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Key Films of 1915

Theda Bara and Edward José in Frank Powell's A Fool There Was (1915)

A Fool There Was catapulted Bara to stardom in a way no film actor had previously experienced - so it was perhaps inevitable that her star would shine far more briefly than most others

George Beban in Reginald Barker's The Italian (1915)

Leading man George Beban requested that Ince change the film’s title from The Dago to The Italian...

Ben Turpin and Charlie Chaplin in His New Job (1915)

"I felt like a cow trying to dance with a toy poodle.”

Lillian Gish in D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915)

D.W. Griffith believed that The Birth of a Nation's grand scenario would facilitate his desire to progress film towards epic, grandiose feature-length storytelling.

Vernon Steele, Clara Kimball Young and Claude Fleming in James Young's Hearts in Exile (1915)

The official ban imposed by the UK on James Young's Hearts in Exile has never been lifted...

William S. Hart in Reginald Barker's On the Night Stage (1915)

Herschel Mayall's performance in On the Night Stage inspired silent screen heartthrob John Gilbert to become an actor.

Blanche Sweet and Gerald Ward in Cecil B. DeMille's The Captive (1915)

“Cecil was known for what he thought was realism. Well, he got it in The Captive when a man was actually killed."

Mary Pickford in James Kirkwood's Fanchon the Cricket (1915)

Fanchon the Cricket marked the only time Mary Pickford shared the screen in a feature-length movie with her siblings.

William S. Hart and Enid Markey in Hart's The Darkening Trail (1915)

Former cowboys who worked as riders and stuntmen at Inceville found Hart's perception of the Old West amusing, and... many found him to be pompous.

Mary Pickford in James Kirkwood's Rags (1915)

"Adolph Zukor knew Pickford was a big enough attraction to make even the most perfunctory material profitable..."

William Sheer in Raoul Walsh's The Regeneration (1915)

"The police arrested Raoul Walsh, director of The Regeneration, and booked him for arson, indecent exposure and malicious mischief."

Clara Kimball Young and Wilton Lackaye in Maurice Tourneur's Trilby (1915)

"James Young didn't like another director filming his wife, Clara Kimball Young, in a nude scene..."

Clara Kimball Young and Wilton Lackaye in Maurice Tourneur's Trilby (1915)

The Script for Tillie's Tomato Surprise called for Marie Dressler to be mown down by an automobile, be shoved through a wall, bitten by her co-star James the Monkey and more...

Geraldine Farrar in Cecil B. DeMille's Carmen (1915)

When Geraldine Farrar, the star of Carmen, arrived in Los Angeles, school children scattered flowers from the private carriage of her train to the studio’s awaiting automobile...

Seena Owen and Douglas Fairbanks in Christy Cabanne's The Lamb (1915)

Douglas Fairbanks resisted Harry Aitken’s first offer of a movie contract, worried that appearing in pictures would damage his reputation on the stage.

Dorothy Gish in John Emerson's Old Heidelberg (1915)

Assistant director von Stroheim would have actors stand on parade each morning, and Dorothy Gish refused to kiss her leading man...

Frank Keenan in Reginald Barker's The Coward (1915)

Frank Keenan, the star of The Coward, was what those in the profession called a furniture actor...

Mary Pickford in Sidney Olcott's Madame Butterfly (1915)

Pickford remembered a “furious quarrel which ended in Olcott stalking off the set. I was shaking with anger…”

Douglas Fairbanks in Christy Cabanne's Double Trouble (1915)

Douglas Fairbanks was filming Double Trouble when he first met Mary Pickford.

Sessue Hayakawa in Cecil B. DeMille's The Cheat (1915)

In Japan, Sessue Hayakawa, who plays the villain in Cecil B. DeMille's The Cheat, was condemned for promoting anti-Japanese sentiment.

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