1921 in film

Events

• February 20 - The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, starring Rudolph Valentino, premieres.
• September 5 - At a San Francisco hotel party to celebrate his new $3,000,000 three-year contract with Paramount, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle is accused of mortally injuring 25-year-old Virginia Rappe during a sexual encounter. Rappe sinks into a coma. Rumours fly that Arbuckle raped Rappe with a bottle however the doctor who conducted the autopsy on Rappe found no evidence that violence had played any role in her death, nor did he find any evidence that she had been assaulted.
• December 4 - The first Virginia Rappe manslaughter trial against actor and film director Roscoe Arbuckle ends in a hung jury voting 9-2 for acquittal .

A second later trail deadlocked 8-4 for conviction. For the third trial, the charge against Arbuckle was reduced by the judge from murder to manslaughter. The jury acquitted him after less than half an hour's deliberation and added a special statement to the verdict insisting that acquittal was not enough to demonstrate the baselessness of the charges against Arbuckle.

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