1 January, Stockholm: Victor Sjöström's impressive new film, The Outlaw and His Wife, has just been released here. It is an adaptation from a play by the Icelandic writer Johann Sigurjonsson, and action takes place in 19th-century Iceland. The story centers on Berg-Ejvind (Sjöström), wanted for stealing sheep to feed his starving family and who falls in love with Halla, a rich land-owning widow (Edith Erastoff, the director's third wife). She abandons her estate and they flee to the mountains, pursued by the law. After spending an idyllic summer together, the lovers perish in a snowstorm. Most impressive are the superb landscapes, a primitive setting for this tempestuous, passionately performed melodrama. The film was shot in the mountains of Lapland, close to the border between Sweden and Norway. An expedition to the actual locale proved to be too dangerous because of the German submarines relentlessly tracking the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. One of the most impressive scenes in the long film has Edith Erastoff, driven back by the posse, throwing her baby from the cliff top. It is the most ambitious and impressive of the 34 films made by the 38-year-old actor-director, whose debut behind the camera was in 1912. 1 January, Paris: Gaumont's film-hire service, called the Comptoir, has signed a contract with Paramount Pictures regarding exclusive rights to the American company's productions. 4 January, Paris: The film that Albert Capellani made in the US, Scènes de la vie de Bohème (Scenes of Bohemian Life), adapted from Murger with Paul Capellani, Alice Brady and Juliette Clarens, is now released here. 9 January, Ivry-sur-Seine: Émile Reynaud (born 1844), pioneer of animated film and inventor of the praxinoscope, has just died in a hospice on the banks of the Seine, where he had been cared for since 29 March 1917. His last years were little short of tragic, from the day in 1910 when, crushed by the cinematograph and dejected and penniless, he threw the greater part of his irreplaceable work into the Seine. By then the public had deserted the showings he gave of his poetic work at the "Théâtre Optique," which had been a celebrated attraction at the Musée Grevin between 1892 and 1900. 21 January, Hollywood: Opening of the new Charles Chaplin Film Company's studios on the corner of La Brea Avenue and Sunset Boulevard. 18 February, California: Rio Jim (alias William S. Hart) has cast himself in Blue Blazes Rawden, with Maude George and Robert McKim as his partners. 22 February, Copenhagen: Screening of 400 Million Leagues under the Earth by Forest Holger-Madsen, with Nicolai Neiiendam and Gunnar Tolnaes for Nordisk. However, the company is suffering financially due to competition from the rapidly expanding German film company UFA. 3 March, Paris: Les Travailleurs de la mer (The Sea Workers), a Pathé-SCAGL project, adapted from Victor Hugo's work by André Antoine, with Romuald Joubé and Andrée Brabant, was screened for the Maritime League's Charity Gala at the Trocadero. 12 March, Los Angeles: "Do you want to go to France?" That is the slogan of D. W. Griffith's new film Hearts of the World, which has just been shown an Clune's. This anti-German propaganda film, shot in England, France and California, has bowled the public over and has aroused great waves of sympathy for the Allies. The action unfolds in a small French village, before and during the war. Douglas and Marie, played respectively by Robert Harron and Lillian Gish, are separated by the war. The couple are reunited after a long period, and are save in extremis by the intervention of the Allied troops. Griffith has had no qualms about presenting the Germans as cynical and brutal, almost to the point of caricature. Erich von Stroheim has found a dream role as a Horrible Hun. Poor Lillian Gish has to suffer through bombardments throughout, as she tries to guide her confused grandfather to safety, and then later wanders dazed through the landscape carrying her wedding dress carefully in her arms. Her sister, Dorothy Gish, has a comic role as The Little Disturber, a streetsinger, which she makes truly amusing with her elastic face and jaunty movements. Audiences have been particularly impressed by the realistic images of the Front. Certain scenes were shot by Capt. Kleinschmidt and Billy Bitzer, with the aid of the cinematographic department of the Frency army, near the Front, amidst the ruins and shelling. For the few months spent in France, Griffith filmed all types of arms and military equipment used in the conflict. For a director of his caliber, it was a golden opportunity to film history as it was being made. In October 1917, Griffith brought his company back to the US to finish the film in California. Hearts of the World is Griffith's first film for Adolph Zukor's Artcraft company, but he continues to retain artistic control of his work. 22 March, Paris: Musidora, who stars in the film version of her great friend Colette's The Vagabond, also collaborated on the script and direction. 