Tuesday Lecture 1/27/2027

Impact of Mobilization: French film production saw a catastrophic decline during World War I because personnel, including directors and actors, were drafted, and studio facilities were often repurposed for the war effort.
Loss of Global Dominance: Prior to $1914$ , Pathé Frères was the largest film company in the world. The war ended this hegemony, allowing Hollywood to seize international markets.
The Rise of American Imports: Beginning around $1915$ , there was a notable surge in the screening of American films in France. By the end of the war, Hollywood films dominated nearly $80\%$ of French screen time.
Post-War Output Gap:
- Only $20\%$ to $30\%$ of films screened in France were domestic productions in the immediate post-war years.
- Domestic features dropped to fewer than $100$ per year, failing to compete with Germany's $200$ + and the United States' $500$ + annual features.

The Import Crisis: Factors creating persistent problems for French firms included:
- The massive influx of high-budget Hollywood films that had already recouped their costs in the large American domestic market.
- Competition from rising European neighbors: Germany and Great Britain modernized their industries more aggressively than France.
Market Limitations:
- The French domestic market was too small ( $40$ million people) to support expensive high-production-value films without significant international exports.
- Failure in the U.S. Market: French films faced structural barriers in America, such as block-booking and a lack of distribution infrastructure, making it nearly impossible to penetrate the lucrative U.S. market.
- Subsidiary Markets: Reliance shifted to smaller markets with cultural ties: Belgium, Switzerland, and colonial territories in Africa and Southeast Asia.

Lack of Vertical Integration: Unlike the Hollywood studio system, the French industry lacked an oligopolistic structure. Firms like Pathé and Gaumont owned only $10\%$ to $15\%$ of French cinema seats.
Distribution Bias: Independent exhibitors favored American films because they were cheaper to rent and came with pre-established marketing hype.
Governmental Stressors:
- Taxation: The French government imposed heavy luxury taxes on movie tickets, ranging from $6\%$ to $40\%$ . This discouraged exhibitors from reinvesting in theater upgrades.
- Quotas: While producers begged for protectionist policies, a robust import quota system was not successfully implemented until the $1930s$ .

Outdated Infrastructure: Most French features were shot in pre-war "glass-walled" studios, which depended on natural sunlight for exposure.
Contrast with Hollywood:
- American filmmakers had transitioned to "dark studios" utilizing sophisticated artificial lighting (arc lights and incandescent lamps) to control shadows and atmosphere.
- Director Henri Diamant-Berger observed that while the French blocked or diffused sunlight, the Americans used high-powered sources to "paint" with light.
Capital Scarcity: A lack of centralized banking support meant filmmakers could not afford the massive capital investments required for modern electrical grids and specialized equipment.

The Pathé and Gaumont Retreat: The two major firms pivoted away from the risky production sector. Pathé focused on equipment sales and distribution, while Gaumont focused on its theater circuit.
The Rise of Small Firms: Production became fragmented among many independent, under-funded companies.
- Directors and stars often acted as their own producers, leading to financial instability.
- Budget Disparities: Average French features cost between $\$30,000$ and $\$40,000$ , roughly one-tenth ( $\frac{1}{10}$ ) of a typical Hollywood feature budget.

The Persistence of Serials: While serials faded elsewhere, they remained popular in France.
- Louis Feuillade: Noted for Tih Minh ( $1919$ ), he later shifted toward sentimental serials based on popular novels before his death in $1925$ .
Historical Epics: Used large-scale settings and national pride to appeal to global audiences.
- Henri Fescourt: Directed Mandrin ( $1924$ ).
- Raymond Bernard: Directed The Miracle of the Wolves ( $1924$ ), which was praised for its production values.
Fantasy and Comedy:
- René Clair: Pioneered fantasy with Paris qui dort ( $1924$ ), using camera tricks like freeze-frames to simulate a city frozen in time.
- Max Linder: Returned from America to produce Le Petit café ( $1919$ ), maintaining the prestige of the slapstick/comedy genre.

Theoretical Foundation: Led by figures like Abel Gance, Marcel L’Herbier, Germaine Dulac, and Jean Epstein.
Photogénie: Coined by Louis Delluc, this theory argued that the camera lens gives objects and people a new, poetic quality that the naked eye cannot see.
Aesthetic Techniques:
- Subjectivity: Used blurred shots to represent drunkenness or internal confusion and superimpositions to represent memories or dreams.
- Rhythmic Editing: Popularized by Abel Gance in La Roue ( $1923$ ). It involved cutting scenes at an increasingly rapid pace to elevate the emotional intensity of a sequence independent of the narrative.
Art vs. Commerce: Impressionist directors often worked for major companies to fund their personal "avant-garde" projects, leading to a unique blend of commercial and experimental cinema.