{{short description|1907-1927 American film industry magazine}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox magazine | title = The Moving Picture World | image_file = Moving Picture World cover (January 4, 1913).jpg | image_size = | image_alt = | image_caption = January 4, 1913 cover, featuring a scene from ''A Sicilian Heroine'', an Italian film | editor = | editor_title = | previous_editor = | staff_writer = | frequency = | circulation = | category = Film<br/>Entertainment | company = | publisher = | firstdate = March 9, 1907 | finaldate = December 31, 1927 | country = United States | based = New York City | language = English | website = | oclc = 1717051 }}
'''''The Moving Picture World''''' was an influential early trade journal for the American film industry, from 1907 to 1927.<ref name="best">{{cite journal |last=Speed |first=F. Maurice |author-link=F. Maurice Speed |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o4kOAQAAIAAJ&q=%22moving+picture+world%22+james+chalmers |title=The Story of the Film |journal=Film Review 1979–80 |date=1979 |page=98 |isbn=9780491021692 |quote=Not the first, but the best known, of early American trade periodicals was ''The Moving Picture World'', founded by James P. Chalmers Jr, which began publication on 9 March 1907 as ''The Moving Picture World and View Photographer''.}}</ref> An industry powerhouse at its height, ''Moving Picture World'' frequently reiterated its independence from the film studios.
In 1911, the magazine bought out ''Views and Film Index''. Its reviews illustrate the standards and tastes of film in its infancy, and shed light on story content in those early days. By 1914, it had a reported circulation of approximately 15,000.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://gdc.gale.com/archivesunbound/archives-unbound-through-the-camera-lens-moving-picture-world-and-the-silent-film-era-1907-1927/ |title=Through the Camera Lens: Moving Picture World and the Silent Film Era, 1907–1927 |work=Gale}}</ref>
==History== thumb|right|''Moving Picture World'' spent much of its early effort chronicling the battle of filmmakers against the movie censorship movement.
The publication was founded by James Petrie (J.P.) Chalmers, Jr. (1866–1912), who began publishing in March 1907 as ''The Moving Picture World and View Photographer''.<ref name="best"/><ref name="founder">{{cite book |last=Fraprie |first=Frank Roy |chapter=James Petrie Chalmers (obituary) |title=American Photography |volume=6 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M5bUAAAAMAAJ&q=%22moving+picture+world%22+james+chalmers&pg=PA282 |date=1912 |publisher=American Photographic Publishing Company |page=282}}</ref><ref name="death2">{{cite journal |url=https://archive.org/stream/movingpicturewor12newy#page/21/mode/1up |title=A Martyr to Duty |journal=The Moving Picture World |page=21 |number=1 |volume=12 |date=April 6, 1912}}</ref>
''Moving Picture World'' quickly became closely involved with the movement of puritanical forces in American society for the censorship of the new medium of film. With local and state censorship boards profligating, the trade journal sought some sort of centralizing body to reduce the financial and artistic impact of prior restraint. In January 1909, ''MPW'' writer W. Stephen Bush opined:
<blockquote>"There is no doubt that the moving picture field needs supervision, and supervision and censorship express in different words the same idea. The question is: How is this censorship to come? Do we want it to appear in the shape of a blue coat and brass buttons and a club or are we resolved that it come from within the ranks of the makers of films and the exchanges and the exhibitors? ... ''The Moving Picture World'' suggested some months ago the creation of a board of censors, in which besides the film makers the exchanges and the exhibitors should have representation."<ref>W. Stephen Bush, "The Question of Censorship," ''The Moving Picture World,'' vol. 4, no. 1 (Jan. 2, 1909), p. 32.</ref></blockquote>
Largely through the publication's inditiative a National Board of Censorship of Motion Pictures emerged early in 1909 in New York City, a social reform body funded by the film industry, which gradually emerged as the national film censorship agency until being supplanted by the Motion Picture Association of America in the mid-20th century.
In December 1927, it was announced that the publication was merging with the ''Exhibitors Herald'', when it was reported the combined circulation of the papers would be 16,881.<ref name="times27">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1927/12/30/archives/screen-papers-merged-exhibitors-herald-and-moving-picture-world.html |title=Screen Papers Merged: Exhibitors' Herald and Moving Picture World Close Deal |newspaper=The New York Times |date=December 30, 1927 |page=21 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> In 1931, a subsequent merger with the ''Motion Picture News'' occurred, creating the ''Motion Picture Herald''.<ref name="herald">{{cite web |url=http://www.klinebooks.com/cgi-bin/kline/25834 |title=Exhibitor's Herald – Publisher Information |work=Eric Chaim Kline |access-date=October 19, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120424232924/http://www.klinebooks.com/cgi-bin/kline/25834 |archive-date=April 24, 2012}}</ref><ref name="exhibitorsherald94quig_0036">{{cite web |title=Exhibitors Herald World (Jan-Mar 1929) - Lantern |url=https://lantern.mediahist.org/catalog/exhibitorsherald94quig_0036 |website=lantern.mediahist.org |access-date=30 November 2022}}</ref>
A Spanish language version of the magazine, entitled ''Cine-Mundial'', was published from 1916 to 1948.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mediahistoryproject.org/hollywood/index.html |title=Hollywood Studio System Collection |access-date=February 26, 2018 |publisher=Media History Digital Library |archive-date=February 27, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180227034834/http://mediahistoryproject.org/hollywood/index.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Two indexes have been published to assist in locating information in this valuable journal: An Index to Short and Feature Film Reviews in the Moving Picture World: The Early Years, 1907–1915<ref>{{cite book |url=https://search.library.ucla.edu/discovery/fulldisplay?context=L&vid=01UCS_LAL:UCLA&search_scope=ArticlesBooksMore&tab=Articles_books_more_slot&docid=alma999426963606533 |title=An Index to Short and Feature Film Reviews in the Moving Picture World: The Early Years, 1907–1915 | isbn=0313293813}}</ref> and Filmmakers in The Moving Picture World: An Index of Articles, 1907–1927.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://search.library.ucla.edu/discovery/fulldisplay?context=L&vid=01UCS_LAL:UCLA&search_scope=MyInstitution&tab=LibraryCatalog&docid=alma9911988803606533 |title=Filmmakers in The Moving Picture World: An Index of Articles, 1907–1927 | isbn=0786402903}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category}} * [https://archive.org/search?query=%22Moving+Picture+World%22&sort=-date&and%5B%5D=year%3A%5B1907+TO+1927%5D ''The Moving Picture World''] at the Internet Archive * [https://archive.org/search?query=%22Cine-Mundial%22&sort=-date&and%5B%5D=year%3A%5B1916+TO+1948%5D ''Cine-Mundial''] at the Internet Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moving Picture World}} Category:Defunct film magazines published in the United States Category:Magazines established in 1907 Category:Magazines disestablished in 1927 Category:Magazines published in New York City