop Window
- December 3 – William S. Hart appears in his first feature film, The Bargain, which makes him a star.
- December 21 – Release of the first American made feature-length comedy film, Tillie's Punctured Romance, which was also Marie Dressler and Charlie Chaplin's feature film debuts.
- December – Chaplin joins Essanay Studios for $1,250 per week.
- Filoteo Alberini introduces a new 70 mm format, Panoramico, with the film Il sacco di Roma
- The Neptune Film Company opens the first of the Elstree Studios, the first "dark stage" in England, at Borehamwood, north of London.
Highest-grossing films (U.S.)
Selected films released in 1914
- January – The House of Bondage a lost 1914 silent film drama directed by Pierce Kingsley and starring Lottie Pickford.
- January 3 – Engelein, German silent comedy film written and directed by Urban Gad
- January 12 – Fantômas Contre Fantômas
- January 14 – Captive Souls a Hungarian film directed by Michael Curtiz
- January 22 – Absinthe American silent drama film starring King Baggot and Leah Baird and directed by Herbert Brenon
- February 2 – Making a Living the first film starring Charlie Chaplin.
- February 5 – O Mimi San, starring Sessue Hayakawa, Tsuru Aoki and Mildred Harris
- February 7 – Kid Auto Races at Venice, starring Charlie Chaplin
- February 8 – Gertie the Dinosaur, an animated film that incorporated many cinematic innovations
- February 9 – Mabel's Strange Predicament, starring Mabel Normand and Charlie Chaplin
- February 12 – The Squaw Man, directed by Oscar Apfel and Cecil B. DeMille, starring Dustin Farnum
- March 1 - How Moscha Came Back, silent film comedy short directed by Phillips Smalley
- March 8 – Judith of Bethulia, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Blanche Sweet
- March 24 – The Avenging Conscience, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Blanche Sweet
- March 31 – The Perils of Pauline,, starring Pearl White
- April 6 – The Old Curiosity Shop directed by Thomas Bentley, starring Alma Taylor
- April 15 – Brewster's Millions
- April 18 – Cabiria, directed by Giovanni Pastrone. Not the first dolly moving camera shot, but it may be the first dolly moving camera shot in a feature film. A blockbuster feature film of 1914.
- April 18 – Mabel at the Wheel, starring Mabel Normand, Harry McCoy, and Charlie Chaplin
- April 23 – A Little Madonna
- May 11 – The Master Mind
- May – Mr. Barnes of New York
- June 8 – The Wrath of Gods, starring Sessue Hayakawa, Tsuru Aoki and Frank Borzage
- June 15 – The Only Son
- June 22 – The Million Dollar Mystery,, starring Florence La Badie
- July 13 – My Official Wife, starring Clara Kimball Young
- July 13 – The Man on the Box
- July 17 – The Stain, starring Theda Bara
- July 22 – By the Sun's Rays
- August 10 – The Call of the North, starring Robert Edeson
- September 7 – The Virginian, starring Dustin Farnum
- September 23 – The Aztec Treasure
- September 28 – The Patchwork Girl of Oz
- September 28 – The Magic Cloak of Oz, starring Mildred Harris
- October 14 – His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz, starring Mildred Harris
- October 14 – Mabel's Blunder
- October 22 – What's His Name, starring Max Figman
- November 2 – Salomy Jane
- November 7 – The Hazards of Helen,, starring Helen Holmes
- November 7 – His Musical Career, starring Charlie Chaplin
- November 9 – The Man from Home
- November 9 – The Wishing Ring
- November 13 – Ayastefanos'taki Rus Abidesinin Yıkılışı, directed by Fuat Uzkınay, considered to be the first Turkish movie –
- November 15 – Rose of the Rancho, starring Bessie Barriscale
- November 19 – Life's Shop Window, first film produced by William Fox's Box Office Attractions Company, the forerunner to Fox Film
- December 7 – The Ghost Breaker
- December 7 – His Prehistoric Past, written, directed, and starring Charlie Chaplin
- December 7 – In the Land of the Head Hunters
- December 14 – The Last Egyptian
- December 21 – Tillie's Punctured Romance, directed by Mack Sennett, starring Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand and Charlie Chaplin. First comedy feature film.
