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Gaumont
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Gaumont
This page considers the Gaumont group.
It covers -
 introduction
The history of the Gaumont group mirrors that of its competitor
Pathé, beginning as a gramophone and photographic
equipment manufacturer, expanding into film production
and exhibition, surviving financial crises in the 1930s,
buffetted by nationalisations and corporate raiders before
coming to rest in the arms of the Seydoux family.
Prior to the 1914 war Gaumont rivalled Pathé in
dominance of the European market for motion picture cameras
and projectors. As noted on the preceding page of this
profile, that domination reflected their origins as equipment
manufacturers and subsequent integration downstream into
exhibition and production, with Pathé also having
a significant presence in music recording based on its
early manufacture of gramophones.
Gaumont
Léon Gaumont (1864-1946) began as an apprentice
instrument maker in the workshop of Jules Carpentier,
manufacturer of the Lumière Cinématographe.
In 1895 he acquired Félix Richard's Comptoir géneral
de photographie, forming L. Gaumont et Cie in partnership
with Gustave Eiffel, financier Alfred Besnier and astronomer
Joseph Vallot.
Manufacture of Demenÿ's chronophotographic camera
and Phonoscope projector (marketed as the Bioscope projector
and the Biographe camera) was unsuccessful but from 1896
Gaumont produced equipment based on 60 mm and 35 mm perforated
film. That saw Gaumont gain substantial market share,
with for example the 1902 Chrono de poche and Chronophone
for sound projection, followed by the 1912 Chronochrome
for projecting colour films.
film production and exhibition
Gaumont initially distributed films from independent producers,
moving into production under the leadership of Léon's
secretary Alice Guy. The Etablissements Gaumont was founded
in 1906, operating as a film production, finance, distribution
and exhibition house. The group gained attention for developments
such as early schemes for sound and colour films and for
its large-scale cinemas, such as the Hippodrome and Palace
in Paris.
Gaumont retired in 1930, following establishment of Gaumont-Franco-Film-Aubert
(GFFA) under the auspices of the Banque Nationale de Crédit
(BNC), which failed in 1932.
GFFA amalgamated Gaumont's French interests with the Aubert-Franco-Film
group and Etablissements Continsouza. The new group was
modelled on the integrated production, distribution and
exhibition chains in the US. It reflected the need for
major investment in the upgrade of cinemas (particularly
installation of sound systems) and production facilities,
along with vigorous competition from French, German and
US producers.
It collapsed in 1934 as part of BNC's meltdown, initially
rescued by a government loan as part of establishment
of the Banque Nationale pour le Commerce et l'Industrie
and subsequently reconstructed in 1938 with Havas
and France's largest gas company as the main investors.
The Gaumont cinemas were nationalised in 1938 but released
after 1945.
contemporary developments
In 1970 Gaumont and Pathé formed a Groupement d'Intérêt
Économique (GIE) for distribution to their exhibition
chains and associates, in competition with L'Union Générale
de Cinématographie (UCG, privatised 1971) that
centred on nationalised production houses and their cinemas.
The Pathé-Gaumont GIE was dissolved in 1982.
Jérôme's
brother Nicolas acquired control of Gaumont in the mid-1970s.
In 2001 the Gaumont and Pathé cinema chains were
merged as EuroPalaces SA, with some 86 theatres (with
633 screens in France, 96 in the Netherlands, 13 in Switzerland).
Studies
For the early history of Gaumont see Richard Abel's The
Ciné Goes to Town: French Cinema 1896-1914
(Berkeley: Uni of California Press 1994) and French
Cinema: The First Wave 1915-1929 (Princeton: Princeton
Uni Press 1984), along with Gaumont, 90 ans de cinéma
(Paris: Éditions Ramsay 1986) by Philippe d'Hugues
& Dominique Muller. Abel's The Red Rooster Scare:
Making Cinema American, 1900-1910 (Berkeley: Uni
of California Press 1999) is also of interest.
Gaumont: A Century of French Cinema (New York: Abrams
1998) by Francois Garcon takes a broader and celebratory
view, concentrating on cultural achievements rather than
the corporate vicissitudes.
Histoire de la politique du cinéma français:
La Troisième République, 1895-1940
(Paris: Pierre Lherminier 1969) and Histoire de la
politique du cinéma français: Entre
deux Républiques, 1940-1946 (Paris: Pierre
Lherminier 1977) by Paul Leglise are of particular value
for understanding state intervention. Hubert Bonin's La
Banque Nationale de Crédit: Histoire de la quatriéme
banque de dépôts français en 1913-1932
(Paris: Editions Plage 2002) unravels the BNC collapse.
 next
page (Pathé, Gaumont and Seydoux landmarks)
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