1918 in film

Events

• January 27 – Tarzan makes his film debut in Tarzan of the Apes.
• March 10 – Warner Bros. release their first produced picture, My Four Years in Germany.
• July – The animated The Sinking of the Lusitania is one of the first examples of animation being used for something other than comedy.
• Following litigation for anti-trust activities, the Motion Picture Patents Company disbands.
• Louis B. Mayer arrives in Los Angeles and forms Louis B. Mayer Pictures Corporation.
• 28 mm safety standard film, designed by Alexander Victor, becomes one of the earliest film formats to use "safety film" bases in order to safeguard the amateur market against nitrate fires.

  Top-grossing films (U.S.)

Notable films released in 1918

Argentina

• Buenos Aires tenebroso, directed by Juan Glize
• En un día de gloria, directed by Mario Gallo and Alberto Traversa
• La garra porteña, directed by Juan Glize
• Sin dejar rastros, directed by Quirino Cristiani
• Violeta o La reina del tango, directed by Juan Glize

  Germany

• Alraune, die Henkerstochter, genannt die rote Hanne
• Carmen, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Pola Negri
• Das Tagebuch des Dr. Hart, directed by Paul Leni
• I Don't Want to Be a Man, directed by Ernst Lubitsch

  Hungary

• A 99-es számú bérkocsi, directed by Mihály Kertész, starring: |Cläre Lotto and Béla Lugosi
• Alraune, directed by Mihály Kertész, starring: Géza Erdélyi and Gyula Gál
• Casanova, directed by Alfréd Deésy, starring: Béla Lugosi and Alfréd Deésy
• Faun, directed by Alexander Korda, starring: Gábor Rajnay and Artúr Somlay
• Mary Ann, directed by Alexander Korda, starring: Ica von Lenkeffy and Tivadar Uray
• Álarcosbál ||Alfréd Deésy, starring: Béla Lugosi
• A víg Özvegy, directed by Mihály Kertész
• Az ördög, directed by Mihály Kertész
• Karoly bakak, directed by Zoltan Korda
• Az Élet királya, directed by Alfréd Deésy, starring: Béla Lugosi and Norbert Dán
• Küzdelem a létért, directed by Alfréd Deésy, starring: Béla Lugosi
• Lili, directed by Cornelius Hintner, starring: Béla Lugosi
• Lulu, directed by Mihály Kertész, starring: Béla Lugosi
• A Napraforgós hölgy, directed by Mihály Kertész, starring: Lucy Doraine, Cläre Lotto and Iván Petrovich
• A Víg özvegy, directed by Mihály Kertész, starring: Mihály Várkonyi, Berta Valero, Endre Boross Árpád id. Latabár, Miklós Szomory and József Bánhidy

  Italy

• Fabiola directed by Enrico Guazzoni

  France

• The Tenth Symphony, directed by Abel Gance, starring Séverin-Mars and Jean Toulout
• Tih Minh, directed by Louis Feuillade, starring René Cresté
• Vendemiaire, directed by Louis Feuillade

  Great Britain

• Victory and Peace, directed by Herbert Brenon

  Sweden

• The Outlaw and His Wife, directed by & starring Victor Sjöström

  United States

• Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley, directed by Marshall Neilan, starring Mary Pickford
• Among the Cannibal Isles of the South Pacific
• Are Crooks Dishonest?, a Harold Lloyd short
• Arizona, starring Douglas Fairbanks
• The Bell Boy, a 'Fatty' Arbuckle / Buster Keaton short
• 'Blue Blazes' Rawden, starring William S. Hart
• The Blue Bird, directed by Maurice Tourneur
• Bound in Morocco, directed by Allan Dwan, starring Douglas Fairbanks
• The Burden of Proof, directed by Julius Steger; starring Marion Davies
• Cecilia of the Pink Roses, directed by Julius Steger; starring Marion Davies
• The Cook, a 'Fatty' Arbuckle/Buster Keaton short
• Cupid Angling, starring Ruth Roland
• The Eyes of Julia Deep, starring Mary Miles Minter
• The Ghost of Slumber Mountain
• The Goddess of Lost Lake, starring Louise Glaum
• Headin' South, directed by Allan Dwan, starring Douglas Fairbanks
• The Heart of Humanity, starring Erich von Stroheim
• Hearts of the World, directed by D.W. Griffith, starring Lillian Gish and Dorothy Gish
• The House of Mirth, directed by Albert Capellani, starring Katherine Corri Harris
• Huck and Tom
• The Lamb, a Harold Lloyd short.
• Men Who Have Made Love to Me, starring Mary MacLane
• Mickey, directed by F. Richard Jones, starring Mabel Normand
• M'Liss, directed by Marshall Neilan, starring Mary Pickford and Thomas Meighan
• Moonshine, a 'Fatty' Arbuckle/Buster Keaton short
• My Four Years in Germany, the first film produced by the four Warner Brothers
• On the Quiet, directed by Chester Withey, starring Jack Barrymore
• Out of the Inkwell, an animated film directed by Max Fleischer
• Out West, a 'Fatty' Arbuckle/Buster Keaton short
• The Romance of Tarzan, starring Elmo Lincoln
• Salomé, directed by J. Gordon Edwards, starring Theda Bara
• The Sinking of the Lusitania, a short animated propaganda film by Winsor McCay; likely the longest animated film of its time.
• Stella Maris, directed by Marshall Neilan, starring Mary Pickford
• Tarzan of the Apes, directed by Scott Sidney, starring Elmo Lincoln and Enid Markey
• Uncle Tom's Cabin
• Under the Yoke, directed by J. Gordon Edwards, starring Theda Bara
• Under the Greenwood Tree directed by Emile Chautard starring Elsie Ferguson
• The Whispering Chorus, starring Raymond Hatton and Kathlyn Williams
• Why Pick on Me?, starring Harold Lloyd and Bebe Daniels

  U.S.S.R.

