Gaumont Film Company
Gaumont is a French film company and the oldest still active film production companies in the world.
Early years
1895 founded the French film pioneer Léon Gaumont, the company Société L. Gaumont et compagnie to build photographic apparatus and distribute. The company launched in 1896 the Chrono Photographe Demeny - Gaumont on the market, an apparatus, which was based on the principle of chrono- photography and could be used as a film camera, as well as a projector.
Gaumont went into film production. Alice Guy- Blaché, originally Gaumonts secretary, was, from 1897, the artistic director of the company and director of almost all films produced at Gaumont, with Ferdinand Zecca was often her as an assistant to the side. Under Guy- Blaches aegis, first developed a cinematic style that went beyond the mere filming of road situations, but the cinematic space structured ( mise- en- scène ). It was followed by directors such as Louis Feuillade, who realized the Fantômas series for Gaumont, Jacques Feyder, Marcel L' Herbier or Claude Autant - Lara.
Expansion
Léon Gaumont experimented with ways of creating a sound film and invented the Chronophon 1902, an apparatus with which the frames of a movie could be synchronized with the sound of a record player. From 1908 such a short speech and opera films were produced. In 1906 the company was renamed the Société des établissements Gaumont and expanded enormously. It was built film studios, development laboratories and theaters. Gaumont thus became the main rival of Pathé.
In 1908 Gaumont newsreel Gaumont actualités out. In the same year she published her first animated film Fantasmagorie, realized by Émile Cohl artist. Gaumont paid tribute to the movement of the film d'art took its toll with the created by Feuillade between 1911 and 1913 film series Life as it is. Characteristic was a realistic style which stood out against the otherwise mostly theatrical productions.
Decline after the First World War
The First World War led to the decline of the French film production. The market has operated largely with American films. Gaumont faced financial hardship, followed by MGM was shopping. Gaumont now gave the MGM films in France and showed this business connection in their new name Gaumont at Metro Goldwyn. The collaboration ended in 1929, Léon Gaumont sat down to rest.; his shares in the company bought the Société des Établissements L. Aubert and the Franco film. The newly formed Gaumont Franco film Aubert continued the work begun continued to build their own cinemas and produce films, next to the main business of comedies also classic films formed during the Gaumont Franco film Aubert but as Jean Vigo's conduct insufficiently (1933 ) and Atalante (1934 ). The company went bankrupt, was formally dissolved in 1938 and was state owned in.
Reorientation after the Second World War
Under the name Société Nouvelle of Établissements Gaumont took over the company predominantly rental tasks to 1961 again created two new production lines, Gaumont Gaumont International and industry. Nicolas Seydoux 1975 new principal owner. Under his leadership, the company name (company) was reduced to Gaumont and the company expanded again. In the 1970s and 1980s many prestigious directors like Bergman, Fellini and Visconti worked for Gaumont. A serious crisis arose in 1983 due to high losses of the Gaumont - branch in Rome.
Gaumont abroad
Gaumont already expanded in the 1910s abroad, including to Russia and the United States. In England, the subsidiary Gaumont Film Company was founded in 1927 after finally cutting the cord of the French parent company Gaumont British was. Under the direction of Michael Balcon in 1932 the Gaumont - British merged with the Gainsborough Pictures, and brought as 1934 the documentary Men of Aran directed by Robert J. Flaherty out. Also, some of Hitchcock's British films, including The 39 Steps (1935 ), emerged at Gaumont. Successor of Balcon was J. Arthur Rank, which sought to rehabilitate the now heavily indebted society.
Gaumont today
The company is divided today into the cinema chain Gaumont, Gaumont film production and television production Gaumont Télévision founded in 1991. Films, videos and DVDs will be sold on the Gaumont Buena Vista International and the Gaumont / Columbia / Tri-Star Home Video. The Cinémathèque Gaumont has become the restoration of old film stocks prescribed. Applied uses historical film materials, Gaumont and Pathé have joined Gaumont Pathé to the Archives.