The first film ever shown on TV
Film history is a long and eventful collection of significant events in the medium. There are several golden historical moments from the early days of developing technology to changes in stories onscreen. As expected, film history has a lot of ‘first’ moments. These include the first woman to direct a film and the first film to show a kiss between lovers. Most of these events can be traced back to the 1920s and 1930s, the latter being film’s ‘sound‘ era.
From its early days being accessible via projected moving images by the Lumière brothers, films can now be watched in countless ways. It’s branched out from theatres to VHS, to DVDs and then eventually streaming sites you can play on your phone.
Looking at one of the first transformations of film viewing-from exterior theatres to interior television sets, film fans may be curious to know which film made history by being the first one to make the jump.
The first film to be shown on Television is a 1932 American pre-Code film, a comedy-mystery directed by H. Bruce Humberstone. It’s called The Crooked Circle and Zasu Pitts and James Gleason.
It follows a group of amateur detectives who set out to expose The Crooked Circle, a secretive group of hooded occultists.
TV sets weren’t in every home in the early 1930s, only half a dozen or so had one in Los Angeles. Those who were fortunate enough to own a set got to experience a ‘film first’. As part of its experimental station W6XAO, the Don Lee Broadcasting System showed the film over its experimental station on March 10, 1933, transmitting an 80-line resolution mechanical television picture.
On June 18, 1940, the film was screened again at the NBC Television experimental station WX2BS, now WNBC-TV.