22 March, Paris: Eclipse has released Un Roman d'amour, by Louis Mercanton and René Hervíl, with Sacha Guitry (in front of the camera), Yvonne Printemps and Fred Wright. 2 April, Los Angeles: The King of the Jungle is brought to life by Elmo Lincoln in Tarzan of the Apes, adapted from Edgar Rice Burroughs' book that was published in 1912. 20 April, Paris: French producers have decided to strike from today until 23 May in protest against the difficulties they experienced with importations of unexposed reels and foreign films. 26 May, New York: D. W. Griffith has been elected president of the Motion Picture War Service Association, which is in charge of increasing the United States' war effort by selling bonds. 1 June, Moscow: Dziga Vertov, working under the supervision of Lev Kuleshov, is the chief editor of Kino-Nedelia (Cinema Weekly), a filmed news periodical on various aspects of Soviet life. 30 June, Berlin: The UFA, which took over Pagu and Messter Film last year, has now taken control of the movie theaters previously held by the Danish film company Nordisk. 1 July, New York: Release of the Charley Chase-directed comedy short Playmates from King Bee Studios, with Billy West, Oliver "Babe" Hardy and Chase in the role of "Dope Fiend." 1 July, New York: Release of the Crabs Iss Crabs from International Film Service and Educational Pictures, an animated adaptation of the "Katzenjammer Kids" comic strip directed by Gregory La Cava. 6 July, Hollywood: Hell Bent, the latest Western from the director-star team of Jack Ford and Harry Carey at Universal, has just opened and has already been well received. A writer in the Motion Picture News noted last week, "few directors put such sustained punch in their pictures as does this Mr. Ford." In fact, Jack started out in the movies acting in two-reelers directed by his older brother, Francis, in 1915 and 1916 before teaming up with Carey just over a year ago. This is their ninth feature together in which Carey plays the by now familiar role of "Cheyenne Harry," an easygoing Western character who is more of a saddle tramp than a typical movie hero. Audiences, however, don't seem to mind at all. 12 July, Paris: Clubs Are Trump, one of several American films made last year by Hal Roach and Harold Lloyd is now released here by Pathé. 27 July, Moscow: The Soviet Cinema Committee is undertaking the first state-produced fiction film, The Signal, directed by Alexander Arkatov. 9 August, Paris: Press magnate William Randolph Hearst's favorite, the actress and former dancer Marion Davies, has made her screen debut in Runaway Romany, from the director George Lederer. The film has just been released in France. 13 August, Moscow: Communism is off to war and so is the cinema. Today, Lenin is sending off the first propaganda train. Its carriages are covered with allegorical frescoes to the glory of the worker and Bolshevik soldiers. Inside, there is a conference hall, a school, a library stocked with some 7,000 books, an autonomous printshop and a cinematic installation, consisting of projector equipment, darkrooms, printing and editing rooms, as well as a significant stock of film. The experimental train is leaving for the Kazan region to capture the struggles of the civil war. The government of the Federal Republic of Soviet Russia and its head, Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, known as Lenin, think that they can rally the population who have been misled by counter-revolutionary propaganda to the Bolshevik cause. During the journey, the mobile studio will produce a weekly newspaper to be run by director of photography Edouard Tissé and its young editor Denis Arkadievitch Kaufman, known as Dziga Vertov. This original undertaking reflects a growing interest in the power of the cinema. An Institute of Photography, the first in the world, is also being set up. 25 August, Nice: Abel Gance, with the backing of Pathé, has started filming J'accuse, the first film in his trilogy about war and peace, with Romuald Joubé and Séverin-Mars. The poet Blaise Cendrars is the assistant director. 31 August, Marseilles: The aviator Rouit has been killed during the filming of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, for the Jules Verne film company. He had to throw himself into a river but was caught in a whirlpool and did not reappear on the surface. 