''À la conquête de l'air'' is a 1901 French
silent film
A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...
directed by
Ferdinand Zecca
Ferdinand Zecca (19 February 1864 – 23 March 1947) was a pioneer French film director, film producer, actor and screenwriter. He worked primarily for the Pathé company, first in artistic endeavors then in administration of the internationall ...
and distributed by
Pathé Frères
Pathé SAS (; styled as PATHÉ!) is a French major film production and distribution company, owning a number of cinema chains through its subsidiary Pathé Cinémas and television networks across Europe.
It is the name of a network of Fren ...
.
[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
Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...
film
A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
and among the first to feature an aircraft in flight.
[Paris 1995, p. 11.]
Zecca was hired by company founder
Charles Pathé
Charles Morand Path̩ (; 26 December 1863 Р25 December 1957) was a pioneer of the French film and recording industries. As the founder of Path̩, Path̩ Fr̬res, its roots lie in 1896 Paris, France, when Path̩ and his brothers pioneered ...
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 film
In the early history of cinema, trick films were short silent films designed to feature innovative special effects.
History
The trick film genre was developed by Georges Méliès in some of his first cinematic experiments, and his works remain ...
s,
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
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{{DEFAULTSORT:À la conquête de l'air
1901 films
1901 short films
1900s French films
Films directed by Ferdinand Zecca
French aviation films
French black-and-white films
French silent short films