• Father Sergius, directed by Yakov Protazanov, starring Ivan Mozzukhin

  Comedy film series

Buster Keaton (1917–1944)

• January 20: Out West as Sheriff / Saloon owner.
• March 18: The Bell Boy as Bellboy.

  Charlie Chaplin (1914–1940)

• 11 August: Triple Trouble; compilation assembled by Leo White with scenes from Police and an unfinished short, Life, along with new material shot by White. Chaplin includes this production in the filmography of his autobiography.
• May 1918: Chase Me Charlie; a seven-reel montage of Essanay films, edited by Langford Reed. Released in England.

• 14 April: A Dog's Life
• 29 September: The Bond
• 20 October: Shoulder Arms
• How to Make Movies: Never assembled, although parts were used in The Chaplin Revue

• Untitled film: A charity film co-starring Harry Lauder.

  Harold Lloyd (1913–1938)

• The Tip
• The Lamb
• Hit Him Again
• Beat It
• A Gasoline Wedding
• Look Pleasant, Please
• Here Come the Girls
• Let's Go
• On the Jump
• Follow the Crowd
• Pipe the Whiskers as Janitor
• It's a Wild Life
• Hey There!
• Kicked Out
• The Non-Stop Kid
• Two-Gun Gussie
• Fireman Save My Child
• The City Slicker
• Sic 'Em, Towser
• Somewhere in Turkey
• Are Crooks Dishonest? – sometimes wrongly titled as Doing, Doing, Done
• An Ozark Romance
• Kicking the Germ Out of Germany
• That's Him
• Bride and Gloom
• Two Scrambled
• Bees in His Bonnet
• Swing Your Partners
• Why Pick on Me?
• Nothing but Trouble
• Back to the Woods
• Hear 'Em Rave
• Take a Chance
• She Loves Me Not

  Lupino Lane (1915–1939)

• His Busy Day
• His Salad Days
• Love and Lobster
• The Blunders of Mr. Butterbun: Trips and Tribunals
• The Blunders of Mr. Butterbun: Unexpected Treasure
• The Haunted Hotel

  Births

• January 29 – John Forsythe, actor
• February 4 – Ida Lupino, actress, director
• February 16 – Patty Andrews, singer, actress, member of The Andrews Sisters
• March 1 – Roger Delgado, actor
• March 9 – Mickey Spillane, writer, actor
• April 17
• *William Holden, actor
• *Anne Shirley, actress
• April 18 – Shinobu Hashimoto, screenwriter
• May 14 – June Duprez, actress
• May 26 – John Dall, actor
• June 8 – Robert Preston, actor, singer
• June 11 – Jane Bryan, actress
• June 26 – Ellen Liiger, actress
• July 6 – Sebastian Cabot, actor
• July 14 – Ingmar Bergman, Swedish actor, writer, director
• July 18 – Jane Frazee, singer, actress
• July 26 – Marjorie Lord, actress
• August 9 – Robert Aldrich, director
• August 17 – Evelyn Ankers, actress
• September – Rin Tin Tin, canine actor
• September 13 – Dick Haymes, actor, singer
• September 21 – Rand Brooks, actor
• September 28 – Arnold Stang, actor and comedian
• October 9 – Lila Kedrova, Russian-born actress
• October 13 – Robert Walker, actor
• October 17 – Rita Hayworth, actress
• October 27 – Teresa Wright, actress
• October 29 – Diana Serra Cary, born Peggy-Jean Montgomery, child silent film actress
• November 4
• *Art Carney, actor
• *Cameron Mitchell, actor
• November 30 – Efrem Zimbalist Jr., actor
• December 15 – Jeff Chandler, actor

  Deaths

• January 12 – Simeon Wiltsie, American actor
• February 1 – Joseph Kaufman, 36, American silent film actor & director, married to film star Ethel Clayton
• February 15 – Vernon Castle, 30, American dancer & writer
• March 13 – William Courtleigh, Jr., 26, American actor
• April 30 – "Mother" Mary Maurice, 73, American veteran stage & film actress
• May 19 – S. Rankin Drew, 26, American actor and director.
• June 29 – John van den Broek, 23, Dutch cinematographer
• July 4 – Walter Stradling, 43, British cinematographer
• August 12 – Anna Held, 46, Polish actress & singer
• September 21 – Hal August, 28, American actor; brother of Edwin August
• October 2 - Edwin Arden, American stage & film actor
• October 19 – Harold Lockwood, 31, American actor
• October 22 – Myrtle Gonzalez, 27, American actress
• October 22 – Julian L'Estrange, 38, English actor
• October 28 – Louise Vale, American actress
• November 6 – William Shea, 67, Scottish veteran film actor & director
• November 18 – Wayland Trask, Jr., 31, American comedian
• December 6 – Charles Gunn, 35, American actor
• December 29 – Jode Mullally, 32, American actor

  Debuts

• Warner Baxter – All Woman
• Noël Coward – Hearts of the World
• Neil Hamilton – The Beloved Impostor
• Buck Jones – Western Blood
• Ben Lyon – The Transgressor
• Irene Rich – A Desert Wooing
• Will Rogers – Laughing Bill Hyde