Les premiers pas du cinéma / The First Steps of Cinema

Over one hundred years of dreams through cinema, Eric Lange and Serge Bromberg tell the story of the history of sound and color on the screen in two documentaries: A la recherche du son / In Search of Sound and Un rêve en couleurs / A Dream in Colors. Contrary to popular belief, cinema did not become sonorous 1927 with the premiere of the Warner Bros. production The Jazz Singer and colorful over night with the first Technicolor feature film Becky Sharp from 1935. Quite the contrary it's a long and adventurous story whose origins go back way beyond the birth of cinema. We learn about films rented with a singer, handcolored films, sound effects machines, bizarre color effects and crazy inventors as well as uncanny personalities, who all contributed in their own way to the history of film. Beside the two documentaries the 2-disc DVD offers 35 supplemental features with incredible and unknown images and sounds.

A la recherche du son / In Search of Sound - France 2003 - Directed by: Eric Lange - Written by: Eric Lange, Serge Bromberg - Music by: Neil Brand - Produced by: Lobster Films / histoire -

Un rêve en couleur / A Dream in Colors - France 2004 - Directed by: Eric Lange - Written by: Eric Lange, Serge Bromberg - Music by: Eric Le Guen - Produced by: Lobster Films / histoire -

DVD 1 Features

• A la recherche du son France 2003, 52'
• Chapter selection
• Quand Madelon France 1917, 4'
• La Père La Victoire France 1917, 4'
• The Chamber Mystery USA 1920, 8'
• Miss Venus Germany 1921, 5'
• Ain't She Sweet? USA 1933, 7'
• Luca Di Lammermoor France 1908, 4'
• La Donna e mobile Germany 1908, 3'
• Carmen: "Air du Toréador" France 1910, 5'
• La légende du roi Gambrinus (stencil colored) France 1911, 3'
• La Marseillaise France 1911, 3'
• Nursery Favorites USA 1913, 6'
• Trailer The Jazz Singer USA 1927, 7'
• Snappy Tunes USA 1923, 7'
• Theodor Case Film Test USA 1924, 1'
• Ma He's Making Eyes at Me USA 1925, 2'
• Arthur Conan Doyle USA 1927, 11'
• Governor Young Hails Greater Talkie Season USA 1928, 3'
• Finding His Voice USA 1929, 10'

DVD 2 Features

• Un rêve en couleur France 2004, 52'
• Chapter selection
• Forgerons (colored) France 1895, 1'
• Mort de Marat (colored) France 1897, 1'
• Danse serpentine (colored) France 1898, 1'
• Exécution de Jeanne d'Arc (colored) France 1898, 1'
• Danseurs espagnoles (colored) France 1898, 2'
• Métamorphoses du papillon (stencil colored) France 1904, 2'
• La fée aux fleurs (stencil colored) France 1905, 1'
• Le sorcier arabe (stencil colored) France 1906, 3'
• Inauguration du Campanile de San Marco (Kinemacolor) GB 1912, 11'
• Essai trichrome du Dr. Doyen France 1912, 1'
• Essai couleur de Sonia Delaunay France 1928, 1'
• Jeunes femmes prenant le thé (Lumicolor) France 1937, 3'
• Wonderland of California (Cinecolor) USA 1930, 7'
• Trailer The King of Jazz (Zweifarb-Technicolor) USA 1930, 4'
• La Cucaracha (Technicolor) USA 1934, 20'
• Trailer Becky Sharp (Technicolor) USA 1935, 3'
• New York (Kodachrome) France 1938, 5'
• Silent films with piano accompaniments

Edited by: Lobster Films
DVD Authoring & DVD Supervision: Serge Bromberg, Eric Lange