1903 was a year of transition. Ferdinand Zecca had been hired in 1901, and in 1902 turnover surged. From that point forward, the pace of production would accelerate in the new glass house studio which was modernised that year. Pathé increased its usage of negative film twofold, from 6,000 to 13,000 metres. All these developments paved the way for the extraordinary expansion of 1904.
The small team (Zecca, Caussade, Legrand, Wentzel…) was reinforced by Lucien Nonguet. The latter, “in charge of the minor characters [at the theatres of] Châtelet, Porte Saint-Martin and Ambigu, came to offer his services and proposed to shoot Napoléon in several tableaux until the coronation. Since the film was met with great success, he continued to provide scenes with costumes and a multitude of extras,” wrote Zecca in his notes for Maurice Bessy and Lo Duca. In fact, the former chief of extras who had moved on to make films was highly comfortable directing groups, a quality that was to be found in Albert Capellani’s work. Nonguet would shoot at the Montreuil location, initiate the filming at the Boulogne-sur-Mer studio, and spend some time making films in Nice. Future director Louis Gasnier assisted him in recruiting actors and acquiring scripts.
It is possible that Nonguet temporarily replaced Zecca, who reportedly spent several weeks at Gaumont during the year. Meanwhile, in November, Gaston Velle joined the team.
In 1903, as Henri Bousquet noted in his Pathé Catalogue from 1896 to 1906, the number of séries de production (as genres were then called) was expanding and their titles were becoming definitive. The catalogue included mostly plein air and military scenes, trick films, comedies, a few saucy sketches, actualités (often reconstituted and sometimes presented in the historical scenes category), sport, dance and acrobatics, but just one féerie, Le Chat botté (Puss in Boots, not in the programme), and one drama, La Vie d’un joueur. Most films were contained on one or two 20-metre (one-minute) reels. Only a few of them were longer than 45 metres. Films were at this time still screened in the form of a variety show. A mere seven of the 137 items in the new catalogue were longer than 100 metres, such as Don Quixote (Aventures de Don Quichotte, 430 metres) and Marie-Antoinette (145 metres), exceptionally shot in Versailles. These narrative films contained several tableaux, a production characteristic that set Pathé apart.

Stéphanie Salmon