Une histoire du cinéma français
by limguela | created - 13 May 2015 | updated - 10 Feb 2016 | PublicAn exhaustive history of French cinema coordinated by Claude Beylie, published in 2000.
Claude Beylie's intentions (and his collaborators) were not to propose a history of the French cinema through the critics view -- as Mitry had already tried in his time -- but, aware of such an issue, and the previous fails, Beylie preferred a more objective and historical approach: the films prized by the critics in their times, but also after, and the films which were popular to the audience. The book, therefore, is not a compilation of "the best French films" but a collective work and the ambition to propose a history of the French cinema through its films and its personality (the text refers mostly to the directors and the context, and the insets concern the actors, and sometimes a specific subject).
The films in the list appear as they appear in the book (there's no index of films mentioned). The book is built chronologically but other eras films are often mentioned (so the list is not strictly chronological) and a lot of thematic and filmographic insets complets the pages.
There's several films mentioned many times; I kept the first occurrence in the list.
About all serials, very popular during the first half of the century, most of time, only one entry appears : the first episode, sometimes the episode with more views on IMDb (mostly concerning the slapstick serials). When several episodes are mentioned, these episodes are reproduced in the list.
The rare films mentioned with a negative appreciation are most of time deleted.
Films from Belgium, Switzerland, Africa or Quebec are deleted.
The authors don't review, or comment in details the films (there's some exceptions). To understand the context in which they are used, please read the book.
The authors : Claude Beylie, Raymond Borde, Freddy Bouache, Gérard Camy, Raymond Chirat, Francis Courtade, Philippe d'Hugues, Jacques Kermabon, Gilles Laprévotte, Michel Marmin, Vincent Pinel, René Prédal et Michel Roudévitch.
Chapters:
I - The Lumières years 80-94
> 1 à 28 (la Fée aux choux)
II - Une histoire du cinéma français I - The pioneers years 1880-1918
> 29 à 209
III - Une histoire du cinéma français II - Les "années folles" and the magnificent years 19-39
> 210 à 663 (L'Espoir)
IV - Une histoire du cinéma français III - The noir years and grey years 40-59
> 664 à 1027 (Le Petit Prof)
V - Une histoire du cinéma français IV - The breakdown years 60-79
> 1028 à 1524 (Les Seins de glace)
VI - Une histoire du cinéma français V - Today years 80-2000
> 1525 à 1984 (...Comme elle respire)
VII - Une histoire du cinéma français VI - Short films
> 1985 à 2037 (Essai d'ouverture)
VIII - Une histoire du cinéma français VI - Animated films
> 2038 à 2092 (Le Baiser)
(the book has other chapters not incorporated here -- francophone cinema, statistiques...)
Missing entries on IMDb:
- Ballet du feu (Jacques Ducom et Edmond Floury - 1896 - Gaumont)
- La Biche au bois (Jacques Ducom et Edmond Floury - 1896 - Gaumont)
- Les Cloches de Corneville (Alice Guy - Gaumont)
- Le Triomphe de la République (Victor Jasset et Georges Hatot)
- Un homme aimanté, Romeo Bosetti 1907
- Dans la série des Zigomar : Le Maître invisible, Zigomar et la femme rousse
- Balaoo et Protéa, 1913
- Dranem amoureux de Cléopâtre, Roger Lion 1916
- Série La Vie drôle avec Marcel Lévesque,dir. Louis Feuillade 1913
- Paris Express, de Pierre Prévert et Marcel Duhamel 1928
- L'Aventure de Luna-park, court-métrage réalisé par Albert Préjean en 1929
- Les Cris bleus de Charles Estienne, Yves Klein, court (vraisemblablement perdu)
- Le Cauchemar de Monsieur Bérignon, Raymond Robert 1936 (court)
- Le taudis doit être vaincu, Marius O'Galop et Jean Comandon, 1912 court.
- Potiron garçon de café ; Potiron sergent de ville ; Albert Mourlan, 1921, courts, animation.
- Zut, Flutte et Trotte, André Daix, animation, court.
- Meunier tu dors, Jean Varé et Jean Delaurier, 1931, animation, court.
- Couchés dans le foin, de Jean Delaurier, Georges Bouisset et Raymond de Villepreux, 1935, animation, court.
- Un concours de beauté, de Alain Saint-Ogan, 1932, animation, court.
- Monsieur Pipe fait de la peinture, Paul Grimault, 1936, animation, court.
- India Fantasy, Anthony Gross et Hector Hoppin, 1955 animation.
- Le Loup et l'agneau, Jean Image 39-55 (première version détruite).
- Callisto, la petite nymphe de Diane, André-Édouard Marty (André Marty) 1943, animation, court :
- Cap'taine Sabord, André Rigal, animation court.
