Year

Country

Home

People

Films

Articles

Store

The History of French Cinema: 1927

A prefectorial order bans the projection of films made of flammable material. [ADD]

Bernard Natan inaugurates new studios in the rue Francoeur.   One of the first films produced there is Education de prince, starring Edna Purviance and directed by Henri Diamant-Berger. [ADD]

Marcel L’Herbier recommences work on Le Diable au Coeur following the death of the actor Mevisto and the recovery of actress Betty Balfour from illness. [ADD]

The inauguration of the Museum of Photography and Cinematography takes place at the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts in Paris. [ADD]

Bernard Natan and Louis Albert begin work on their production of the Joan of Arc story, La Merveilleuse vie de Jeanne d’Arc, to be directed by Marco de Gastyne. [ADD]

Abel Gance’s epic historical masterpiece Napoleon, featuring Albert Dieudonne in the title role, opens to rave reviews in Paris.   The film includes a sequence in Polyvision, in which three films are projected simultaneously to form either a panoramic shot or three separate images. [ADD]

Napoleon goes on general release to the public by premiering at the Marvaux Theatre in Paris. [ADD]

Adolph Zukor names his new theatre on the boulevard des Italiens in Paris the Paramount. [ADD]

Director Jean Renoir survives a car crash in which the driver, actor Pierre Champagne, is killed. [ADD]

The second International Cinema Congress is postponed. [ADD]

Germaine Dulac begins filming Antonin Artaud’s La Coquille et le clergyman. [ADD]

Gaumont produce a variable-speed aluminium camera for use by news reporters. [ADD]

Une vie sans joie, the first film directed by Jean Renoir, is finally released after filming was completed in 1924. [ADD]

MGM’s Ben-Hur begins its 32^nd consecutive week at Paris’s Madeleine Opera. [ADD]

Paramount’s 2000-seat flagship cinema, the Paramount-Palace opens, and introduces the double-bill.   Within a year it will account for 15% of all Parisian box office revenue. [ADD]

– Love In Black and White, the first film by Wladislaw Starewicz following his flight from Russia, uses puppet representations of Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin. [ADD]

– The Pathé studios are sold to Eastman Kodak. [ADD]

Other Key Films of 1927

Casanova (Alexandre Volkoff) [ADD]

Un Chapeau de paille d’Italie (Rene Clair) [ADD]

Emak Bakia (Man Ray) [ADD]

En rade (Alberto Cavalcanti) [ADD]

Tour au large (Jean Gremillon) [ADD]

Voyage au Congo (Marc Allegret) [ADD]

The History of Cinema: 1927