1902 in film
# 1902 in film

The year 1902 in film involved some significant events.

## Events

* March 10 – A Circuit Court decision in the United States ends Thomas Edison's monopoly on the 35 mm movie film technology.
* April 2 – Thomas Lincoln Tally opens the Electric Theater, the first permanent movie theater, in Los Angeles. Tally co-founds the First National Exhibitors Circuit in 1917.
* August 9 – Georges Méliès' film The Coronation of Edward VII (a staged simulation with inserted actuality footage) is first shown in London on the evening of the Coronation itself.
* September 1 – actor/producer Méliès premières the first science fiction film, the silent A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans La Lune), at the Théâtre Robert-Houdin in Paris, France; it proves an immediate success. One scene features the animated human face of the Moon being struck in the eye by a rocket.
* William Wardell invents an 11 mm amateur film format, Vitak.

## Notable films released in 1902

### Mitchell and Kenyon

* Bradford Coronation Procession
* Burnley v. Manchester United
* Comic Pictures in High Street, West Bromwich
* Dewsbury v. Manningham
* Electric Tram Rides from Forster Square, Bradford
* Employees Leaving Storey's Moor Lane Mill, Lancaster
* The Great Local Derby: Accrington v. Church, Cricket Match
* Leeds Athletic and Cycling Club Carnival
* Lieutenant Clive Wilson and the Tranby Croft Party, Hull
* Living Wigan
* Sheffield United v. Bury
* Street Scenes in Halifax
* Tram Ride into Halifax
* Wexford Bull Ring
* Workers Leaving the Jute Works, Barrow

### Edwin S. Porter

* Fun in a Bakery Shop
* Jack and the Beanstalk, based on the 1807 fairy tale by Benjamin Tabart

### Ferdinand Zecca

* Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (Ali Baba et les quarante voleurs), based on the Middle-Eastern folk tale
* Quo Vadis?, co-directed by Lucien Nonguet

### Georges Méliès

* The Coronation of Edward VII (Le Sacre d'Édouard VII)
* Gulliver's Travels Among the Lilliputians and the Giants (Le Voyage de Gulliver à Lilliput et chez les Géants), based on the 1726 novel by Jonathan Swift
* The Treasures of Satan (Les Trésors de Satan)
* A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans la Lune), based on the 1865 novel From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne
* Robinson Crusoe (Les aventures de Robinson Crusoë), based on the 1719 novel by Daniel Defoe

### Others

* The Little Match Seller, directed by James Williamson, based on the 1845 fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen – (GB)
* Ringling Brothers Parade Film, produced by William Selig – (US)
* Snow White, produced by Siegmund Lubin, based on the 1812 fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm – (US)
* Working Rotary Snow Plows, produced by Edison Studios – (US)

## Births

| Month | Date | Name | Country | Profession | Died |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| January | 2 | Sybil Seely | US | Actress | 1984 |
| January | 11 | Atang de la Rama | Philippines | Actress, singer | 1991 |
| January | 31 | Tallulah Bankhead | US | Actress | 1968 |
| February | 3 | Dolly Rudeman | Indonesia | Poster Designer | 1980 |
| February | 8 | Lyle Talbot | US | Actor | 1996 |
| February | 14 | Thelma Ritter | US | Actress | 1969 |
| March | 8 | Louise Beavers | US | Actress | 1962 |
| March | 8 | Onslow Stevens | US | Actor | 1977 |
| March | 23 | Philip Ober | US | Actor | 1982 |
| March | 27 | Kenneth Macpherson | Scotland | Filmmaker | 1971 |
| March | 28 | Flora Robson | UK | Actress | 1984 |
| April | 25 | Mary Miles Minter | US | Actress | 1984 |
| May | 2 | Brian Aherne | UK | Actor | 1986 |
| May | 3 | Jack La Rue | US | Actor | 1984 |
| May | 3 | Walter Slezak | Austria | Actor | 1983 |
| May | 4 | Mona Mårtenson | Sweden | Actress | 1956 |
| May | 6 | Max Ophüls | Germany | Director | 1957 |
| May | 10 | David O. Selznick | US | Producer, screenwriter, Studio Executive | 1965 |
| May | 21 | Anatole Litvak | Russia | Filmmaker | 1974 |
| May | 28 | Luis César Amadori | Italy | Director, screenwriter | 1977 |
| May | 30 | Stepin Fetchit | US | Actor, comedian | 1985 |
| June | 5 | Walter Plunkett | US | Costume Designer | 1982 |
| June | 22 | Marguerite De La Motte | US | Actress | 1950 |
| July | 1 | William Wyler | Germany | Director, producer | 1981 |
| July | 4 | George Murphy | US | Actor, dancer, Politician | 1992 |
| July | 17 | Edward Gargan | US | Actor | 1964 |
| July | 18 | Dimitar Panov | Bulgaria | Actor, director | 1985 |
| July | 18 | Chill Wills | US | Actor, singer | 1978 |
| August | 7 | Ann Harding | US | Actress | 1981 |
| August | 10 | Norma Shearer | Canada | Actress | 1983 |
| August | 10 | Curt Siodmak | Poland | Screenwriter | 2000 |
| August | 11 | Lloyd Nolan | US | Actor | 1985 |
| August | 22 | Leni Riefenstahl | Germany | Director, Photographer, Actress | 2003 |
| September | 3 | Mantan Moreland | US | Actor, comedian | 1973 |
| September | 5 | Darryl F. Zanuck | US | Producer, Studio Executive | 1979 |
| September | 17 | Esther Ralston | US | Actress | 1994 |
| September | 22 | John Houseman | Romania | Actor, producer | 1988 |
| October | 5 | Larry Fine | US | Actor, comedian, Musician | 1975 |
| October | 17 | Irene Ryan | US | Actress, Comedienne | 1973 |
| October | 18 | Miriam Hopkins | US | Actress | 1972 |
| October | 28 | Jenny Gilbertson | Scotland | Documentary Filmmaker | 1990 |
| October | 28 | Elsa Lanchester | UK | Actress | 1986 |
| November | 4 | Victor Jory | Canada | Actor | 1982 |
| November | 23 | John P. Fulton | US | Special Effects Supervisor, Cinematographer | 1966 |
| December | 1 | Harold Goodwin | US | Actor | 1987 |
| December | 9 | Margaret Hamilton | US | Actress | 1985 |
| December | 14 | Frances Bavier | US | Actress | 1989 |
| December | 19 | Barton MacLane | US | Actor, Playwright, Screenwriter | 1969 |
| December | 19 | Ralph Richardson | UK | Actor | 1983 |

## Deaths

* February 15 – Wilhelmina J. R. Albregt-Engelman, Dutch actress (born 1834)