- December 28 – A Study in Scarlet, directed by George Pearson
- December 28 – Cinderella, starring Mary Pickford
- December 28 – The Exploits of Elaine,, starring Pearl White
Short film series
- Broncho Billy Anderson
- Harold Lloyd
- Charlie Chaplin
Births
- January 5 – George Reeves, actor
- January 6 – Danny Thomas, singer, actor, comedian
- January 14 – Harold Russell, actor
- January 30 – John Ireland, actor
- February 3 – Mary Carlisle, actress
- February 17 – Arthur Kennedy, actor
- February 21 – Zachary Scott, actor
- February 26 – Robert Alda, actor
- March 2 – Martin Ritt, director
- March 3 – Charlotte Henry, actress
- April 2 – Alec Guinness, actor
- April 4 – Richard Coogan, actor
- April 16 – John Hodiak, actor
- May 5 – Tyrone Power, actor
- May 24 – Lilli Palmer, actress
- June 7 – Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, director
- June 18 – E. G. Marshall, actor
- June 21 – Wensley Pithey, character actor
- July 23 - Julie Mitchum, actress
- July 29 – Irwin Corey, comedian
- July 31 – Louis de Funès, actor
- August 2 – Beatrice Straight, actress
- August 14 – Andrea Leeds, actress
- August 31 – Richard Basehart, actor
- September 10 – Robert Wise, director
- September 12 – Desmond Llewelyn, actor
- September 20 – Kenneth More English actor
- September 27 – Sophie Sooäär, Estonian actress and singer
- October 26 – Jackie Coogan, actor
- October 30 – Anna Wing, actress
- November 8 – Norman Lloyd, actor
- November 9 – Hedy Lamarr, actress
- November 13
- *Amelia Bence, actress
- *Henri Langlois, film preservationist
- *Alberto Lattuada, director
- November 23 – Roger Avon, British film and television actor
- December 10 – Dorothy Lamour, actress
- December 13 – Larry Parks, actor
- December 26 – Richard Widmark, actor
- December 30 – Jo Van Fleet, actress
Deaths
- January 9 – Gladys Rankin, American actress as Mrs. Sidney Drew; writer as George Cameron
- January 11 – William A. Russell, 35, American actor
- March 25 – Frederic Mistral, 83, French writer, Mireille
- June 19 – Brandon Thomas, 65, British writer, Charley's Aunt
- July 1
- * Grace McHugh, American actress died while filming the movie Across the Border
- * Owen Carter, American cinematographer died while trying to save Grace McHugh, Across the Border
- August 21 – Charles J. Hite, 38, President and CEO of Thanhouser Film Corporation
- August 22 – David Davie Shelby, 66, actor.
- October 24 – Gustav Wied, 56, Danish playwright and novelist
- November 14 – Stellan Rye, 34, Danish film director, Dur Verfuhrte, Evinrude, The Student of Prague
Film debuts
- Theda Bara – The Stain
- Ethel Barrymore – The Nightingale
- John Barrymore – An American Citizen
- Milton Berle – Bunny's Little Brother
- Charlie Chaplin – writer, Kid Auto Races at Venice ; actor, Making a Living ; director, Twenty Minutes of Love
- Marguerite Clark – Wildflower
- Henrietta Crosman – The Unwelcome Mrs. Hatch
- Dorothy Dalton – Pierre of the Plains
- Hazel Dawn – One of Our Girls
- Cecil B. DeMille – director, The Squaw Man
- Sam De Grasse – Texas Bill's Last Ride
- Gaby Deslys – La remplacante
- Oliver Hardy – Outwitting Dad
- Sessue Hayakawa – O Mimi San
- Emil Jannings – Passionels Tagebuch
- Thomas Meighan – Danny Donovan, the Gentleman Cracksman
- Adolphe Menjou – The Acid Test
- Beatriz Michelena – Salomy Jane
- Musidora – Sainte-Odile
- Pola Negri – Slave of Passion, Slave of Vice
- Tyrone Power, Sr. – Aristocracy
- Milton Sills – The Pit
- Gloria Swanson – The Song of the Soul
- Constance Talmadge – Buddy's First Call
- Rudolph Valentino – The Battle of the Sexes
- H. B. Warner – The Lost Paradise