Ferdinand Zecca (19 February 1864 – 23 March 1947) was a
pioneer French
film director
A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...
,
film producer,
actor
An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...
and
screenwriter
A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...
. He worked primarily for the Pathé company, first in artistic endeavors then in administration of the internationally based company.
Early life
Ferdinand Louis Zecca was born in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
on 19 February 1864 into an Italian family steeped in the entertainment world. His father was the stage manager at the Paris ''Théâtre de l'Ambigu'' while his brothers were actors. Zecca also became a stage manager and then an actor, before working as an entertainer, playing the cornet and singing in Parisian cafés. He was playing the cornet at the ''Foire au Pain d'épices'', when he encountered filmmaker
Léon Gaumont.
Filmmaking
From 1891, Zecca had worked occasionally recording voice-overs for phonograph records for the
Pathé Frères
Pathé SAS (; styled as PATHÉ!) is a French major film production and distribution company, owning a number of cinema chains through its subsidiary Pathé Cinémas and television networks across Europe.
It is the name of a network of Fren ...
company, a pioneer in the cinema and audio recording industries. After 1895, Pathé became more involved in cinema. Gaumont first hired Zecca as an actor in 1898 but Zecca directed his first film for Pathé, an experimental sound production, ''Le Muet mélomane'' (1899) based on a musical Zecca and another artist, Charlus, were performing. At the request of entrepreneur
Georges Dufayel, owner of the ''Grands Magasins Dufayel'', they acted the piece before a ciné camera. His next film, ''Les Méfaits d'une tête de veau'' (1899) was for Gaumont.
["The rise of French cinema."](_blank)
''brevestoriadelcinema''. Retrieved: 30 December 2016.
In 1900, unable to personally do the work,
Charles Pathé
Charles Morand Path̩ (; 26 December 1863 Р25 December 1957) was a pioneer of the French film and recording industries. As the founder of Path̩, Path̩ Fr̬res, its roots lie in 1896 Paris, France, when Path̩ and his brothers pioneered ...
had Zecca set up the Pathé pavilion in the Paris World Fair (Exposition Universelle). After seeing his work, Pathé offered Zecca a position in his film company in Vincennes, first as an assistant to a director. Engaging Zecca "for a few weeks", he quickly became Pathé's right-hand man and was soon creating and directing his own films.
Zecca explored many themes from the mundane to the fantastic. In ''
À la conquête de l'air'' (1901), a strange flying machine, called ''Fend-l'air'', was seen flying over the rooftops of
Belleville. By using trick photography, the one-minute short was notable in being the first aviation film, predating the flight by the
Wright Brothers
The Wright brothers, Orville Wright (August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948) and Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912), were American aviation List of aviation pioneers, pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flyin ...
by two years.
[Paris 1995, p. 11.]
Zecca also pioneered one of the first crime dramas, ''
Histoire d'un crime'' (1901), stylistically innovative in its use of superimposition. The story was of a man condemned to death, awaiting execution with his crimes appearing on his cell wall. The film is an early example of
flashbacks as a film device.
Other films included comedies, trick films or fairy tales, such as ''Les Sept châteaux du Diable'', both 1901, and ''La Belle au bois dormant'' in 1902, as well as social dramas like ''
Les Victimes de l'alcoolisme'' (1902), ''Au pays noir'' (1905) and reconstructions of actual events, the most famous being ''La Catastrophe de la Martinique'' (1902).
Zecca acted in many of his films. At the end of 1906, assisted by the Spaniard Segundo de Chomón's photography and special effects, Zecca continued to experiment. He co-directed ''
La Vie et la passion de Jésus Christ'' (1903), which, at a running time of 44 minutes, was one of the first feature-length films about Jesus. He started filming in colour, with second ''Vie et Passion de N.S. Jésus Christ'', shot in four parts with 38 scenes, 990 metres long, which was finished in 1907.
[Gordon 2002, p. 167.]
Between 1900 and 1907, Zecca oversaw the production of hundreds of Pathé films from many important Pathé directors including Nonguet Lucien, Gaston Velle, Albert Capellani, Louis J. Gasnier, André Heuzé and Henri Pouctal. Zecca also acted, directed, produced, and, on occasion, wrote films. After Pathé bought the rights to Star films, Zecca started editing films by
George Méliès.
