Christophe Colomb - 1904
ABOUT THE FILM : Christophe Colomb
La Cinémathèque de ToulouseChristopher Colombus
Year: 1904
Serving Spanish catholic Kings, Christopher Columbus shored to the American continent persuaded he had reached the Indies. In a succession of eight pictures, this film traces the epic of a great navigator who fell into disfavour after his discoveries were challenged. You see him in turn celebrated by the natives who indulge in a delightful ballet, acclaimed by his people, honoured by his monarchs, and finally demeaned, ending up in prison.
This film was part of the wake of the wonderful boom that film production experienced in the beginning of the 20th century. It was also one of the pioneers of a genre that was a new addition to the repertoire of the Pathé Company.
Nationality: French
Actor: Vincent Denizot
Length: 12' 26"
Genre: fiction
Sound: silent with soundtrack
Original elements: hand-coloured
Producer: Pathé Frères
Composer: Marc Perrone (2009)
Original language: French
A BRIEF HISTORY : Christophe Colomb
Since 1896, the Edwardian era marked the end of the economic depression and the beginning of a boom period that lasted up to the eve of the First World War. France, the second colonial empire in the world after the United Kingdom, exposed its influence through symbolic events that represented universal and colonial exhibitions. Appearing too in film, colonialism was positively perceived, like in this 1904 Christopher Columbus where the Indian appeared to be spectacularised; loyal to the myth of the good savage, he welcomed the civilised man almost as his saviour.
The beginning of the 1900's was also when traditional cinema moved on to industrial cinema. Production development was linked to the success of screenings at fairgrounds where they became the main attraction. Pathé Frères in France was the first film company in the world up to the beginning of 1910. Thanks to the standardisation of production means, the company's catalogues improved with a blossoming of comic and special effect films. Small structures were set up and each director, most of them with theatre experience, specialised in a theme.
Besides a division of the work in cinema that was implemented from 1902, the intensification of production led to new professions like that of scriptwriter. In 1904, at a time when Pathé had acquired two new studios, Vincent Lorant-Heilbronn (1874-1912) until then poster artist, painter and decorator, became director. Lucien Nonguet (1868-?) regular contributor of Lorant-Heilbronn managed extras, whose film William Tell can also be viewed at Europa Film Treasures.
A re-enactment of Christopher Columbus's (1451-1506) expedition this film, made the same year, integrated the category of "Historic, political and topical scenes. Military scenes" of the Pathé firm's ranking by genre between 1903 and 1907. The Pathé style was displayed with the supremacy of a static decor in which the extras parade before the viewer. Its practically ostentatious richness culminated in the last scene being aptly called "Apotheosis".
The original music for this film was composed by Marc Perrone in 2009.
