The History of Motion Pictures

The History of Motion Pictures is regarded as an influential work of film criticism. According to scholar Alice Kaplan, it was "probably the first general history of cinema written in France, if not the world."

History of publication

Although Brasillach and Bardèche were fascist writers, the first edition of the book is generally seen as exempt from far-right ideas. Several Jewish directors (or thought to be of Jewish descent), such as Charlie Chaplin and Fritz Lang, were held in high regard by Brasillach and Bardèche. However, in the 1943 edition, which was updated by Brasillach alone and published during the Nazi occupation of France, earlier judgments were remodelled to reveal an overt anti-Semitism. For instance, the "strangely human note to his [Chaplin's] misfortune" mentioned in the 1935 version became a "strangely Hebraic note" in 1943.

Those changes had not been requested by the Germans. In a 1986 interview given to Kaplan, Bardèche stated, "The Chaplin of the first films is not the same as the Chaplin of the cinéma engagé he created afterwards. We were irritated by films like The Dictator, later films where there is idiocy and side-taking ... That's not where Chaplin's genius lies. But on the other hand, those later films signaled to us certain aspects of Chaplin's genius, and we said to ourselves that, well, Chaplin isn't as simple as we thought."

The work was reedited in 1948, 1954, 1963, and 1964. The current available editions in both French and English come from the original 1935 version.