The Lumière brothers with their "Cinematograph" gradually began to conquer the whole world. The acquaintance of Russians with this new art form took place in 1886, and twelve years later, the first films of Russian production were released.
The first cinema in the Russian Empire was opened in 1896 in St. Petersburg on Nevsky Prospect.
For the people, cinema quickly became a favorite entertainment, but the authorities were suspicious of this newfangled entertainment, so in 1908 in Moscow it was decided to suspend the issuance of permits for the opening of new cinemas.
The police carried out constant supervision over the cinemas, all the time their repertoire was checked. There have been cases of demonstrations of anti-patriotic and pornographic films.
At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, documentaries were mainly filmed in Russia, which told about the life of the royal family. All footage was heavily censored.
In 1913, even a dispute took place at the Polytechnic Museum on the topic of who will win in the end - theater or cinema. The result of this discussion was the conclusion that the theater will nevertheless win this confrontation, since it is a real art.
By the way, theatrical actors of that time even treated film actors with contempt. They believed that filming a movie requires only the mastery of facial expressions from the actor, because at that time all films were silent. It turned out that voice and diction did not matter.
However, the theaters were empty, and in the cinemas there were many people who really enjoyed watching films.
The first Russian film is considered to be the film "Losers Freeman", directed by Vladimir Romashkov. The film was financed by entrepreneur Alexander Drankov, the script for the film was written by Vasily Goncharov. The film told the story of the free Cossack Stepan Razin, and the picture was severely censored. The film lasted about six minutes, but the spectacle for that time was truly grandiose. Hundreds of extras were involved in the battle scenes, and people went to the premiere in a literally endless stream.
At the dawn of the 20th century, Germany was the world leader in film production. During the First World War, viewers left the German films in droves, expressing their protest.
By 1910, Russian cinematography began to take shape. Films of various genres began to be released. Historical and war films, detective stories and melodramas were especially popular with viewers.
The brightest movie stars of that time were: Vladimir Maksimov, Ivan Mozzhukhin and Vera Kholodnaya.
