CINEMA EUROPE: THE OTHER HOLLYWOOD: WHERE IT ALL BEGAN {PART 1 OF 6} (TV)
Summary
Part one of six. This series, narrated by Kenneth Branagh, illustrates the history of European cinema with early film reels, segments from finished films, and interviews with filmmakers. In this installment, European cinema is followed from its beginnings in the late nineteenth century through World War I. Branagh describes the simple "movie slot machines" that existed in 1894 and proceeds to tell the story of cinema's development from there. He discusses the pioneering work of the Lumire brothers around the turn of the century, which included the idea to project photographic images onto a screen. In 1895 the Lumires presented the first moving-picture shows. Lumire films of which segments are shown include "Workers Leaving Their Factory at Lyon," "Le Jardinier," and "L'ArrivŽe d'un Train ˆ la Ciotat." The gradual development of more advanced projecting and filming techniques is laid out by Branagh, including the traveling shot, the crane shot, close-up shots, and other camera tricks. Cinema's popularity and prestige grew, and Branagh describes innovations in filmmaking, including the inventive style of magician-turned-filmmaker Georges Melis, evidenced in films like "One Man Band," "Coronation of Edward VII," and "Voyage Across the Impossible." Branagh's descriptions of work from the early twentieth century include experiments with sound amplification; producer Cecil Hepworth and his success with the film "Rescued by Rover"; the development of the suspense genre; Charles PathŽ and the PathŽ Company; the PathŽ color process; weekly newsreels; the technical skill of the Danish filmmakers and Nordisk Studios; the Danish actress Asta Nielsen and her rising fame; "King of Comedy" Max Linder; films about pacifism and World War I; propaganda films; and the work of German comic Ernst Lubitsch, who became a film director. Branagh describes the formation of the German production company Ufa, founded in the hope of forming a national propaganda machine. At the end of the first world war, Branagh explains, Europe was at its lowest point. Nevertheless, he adds, "the war had given [cinema] a new vision." Continues with T:63404.
Details
- NETWORK: BBC
- DATE: 1996
- RUNNING TIME: 0:58:15
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:63390
- GENRE: Arts documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Motion pictures - History; Motion pictures, European; Silent films
- SERIES RUN: BBC - TV series, 1995
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Kevin Brownlow … Producer, Director
- David Gill … Producer, Director
- Patrick Stanbury … Associate Producer
- Susan McConachy … Assistant Producer
- Nic Raine … Composer, Conductor
- Carl Davis … Theme Music by, Title Music
- City of Prague Philharmonic … Symphony Orchestra
- Kenneth Branagh … Narrator
- Cecil Hepworth
- Max Linder
- Ernst Lubitsch
- Auguste Lumiere
- Louis Lumiere
- Georges Melies
- Asta Nielsen
- Charles Pathe