1914: USA! USA!

Cecil B. DeMille

1914 is the year that establishes American dominance in film. This was obviously because of the important technological advancements the country was developing as well as the emergence of artists unparalleled...

Okay, it was because of a war.

Europe was subsumed by World War I in 1914 and the U.S. was left as the only game in town.  Hollywood established itself the year prior as the center of the American film universe and that fact, combined with the shuttering of Europe's studios in support of the war effort, led to America's foremost place as THE place for film in the world.  After the war, American films dominated Europe because the movies had recouped their costs in the U.S.  The stalled European studios started closing and Hollywood became the predominant force.

Some important names got their start in 1914.  Cecil B. DeMille made his first film, The Squaw Man, which became a success in part because of the marketing by Samuel Goldfish.  DeMille would go on to direct some of the biggest and most successful movies ever produced, including The Ten Commandments.  And Goldfish would change his name to Goldwyn and found a studio that we call MGM.

All of that and I have not even mentioned that Charlie Chaplin's first appearance as his "Little Tramp" character in Kid Auto Races at Venice.  Or that Jesse L. Lasky started releasing films under the newly-formed Paramount Pictures Corporation.

So what are we watching this year?  Unlike 1913, there is a real lack of 1914 films on Netflix, so it looks like we are back to the web.  The Squaw Man is available and I am hoping to watch Kid Auto Races at Venice as well.  I'll have to find a couple of others (perhaps The Spoilers which was later remade several times starring unknowns like John Wayne and Gary Cooper).