The World Film Company or World Film Corporation was an American film production and distribution company, organized in 1914 in

Fort Lee, New Jersey Fort Lee is a Borough (New Jersey), borough at the eastern border of Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, situated along the Hudson River atop The Palisades (Hudson River), The Palisades. As of the 2020 Uni ...

. Short-lived but significant in American film history, World Film was created by financier and filmmaker

Lewis J. Selznick Lewis J. Selznick (born Lewis Zeleznick; May 2, 1870 or 1869 – January 25, 1933) was an American producer in the early years of the film industry. After initial involvement with World Film at Fort Lee, New Jersey, he established Selznick Pic ...

in Fort Lee, where many early

film studio A film studio (also known as movie studio or simply studio) is a major entertainment company that makes films. Today, studios are mostly financing and distribution entities. In addition, they may have their own studio facility or facilities; how ...

s in

America's first motion picture industry Fort Lee is a borough at the eastern border of Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, situated along the Hudson River atop The Palisades. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 40,191, an increase of 4,8 ...

were based in the early part of the 20th century.

Formation

World Film was to be the distribution arm for three main production companies: Selznick's own production company called Equitable Pictures,

Jules Brulatour Pierre Ernest Jules Brulatour (April 7, 1870 – October 26, 1946) was a pioneering executive figure in American silent cinema. Beginning as American distribution representative for Lumiere Brothers raw film stock in 1907, he joined producer ...

Peerless Pictures Peerless Pictures, originally Peerless Features, was an early film studio in the United States. Jules Brulatour was a co-founder. The Peerless studio was built in 1914 on Linwood Avenue in Fort Lee, New Jersey, when the town was the center of Amer ...

, and the Shubert Pictures production company founded by the strong-willed promoter and entrepreneur William Aloysius Brady. Under this arrangement, World Film was the distributor for some 380 short films and features from 1914 through 1921. It also became a production company, with filming centered at Brulatour's Peerless Studio facilities, and run by Brady. The Schuberts intended to use their own chain of vaudeville and legitimate theaters as film venues. In the period between 1912 and 1915, all five of the most important film production companies in the U.S. had similar ties to theatrical entrepreneurs, hoping to leverage their theater chains:

Famous Players Film Company The Famous Players Film Company was a film company founded in New York City in 1912 by Adolph Zukor in partnership with the Frohman brothers, powerful theatre owners and producers there. History Discussions to form the company were held at Th ...

Klaw & Erlanger Klaw and Erlanger was an entertainment management and production partnership of Marc Klaw and A. L. Erlanger, Abraham Lincoln Erlanger based in New York City from 1888 through 1919. While running their own considerable and multi-faceted theatric ...

's "Protective Amusement Company", the

Jesse L. Lasky Jesse Louis Lasky (September 13, 1880 – January 13, 1958) was an American pioneer motion picture producer who was a key founder of what was to become Paramount Pictures, and father of screenwriter Jesse L. Lasky Jr. Early life Born in to ...

Company, the

Triangle Film Corporation Triangle Film Corporation (also known as Triangle Motion Picture Company) was a major American motion-picture studio, founded in July 1915 in Culver City, California and terminated 7 years later in 1922. History The studio was founded in Jul ...

, and World Film. By 1916, Selznick was ousted from World Film by its board. Chicago investor

Arthur Spiegel Arthur Henry Spiegel I (January 12, 1885 – April 7, 1916) was an American mail-order businessman and early film studio executive. Biography Spiegel was the youngest son of Jewish businessman Joseph Spiegel, founder of the Spiegel Home Furn ...

was put in charge as president. Production remained at Fort Lee until 1919, when the company was re-purchased by Selznick and absorbed into his Lewis J. Selznick Productions, based on the

west coast of the United States The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast and the Western Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the Contiguous United States, contig ...

Talent

World Film was distinguished by its concentration of talent. It acquired film production company

Equitable Motion Pictures Corporation Equitable Motion Picture Company was a short-lived but influential silent film company. It was launched in 1915. It was headed by Arthur Spiegel. It distributed its films through William A. Brady's World Film Company. It was acquired by World Fil ...

