Ned Thanhouser is president of Thanhouser Company Film Preservation and grandson of film pioneers Gertrude and Edwin Thanhouser. It makes sense, then, that he and Tristan discuss the founding of his family’s studio, which released its first film in 1910, but they also move on to Ned’s picks of classic literature adaptations and controversy.

Ned directed the 2014 documentary The Thanhouser Studio and the Birth of American Cinema. He has been active in film preservation since 1986, produced 17 DVDs containing over 120 surviving Thanhouser films, and published Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History by Q. David Bowers.

Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own picks for 1910!

Films mentioned:

• Frankenstein (1910) - J. Searle Dawley
• Ramona (1910) - D.W. Griffith
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1910) - Edwin S. Porter
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910) - Otis Turner
• The Abyss (1910) - Urban Gad
• The Actor’s Children (1910) - Barry O’Neil
• The Winter’s Tale (1910) - Barry O’Neil
• Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (1896) - Auguste and Louis Lumière
• Rip Van Winkle (1910) - unknown
• Willing Wendy to Willie (1916) - unknown
• Frankenstein (2025) - Guillermo del Toro
• The Birth of a Nation (1915) - D.W. Griffith
• Intolerance (1916) - D.W. Griffith
• The Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. Porter
• Alice in Wonderland (1903) - Cecil Hepworth and Percy Stow
• A Dog’s Love (1912) - Jack Harvey
• Wicked (2024) - Jon M. Chu
• The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays (1908) - Francis Boggs and Otis Turner
• Cinderella (1911) - George Nichols
• The Cry of the Children (1912) - George Nichols
• The Evidence of the Film (1913) - Lawrence Marston and Edwin Thanhouser