- Les Enfants du ciel, Vilma de Quiche 1946.
- Jacky, Jacotte et les sortilèges, Antoine Payen 1948
- La Princesse Clé de sol, La Rapsodie de Saturne, Jean Image 1946
- Choupinet 1946, Le Troubadour de la joie 49, de Omer Boucquey, animation.
- Actualités romaines 1947, Fantom's Party, Jac Rémise 1948, animation.
- Bonjour Paris, Jean Image 1953, animation.
- Villa mon rêve, Albert Champeaux, Pierre Watrin 1960, animation.
- L'Île au cactus, Manuel Otero, 1963, animation.
- L'Enfant invisible, André Lindon 1984, animation.
- Le Bonheur de la vie, Jacques-Remy Girard, animation.
- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- On TV
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. Poor Pierrot (1892)
4 min | Animation, Comedy, Short
One night, Arlequin come to see his lover Colombine. But then Pierrot knocks at the door and Colombine and Arlequin hide. Pierrot starts singing but Arlequin scares him and the poor man goes away.
Director: Émile Reynaud
Votes: 1,381
2. Autour d'une cabine (1894)
2 min | Animation, Short
Pre-cinematograph colour animation of a woman and man at the beach.
Director: Émile Reynaud
Votes: 835
3. Cordeliers' Square in Lyon (1895)
1 min | Documentary, Short
A stationary camera looks across the boulevard at a diagonal toward one corner of Lyon's Cordeliers' Square. It's a long shot, with a great deal of depth of focus. We can see the sky and ... See full summary »
Director: Louis Lumière
Votes: 935
4. Leaving the Factory (1895)
Not Rated | 1 min | Documentary, Short
Workers leaving the Lumière factory for lunch in Lyon, France in 1895; a place of great photographic innovation and one of the birth places of cinema.
Director: Louis Lumière
Votes: 6,101
5. Baby's Dinner (1895)
1 min | Documentary, Short
As part of a maiden public film screening at the Salon Indien, on December 28, in Paris, Auguste Lumière pivots the centre of attention around his baby daughter, as he tries to feed her from a spoon.
Director: Louis Lumière | Stars: Auguste Lumière, Mrs. Auguste Lumiere, Andrée Lumière
Votes: 2,892
6. The Sea (1895)
1 min | Documentary, Short
Several little boys run along a pier, then jump into the ocean.
Director: Louis Lumière
Votes: 1,155
7. The Arrival of a Train (1896)
Not Rated | 1 min | Documentary, Short
A train arrives at La Ciotat station.
Directors: Auguste Lumière, Louis Lumière | Stars: Madeleine Koehler, Marcel Koehler, Mrs. Auguste Lumiere, Jeanne-Joséphine Lumière
Votes: 10,474
8. The Messers. Lumière at Cards (1896)
1 min | Documentary, Short
Two men play cards, as a third watches and a waiter brings drinks. The third man pours drinks as the waiter laughs.
Director: Louis Lumière | Stars: Antoine Féraud, Antoine Lumière, Félicien Trewey, Alphonse Winckler
Votes: 1,321
9. Childish Quarrel (1896)
Not Rated | 1 min | Documentary, Short
"Two babies are shown seated in high chairs and apparently enjoying themselves. Suddenly one snatches a toy from the other, and they indulge in hair-pulling."
Director: Louis Lumière | Stars: Andrée Lumière, Suzanne Lumière
Votes: 810
10. Concert (1896)
1 min | Short
On the terrace, a small concert which consists of a man playing the violin, two women at a piano, and another woman who sings, play a lovely tune.
Director: Louis Lumière | Stars: André Honnorat, Jeanne Koehler, Mrs. Auguste Lumiere, Rose Lumière
Votes: 94
Mais aussi les vues de NY, Boston, Chicago, etc.
12. The Waterer Watered (1895)
Not Rated | 1 min | Short, Comedy
An impudent child plays a prank on a gardener innocently watering his plants.
Directors: Alice Guy, Louis Lumière | Stars: François Clerc, Benoît Duval
Votes: 4,677
13. Néron essayant des poisons sur des esclaves (1896)
1 min | Short, Drama
Director: Georges Hatot
Votes: 114
14. Execution of Joan of Arc (1898)
1 min | Short, Drama, History
Director: Georges Hatot
Votes: 112
Sous le titre, la Mort de Jeanne d'Arc
15. L'assassinat du duc de Guise (1897)
1 min | Short, History
The Duke of Guise is worried about the king's evil intentions. A lady warns the duke, considering it appropriate that he should not go to the council. The king summons him and the guards stab him.
