(Mostly) Lost Films. But Hey, There Is Still a Trailer!

The film industry boomed in Hollywood in the late 1910s, creating the need to keep audiences informed of upcoming films and create anticipation. Posters and press coverage helped spread the word, but what could be more practical than using the cinema screen itself, when the viewer’s attention was already captured? Thus, in the early 1920s, the Federated Screen Snapshots company produced newsreels, promising “intimate glimpses of your favourite Hollywood stars, at home, at work and at play”. In this programme, you can enjoy the Federated Screen Snapshot 2nd Series, N°10 from October 1922 of Foolish Wives, presenting rare images from the shooting of Erich von Stroheim’s film, the invention of the behind-the-scenes or making-of documentary. Around 1925, the modern form of the film trailer was established, mainly promoting action, adventure, emotional stories and movie stars. Today, these precious documents are rarely shown, even though they are often the last remaining moving-image remnants of silent films that have since disappeared. Cinémathèque16 has selected seven trailers from 1924-1926 that promote movies from the major Hollywood studios; three of them have been lost and one has survived but is incomplete. These will offer rare glimpses of Gloria Swanson or Louise Brooks.
The screening will also highlight the fragile survival of the cinematographic heritage of the silent era. Although this film form was often considered tainted or negligible, the history of the film trailer is a testament to the evolution of the medium and remains an integral part of the cinema experience today.

The Adventure of La Publicité Animée Company

There was a time when animated images were reserved for the darkened ci ema and seeing films in broad daylight was quite exceptional. The adventure of La Publicité Animée is a little-known example of this, and Cinémathèque16 is gradually reconstructing its history.
Founded in 1927, La Publicité Animée, located at 16 rue Joubert in Paris, was a company that integrated the production and distribution of advertising films, developing adverts in a shooting studio as well as an in animation studio. For this purpose, the company hired the services of well-known actors (Falconetti, André Luguet, for instance) and had renowned animators (Jean Régnier) to work for clients including the Régie Française des Tabacs or Michelin tyres, and for some products that no longer exist. The films could then be shown using special projectors manufactured by the company. The ingenious projector-case with an endless loop system contained a frosted screen on which the image was projected by means of a mirror. The device was then placed in busy public places such as the Champs-Elysées, Paris’s Saint Lazare Station or in cinemas. It must have been an amusing sight.
During its research, Cinémathèque16 was able to locate three 16mm projectors from La Publicité Animée, and the example preserved in its collections will be presented during the screening, as well as four films that we are certain were produced by the company. One of them will be shown in its original print – its mechanical condition makes it possible – and the others will be screened in restored versions. The films are the property of a private collector, except for the Razvite advertisement, which is from the collection of the amiable Dodeskaden association in Marseille, France.
To our knowledge, these rare advertising films, mixing animation and live-action, have never been properly identified or shown to an audience in the 21st century.

Benoît Carpentier and Naeje Soquer