In Old California (1910 film)

In Old California
Directed by	D. W. Griffith
Written by	Stanner E. V. Taylor
Starring	Frank Powell Arthur V. Johnson Marion Leonard Henry B. Walthall
Cinematography	G. W. Bitzer
Distributed by	Biograph Company
Release date(s)	March 10, 1910
Running time	17 minutes
Country	USA
Language	silent
IMDb profile

In Old California is a silent movie filmed in 1910. It was the first movie shot in Hollywood, California. It was directed by D. W. Griffith of the Biograph Company (then based in New York, New York). The film is a melodrama about the Mexican era of California.

[edit] Trivia

Director D.W. Griffith discovered the little village (Hollywood) on his trips to California and decided to shoot there because of the beautiful scenery and friendly people. On May 6, 2004 a monument was erected at 1713 Vine Street, just north of Hollywood Boulevard. The monument was made by Hollywood Forever Cemetery, and the actual rare film which was once thought lost was screened at the Beverly Hills Film Festival. This was the first time the movie had been seen by the public in 94 years. The film will then be scheduled for restoration, and the restored version will be premiered at a later date. The American Mutoscope & Biograph Co. who made the film is in existence today and the oldest movie company in America, established in 1895.

For years the first film thought shot in Hollywood was Cecil B. DeMille's, The Squaw Man (1914). The discovery of Griffith's film not only made it the first ever movie filmed in Hollywood, but that it was a 'Latino' storyline based film. This caused much controversy with certain critics in the Hollywood area that the first Hollywood film was a true 'Latino' storyline.