''À la conquête de l'air'' is a 1901 French
silent film directed by
Ferdinand Zecca and distributed by
Pathé Frères.
[Lanzoni 2004, p. 42.] Based on contemporary accounts of aviation developments, ''À la conquête de l'air'' stars Ferdinand Zecca as the pilot of a fantastic flying machine.
[Rège 2009, p. 1026.] Aviation film historian Michael Paris considered the film, the first French
aviation film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
and among the first to feature an aircraft in flight.
[Paris 1995, p. 11.]
Zecca was hired by company founder
Charles Pathé to invigorate the pioneering cinema company that had mainly been involved in documentary film.
[Austin 1996, p. 3.] With an emphasis on new topics, Zecca expanded into short films that explored everything from everyday events to fantastic flight of fancy. His other films included comedies,
trick films,
or fairy tales, such as ''Les Sept châteaux du Diable'', both 1901, and ''La Belle au bois dormant'' in 1902, as well as social dramas like ''
Les Victimes de l'alcoolisme'' (1902), ''Au pays noir'' (1905) and reconstructions of actual events, the most famous being ''La Catastrophe de la Martinique'' (1902).
[Lanzoni 2004, p. 42.]
Plot
In 1901, a strange flying machine, called ''Fend-l'air'', was seen flying over the rooftops of
Belleville.
Cast
* Ferdinand Zecca as the pilot
Production
Zecca had filmed himself in the strange contraption suspended from the studio roof with the camera having half the frame blocked. The film was then rewound and the Belleville, Paris city landscape was shot in the previously blacked-out portion, creating the first split-screen effect. The entire film only has a running time of approximately one minute.
References
Notes
Bibliography
* Austin, Guy.''Contemporary French Cinema: An Introduction''. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1996. .
* Lanzoni, Rémi Fournier. ''French Cinema: From Its Beginnings to the Present''. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2004. .
* Paris, Michael. ''From the Wright Brothers to Top gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema.'' Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1995. .
* Rège, Philippe. ''Encyclopedia of French Film Directors'', Volume 1. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2009. .
External links
*
* {{YouTube, nH86796tFbM, ''À la conquête de l'air''
1901 films
French silent short films
French aviation films
French black-and-white films
Films directed by Ferdinand Zecca