Appointed Managing Director of Pathé in 1905, in 1913 Zecca was sent to the United States to take charge of the American Pathé production house. He returned to France in 1919, where as a co-director with René Leprincee, he made ''Le Calvaire d'une reine'', his last film. In the same year, Zecca was appointed to head the Pathé-Baby division, producing equipment and cameras for thin film, where he worked until his retirement in 1939.
In March 1947 at the age of 83, in his residence at
Saint-Mandé
Saint-Mandé (; named for Saint Maudez) is a Communes of France, commune in the Val-de-Marne Departments of France, department in Île-de-France, in the high-end eastern inner suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre zero, cent ...
, France, Ferdinand Zecca died.
Filmography
as director
*1899: ''Les Mésaventures d'un muet mélomane (Le Muet mélomane)''
*1899: ''Les Méfaits d'une tête de veau''
*1901: ''Une tempête dans une chambre à coucher''
*1901: ''Une idylle sous un tunnel''
*1901: ''Un duel abracadabrant''
*1901: ''Un drame au fond de la mer''
*1901: ''La Soupière merveilleuse''
*1901: ''Les Sept Châteaux du diable''
*1901: ''
Rêve et Réalité''
*1901: ''Plongeur fantastique''
*1901: ''
Par le trou de la serrure''
*1901: ''La Mégère récalcitrante''
*1901: ''Le Mauvais Riche''
*1901: ''La Loupe de grand-maman''
*1901: ''L'Illusionniste mondain''
*1901: ''
Histoire d'un crime''
*1901: ''L'Enfant Prodigue''
*1901: ''Comment on met son couvert''
*1901: ''Comment Fabien devient architecte''
*1901: ''Scènes vues de mon balcon (Ce que je vois de mon sixième)''
*1901: ''
À la conquête de l'air''
*1901: ''L'Agent plongeur''
*1901: ''Une discussion politique''
*1901: ''Quo Vadis?''
*1902:
''Les Victimes de l'alcoolisme''
*1902: ''Une séance de cinématographe''
*1902: ''La Fée des roches noires''
*1902: ''Le Conférencier distrait''
*1902: ''Chez le photographe''
*1902: ''La Catastrophe de la Martinique''
*1902: ''La Belle au bois dormant (coréalisation de Lucien Nonguet)''
*1902: ''Baignade impossible''
*1902: ''L'Assommoir''
*1902: ''L'Affaire Dreyfus''
*1902: ''La Poule merveilleuse''
*1902: ''
Ali Baba et les quarante voleurs''
*1902: ''L'Assassinat du duc de Guise''
*1903: ''Samson et Dalila''
*1903: ''Repas infernal''
*1903: ''La Soubrette ingénieuse''
*1903: ''Le Chien et la Pipe''
*1903: ''Le Premier Cigare du collégien''
*1903: ''Le Démon du jeu ou la Vie d'un joueur (La Vie d'un joueur)''
*1903: ''
Les Aventures de Don Quichotte (Don Quichotte) (coréalisation de Lucien Nonguet)''
*1903: ''Le Chat botté (coréalisation de Lucien Nonguet)''
*1904: ''The Wrong Door''
*1904: ''Le Portrait''
*1904: ''Les Petits Coupeurs de bois vert''
*1904: ''Le Pêcheur de perles''
*1904: ''Annie's Love Story''
*1904: ''
La Grève''
*1905: ''La Passion de Notre-Seigneur Jésus Christ (La Vie et la Passion de Jésus Christ)''
*1905: ''Un drame à Venise''
*1905: ''
Rêve à la lune'' (coréalisation de Gaston Velle)''
*1905: ''Le Remords''
*1905: ''La Course aux tonneaux''
*1905: ''Automobile et Cul-de-jatte''
*1905: ''
Au Pays Noir''
*1905: ''Au bagne''
*1905: ''L'alcool engendre la tuberculose''
*1905: ''L'Incendiaire''
*1905: ''Dix femmes pour un mari (coréalisation de
Georges Hatot et Lucien Nonguet)''
