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Winner of the Theatre Library Association's Annual Book Award.

Table of Contents

Illustrations 
Preface 
Note to the 1998 Edition 
Acknowledgments 
Note on Terms 

1. Turn-of-the-Century France
2. The French Cinema Industry, 1896-1914 
The Big Four, 1896-I902 
Pathé Comes to Power, 1902-1907 
Strategies of Dominance, 1907-1911
Strategies of Survival, 1911-1914 

3 The Cinema of Attractions, 1896-1904 
Trick Films and Féeries 
Comic Films 
Diverging Paths: From Actualités to Historical and Realist Films 

4. The Transition to a Narrative Cinema, 1904-1907 
The Bricolage Model 
The Comic Chase Film and Company 
The Pleasure and Pain of Just Looking: Erotic Films and Others 
The Dramatic and Realist Films 
Dissemination and Difference 
The Cinema of Attractions (continued) 

5. The Pre-Feature, Single-Reel Story Film, 1907-1911 
Contemporary Melodramas: Light and Dark Variants 
Comics Come in Series 
Film d'Art and Films d'Art: The Historical Film and the Literary Adaptation 
Trick Films and Féeries 

6. The Rise of the Feature Film, 1911-1914 
The Historical Film Comes of Age 
Life As It Is: In and Out of Fashion 
Crime Pays: Detectives Versus Criminals 
The Comic Series in Full Swing 

Afterword 
Filmography 
Notes 
Bibliography 
Index 

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.

Reviews

"Just the sort of history text that should satisfy nearly everyone. [Abel] relies on original archival archaeology and connects that inquiry to shifts in early French film style and culture, all the while keeping an eye on the theoretical implications of his own historiography. . . . 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