Émile Cohl at Pathé, 1911 (2016 restorations in 4K from Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé)

Les Fantaisies d'Agénor maltracé (FR 1911), D: Emile Cohl, photo Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé, Paris. Please do click on the images to enlarge them.

Émile Cohl at Pathé, 1911
    Restored in 4K in 2016.
    From: Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé.
    Le Giornate del Cinema Muto (GCM): Cinema delle origini.
    Teatro Verdi, Pordenone, grand piano: Stephen Horne, 7 Oct 2016.

Stéphanie Salmon, Stéphanie Tarot (GCM catalog and website): "Engaged by Pathé in 1911, after having worked for Gaumont since 1908, the animation pioneer Émile Cohl records in his meticulous and invaluable “carnet de notes” that his first film for the company was Les Aventures extraordinaires d’un bout de papier, whose conception began in October 1910. He was officially taken on by the cockerel firm on 1 April 1911, on trial, to deliver films whose cost was not to exceed 12 francs per metre. The Pathé experience was to be brief, and probably disappointing for Cohl – at least one might suppose with regard to the targets imposed on him. For in 1912 he moved on to rejoin Étienne Arnaud at Fort Lee, where he worked for the Eclipse Company. Nonetheless, Cohl’s filmography at Pathé is still impressive, numbering at least 18 films in nine months (along with two further titles that can possibly be attributed to him). The length of the films varies between 81 and 150 metres – at that period essentially programme extras."

"Cohl began at Pathé with two animation films – Les Aventures extraordinaires d’un bout de papier and Le Musée des grotesques– employing the pioneering techniques he had honed at Gaumont. A third film, likewise prepared in the autumn of 1910 and issued in the spring of 1911, Le Retapeur de cervelles, mixes studio shooting and drawings filmed image by image; displaying a humour very characteristic of Cohl, it invites us to observe the meandering of thoughts."

"However, his time at Pathé in 1911 in France represents an exceptional episode in Cohl’s career, since most of the films he made then are live action: the “Jobard” series, nine films shot in less than three months, resulting from his association with the theatre actor Lucien Cazalis, who had also been at Gaumont, and had initiated this partnership with Cohl. Calling upon his origins as a caricaturist, Cohl directed and provided scenarios for a comic personage, though with this series he was essentially at the service of the actor. The first film of the series, Jobard est demandé en mariage, was announced by Pathé in their Programme No. 25 in June 1911, and the Cohl / Cazalis films continued to be issued until that September. None of the studio’s other comedy figures was submitted to such a frenetic release rhythm: it was as if Pathé were testing the popularity of one of its new comedians, while Cohl, for his part, was committed to a more immediate cost-effectiveness than that of his painstaking work on animation."

"Pathé’s comedy ranks that year were by no means understaffed: in those same weeks, Jobard was rubbing shoulders with Little Moritz, Rosalie, Babylas, Zigoto, Léontine, and the swiftly forgotten Gontard (not to be confused with Gontran), alongside Nick Winter and Rigadin, already classics. Max Linder was at the time convalescing, but he and Jobard were subsequently to coincide, from Programme No. 33 onwards. Pathé’s comedy series were variously issued under the trademarks Comica, Nizza, SCAGL, and (including the “Jobard” series) Pathé Frères, since the studio’s distribution policy was to offer new trademarks to exhibitors. Cohl’s “Jobard” films were thus involved in a policy of developing comedy series that was in full effervescence in the summer of 1911, though that autumn was to see a multiplication of foreign trademarks."

"Émile Cohl’s live-action comedies used the Pathé house formulas (situation comedy with a simple plot-line, in which the romantic intrigue is still secondary; street exteriors alternating with studio sets; and a close-up at the end of the film). The “Jobard” character, in striped suit and top hat, to an extent resembles Max, but he is also very close to Rigadin. The acting of Cazalis moreover recalls that of Rigadin’s interpreter, Charles Petit Demange (Charles Prince), in his way of directly addressing the audience and his exaggerated gesture. The editorial for Pathé’s Programme No. 29 actually states that Jobard “follows in his [Rigadin’s] steps”. While other titles in the “Jobard” series, at present not credited in terms of director, continued to appear until 1912, before leaving Pathé Émile Cohl returned to animation. Altogether, this short but fruitful period gave the caricaturist the possibility, as Valérie Vignaud defines it, “to denounce the game of appearances, which hides and sometimes abuses, in codified situations, the truth of beings”."

"These films made by Cohl at Pathé have been digitally restored in 4K in 2016, and are part of an ongoing programme to restore the existing films of Gaumont and Pathé." – Stéphanie Salmon, Stéphanie Tarot

All films from: Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé, Paris (preserved 2016).

LE MUSÉE DES GROTESQUES [The Museum of Grotesques] (FR 1911). D+SC+AN: Émile Cohl. PC: Pathé Frères. DCP, 4'55" (transferred at 16 fps). – AA: A purely drawn and inked animation, limited animation, black on white, constant transformations from figures to faces and back again, a dream-like flow of metamorphoses: a classical sculpted form, huge-nosed human busts, old hags, dogs, cats, caterpillars, fans, snails, noses, chins, tongues, vases, wigs, caps, shoes, huge lips.

