The tens and twenties
Cinemas become an established presence in towns and cities, and a system of film distribution emerges to provide all those cinemas with ever-new films. Film production also professionalises. The first film magazines appear and cinema culture becomes part of the emerging leisure industry.
Dutch film history: the tens and twenties
The Cinema Boom
‘Cinema theatres are popping up all over the place’ was a commonly heard phrase in the early 1910s.
The Rise of Distribution
The emergence of a distributor acting as an intermediary between producer and exhibitor was a fundamental change in Dutch film screening practices.
Jean Desmet and the Development of Film Distribution in Netherlands
Initially, Jean Desmet made his money as a fairground and travelling cinema operator, but this changed in 1909. He became one of the Netherlands' first film distributors.
Imitations and Bastardisation
Sometimes foreign film productions were "appropriated" by exhibitors: they showed the film as their own production, with a new title or a local establishing shot.
Film Studios
In many early films, it is obvious that the recordings were made on a set that was built outside: curtains flutter, hanging lamps swing and hair waves in the wind.
Jean Desmet as Cinema Owner
Desmet's Cinema Parisien was one of the first cinemas in Rotterdam and he was behind the ‘cinema boom’ that took place in the Netherlands around 1910.
Brochures and Programmes
EYE has many brochures and programmes that were put out by distributors and cinema companies in the 1930s.
Intertitling
Early film was silent, and in order to enable audiences to follow the film’s story, short pieces of text were inserted in the film: intertitles.
Trade Journals and Fan Magazines
Around 1907, the first film magazines were published in Britain and Germany. It was not until 1912 that the first film magazine appeared in the Netherlands: 'De Bioscoop-Courant'.
Filmfabriek Hollandia – A National Superpower
Hollandia would grow to become the most important producer of Dutch feature films before WWII.
Filmfabriek Hollandia and the Dutch School Film
In Hollandia’s early years, it was primarily its documentary department that was most active. Each of these films was also suitable for schoolchildren.
Nederlandse Bioscoopbond, 28 april 1924.
Nederlands(ch)e Bioscoopbond
For years, the Nederlands(ch)e Bioscoopbond (NBB) – officially established on 18 July 1921 – called the shots in the Dutch cinema world.
The Dutch Feature Film in the 1920s
The end of WWI ushered in major changes in the film world. The American film industry had developed enormously during the war.
The Cinema Question and School Cinema
Can cinemas ever be a suitable place for children? Discussions in 1912 led fairly quickly to a number of Dutch cities instituting local film censorship.
Idealistic Exhibitors
The condemnation of the cinema culture ran through socialist, Catholic, Protestant and liberal groups who all shared a puritanical perspective on the matter.
Internationale Kino-Tentoonstelling
In August 1920, the Internationale Kinotentoonstelling (IKT) was held in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
Industry Films
Between the two world wars, the Dutch entrepreneurs commissioned hundreds of films about their factories and businesses. These commissions kept the Dutch film industry going.
Still Hollands Nieuws (1923).
Dutch Newsreels
The first Dutch company to produce newsreels on a regular basis was Kinematograaf Pathé Frères.
Film Factories during WWI
Filmfabriek Hollandia in Haarlem was by far the most prolific Dutch production company in the 1910s, but soon after WWI started, two new film companies arrived on the scene.
The end of the First World War (1914 - 1918)
On 11 November, 1918, the First World War ended in an armistice. This tumult can be clearly seen in three films from the Eye collection.
Sittard (NL, Willy Mullens, 1920).
City films
In 1915, Willy Mullens was commissioned by the Vereeninging Vreemdelingenverkeer to make a film for tourists about The Hague and Scheveningen.
Institutionalisation of the School Cinema
As early as the 1910s it was observed that film had an irresistible appeal to children.
National Propaganda
Like in other countries, film could be an important medium for propaganda in the Netherlands.
Educational Films
The rapid increase in educational film shows for children at the end of the 1910s meant that there was a big demand for educational films.
Modernity
In the 19th century, one innovation after another was being invented, and film was only one.
Dick Laan met 16mm camera (Bell & Howell).
16mm
This handy and affordable format, in inflammable acetate film, opened up a world of possibilities for the amateur filmmaker.
Towards a National Film Censorship Board
The rise of film led to the question of whether all films were suitable for all audiences. There was particular concern for young children.
File Desmet
The archive of Jean Desmet (1875 - 1956) is one of the main components of the Eye collection. He was a leading film-industry entrepreneur in the 1910s.
Centrale Commissie voor de Filmkeuring
On 1 March 1928, the Bioscoopwet (‘Cinema law’) of 1928 officially went into effect. On that day, the first films were censored by the Centrale Commissie voor de Filmkeuring.
KLM: National Pride
The Fokker F.VII flight to the East Indies in 1924 generated a lot of enthusiasm in both the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies and led to a sense of national pride.
The Dutch Central Film Archive
In October 1919, the Nederlandsch Centraal Filmarchief (‘Dutch Central Film Archive’) was established, aiming to preserve images of the Netherlands for later generations.
Stars and the Press
Besides reporting on and reviewing films, newspapers and magazines in the 1930s also gave their readers the opportunity to ask questions about foreign or Dutch stars.
Vereeniging Nederlandsch Fabrikaat: Tailor-made Company Films
When the Vereeniging Nederlandsch Fabrikaat (VNF) started up its own film division to make company films in 1925, there were no signs to indicate that they would become successful.
De Uitkijk – the Little Cinema with a Big Name
De Uitkijk was the first avant-garde cinema in the Netherlands.
Hoogstraat (NL, Andor von Barsy, 1929)
The Avant-Garde of the 1920s and 1930s
The Filmliga, founded in 1927, was among the first to suggest that film could also be an art form.
Folklorism – Before It’s Too Late
The idea that progress was unstoppable had been around for about a century in the days of folklorist Dirk Jan van der Ven.
Amsterdam in the picture
In 2016, Eye conserved four films in the context of the project called ‘Breng Amsterdam in Beeld’. The films come from Eye’s own collection.
Sport and film
For decades the summer months have been dominated by major sporting events. However, the annual Tour de France and Wimbledon have a longer tradition.