Eclair (company)
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Industry | Motion picture production company |
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Founded | 1907 |
Headquarters | Paris-Vanves, France |
Number of locations | London, UK Vanves, France Berlin, Germany New York City, USA Karlsruhe, Germany Madrid, Spain Barcelona, Spain Liège, Belgium Rabat, Morocco |
Key people | Charles Jourjon |
Eclair, formerly Laboratoires Eclair, was a film production, film laboratory, and movie camera manufacturing company established in Épinay-sur-Seine, France by Charles Jourjon in 1907. What remains of the business is a unit of Ymagis Group offering creative and distribution services for the motion pictures industries across Europe and North America such as editing, color grading, restoration, digital and theatrical delivery, versioning.
The company produced many silent shorts in France starting in 1908, and soon thereafter in America. The American division produced films from 1911-1914 such as Robin Hood, one of the first filmed versions of the classic story in 1912.
Deutsche Eclair, now Decla Film, was established as its German studio branch. In 1909, Eclair took part in the Paris Film Congress, an attempt by major European producers to form a cartel similar to the MPPC in America.
Originally a production company, Eclair started building cameras in 1912. The company is made up of two entities: Eclair Cinema and Eclair Media.
Studios in the United States
An Eclair studio, the Eclair Moving Picture Company, was established in Fort Lee, New Jersey. It suffered a devastating fire in 1914 in which many early film prints were lost.[1] A western studio set was also established in Tucson, Arizona.[2] Jules Brulatour was involved with the company and Dorothy Gibson one of its stars.
Eclair films made in Tucson
- Over the Cliffs, 1913
- The Reformation of Calliope, 1913
- The Aztec Treasure, 1914
- Mesquite Pete's Fortune, 1914
- At the Crucial Moment, 1914
- The Renunciation, 1914
- The Jackpot Club, 1914
- The Return, 1914
- The Cross in the Cacti, 1914
- The Dupe, 1914
- The Caballero's Way, 1914
- When Death Rode the Engine, 1914
- The Heart of Carita, 1914
- The Squatter, 1914
- Dead Men's Tales, 1914
- Within an Inch of His Life, 1914
- The Stirrup Brother; or, The Higher Abdication, 1914
- The Blunderer's Mark, 1914
- A Tale of the Desert, 1914
- The Bar Cross Liar, 1914
- The Ghost of the Mine, 1914
- Into the Foothills, 1914
- Fate's Finger, 1914
- Smallpox on the Circle U, 1914
- The Line Rider, 1914
- Till the Sands of the Desert Grow Cold, 1914
- Whom God Hath Joined, 1914
- The Girl Stage Driver, 1914
- The Jewel of Allah, 1914
- The Wondrous Melody, 1914
- The Price Paid, 1914
- The Yellow Streak, 1914
- The Devil Fox of the Orth, 1914
- The First Nugget, 1914
- The Bar Crossed Lier, 1914
- The Blunderer's Mark, 1914
- Terror, 1915
- The Thief and the Chief, 1915
- Saved by Telephone, 1915
- Romance in Bear Creek, 1915
- The Oath of Smoky Joe, 1915
- The Answer, 1915
- Lure of the West, 1915
- The Lone Game, 1915
The Zigomar Lawsuit
Between 1911 and 1913, Eclair released a series of films revolving around the fictional character Zigomar which was created in 1909 by the French author Léon Sazie in the Paris-based newspaper Le Matin. The movies would go on to be very successful commercially, but Sazie came to feel that they were too different from his idea for the series, and so sued the director, Victorin-Hippolyte Jasset, and the Eclair company for excessive alteration of the source material.[3] The courts ruled that 6,000 francs were to be paid to Sazie in damages, but Eclair appealed the case resulting in the amount to be paid increasing to 10,000 francs, with an additional 250 francs for any future violations.[4]
Cameras
Among their early models was the Caméréclair of 1928, then the Camé 300 Réflex, both successful studio cameras. Their real breakthrough design, the Caméflex (shoulder-held portable 35mm camera with instant-change magazines, with later 16/35mm dual format option) introduced in 1947, played a major part in the French New Wave by allowing for a freer form of shooting 35mm fiction films.
Later 16mm silent models such as the 1960 Eclair NPR (aka "Eclair 16" or "Eclair Coutant") and the 1971 Eclair ACL were documentary cinema favorites. The NPR also saw considerable use in television production and was the standard camera used by 16mm film crews in the BBC's Film Department. Due to its light weight and ergonomic design, which housed the film spools at the back of the camera rather than on top, the NPR was seen as a considerable improvement over its predecessors. For 16mm cameramen out in the field, this ease of use and maneuverability was vital to capture the right shot, often in hostile conditions.
The instant clip-on design of the
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (September 2013) ) |
Famous camera users
An Eclair 16 was used by
Later company history
The company was acquired in late 1968 by UK-based Canadian film producer
The film processing and post-production side of Éclair continues to operate.
References
- ^ "FILM FACTORY BURNS WITH $800,000 LOSS; Many Valuable Reels Destroyed in Eclair Company's Fort Lee Plant". The New York Times. No. Special to The New York Times. 20 March 1914. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
- ISBN 9781135925543– via Google Books.
- ^ Dawid, Glownia (2012). "Silva" (PDF).
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: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - ^ Gallica, "Auteur et Metteur en Scène". (Le Petit Journal, 1919). p. 3.
- ^ Ellis, John; Hall, Nick (2017): ADAPT. figshare. Collection.https://doi.org/10.17637/rh.c.3925603.v1
- LCCN 71-88212.
- .
- ^ The Criterion Collection. Breathless DVD. Special Features, disc 2. Coutard and Rissient. 2007.