1908 in film

Events

• July 14 – D. W. Griffith becomes a director at the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company in New York City. Between 1908 and 1913, Griffith will direct nearly 500 films starting with the release of The Adventures of Dollie.
• October 28 – The Russian Film Industry begins with the release of Russia's first fictional narrative film Stenka Razin.
• November 18 – Release in France of The Assassination of the Duke of Guise, the first film with a screenplay by an eminent man of letters, the playwright Henri Lavedan; it is also directed by two men of the theatre, Charles Le Bargy and André Calmettes, features actors of the Comédie-Française, and is accompanied by a score from Saint-Saëns.
• December - Thomas Edison forms the Motion Picture Patents Company, with goals of controlling production and distribution, raising theater admission prices, cooperating with censorship bodies, and preventing film stock from getting into the hands of nonmember producers.
• Pathé invents the newsreel that was shown in cinemas prior to a feature film.

  Films released in 1908

• The Adventures of Dollie, directed by D. W. Griffith
• After Many Years
• Airy Fairy Lillian Tries On Her New Corsets
• Antony and Cleopatra, directed by J. Stuart Blackton and Charles Kent
• L'Arlésienne, directed by Albert Capellani
• The Assassination of the Duke of Guise
• Beauty and the Beast
• Beauty of the Sleeping Woods, directed by Segundo de Chomon, based on the story of Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault
• Betrayed by a Handprint, directed by D. W. Griffith
• The Bloodstone, produced by Siegmund Lubin
• The Castle Ghosts
• The Cat's Revenge
• Cave of the Spooks, directed by Segundo de Chomon
• A Christmas Carol
• Cupid's Prank, directed by Edwin S. Porter
• The Devil, directed by D. W. Griffith for Thomas Edison Co.
• The Devil and the Gambler
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, produced by William N. Selig, reissued as The Modern Dr. Jekyll
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, produced by Kalem
• The Doctor's Experiment
• The Dog And His Various Merits, produced by Pathé
• Don Juan Tenorio, directed by Ricardo de Banos and Alberto Marro
• Dream of an Opium Fiend, directed by George Melies
• Dreams of Toyland, directed by Arthur Melbourne-Cooper
• A L'Ecu d'Or ou la bonne auberge, a French film regarded as one of the first pornographic films
• Excursion To The Moon, directed by Segundo de Chomón
• The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays
• The Fairy's Sword, directed by Lewin Fitzhamon
• A Faithless Friend, directed by Lewin Fitzhamon
• Fantasmagorie, directed by Émile Cohl
• Fantoche's Nightmare, directed by Emile Cohl
• Fire In A Burlesque Theatre
• The Flower of Youth
• From Show Girl To Burlesque Queen
• Fun with the Bridal Party, directed by George Melies
• The Gambler and the Devil, directed by J. Stuart Blackton
• The Hanging Lamp
• The Haunted Castle
• The Haunted House, directed by Segundo de Chomón, aka The House of Ghosts
• Incident from Don Quixote, directed by George Melies
• In the Bogie Man's Cave, directed by George Melies
• In the Sultan's Power
• Legend of a Ghost, directed by Segundo de Chomon
• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, produced by Kalem Co.
• Long Distance Wireless Photography, directed by Georges Melies
• Lord Feathertop, directed by Edwin S. Porter
• Macbeth, directed by J. Stuart Blackton
• Magic Bricks, directed by Segundo de Chomón
• The Magic Mirror, directed by Ferdinand Zecca
• The Man and His Bottle, directed by Lewin Fitzhamon
• The Monkey Man
• Moscow Clad In Snow, produced by Pathé
• The New Lord of the Village, directed by George Melies
• The Nursemaid's Dream, directed by Lewin Fitzhamon, starring Gertie Potter
• Oriental Black Art, directed by George Melies
• Over The Hill To The Poorhouse
• Pharmaceutical Hallucinations, directed by George Melies
• The Physician Of The Castle
• A Poor Knight and the Duke's Daughter
• Prehistoric Man, produced by Urban-Eclipse Prods.
• La presa di Roma, directed by Filoteo Alberini; possibly the first Italian short film
• The Princess in the Vase, directed by Wallace McCutcheon, starring D.W. Griffith
• The Professor's Secret
• The Red Barn Crime, or Maria Marten, directed by William Haggar
• Rescued from an Eagle's Nest, directed by J. Searle Dawley, starring D. W. Griffith
• La Revolution en Russie, directed by Ferdinand Zecca
• Romeo and Juliet, directed by J. Stuart Blackton
• The Saloon Keeper's Nightmare
• Satan Finds Mischief
• She, directed by Edwin S. Porter for Thomas Edison Co., based on the H. Rider Haggard novel
• Sherlock Holmes in the Great Murder Mystery, produced by Crescent Films ; incorporates scenes from Murders in the Rue Morgue by Poe
• The Snowman, directed by Wallace McCutcheon
• The Spectre
• The Spirit
• Spiritualistic Seance
• Spooks Do The Moving
• Stenka Razin
• The Taming of the Shrew, directed by D. W. Griffith
• The Tempest, directed by Percy Stow
• The Thieving Hand, directed by J. Stuart Blackton for Vitagraph
• Tilly Bébé, die berühmte Löwenbändigerin
• Too Much Champagne ; features scenes from Dante's Inferno
• Toula's Dream
• Trilby, directed by Viggo Larsen and A.R. Nielsen, made in Denmark
• Trouble Of A Grass Widower, starring Max Linder
• Troubles Of A Manager Of A Burlesque Show
• The Tyrant Feudal Lord
• Un dame vraiment bien
• A Visit To The Seaside, directed by George Albert Smith. First natural color movie in cinema.
• The Wages of Sin: an Italian Tragedy
• Wave of Spooks
• Wedding Feast and Ghosts
• Whaling Afloat And Ashore, directed by Robert W. Paul
• The Witch of Seville
• The Witch's Donkey
• The Wonderful Charm, directed by George Melies