. The destruction by fire of the French-based Eclair's New Jersey studio on March 10, 1914, and the outbreak of World War I the following August drove a re-organization of foreign film-industry assets in Fort Lee, including the employees. Within World Film a number of French directors and cinematographers, many of whom had been brought over to work at American Eclair, organized themselves in a separate French-speaking unit, with its own sensibility. For about three years

Maurice Tourneur Maurice Félix Thomas (; 2 February 1876 – 4 August 1961), known as Maurice Tourneur (), was a French film director and screenwriter. Life Born Maurice Félix Thomas in the Épinettes district (17th arrondissement of Paris), his father was a w ...

Léonce Perret Léonce Joseph Perret (14 March 1880 – 12 August 1935) was a prolific and innovative French film actor, director and producer.The Museum of Modern Art(retrieved 7 June 2007) He also worked as a stage actor and director. Often described as avan ...

George Archainbaud George Archainbaud (May 7, 1890 – February 20, 1959) was a French- American film and television director. Biography In the beginning of his career he worked on stage as an actor and manager. He came to the United States in January 1914, and ...

Emile Chautard Emile or Émile may refer to: * Émile (novel) (1827), autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life * Emile, Canadian film made in 2003 by Carl Bessai * '' Emile: or, On Education'' (1762) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a treatise o ...

Albert Capellani Albert Capellani (23 August 1874 – 26 September 1931) was a French film director and screenwriter of the silent film, silent era. He directed films between 1905 and 1922. One of his brothers was the actor-sculptor Paul Capellani, and anoth ...

and

Lucien Andriot Lucien Andriot ASC (November 19, 1892 – March 19, 1979) was a French and American cinematographer. He shot more than 200 films and television programs over the course of his career. Life and work Born in Paris, Andriot began his career in ...

, among others, worked together on films such as 1914's '' The Wishing Ring: An Idyll of Old England'', the 1915 versions of '' Camille'' and '' Alias Jimmy Valentine'', the 1916 ''

La Bohème ''La bohème'' ( , ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions '':wikt:quadro, quadri'', ''wikt:tableau, tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto b ...

''. and taught a young apprentice film cutter at the World studio:

Josef von Sternberg Josef von Sternberg (; born Jonas Sternberg; May 29, 1894 – December 22, 1969) was an American filmmaker whose career successfully spanned the transition from the Silent film, silent to the Sound film, sound era, during which he worked with mos ...

.Von Sternberg, by John Baxter, pages 21-22 Others were also hired into World Film: actress

Clara Kimball Young Clara Kimball Young (born Edith Matilda Clara Kimball; September 6, 1890 – October 15, 1960) was an American film actress who was popular in the early silent film era. Early life Edith Matilda Clara Kimball was born in Chicago on Septembe ...

(the second wife of director James Young, married and divorced) hired away from Vitagraph,

Sidney Olcott Sidney Olcott (born John Sidney Allcott; September 20, 1872 – December 16, 1949) was a Canadian-born film producer, director, actor and screenwriter. Biography Born John Sidney Allcott in Toronto, he became one of the first great dire ...

hired away from

Kalem Studios The Kalem Company was an early American film studio founded in New York City in 1907. It was one of the first companies to make films abroad and to set up winter production facilities, first in Florida and then in California. Kalem was sold to V ...

, screenwriter

Frances Marion Frances Marion (born Marion Benson Owens; November 18, 1888 – May 12, 1973) was an American screenwriter, director, journalist and author often cited as one of the most renowned female screenwriters of the 20th century alongside June Mathis a ...

, actress Elaine Hammerstein, and vaudeville star

Lew Fields Lew Fields (born Moses Schoenfeld, January 1867 – July 20, 1941) was an American actor, comedian, vaudeville star, theatre manager, and producer. He was part of a comedy duo with Joe Weber. He also produced shows on his own and starred in com ...

, and

Clara Whipple Clara Whipple ''(née'' Clara or Clarissa or Clarise Brimmer Whipple; November 7, 1887 – November 6, 1932) was an American actress who flourished in theatre from 1913 to 1915 and in silent film from 1915 to 1919. She was also a silent film sce ...

(third wife of director James Young, married and divorced).

Partial filmography

* '' The Brass Bottle'' (1914) * '' The Wishing Ring'' (1914) * '' The Lure'' (1914) * ''

In the Land of the Head Hunters ''In the Land of the Head Hunters'' (also called ''In the Land of the War Canoes'') is a 1914 silent film fictionalizing the world of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples of the Queen Charlotte Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, ...

'' (1914) * ''

Uncle Tom's Cabin ''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two Volume (bibliography), volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans ...

