First Movie Studio in Texas

Gaston Méliès's Star Film Ranch

Inbunden, Engelska, 2026

689 kr

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The story of the Star Film Ranch and its pioneering crew, who created the first “authentic” Westerns filmed in Texas.In 1910, the MÉliÈs Star Film Company of Manhattan set up a moving-picture studio outside San Antonio, the first in Texas. Determined to make the most authentic Westerns possible, the company filmed there for a little over a year. In that brief time, it created more than seventy single-reel films, leaving a lasting mark on moviemaking. Film historians Kathryn Fuller-Seeley and Frank Thompson return to a moment when on-location filmmaking was emerging as an artform. We meet producer Gaston MÉliÈs, older brother of early-cinema legend Georges MÉliÈs, and his cast and crew of young innovators, old hands, and genuine cowboys—like seventeen-year-old Edith Storey, the tomboy star who helped to ignite modern celebrity culture, and Francis Ford, who learned the art of film directing on the job and mentored his younger brother, Hollywood legend John Ford. The First Movie Studio in Texas traces the company’s trials and accomplishments, its influence on the depiction of race and gender in Western filmmaking, its surviving works, and its crowning achievement: The Immortal Alamo (1911), the earliest cinematic depiction of that famous battle. Finally recovered from the shadows, the forgotten MÉliÈs brother proves to be one of the key founders of the Western myth on screen.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2026-02-03
Mått178 x 254 x 28 mm
Vikt513 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor164
FörlagUniversity of Texas Press
ISBN9781477333129

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List of Illustrations Foreword by RaphaËl Millet Introduction Chapter 1. The MÉliÈs Star Film Troupe’s Early Days in San Antonio, January 1910 Chapter 2. The City of San Antonio, 1910 Chapter 3. MÉliÈs Star Films’ First Season, January–April 1910 Chapter 4. MÉliÈs Films Produced in New York, May–October 1910 Chapter 5. Reporters’ Visits to the Star Ranch: A Snapshot of Filmmaking in San Antonio Chapter 6. The MÉliÈs Troupe’s Heyday in Texas, 1911: Dramatic Films Chapter 7. Drama or Comedy? Multiple Interpretations of Billy and His PalChapter 8. MÉliÈs Star Western Comedies, 1911 Chapter 9. The Immortal AlamoChapter 10. Francis Ford’s Moviemaking Education and Other Star Ranch Memories Chapter 11. California and the World, 1911-1913 Chapter 12. Recuperating Gaston MÉliÈs’s Film Legacy Acknowledgments Notes Filmography Bibliography Index

"The First Movie Studio in Texas is a detailed and remarkably complete history of Gaston MÉliÈs's Star Film Company. It will be an essential source for anyone interested in the films or the fascinating people involved with the company, and it makes an important contribution to the scholarship on the history of filmmaking in Texas." - Eric Hoyt, author of Ink-Stained Hollywood: The Triumph of American Cinema's Trade Press"The First Movie Studio in Texas will add substantially to the knowledge of scholars interested in the history of American silent cinema. It will certainly contribute significantly to its field by virtue of the simple fact that it draws attention to a time and place and a cast of characters that have been left out of many silent cinema histories." - Kevin L. Stoehr, coauthor of King Vidor in Focus: On the Filmmaker's Artistry and Vision"[Gaston Méliès'] is a crucial story of international cinema and Texas history, one largely forgotten until Kathryn Fuller-Seeley and Frank Thompson began rigorous research that led to their new book, The First Movie Studio in Texas." - (Film International)