News on Screen

Pathe Freres established an office in Britain in 1902. It began film production in 1910 with Pathe’s Animated Gazette. Pathe also began fiction film production in a studio on Great Portland Street, London.

Although fiction production ceased with the First World War, the newsreel flourished, leading Pathe to launch the magazines, Pathe Pictorial in 1918, and Eve and Everybody’s Film Review in 1921. These magazines were followed by several others, Pathe Monthly in 1925, Pathe Sound Magazine in 1929, and Pathetone Weekly in 1930.

The Pathe names was lost in 1931, when the Warner Brothers-First National company was formed, but returned in 1933 when Pathe was absorbed with ABPC. For ease, because of the various name changes, though, the BUND refers to the British Pathe company as British Pathe throughout, to distinguish Pathe products.

British Pathe produced several cinemagazines for the Central Office of Information (COI) [qv], British Sporting Personalities and Looking At Britain. From 1962 the company started to produce all three of the technicolor COI cinemagazines, Roundabout, Carrousel Britanico and Parade and continued to do so until the closure of the Pictorial unit in 1970 after Pathe Pictorial ceased production.

Sources

McFarlane, Brian. ‘The Encyclopedia of British Film’ (London; 2003), p511.