Newsreels

Eclair Journal

1932-1969: a half-century of news
300 hours - Gaumont Collection

Eclair Journal was founded in 1910. Correspondent Georges Maurice of Éclair covered World War I events as part of the Section Cinématographique des Armées (the film division of France's armed forces), where he joined three colleagues who were each working for a different newsreel company . 

During the inter-war period and in the early days of the talkies, Pathé and Eclair joined forces for a short while to film official speeches and musical sessions in synchronous sound-on-film. Screenings of such films enjoyed huge success .

The broadcasting of Eclair Journal was interrupted by World War II, but it was resumed in 1946 .

The 1960s saw the television boom. While the news programmes produced by Pathé and Gaumont managed to survive until the early 1980s, Eclair Journal closed in 1969, the year when Gaumont expanded its collection by acquiring the Eclair programmes produced between 1932 and 1969 .