6 September, Paris: Poor Little Rich Girl, directed in the US by Maurice Tourneur and starring Mary Pickford, is being distributed in France. 22 September, Paris: A gala evening has been held at the Trocadero for the opening of the Franco-American propaganda film Lest We Forget, directed by Léonce Perret, with Norma Talmadge. 27 September, Paris: Charles Pathé has suggested to the Cinema Employers' Federation that a percentage of the takings replace the present film rental system. He also called for the imposition of heavy import taxes on foreign films. 30 September, Germany: The Decla Company, which was formed by Erich Pommer with financial backing from the French company Éclair, has become 100 percent German after buying up all stock held by the mother company. 13 October, New York: Release of The Romance of Tarzan, by Wilfred Lucas and starring Elmo Lincoln, Cleo Madison and Enid Markey. It is a sequel to Tarzan of the Apes, with a prologue showing scenes from the first film. 1 November, Hollywood: Charlie Chaplin has returned from his honeymoon. His wife is 16-year-old Mildred Harris, who passes herself off as 18 and who Chaplin met at a party held by producer Samuel Goldwyn. At the time Mildred was just another little actress on the make in Hollywood. The two were married at a simple ceremony on 23 October. Since that happy event, Mrs. Chaplin has been bombarded with offers. Louis B. Mayer came up with a contract for six films worth $50,000, something that could have only been in the dreams of this young woman. The news of the marriage caused a stir, not least because Charlie seems to be at the summit of his career. In June 1917 he signed a million-dollar contract with First National for eight two-reel films in 18 months. Already made are A Dog's Life and Shoulder Arms. The latter, an answer to criticism about Chaplin's lack of involvement in the war effort, took the Tramp to the Western Front, where he bombarded the enemy with grenades made from foul-smelling Limburger cheese. In between, Chaplin made a propaganda short, The Bond, for the Liberty Loan Committee. It has produced a flood of subscriptions, testimony to Charlie's popularity and drawing power as the greatest screen comedian of the day. 9 November, New York: After appearing in 34 films for Adolph Zukor, Mary Pickford has signed a contract with First National for three films to be made before 31 July 1919. She is to be paid an advance of $150,000 and then will receive $250,000 for each film. The Mary Pickford Company, which is producing the films, will select directors and actors. 11 November, France: According to the latest issue of Le Cinéma, André Antoine is leaving France for Italy, where he is to film an adaptation of Henry Bernstein's play, Israel, for Tiber Film. 30 November, France: The release of The Tenth Symphony, a new film made by Abel Gance, with Jean Toulot, Emmy Lynn and Séverin-Mars, has received a mixed reception. It has been showered with praise by some and criticized by others for its grandiloquence and visual artifices. 30 November, Paris: The Pathé company has split into the Sound Reproduction Machine company to be run by Émile, and Pathé-Cinéma Company, under the direction of his brother Charles. 4 December, Czechoslovakia: Suzanne Marwille has made her screen debut in the film Demon Rodu Halkenu, produced and directed by Vaclav Binovec. 15 December, California: Cecil B. De Mille has finished filming his latest production, a remake of his first film, The Squaw Man, starring Elliot Dexter and Kathering McDonald. 17 December, Berlin: Ernst Lubitsch's new film version of Carmen, recently completed at the UFA studios here, has just opened to great acclaim. This is only the director's second feature-length production, after Die Augen der Mumie Ma (The Eyes of the Mummy) which was released earlier this year. Both films paired the young Polish actress Pola Negri with Harry Liedtke, who appears here in the role of Don José. But this is Miss Negri's picture and she makes the most of it. The stylish handling by director Lubitsch is worth noting, but it is the superb performance of Miss Negri, by turns darkly intense then passionate and lively, that excites the viewer and makes this a film to remember. 31 December, Hollywood: An increasing number of talented filmmakers from France have come to the United States. Some, such as Maurice Tourneur, Emile Chautard from Film d'Art, Léonce Perret from Gaumont (who has been busy making various propaganda films) and Louis Gasnier, have already met with success here.