French Cinema History
France and America's cinema feud dates all the way back to the early days of the industry itself. Since 1908, the French and Americans have battled about cultural implications of the international film industry. French cultural pride has resisted the influx of American films. Their only defense is to implement policies that limit the amount of American films that are shown in their country. France is now trying to persuade its neighbors to also set quotas on the amount of American cultural material allowed to enter Europe. All the while Hollywood and other American cultural industries are using their lobbying power to convince the U.S. government that these national policies are interfering with vital American interests (Grantham, 1998).
The two sides have never reached an acceptable solution in almost a decade. Policy makers on both sides frequently forget how long this debate has continued and reproduce the argument about every 20 years or so. They have also failed to take into account that maybe the policies themselves are the root of the problem (Grantham, 1998).
In the Beginning
France's international cinema history started with Lumiere brothers showing public demonstrations around the world of their chinematographe in 1895. Then came along George Melies. According to Grantham, Melies was “arguably the first important film director (1998).” He got his start doing street scenes and then moved on to filming stage illusions and conjuring tricks. He also did drama-documentaries, fairy and fantasy tales and even dabbled a little in adult films (Grantham, 1998). Melies and others like him, made France the creative and artistic leader of the early days of cinema.
They were also the leader of the industry. They had invented the modern studio system. The modern studio system is described as a vertically integrated global web of production and distribution offices that gained substantial money and market power (Grantham, 1998). The top of the ladder in France was the Pathe Freres company. They did everything from manufacturing film equipment to production and international distribution. By 1908 French films, led by Pathe, had up to 70 percent of the American market. The only problem was an emerging industrial attack concerning patents (Grantham, 1998).
The Movie Cartel
The camera and projection systems that the industrialists depended on had an intellectual property protection. Before a cinema could be started, an alliance had to be made with one of the competing industrialists. Then the only films that were allowed to be shown were from that industrialist system (Grantham, 1998). This in effect locked everyone else out. A group of U.S. patent holders combined their various patents and formed the Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC).
The formation of the MPPC had an instant impact on the French movie business. The foreign share of short films in the U.S. market dropped by 25 percent in only two months (Grantham, 1998). Despite this, Pathe and another leading French producer were able to get MPPC licenses. Also, the MPPC was being shot down in the courts in patent and antitrust cases. These factors did not help the French movie industry though, by World War I foreign films made up only 15 percent of the American market (Grantham, 1998). Even though U.S. movie producers put up a big fight against French films, they are not the only ones at fault for the decline.
Other Contributing Factors
Bad strategic decisions on the part of the world leader, Pathe, were instrumental in the decline of French international cinema. The biggest mistake was the decision to stick with short films. The entire world was changing their format to full-length feature productions (Grantham, 1998). Also, the company itself was not run very well. The American subsidiary that Pathe had should have been able to help them during the lack of market access during the world war. Instead the American subsidiary failed in 1921, in which the management and stockholders took over control (Grantham, 1998).
Artistic and geographical factors contributed to the decline of the French cinema, too. French moviemakers began to change their style as compared to the American moviemakers. The American directors used a style modeled after the nineteenth-century novel with its linear storytelling methods (Grantham, 1998). The French, on the other hand, despised this method and used techniques that were less successful in world cinema. The next factor, geography, has to do with Europe and the First World War. The war was depleting the national economic resources of the nations involved. Simultaneously, France neglected its empire and the markets that sustained it (Grantham, 1998). The United States wasn't affected by this because they didn't enter the war for almost three years. The U.S. was stepping in and taking over markets, including cinema, that were abandoned by the warring nations. Subsequently, between 1918 and 1921 U.S. film exports grew by 300 percent (Grantham, 1998).
The combined factors of the MPPC, Pathe's mistakes, the separate stylistic path the French cinema took and the First World War completely ruined the film status France had in 1908. More than 60 percent of the films introduced to the French censor were from Hollywood by 1927. Meanwhile the local French market share was below 40 percent (Grantham, 1998).
The Quota System
The following year the French decided to try to change things. Edouard Herriot, French education minister, introduced a complex quota system on foreign films. To the French, the American cinema was a combination of economic and cultural aggression, and maybe rightly so. American films were not only an economic source, but related to audiences other American goods and the American way of life. Businesses in France and around the world were seeing demands for American styles and brands caused by exposure to American films (Grantham, 1998).
Despite the new quota system, the French cinema continued to decline. The number of French films presented to the censor was cut in half in 1929. In addition, the invention of sound with movies raised the French production level in the 1930's. Despite the higher production, the industry could not keep up with the demand for new movies and, in effect, many went out of business. The number of cinemas in France dropped by one-sixth between 1929 and 1937 (Grantham, 1998). On the other hand, the United States was able to tackle these problems and the French had to loosen its quota system two times in the 1930's.
French Cinema Reborn?
What seemed to be a turning point happened during the Second World War. During this time, the French cinema faired well because Hollywood movies were not being distributed overseas. It was short lived though, as the war came to end so did the good times for the French cinema (Grantham, 1998). During the war, many movies were being made and were waiting to be distributed to France. The French public had also been waiting for the return of their favorite American figures. In effect, the support system that aided the French cinema during the war broke down after liberation (Grantham, 1998).
The next blow to the French movie industry happened in 1946. In order to help themselves economically, France struck a deal with the U.S. that reopened the French market to Hollywood. Essentially they went back to the prewar quota system, with some new French modifications (Grantham, 1998). With this there was a increase in animosity towards the U.S. and Hollywood. The French people were accusing the U.S. of using dirty tricks to aid cultural imperialism. Even though Hollywood had lobbied for the reopening, they didn't seek to get rid of the local film makers. In fact the flood of Hollywood movies was over by 1948 (Grantham, 1998).