TY - ABST

T1 - We are going to conquer the world: Researching Palladium’s PanEuropean Business Model

AU - Astrup, Jannie Dahl

PY - 2019/6/26

Y1 - 2019/6/26

N2 - International trade-journal ads and even stationery from the Danish film production company Palladium often carried the slogan We are going to conquer the world in the 1920s. With the comic film star duo Pat and Patachon (Fyrtårnet & Bivognen) Palladium did in fact conquer much of the international – and, not least – the German film market. As part of a collaborative research project on border-crossing film culture between Denmark and Germany in the silent era, my research on Palladium takes into account patterns of distribution specific to the German market. This proposed presentation will examine how the Danish company Palladium sought to position itself internationally in the 1920s, particularly in relation to the German distributor and producer Lothar Stark and the English distributor Arthur G. Gregory, whose distribution networks have proven highly significant for Palladium’s success. The paper also documents and examines international co-productions like director Lau Lauritzen’s “Don Quixote” (1926), which came to dominate the company’s output. This through a detailed analysis and discussion of production conditions, trade-journal ads and critical receptions – in Denmark as well as Germany. The Palladium films can be regarded as exemplary cases of the kind of pan-European productions widely seen as a possible response to Hollywood’s predominant position in the market of the 1920s and their wide circulation and intricate pattern of distribution serve as a case study in transnational film culture. Through use of archival sources (e.g. international newspaper clippings and daily reports on studio work) from the Palladium Collection at The Danish Film Institute plus a single surviving, but very significant company document detailing international distribution partners, this work-in-progress-paper explores the specific case of Palladium – a Danish production company with an internationally wide distribution network – and thereby broadens perspectives and insights into modes of silent era film distribution. Bibliography: Allen, Robert C. & Gomery, Douglas: Film History: Theory and Practice. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1985; Behn, Manfred (ed.): Schwarzer Traum und weisse Sklavin: Deutsch-dänische Filmbeziehungen 1910-1930. München, edition text+kritik, 1994; Biltereyst, Daniel, Maltby, Richard & Meers, Philippe (ed.): Explorations in New Cinema History: Approaches and Case Studies. Oxford, Wiley-Blackwell, 2011; Higson, Andrew & Maltby, Richard.”Film Europe” and “Film America”: Cinema, Commerce and Cultural Exchange, 1920-1939. Devon, University of Exeter Press, 1999.

AB - International trade-journal ads and even stationery from the Danish film production company Palladium often carried the slogan We are going to conquer the world in the 1920s. With the comic film star duo Pat and Patachon (Fyrtårnet & Bivognen) Palladium did in fact conquer much of the international – and, not least – the German film market. As part of a collaborative research project on border-crossing film culture between Denmark and Germany in the silent era, my research on Palladium takes into account patterns of distribution specific to the German market. This proposed presentation will examine how the Danish company Palladium sought to position itself internationally in the 1920s, particularly in relation to the German distributor and producer Lothar Stark and the English distributor Arthur G. Gregory, whose distribution networks have proven highly significant for Palladium’s success. The paper also documents and examines international co-productions like director Lau Lauritzen’s “Don Quixote” (1926), which came to dominate the company’s output. This through a detailed analysis and discussion of production conditions, trade-journal ads and critical receptions – in Denmark as well as Germany. The Palladium films can be regarded as exemplary cases of the kind of pan-European productions widely seen as a possible response to Hollywood’s predominant position in the market of the 1920s and their wide circulation and intricate pattern of distribution serve as a case study in transnational film culture. Through use of archival sources (e.g. international newspaper clippings and daily reports on studio work) from the Palladium Collection at The Danish Film Institute plus a single surviving, but very significant company document detailing international distribution partners, this work-in-progress-paper explores the specific case of Palladium – a Danish production company with an internationally wide distribution network – and thereby broadens perspectives and insights into modes of silent era film distribution. Bibliography: Allen, Robert C. & Gomery, Douglas: Film History: Theory and Practice. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1985; Behn, Manfred (ed.): Schwarzer Traum und weisse Sklavin: Deutsch-dänische Filmbeziehungen 1910-1930. München, edition text+kritik, 1994; Biltereyst, Daniel, Maltby, Richard & Meers, Philippe (ed.): Explorations in New Cinema History: Approaches and Case Studies. Oxford, Wiley-Blackwell, 2011; Higson, Andrew & Maltby, Richard.”Film Europe” and “Film America”: Cinema, Commerce and Cultural Exchange, 1920-1939. Devon, University of Exeter Press, 1999.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - new cinema history

KW - film distribution

KW - silent cinema

KW - Transnational relations

M3 - Conference abstract for conference

Y2 - 26 June 2019 through 28 June 2019

ER -