Abstract
This impeccably researched book describes in great detail the development of the profession of cinematographer in France from the Lumières’ first public screening of a film in 1895 to the advent of ‘talking pictures’ in 1930. It is a welcome addition to the very small number of books about cinematography during the silent era, joining Philip Cavendish's authoritative study of camera operators during the golden age of Soviet filmmaking in the 1920s, The Men with the Movie Camera (Berghahn Books, 2013). We are long overdue for a similar study about Hollywood cinematographers.
The book starts at the very beginning of cinema in 1895 and the three employees of the Lumière brothers, Jacques Ducom, Francis Doublier, and Charles Moisson, who became the unknowing first ‘opérateurs’ or ‘cinématographistes’ as they were described. Later descriptions included ‘crank handle aces,’ ‘crank handle turners,’ and ‘coffee grinder turners.’ Within a decade film studios—including the now famous names of Pathé and Gaumont—and their camera operators had proliferated (mainly) in Paris and the profession of cinematographer gradually became more organised. This process included the establishment of professional and union groups (French and international) to lobby for better pay and conditions. The first French ‘Syndicat’ of cinematographers was created in 1908. Training as a camera operator developed from apprenticeship in the larger film studios to the establishment of l’École professionelle (puis technique) de photographie et de cinématographie (ETPC) in 1926.
Early cinematographers became specialists in different categories of film, such as newsreel, travel documentaries, and filming theatrical productions. Another section covers ‘the art of lighting in the service of film – a new area of shared skills’. There is a chapter on the cinematographer during the First World War that the author calls a pivotal moment for the profession, and another on how the profession and film industry recovered and flourished in the post-war period. In 1922, for example, there were 92 recorded camera operators in France, and by the end of the decade as talkies emerged there were nearly 200. The late 1920s produced new technical challenges such as the widespread use of panchromatic film and faster emulsions. The author describes the ‘brutal’ transition to sound films from 1929 to 1931 when camera operators had to film from within claustrophobic sound-proof booths before the widespread use of sound-absorbing cases (blimps) around the cameras. Motor drives replaced the skills of the ‘crank handle aces’ because sound films demanded 24 frames-per-second (fps) rather than the silent film's 16 fps. As one of the few film historians interested in the technical side of early filmmaking, I was very pleased to find extensive descriptions of the equipment used throughout the period, with copious illustrations of the cameras in studio settings and on location, all accurately described. The book is filled with superb period photographs and illustrations. There are over 30 pages of sources and references, including an extensive bibliography. A DVD of historic films relating to the cinematographer is also included with the book.
Kudos to l’Association française de recherche sur l’histoire du cinéma (AFRHC) for publishing this remarkable book, a complete social history of this (entirely male) profession. Unsurprisingly, the book is only available in French which is a pity as it deserves to be widely known. Outside of the issue of translation, my only criticism is that the chapter index is placed at the very back of the book making it inconvenient to search the text. AFRHC has published the index separately via this link: https://afrhc.fr/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/As_manivelle_sommaire.pdf