  Births

• January 10
• *Bernard Lee, English actor
• *Paul Henreid – Austrian-American actor, director
• January 11 – Lionel Stander, American actor
• January 12 – Jean Delannoy, French director
• January 16 – Ethel Merman, American actress, singer
• February 4 – Gwili Andre, Danish actress
• February 5 – Peg Entwistle, Welsh actress
• February 7 – Buster Crabbe, American actor
• February 11 – Philip Dunne, American screenwriter, director, and producer
• February 22 – John Mills, English actor
• March 5 – Rex Harrison, English actor
• March 7 – Anna Magnani, Italian actress
• March 20 – Michael Redgrave, English actor
• April 2 – Buddy Ebsen, American actor,
• April 5 – Bette Davis, American actress
• April 15 – Lita Grey, American actress
• April 19 – Irena Eichlerówna, Polish actress
• April 24 – Marceline Day, American actress
• April 30 – Eve Arden, American actress
• May 2 – William Bakewell, American actor
• May 6 – Lucien Ballard – American cinematographer
• May 20 – James Stewart, American actor
• May 26 – Robert Morley, English actor
• May 30 – Mel Blanc, American voice actor
• May 31 – Don Ameche, American actor
• July 12 – Milton Berle, American actor
• July 18 – Lupe Vélez, Mexican actress
• August 30 – Fred MacMurray, American actor
• September 13 – Mae Questel, American voice actress
• September 15 – Penny Singleton, American actress,
• October 5 – Joshua Logan, American director
• October 6 – Carole Lombard, American actress
• November 16 – Burgess Meredith, American actor
• December 11
• * Manoel de Oliveira, Portuguese director
• * Sally Eilers, American actress
• December 13 – Van Heflin, Actor
• December 18 – Celia Johnson, English actress
• December 20 – Dennis Morgan, American actor, singer
• December 25 – Helen Twelvetrees, American actress
• December 28 – Lew Ayres, American actor

  Deaths

• May 23 – Peter F. Dailey, actor, singer

  Film debuts

• Hobart Bosworth – The Count of Monte Cristo
• Sidney Drew – Cupid's Realm or A Game of Hearts
• Julia Swayne Gordon – Othello
• D.W. Griffith – actor/writer When Knighthood was in Flower ; producer Deceived Slumming Party ; director The Adventures of Dollie
• Marion Leonard – At the Crossroads of Life
• Owen Moore – The Guerilla
• Miriam Nesbitt – Saved by Love
• Mack Sennett – Old Isaacs, the Pawnbroker
• Earle Williams – Barbara Fritchie: The Story of a Patriotic Woman
• Kathlyn Williams – On Thanksgiving Day