The Cine Goes to Town: French Cinema, 1896-1914

by Richard Abel

Richard Abel's magisterial new book radically rewrites the history of French cinema between 1896 and 1914, particularly during the years when Pathé-Frères, 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 new 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 féeries , 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, color effects, and other new 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 citizens for Third Republic France.

The Ciné Goes to Town recovers early French cinema's unique contribution to the development of the mass culture industry. As the one-hundredth anniversary of cinema approaches, this compelling demonstration of film's role in the formation of social and national identity will attract a wide audience of film scholars, social and cultural historians, and film enthusiasts.

Genres: Film

596 pages, Paperback

First published March 30, 1994

About the author

Richard Owen Abel (born 1941) is Professor Emeritus of International Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Michigan.

Reviews

[Henrique Quadros · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ahhh, it feels great to finish a massive book. Going through this was really difficult because Abel's composition of information is really uneven, which meant he'd often pack an entire thesis into 2 pages then proceed to fill the next 50 pages with fluff. But as I went along I understood his method, which consisted of introducing certain concepts or questions and then developing on them through the analysis of hundreds of films within different categories. So he'd spend the first pages of a chapter going heavy into theory of film language and style, then spend the next 30 pages giving plot summaries to every single extant film in different genres, with the eventual arguments as to how each specific film contributes to the ideas he's trying to convey. Eitherway, this book is basically a deep panorama into the first decades of French cinema, and it really gets you acquainted with the major players. I knew very little of this period and after reading this book I multiplied my knowledge tenfold, at least.
But I'm glad I'm done with this. As much as I enjoyed learning this one topic, I wanna read about other stuff through other authors' perspectives. And also shorter things lol

[Bernie4444 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Film vous transporte à un monde différent

You cannot hide the fact that this is a textbook and it is all the better for it.

There are 130 illustrations (stills from the films being presented.)

Lots of notes, a long bibliography, Filmography, and an index.

1. Turn-of-the-Century France
2. The French Cinema Industry, 1896-1914
3. The Cinema of Attractions, 1896-1904
4. The Transition to a narrative Cinema, 1904-1907
5. The Pre-Feature, Single-Reel Story Film, 1907-1911
6. The Rise of the Feature Film, 1911-1914

There is not one stuffy part in the book as Richard Abel is a great writer.
I know he did some archival digging but I am amazed he found so much great information that makes watching the film fun.

[Greta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detailed history of the French cinema from 1894-1914. Includes the histories of the major companies, the industry as a whole, and descriptions of many films (which does not become tedious and is quite fun). A minimum of psychobabble. This is quite long but very interesting (the endnotes are also interesting. I was fortunate enough to see the Melies and Gaumont v. 1 DVD sets at the same time i was reading this, to they tied neatly together. Now we need a Pathé set.

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert Abel is an amazing film historian who focuses on very early cinema. This book goes into great detail about the orgins of French cinema. The business, the artistic, and the stars all share the same page. Remarkable book.