Pathe Frere; D.W. Griffith

Period 1: LAB (until 8:00)

Turn in homework (see previous posts for details!)

Please continue working on your research/writing for your documentary film project. By the end of the lab class (8:00), try to have a working "script"--a voice over "essay" that identifies your selected topic, and provides information to your viewing audience about the significance of this topic. These scripts should be about 300-500 words in length. Provide your audience with the most important information from your research about your chosen topic.

If you finish your research, notes, and script, spend the remaining time in the lab gathering photographs, movie clip files (MP3/4s) or graphics to use for your student documentary film.

Classroom: Screening:

Pathe Freres Company

Charles Pathé (1863-1957), French motion-picture magnate, who, in the early 20th century, was the first to create a system for mass-producing motion pictures. It is thanks to The Pathe Frere Co. that films were shared and distributed around the world. Now, a film made in New York could be seen as far away as Japan. This is the start of a world-wide cinema (and a lucrative business venture...) Check out information about Pathe and some of his company's films:

Aladdin & the Magic Lamp (1907)
The Policeman's Little Run (1907) directed by Ferdinand Zecca
Slippery Jim (1910) directed by Ferdinand Zecca
Onesime Horloger (Onesime, Clock-Maker) (1912)

• Pathé began his career as an importer and merchant of the phonograph in France.
• He extended the business to include projectors and films, creating the company Pathé Frères in 1896.
• By 1901 he concentrated on film production, together with French director and producer Ferdinand Zecca.
• Pathé made films rapidly and reinvested the profits back into the business to improve the technical quality of his films.
• By 1905 the company was employing numerous production teams of scriptwriters, set builders, cameramen, directors, and actors, making short films in an assembly-line process.
• Pathe Company opened in New York in 1904 as a subsidiary of Pathe Freres (Bros.) in France and boasted a catalogue of 12,000 titles.
• In 1909, Pathe was asked to join Edison in forming the Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC) to try to shut out smaller studios.
• In 1911, Pathe Weekly was issued. This is the first newsreel.
• WWI took its toll on the company. Pathe ceased production in the US in 1914.
• In 1915, the Pathe Freres temporarily moved its headquarters to New York and changed its name to Pathe Exchange, Inc.
• In 1923, Pathe Exchange sold for 26 million Francs and came under the control of Merrill Lynch.
• In 1926, Joe Kennedy (father of John F. Kennedy) becomes president of the company, and a director.
• In 1930, Pathe Exchange merges with PDC, K-A-O and DeMille to become RKO

D.W. Griffith & the Blockbuster Film

The modern blockbuster is not a new idea. In fact, as early as 1915, the Hollywood Blockbuster became a big deal and influenced many directors, writers, actors, and their audiences.

Birth of a Nation (1915), cinematography by William "Billy" Bitzer.

After making the blockbuster American epic The Birth of a Nation (1915), shocked by the fact that people seemed to misunderstand the intent of that film, Griffith went on to make his true masterpiece:  Intolerance (1916). Here are a few clips from the film.

Trailer for the restored version of Intolerance (trailer)
Babylon Long Shot/Crane Sequence (tinted)
The Fall of Babylon from Intolerance
Entire Film: Intolerance.

In 1919 Griffith established the film company United Artists with Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, and William S. Hart

Overall, Griffith directed over 500 films. He retired in 1931 and died in Los Angeles in 1948. In 1975 his picture was on a postage stamp and all the world loved him. But by 1999, The Director's Guild of America's National Board renamed the prestigious D.W. Griffith Award (first given in 1953 to such directors as Woody Allen, Stanley Kubrick, John Huston, Alfred Hitchcock, Ingmar Bergman, John Ford, Akira Kurosawa, and Cecil B. DeMille to name but a few) because of Griffith's racism.

"We do not fear censorship, for we have no wish to offend with improprieties or obscenities, but we do demand, as a right, the liberty to show the dark side of wrong, that we may illuminate the bright side of virtue - the same liberty that is conceded to the art of the written word - that art to which we owe the Bible and the works of Shakespeare."
--D.W. Griffith (1915)

"If in this work we have conveyed to the mind the ravages of war to the end that war may be held in abhorrence, this effort will not have been in vain." - D. W. Griffith (1915)

Please take a look at these clips and films starring one of his leading actresses: Lilian Gish.

Judith of Bethulia (1914) (part of the film with Lilian Gish; one of the first Biblical epics)
Broken Blossoms (1919) Entire film (with Lilian Gish)
True Heart Susie (1919) Entire film (Lilian Gish)
Way Down East (1920) (scene with Lilian Gish) One of the most amazing stunts ever pulled in cinema history. Please realize that these actors really were doing their own stunts in most cases. That water is cold and, yes, those are ice floes. Way Down East (1920, full film)
Orphans of the Storm (1921) (Entire film, with sister Dorothy Gish)
The Scarlet Letter (1926)  (scene with Lilian Gish)

HOMEWORK: Complete the viewing of any clips/video links we did not complete during class. Take notes on key ideas, directors, actors, techniques of these linked films. Please read the chapter: A Shark, A Jedi, and the Modern Blockbuster (handout), and the attached information and script of Jaws (We will be screening Jaws (1975) next class).

EXTRA CREDIT: Watch any of the following FULL films starring Lilian Gish: Intolerance (1916) or Birth of a Nation (1915, see above), Judith of Bethulia, Broken Blossoms, True Heart Susie, Way Down East, or Orphans of the Storm. Write a short paragraph or two summary of the film, and a paragraph or two evaluation. What did you think of the film? Extra credit options can be turned in any time before the end of the marking period.