In addition to our own website, the Internet has a number of other excellent websites that provide valuable information about various facets of the history of motion pictures, and about the personalities that were involved in that history. Below I've provided links to the websites that I consider the best, although I do not necessarily endorse the opinions that are expressed on these websites, or necessarily recommend the products that are advertised. (The websites are listed under the main headings "General Information", "Biographies & Photos", "History of Motion Pictures", and "Miscellaneous Classic Movie Sites", in no particular order . . . )
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The Internet Movie Database was started in 1990 by a group of movie buffs, and is now an Amazon.com company. This website lists the cast, crew, and plot summaries for over 400,000 American films, and contains 1.6 million names associated with the movies.
The official webstite of The American Film Institute. Contains the nominees and winners of the "AFI Best 100" lists of movies, comedies, songs, quotes, etc. For a $50 per year fee you can get access to the AFI's comprehensive entries on every American feature film ever made.
The official website for The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Has just about everything you would ever want to know about the Academy Awards. Their database can be searched by "Film Title" and/or "Nominee".
Tim Dirks created his websites "filmsite.org" and "greatestfilms.org" in 1996 and they now contain a tremendous wealth of material for just about anyone interested in classic films, from the serious film researcher to those with only a casual interest. Reviews, timelines, lists, filmographies, quotes, comprehensive histories of motion pictures in general and the Academy Awards in particular, and vintage posters are just some of the content found on Tim's informative websites.
Created by Brad Lang in 1997, this website focuses on classic movies through tributes, articles, quizzes, interviews, polls, and a movie forum among other things. This website also has hundreds of links to other classic movie websites.
Located in the United Kingdom, this new website provides a great deal of information about Hollywood's "Golden Age". Created by Derek McLellan, the site contains articles, biographies of stars and directors, film & DVD lists, TV schedules of classic films for both the U.S. and the UK, and a link to "The Golden Age of Hollywood" message board.
On the web since 1997, the "Reel Classics" site contains over 2500 pages of biographies, photos, reviews, trailers, film and audio clips, screen savers, movie related merchandise, trivia and much, much more relating to the Golden Age of Hollywood.
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Lynn Dougherty has developed a beautiful website called "Classic Movie Favorites" containing tributes to over 30 actors, actresses and directors from Hollywood's Golden Age. The tributes contain biographies, photos, filmographies, links and more.
Created by Julie Stowe, this website pays tribute to a selection of major actors and actresses from the Golden Age of Hollywood. The tributes include biographies, quotes, photos, filmographies and more. There is also a link to a beautiful collection of historic movie magazine covers.
"Dr.Macro's High Quality Movie Scans" is a website run by Jerry Murbach that provides very high definition portraits of many movie stars from the 1940s and before. There are also summaries from the American Film Institute of a number of vintage films, and some movie clips that can be downloaded. According to the website, all photos can be downloaded for free.
"Hollywood Silents" contains a large number of photos from the silent–era of motion pictures, including portraits of the famous and the not–so–famous. It also contains many links to other silent–era websites.
This website contains dozens of studio portraits of dozens of movie stars from Hollywood's Classic Era.
Created by Bruce Calvert, this website displays hundreds of beautiful photographs from the silent–era of motion pictures. The photos are listed alphabetically by both film title and performer. A unique section of the website provides a list of the codes used on silent–era photographs which help to identify where they are from.
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Compiled by Jan Dolphijn in the Netherlands, "WatchMovies" is a comprehensive guide to the history of World Cinema. Offering clear and concise overviews of the film industry and its growth in each individual country, this remarkable site also allows visitors to view early trailers, film clips, and some feature–length movies. In addition, this site contains biographies of film pioneers, technical details about how motion pictures work, and much more.
The "Early Cinema" website provides an introduction to the early development of motion pictures, especially to events in the 1890s and before. There is a timeline, and articles about the pioneers and evolving technologies of this period.
Through hundreds of photos, and over 50 articles and essays, this website is devoted to exploring the silent–era of motion pictures. The website also contains many links to other sites that focus on the silent–era.
This is the website for The Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers. The site contains many well–written articles about Classic Hollywood and the Independent Producers who changed the movies forever.
This is a website created by Mel Sylvester for Long Island University's B. Davis Schwartz Memorial Library. It's focus is on African–Americans in motion picture history, and contains a timeline of important events and contributions from 1900 to the present, biographies of significant African–American film personalities, lists of movies that featured African–American actors, and more.
Gilda Tabarez focuses on the silent–film era on her website. She provides tributes to the pioneers and actors of this era, reviews of films, photos, links to other websites, and some comprehensive articles.
Just about everything you ever wanted to know about 1930s, 40s, and 50s Westerns can be found on this website started by Chuck Anderson in 1998. The site includes biographies, articles, statistics, information about movie locations, photos, and lists of film festivals, among other things.
John Kenrick created this fascinating website in 1996, and it now contains over 400 pages of text. Included on the website are essays about both the history of the musical (film, stage and TV) and the personalities involved in various musical productions. There are also book & CD reviews, reference resources, and links to other websites among many other sections. Kenrick refers to this website as "The Cyber Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre, TV and Film".
Launched in 2006, this entertaining website surveys the history of motion pictures from 1890 to 1955. Through reviews, articles, and an interactive forum, visitors to this site can "revisit old movies, both classic and obscure". The website also features games, free wallpaper of photos from Hollywood's "Golden Age", and even a Quicktime theater where you can watch a vintage movie.
This is the website for Cinema Retro, a magazine devoted to classic and cult films of the 1960s and 1970s. Launched in 2005, this publication features interviews with, and articles by, the actors and filmmakers of the era. The magazine is published three times a year (in January, May, and September).
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The website for the American WideScreen Museum contains over 850 pages of text and graphics covering the development of WideScreen movie presentations, color cinematography, and "Talking Pictures". It claims to be the Internet's largest film technology source.
Turner Classic Movies has launched an online video destination devoted to classic films. This section of their website, called "The Media Room", has more than 3,000 pieces of free video content that you can view, including documentaries, trailers, movie clips, promotions, and even entire films.
This is the official website for the National Film Registry of The Library of Congress. From this site you can see lists of all the films deemed to be culturally, historically or aesthetically significant by The National Film Registry, and you can submit nominations for additional films.
On this website you can watch a wide variety of classic movie trailers (previews). The website also has an informative but brief history of the movie trailer.
This is the website for Film Score Monthly, the online magazine of motion picture and television music appreciation. It contains articles, a message board, polls and a search engine for finding information about both vintage and current film scores.
This British website provides a wealth of material about both current and historic soundtrack and film composers. It offers profiles, articles and CD reviews.
What were the old movie theatres like, and what was it like to see a movie in the "old days"? This website, created by John Coles and Mark Tiedje, answers those questions by focusing on the movie–going experience in South Carolina. Their site contains photos of old movie theatres, interviews with people who remember those single–screen theatres and what it was like to see a movie in them, and links to similar websites.
