Paris in the Dark : Going to the Movies in the City of Light, 1930–1950

In Paris in the Dark Eric Smoodin takes readers on a journey through the streets, cinemas, and theaters of Paris to sketch a comprehensive picture of French film culture during the 1930s and 1940s. Drawing on a wealth of journalistic sources, Smoodin recounts the ways films moved through the city, the favored stars, and what it was like to go to the movies in a city with hundreds of cinemas. In a single week in the early 1930s, moviegoers might see Hollywood features like King Kong and Frankenstein , the new Marlene Dietrich and Maurice Chevalier movies, and any number of films from Italy, Germany, and Russia. Or they could frequent the city's ciné-clubs, which were hosts to the cinéphile subcultures of Paris. At other times, a night at the movies might result in an evening of fascist violence, even before the German Occupation of Paris, while after the war the city's cinemas formed the space for reconsolidating French film culture. In mapping the cinematic geography of Paris, Smoodin expands understandings of local film exhibition and the relationships of movies to urban space. PARIS DANS L'OBSCURITÉ retrace l'histoire du cinéma et de la cinématographie à Paris, depuis l'avènement du cinéma sonore, en passant par l'occupation nazie, jusqu'à la reconstruction de l'après-guerre. À partir de nombreuses archives, Eric Smoodin reconstitue une géographie cinématographique de Paris. En se concentrant sur les détails de l'exploitation et de la projection des films dans les quartiers et arrondissements de Paris, Smoodin explore comment le sens n'est pas seulement exprimé à travers le cinéma, mais est également façonné par les particularités du lieu, du moment et de la manière dont les gens vont au cinéma, et comment les spectateurs comprennent leur propre relation au cinéma. En prêtant attention aux systèmes matériels et culturels qui façonnent la réception du film au niveau local - le journalisme cinématographique, les systèmes de distribution, les salles de cinéma - Smoodin révise et élargit notre compréhension de ce que signifie parler d'un cinéma national, et du cinéma français en particulier. Les chapitres du livre nous font découvrir le cinéma parisien des années 1930 aux années 1950. Le premier chapitre se concentre sur les films projetés dans les salles parisiennes de 1931 à 1933. Smoodin analyse les titres du tabloïd cinématographique Pour Vous à la recherche de preuves d'une culture cinématographique en mutation, marquée par le passage au son et le développement d'une économie cinématographique transnationale et transculturelle. Dans les chapitres suivants, Smoodin aborde des sujets allant des ciné-clubs de Paris en tant que lieux de sous-cultures cinématographiques particulières (1930-1944), à l'impact de la technologie du son sur la célébrité émergente de Maurice Chevalier et Marlene Dietrich (1929-1935), en passant par les scènes de violence au cinéma pour des raisons politiques (1930-1944). En se concentrant plus particulièrement sur les événements de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, Smoodin examine comment le cinéma est devenu une forme d'occupation culturelle sous le régime de Vichy (1939-1944). Un dernier chapitre examine le cinéma d'après-guerre et la cinématographie comme expression et célébration de la libération (1944-1949), tandis que la conclusion se penche sur les études du gouvernement français sur les habitudes du public cinématographique national (1948-1954) afin de réfléchir à l'état de la culture cinématographique parisienne au cours des dernières décennies (1980-2016). PARIS DANS L'OBSCURITÉ intéressera les chercheurs travaillant dans le domaine des études cinématographiques, de la culture et de l'histoire françaises et des études culturelles "PARIS IN THE DARK traces the history of film and film-going in Paris, from the advent of sound cinema, through the Nazi occupation, and finally to postwar reconstruction. Drawing from a wide range of archives, Eric Smoodin reconstructs a cinematic geography of Paris. Focusing on details of the exhibition and screening of films in the neighborhoods and districts of Paris, Smoodin explores how meaning not only is expressed through film, but also is shaped by the particularities of where, when, and how people engage with film, and how spectators understand their own relationships to film. By paying attention to the material and cultural systems that shape the reception of film on the local level-film journalism, distribution systems, movie theaters - Smoodin revises and expands our understanding of what it means to talk about a national cinema, and about French cinema in particular. The book's chapters take us on a tour of Parisian film from the 1930s to the 1950s. The first chapter focuses on films screened in Parisian cinemas from 1931 to 1933; Smoodin analyzes listings in the film tabloid Pour Vous for evidence of a changing film culture, marked by the transition to sound and the development of a transnational, transcultural cinematic economy. In subsequent chapters Smoodin covers topics ranging from the ciné-clubs of Paris as sites of particular cinematic subcultures (1930-1944), to the impact of sound technology on the emerging stardom of Maurice Chevalier and Marlene Dietrich (1929-1935), to outbreaks of politically motivated violence at the cinema (1930-1944). Focusing more closely on the events of World War II, Smoodin examines how cinema became a form of cultural occupation under the Vichy régime (1939-1944). A final chapter looks at postwar cinema and film-going as an expression and celebration of liberation (1944-1949), while the conclusion considers French government studies of the habits of the national film-going public (1948-1954) in order to reflect on the state of Parisian film culture in more recent decades (1980-2016). PARIS IN THE DARK will interest scholars working in film studies, French culture and history, and cultural studies"-- Provided by publisher "PARIS IN THE DARK traces the history of film and film-going in Paris, from the advent of sound cinema, through the Nazi occupation, and finally to postwar reconstruction. Drawing from a wide range of archives, Eric Smoodin reconstructs a cinematic geography of Paris. Focusing on details of the exhibition and screening of films in the neighborhoods and districts of Paris, Smoodin explores how meaning not only is expressed through film, but also is shaped by the particularities of where, when, and how people engage with film, and how spectators understand their own relationships to film. By paying attention to the material and cultural systems that shape the reception of film on the local level-film journalism, distribution systems, movie theaters - Smoodin revises and expands our understanding of what it means to talk about a national cinema, and about French cinema in particular. The book's chapters take us on a tour of Parisian film from the 1930s to the 1950s. The first chapter focuses on films screened in Parisian cinemas from 1931 to 1933; Smoodin analyzes listings in the film tabloid Pour Vous for evidence of a changing film culture, marked by the transition to sound and the development of a transnational, transcultural cinematic economy. In subsequent chapters Smoodin covers topics ranging from the cine-clubs of Paris as sites of particular cinematic subcultures (1930-1944), to the impact of sound technology on the emerging stardom of Maurice Chevalier and Marlene Dietrich (1929-1935), to outbreaks of politically motivated violence at the cinema (1930-1944). Focusing more closely on the events of World War II, Smoodin examines how cinema became a form of cultural occupation under the Vichy regime (1939-1944). A final chapter looks at postwar cinema and film-going as an expression and celebration of liberation (1944-1949), while the conclusion considers French government studies of the habits of the national film-going public (1948-1954) in order to reflect on the state of Parisian film culture in more recent decades (1980-2016). PARIS IN THE DARK will interest scholars working in film studies, French culture and history, and cultural studies"