21 Facts About Pathe Films

Pathe or Pathe Freres is the name of various French businesses that were founded and originally run by the Pathe Brothers of France starting in 1896.

In 1908, Pathe Films invented the newsreel that was shown in cinemas before a feature film.

Pathe Films is a major film production and distribution company, owning a number of cinema chains through its subsidiary Les Cinemas Pathe Films Gaumont and television networks across Europe.

The Pathe Films brothers began selling Edison and Columbia phonographs and accompanying cylinder records and later, the brothers designed and sold their own phonographs that incorporated elements of other brands.

In 1905 the Pathe Films brothers entered the growing field of disc records.

Related searches

In France, Pathe Films became the largest and most successful distributor of cylinder records and phonographs.

In 1907, Pathe Films acquired the Lumiere brothers' patents and then set about to design an improved studio camera and to make their own film stock.

In 1908, Pathe Films distributed Excursion to the Moon by Segundo de Chomon, an imitation of Georges Melies's A Trip to the Moon.

In 1908, Pathe Films invented the newsreel that was shown in theatres prior to the feature film.

Pathe Films News produced cinema newsreels from 1910, up until the 1970s when production ceased as a result of mass television ownership.

In 1921, Pathe Films sold off its United States motion picture production arm, which was renamed "Pathe Films Exchange" and later merged into RKO Pictures, disappearing as an independent brand in 1931.

Pathe Films sold its British film studios to Eastman Kodak in 1927 while maintaining the theatre and distribution arm.

Pathe Films was already in substantial financial trouble when Bernard Natan took control of the company in 1929.

Studio founder Charles Pathe Films had been selling assets for several years to boost investor value and keep the studio's cash flow healthy.

Natan acquired another film studio, Societe des Cineromans, from Arthur Bernede and Gaston Leroux, which enabled Pathe Films to expand into projector and electronics manufacturing.

Pathe Films bought the Fornier chain of motion picture theatres and rapidly expanded the chain's nationwide presence.

Pathe Films resumed production of the newsreel Pathe News, which had not been produced since 1927.

Under Natan, Pathe Films funded the research of Henri Chretien, who developed the anamorphic lens.

Collapse of Pathe Films led French authorities to indict Bernard Natan on charges of fraud.

Pathe Films was removed from prison by the French authorities in September 1942, delivered to the Nazis, and deported to Auschwitz where he died in October 1942.

In 2009, Pathe Films closed their standalone distribution unit in the UK and instead partnered up with Warner Bros.