The event that has been foreshadowed the past few seasons comes to pass in 1914: the Great War, or World War I. And while not every facet of the conversations this season relates back to the disruption of the film industry that ensued (to say nothing of the disruption of every other aspect of life), it certainly looms large and provides context for filmmaking language and industrial developments in this year and to come through at least the end of the decade.

Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1914!

Films mentioned:

• Life’s Shop Window (1914) - J. Gordon Edwards
• Making a Living (1914) - Henry Lehrman
• Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914) - Henry Lehrman
• The Squaw Man (1914) - Cecil B. DeMille
• Judith of Bethulia (1914) - D.W. Griffith
• The Merchant of Venice (1914) - Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley
• Tillie’s Punctured Romance (1914) - Mack Sennett
• Cabiria (1914) - Giovanni Pastrone