'' (1914) * '' The Boss'' (1915) * '' Camille'' (1915) * ''

The Cub ''The Cub'' is an extant 1915 silent film drama produced by William A. Brady and directed by Maurice Tourneur. The film is based on a 1910 Broadway play, ''The Cub'' by Thompson Buchanan, also produced by Brady. This marks the only time stage a ...

'' (1915) * ''

Wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

'' (1915) * ''

Evidence Evidence for a proposition is what supports the proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the proposition is truth, true. The exact definition and role of evidence vary across different fields. In epistemology, evidence is what J ...

'' (1915) * ''

The Butterfly on the Wheel ''The Butterfly on the Wheel'' is a lost film, lost 1915 American silent film, silent drama film directed by Maurice Tourneur and starring Holbrook Blinn, Vivian Martin and George Relph. Plot Cast * Holbrook Blinn as Mr. Admaston * Vivian M ...

'' (1915) * ''The Fisher Girl'' (1915); aka ''The Daughter of the Sea'' * ''Blue Grass'' (1915) * '' Hearts in Exile'' (1915) * '' McTeague'' (1916) * ''

The Rise of Susan ''The Rise of Susan'' is a 1916 American silent film, silent film made by the Peerless Film Company and distributed by World Film which starred Clara Kimball Young. Remnants of a print survive in the Library of Congress missing several reels. A f ...

'' (1916) * '' The Bludgeon'' (it) (1915) * ''The Question'' (1916) * ''His One Big Chance'' (1916) * '' The City'' (1916) * ''The Man Who Dared God'' (1917) * '' The Man Who Forgot'' (1917) * ''The Reapers'' (1916) * ''Sudden Riches'' (1916) * '' The Price of Happiness'' (1916) * ''The Revolt'' (1916) * '' The Gilded Cage'' (1916) * ''

The Heart of a Hero ''The Heart of a Hero'' is a surviving 1916 silent film historical drama based upon the 1898 play ''Nathan Hale'' by Clyde Fitch, directed by Emile Chautard and starring Robert Warwick and Gail Kane. It was produced and distributed by World Film ...

'' (1916) * ''Birth of Character'' :Working titles: :: ''The Making of a Man'' :: ''The Transmutation'' :: ''Life's Crucible'' * ''

A Girl's Folly ''A Girl's Folly'' is a 1917 American silent film, silent comedy film directed by Maurice Tourneur and starring Robert Warwick, Doris Kenyon, June Elvidge, Jane Adair, Chester Barnett, and Johnny Hines. Tourneur also played the director for the S ...

'' (1917) * ''

Betsy Ross Elizabeth Griscom Ross (née Griscom;Addie Guthrie Weaver, ''"The Story of Our Flag..."'', 2nd Edition, A. G. Weaver, publ., 1898, p. 73 January 1, 1752 – January 30, 1836), also known by her second and third married names, Ashburn a ...

'' (1917) * ''

The Ghost of Slumber Mountain ''The Ghost of Slumber Mountain'' is a 1918 film written and directed by special effects pioneer Willis O'Brien, produced by Herbert M. Dawley, and starring both men. It is the first film to show live actors and stop-motion creatures together ...

'' (1918) * ''

Little Orphant Annie "Little Orphant Annie" is an 1885 poem written by James Whitcomb Riley and published by the Bobbs-Merrill Company. First titled "The Elf Child", the name was changed by Riley to "Little Orphant Allie" at its third printing; however, a typesetting ...

'' (1918) * ''

The Devil's Trail ''The Devil's Trail'' is a 1919 American silent drama film that is set in the woods of the Pacific Northwest. It was directed by Stuart Paton and stars Betty Compson.

'' (1919) * ''

When Bearcat Went Dry ''When Bearcat Went Dry'' is a 1919 American silent drama film directed by Oliver L. Sellers from the novel by Charles Neville Buck, and starring Lon Chaney as Kindard Powers. The title refers to a character nicknamed "Bearcat" ( Bernard J. Dur ...

'' (1919)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Early film in Fort Lee, New Jersey Silent film studios Defunct American film studios Film distributors of the United States Film production companies of the United States Fort Lee, New Jersey Entertainment companies established in 1914 Mass media companies established in 1914 Mass media companies disestablished in 1919 1914 establishments in New Jersey 1919 disestablishments in New Jersey American silent films by studio Defunct companies based in New Jersey * Film studios and soundstages in New Jersey