1 - Introduction

Summary

Motion pictures constituted the first major form of industrialised mass entertainment. Soon after their commercial introduction, they were shown in most, if not all, cities in the Western world and beyond. Motion picture technology originated in the era of the second industrial revolution, when important innovations appeared that were adopted almost universally, such as electricity, synthetic chemicals and the combustion engine. Once motion pictures had firmly established themselves, from the 1910s onwards, cinemas sold billions of tickets each year. Those who did not go to see a film regularly became a minority. Some anecdotal figures show that, in economic respects, the movies were not insignificant. In terms of exports, for example, they were the fourth largest export earner in Italy before the First World War. In terms of profit, they were the tenth most profitable business in the US during the Depression. In terms of growth, they were the fastest growing French industry in the 1930s. In terms of consumption, they became the main leisure expenditure, selling almost one billion tickets a year in Britain. Almost everyone, dumb or smart, rich or poor, male or female, town or country was going to the pictures. So in a few nations moving images had been a large export earner, in many a large net importer, but in most they constituted a new growth industry, a fountain of profits and the name of recreation.