Les Fantaisies d'Agénor maltracé (FR 1911), D: Emile Cohl, photo Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé, Paris.

Les Fantaisies d'Agénor maltracé (FR 1911), D: Emile Cohl, photo Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé, Paris.

LES FANTAISIES D’AGÉNOR MALTRACÉ [The Whims of the Maltreated Agénor] (FR 1911). D+SC+AN: Émile Cohl. PC: Pathé Frères. DCP, 5'28" (transferred at 16 fps). – AA: A drawn animation, white on black, limited animation, matchstick figures, with an live photographed introduction with a hand and an egg. An elastic world of constant metamorphoses. Agénor tries different hats, disappears into a magic jug, meets a policeman, they keep transforming into each other, a wine bottle takes over, a parade of women in impressive clothes walks pasts his window, and there is a proposal, but the woman turns into a policeman.

Jobard a tué sa belle-mêre (FR 1911), D: Emile Cohl, photo Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé, Paris

Jobard a tué sa belle-mêre (FR 1911), D: Emile Cohl, photo Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé, Paris

Jobard a tué sa belle-mêre (FR 1911), D: Emile Cohl, photo Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé, Paris

JOBARD A TUÉ SA BELLE-MÈRE [Jobard Has Killed His Stepmother] (FR 1911). D, SC: Émile Cohl. C: Lucien Cazalis. PC: Pathé Frères. DCP, 8'31" (transferred at 16 fps). – AA: Live action comedy, no animation, lively pantomime, funny rhythm. Stepmother rules, Jobard is fed up and haunts her so effectively that she faints. Jobard believes she is dead and buys a wreath which is replaced with a tyre, and the mix-up needs the intervention of the police. Meanwhile the stepmother is alive and well and she becomes Jobard's best friend.

JOBARD NE VEUX PAS VOIR LES FEMMES TRAVAILLER [Jobard Does Not Want to See Women Toil] (FR 1911). D, SC: Émile Cohl. C: Lucien Cazalis. PC: Pathé Frères. DCP, 5'51" ( transferred at 16 fps). – Live action comedy, no animation. Jobard is upset observing hard work conducted by women and interferes in roles of a street cleaner, a launderer, a porter, a vegetable merchant, a chauffeur... disturbing everybody. But at home he turns out to be a tyrant of the armchair while his wife toils in overdrive. A sharp satire.

JOBARD CHANGE DE BONNE [Jobard Changes Maid] (FR 1911). D, SC: Émile Cohl. C: Lucien Cazalis. PC: Pathé Frères. DCP, 7'16" (transferred at 16 fps). – Scène comique, no animation. Jobard is a harsh taskmaster who fires his maid who likes to drink. The beautiful eyes of the new maid soon start to melt him. But when Jobard is away there is an entire crowd of suitors. Jobard chases them out and disciplines the young maid in an outfit of a cuirassier, donning a tricorne and a whip.

Jobard fiancé par intérim (FR 1911), D: Emile Cohl, photo: Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé, Paris

Jobard fiancé par intérim (FR 1911), D: Emile Cohl, photo: Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé, Paris

JOBARD, FIANCÉ PAR INTÉRIM [Jobard Temporarily Betrothed] (FR 1911). D, SC: Émile Cohl. C: Lucien Cazalis. PC: Pathé Frères. DCP, 8'12" (transferred at 16 fps). – AA: Scène comique, no animation. Jobard the vicomte Gaston's chauffeur is assigned the delicate mission of posing as his master for his future fiancée. Gaston has a horror of the marriage but when he actually does see the girl he changes his mind, and poor Jobard becomes the butt of his anger. Funny details include the giant furs of the automobilists and the multiple drinks needed for the mission. There is a true sense of a comedy of pantomime. The gestures are beautifully synchronized.

LE RETAPEUR DE CERVELLES [Brains Repaired] (FR 1911). D+SC+AN: Émile Cohl. PC: Pathé Frères. DCP, 7'49" (transferred at 16 fps). – AA: Scène à trucs: live action farce and animation. Isidore is led by his wife to Dr. Trepanoff who examines Isidore's brain with a cephaloscope and discovers a little monster inside. The brain disturbances are seen as crazy animated scenes.and wild transformations.

LE CHEVEU DÉLATEUR [The Tell-Tale Hair] (FR 1911). D+SC+AN: Émile Cohl. PC: Pathé Frères. DCP, 6'07" (transferred at 16 fps). – AA: Scène à trucs: live action farce and animation. The concerned father of a daughter about to marry takes a hair of the prospective bridegroom to a famous magician who can divine the future from it. The prophesy is seen as a totally lunatic animation. There are dark clouds, a life of crime, a prison sentence, and finally the gallows. The suitor is instantly banished, and the charlatan steps in his place.

AA: Emile Cohl had achieved the highest stage of his craft and creativity at Gaumont during the past few years when he switched to Pathé in 1910–1911. These films are funny and versatile. The visual quality of the 4K digitized image is stunningly and eye-openingly brilliant. Rarely does one get to see such fine soft detail in films as old as these.