The Cine Goes to Town – French Cinema, 1896–1914 - Hardcover

Abel, Richard

4.58

12 ratings by Goodreads

9780520079359: The Cine Goes to Town – French Cinema, 1896–1914

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0520079353 ISBN 13: 9780520079359

Publisher: University of California Press, 1994

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Richard Abel's book aims to radically rewrite the history of French cinema between 1896 and 1914, particularly during the years when Pathe-Freres, the first major corporation in the new industry, led the world in film production and distribution. Based on extensive investigation of rare archival films and documents, and drawing on recent social and cultural histories of turn-of-the-century France and the United States, his book provides insights into the earliest history of the cinema. Abel tells how early French film entertainment changed from a cinema of attractions to the narrative format that Hollywood would so successfully exploit. He describes the popular genres of the era - comic chases, trick films and "feeries", historical and biblical stories, family melodramas and grand guignol tales, crime and detective films - and shows the shift from short subjects to feature-length films. Cinema venues evolved along with the films as live music, colour effects and other exhibiting techniques and practices drew larger and larger audiences. Abel explores the ways these early films mapped significant differences in French social life, helping to produce thoroughly bourgeois, turn-of-the-century citizens for Third Republic France.

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Review:

"Just the sort of history text that should satisfy nearly everyone. [Abel] relies on original archival archaeology and connects that inquiry to shift in early French film style and culture, all the while keeping an eye on the theoretical implications of his own historiography. . . . This remarkably well-researched book is thoroughly documented, with 1,172 up-to-date endnotes; moreover, it cites 633 films. There is even a filmography listing all titles by year and produces, complete with their archival locations and lengths. . . . The attention to detail, the importance of the scholarship, and the excellent production quality are evident at every level. . . . Abel not only worked hard in the archives, he also worked at writing a lively, teachable history that allows us to marvel at all these wonderful movies. . . . Abel's history is a great success."--Richard Neupert, "Film Quarterly

About the Author:

Richard Abel is National Endowment for the Humanities Professor of English at Drake University. His books include French Cinema: The First Wave, 1915-1929 (1984), winner of the Theatre Library Association Award, and French Film Theory and Criticism: A History/Anthology, 1907-1939 (1988), winner of the Jay Leyda Prize in Cinema Studies.

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