Director: Georges Hatot
Votes: 82
17. La vie et la passion de Jésus-Christ (1898)
11 min | Short, Drama
Directors: Georges Hatot, Louis Lumière | Star: Bretteau
Votes: 135
18. Card Party (1896)
Not Rated | 1 min | Short, Biography
In what is considered to be the first remake in the history of cinema, the grand French director, Georges Méliès, directs his very first short film, influenced by the Lumière Brothers' original story in "Partie d'écarté (1896)".
Director: Georges Méliès | Stars: Octavie Huvier, Gaston Méliès, Georges Méliès, Georgette Méliès
Votes: 881
Méliès
19. The Conjuring of a Woman at the House of Robert Houdin (1896)
1 min | Short, Horror
As an elegant maestro of mirage and delusion drapes his beautiful female assistant with a gauzy textile, much to our amazement, the lady vanishes into thin air.
Director: Georges Méliès | Stars: Jehanne d'Alcy, Georges Méliès
Votes: 1,590
20. The Famous Box Trick (1898)
Not Rated | 1 min | Short, Fantasy
From the depths of a plain wooden box, a skilful conjurer materializes a lively boy in a clown suit. Next, he takes a heavy battle-axe. What are his intentions?
Director: Georges Méliès | Star: Georges Méliès
Votes: 504
21. A Trip to the Moon (1898)
Not Rated | 3 min | Short, Comedy, Fantasy
An astronomer falls asleep and has a strange dream involving a fairy queen and the Moon.
Director: Georges Méliès | Stars: Jehanne d'Alcy, Georges Méliès
Votes: 3,420
Rêve de l'astronome
22. Divers at Work on the Wreck of the 'Maine' (1898)
Not Rated | 1 min | Short, Drama, News
The battleship Maine is blown up in Havana harbour during the Spanish-American War.
Director: Georges Méliès
Votes: 491
23. L'affaire Dreyfus (1899)
13 min | Short, Biography, Drama
Dramatized re-enactments of the events of the Dreyfus-affair from 1894 to 1899.
Director: Georges Méliès | Star: Georges Méliès
Votes: 504
24. The One-Man Band (1900)
Not Rated | 2 min | Short, Comedy
A band-leader assembles an orchestra by mystifying means.
Director: Georges Méliès | Star: Georges Méliès
Votes: 2,048
28. La fée aux choux (1896)
1 min | Short, Family, Fantasy
The first film directed by a female director, "The Cabbage Fairy" presents a brief fantasy tale involving a strange fairy who can produce and deliver babies coming out of cabbages. Gently ... See full summary »
Director: Alice Guy | Stars: Alice Guy, Germaine Serand, Yvonne Serand
Votes: 982
Alice Guy (autres films Gaumont cités : Ballet du feu, La Biche au bois (Jacques Ducom et Edmond Floury).
29. A Trip to the Moon (1902)
TV-G | 13 min | Short, Adventure, Comedy
A group of astronomers go on an expedition to the Moon.
Director: Georges Méliès | Stars: Georges Méliès, Victor André, Bleuette Bernon, Brunnet
Votes: 43,442
30. The Music Lover (1903)
3 min | Short, Comedy, Music
The leader of a marching band demonstrates an unusual way of writing music.
Director: Georges Méliès | Star: Georges Méliès
Votes: 1,658
31. Fairyland; or, the Kingdom of the Fairies (1903)
Not Rated | 16 min | Short, Adventure, Fantasy
In this spectacular free adaptation of the popular theatre play "La Biche au Bois", the valiant Prince Bel-Azor pursues a baleful old witch to her impregnable castle, to save the beautiful young Princess Azurine.
Director: Georges Méliès | Stars: Georges Méliès, Marguerite Thévenard, Bleuette Bernon, André Deed
Votes: 1,148
32. The Voyage Across the Impossible (1904)
Not Rated | 24 min | Short, Action, Adventure
Using every known means of transportation, several savants from the Geographic Society undertake a journey through the Alps to the Sun which finishes under the sea.
Director: Georges Méliès | Stars: Georges Méliès, Fernande Albany, Jehanne d'Alcy, May de Lavergne
Votes: 3,072
33. The Devilish Tenant (1909)
6 min | Short, Comedy
A man rents an apartment and furnishes it in remarkable fashion.
Director: Georges Méliès | Stars: Charles Claudel, Octavie Huvier, François Lallement, André Méliès
Votes: 1,554
34. The Conquest of the Pole (1912)
Not Rated | 33 min | Short, Adventure, Horror
Aboard the futuristic flying machine of his own invention, Professor Mabouloff and his team of intercultural explorers set off on yet another impossible expedition to North Pole's vast landscapes. What wonders await the bold adventurers?
Director: Georges Méliès | Stars: Georges Méliès, Fernande Albany
Votes: 833