Pathe Gazette

Dates

1910 - 1970

History

Pathe’s Animated Gazette, the first British newsreel, began regular weekly production in June 1910, moving into bi-weekly production two years later. By 1918 it was known simply as the Pathe Gazette. In January 1926, the reel was supplemented by a longer version called the Pathe Super Gazette, and the two ran in tandem for several years to satisfy large and small venues. In June 1930, with the advent of synchronised sound, Pathe launched the Pathe Super Sound Gazette, which it ran alongside the silent Pathe Gazette and Pathe Super Gazette. The silent reels were eventually discontinued, but the sound version, renamed the Pathe Gazette, continued until December 1945.

In December 1945, Pathe Gazette No. 45/105 announced a new collaboration with the Pathe News in New York and the Pathe Journal in Paris. The new title was Pathe News, used from No. 46/1 of January 1946 until the closure of the reel in February 1970.

Full history

http://media.bufvc.ac.uk/newsonscreen2/newsreel/histories/pathegazettehistory.pdf

Provenance

None of the original issue sheets survive for Pathe’s Animated Gazette or for the silent Pathe Gazette. This database has been compiled from documents in the Slade Film History Register, consisting of typescript library lists compiled long after the original release of the reels. These library lists start in June 1919 with Pathe Gazette No. 570, and continue until No. 1715 of June 1930, at which point the change to sound brought a new system of numbering, from issue 30/1. The records continue to Pathe Gazette No. 45/105 of December 1945, after which the number sequence is unbroken as the newsreel continues as Pathe News. The documents in the Slade Film History Register are photocopies of contemporary records from the Pathe library, and comprise a mixture of annotated issue sheets, library forms, and typed lists of contents. Additional data has been added by the current Scripts Projects, taken from cameramen’s dope sheets and alternative issue sheets held in the British Pathe library.

Other Information

Note: Pathe took its name from the company’s French founder, Charles Pathé. The acute accent was used occasionally in the various newsreels and cinemagazines that the company issued in Britain, but it was most commonly not used at all, and for consistency’s sake the accent has not been used on News on Screen.

The rights to all Pathe newsreels and cinemagazines made in Britain are now held by British Pathe. British Pathe likewise holds the run of its Pathe Gazette/Pathe News newsreel complete from around 1920 to 1970. Relatively few items survive for the 1910-1920 period, with a selection held both at British Pathe and in the BFI National Archive, which also holds a small collection of Pathe newsreels 1920-1970.

Films in this series can be obtained from:

Film Archive

Name

British Pathe Ltd

Email

info@britishpathe.com

Web

https://www.britishpathe.com/

Phone

0207 665 8340

Address

3.29 Canterbury Court
1-3 Brixton Road
London
SW9 6DE

Notes

Pathe now also handles the Reuters Historical Collection, which includes the British Paramount, Empire British, Gaumont Graphic and Gaumont British newsreels.

Series held

View all series held by British Pathe Ltd