*1905: ''L'Honneur d'un père''
*1905: ''Vendetta''
*1905: ''Les Apaches de Paris''
*1905: ''Brigandage moderne''
*1907: ''Le Spectre rouge (coréalisation de Segundo de Chomón)''
*1907: ''Le Poil à gratter''
*1907: ''Métempsycose''
*1907: ''L'Homme Protée''
*1907: ''La Course des sergents de ville''
*1908: ''Samson (coréalisation d'Henri Andréani)''
*1908: ''Le Rêve d'agent''
*1908: ''L'Affaire Dreyfus''
*1909: ''Le Caprice du vainqueur''
*1910: ''La Tragique Aventure de Robert le Taciturne, duc d'Aquitaine''
*1910: ''Slippery Jim''
*1910: ''Cléopâtre (coréalisation d'Henri Andréani)''
*1910: ''1812, (coréalisation de Camille de Morlhon)''
All films below are co-directed by René Leprincee
*1912: ''La Fièvre de l'or''
*1913: ''Le Roi de l'air''
*1913: ''La Leçon du gouffre''
*1913: ''La Comtesse noire''
*1913: ''CÅ“ur de femme''
*1913: ''Plus fort que la haine (film, 1913)''
*1914: ''La Danse héroïque''
*1914: ''La Lutte pour la vie''
*1914: ''La Jolie Bretonne''
*1914: ''L'Étoile du génie''
*1915: ''Le Vieux Cabotin''
*1915: ''Le Noël d'un vagabond''
*1919: ''Les Larmes du pardon''
*1919: ''Le Calvaire d'une reine''
As producer
*1901: ''Scènes vues de mon balcon (Ce que je vois de mon sixième)''
*1901: ''À la conquête de l'air''
*1903: ''Le Démon du jeu ou La vie d'un joueur (La Vie d'un joueur)''
*1906: ''Pauvre Mère''
*1906: ''La Grève des bonnes''
*1907: ''Cendrillon, ou la Pantoufle merveilleuse (Cendrillon) d'Albert Capellani''
*1907: ''Les Débuts d'un patineur''
*1908: ''Don Juan''
*1912: ''Boireau, roi de la boxe''
*1913: ''Les Incohérences de Boireau''
*1913: ''Boireau empoisonneur''
*1913: ''Boireau spadassin''
as actor
*1899: ''Les Mésaventures d'une tête mélomane (Le Muet mélomane)''
*1901: ''Une idylle sous un tunnel''
*1901: ''Histoire d'un crime''
*1901: ''Comment on met son couvert''
*1901: ''À la conquête de l'air''
*1902: ''Une séance de cinématographe''
*1902: ''Chez le photographe''
*1902: ''La Poule merveilleuse''
*1905: ''L'Amant de la lune (Rêve à la lune): Le pochard''
*1905: ''Automobile et cul-de-jatte''
*1905: ''Créations renversantes''
*1912: ''Rigadin aux Balkans''
as writer
*1901: ''Histoire d'un crime''
*1902: ''Les Victimes de l'alcoolisme''
*1903: ''Le Démon du jeu ou La vie d'un joueur (La Vie d'un joueur)''
*1905: ''L'Amant de la lune (Rêve à la lune)''
*1906: ''Le Théâtre de Bob''
*1910: ''La Tragique aventure de Robert le Taciturne, duc d'Aquitaine''
*1915: ''Le Malheur qui passe''
See also
*''
Histoire d'un crime''
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
* Gordon, Rae Beth. ''Why the French Love Jerry Lewis: From Cabaret to Early Cinema''. Palo Alto, California:Stanford University Press, 2002. .
* Paris, Michael. ''From the Wright Brothers to Top gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema.'' Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1995. .
* Rège, Philippe. ''Encyclopedia of French Film Directors'', Volume 1. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2009. .
External links
*
Les gens d cinéma*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zecca, Ferdinand
1864 births
1947 deaths
French fantasy film directors
French film directors
French silent film directors
French screenwriters
French film producers