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Abstract
This article emanates from a geospatial database of over 600 premieres of the Cines company’s Quo Vadis? (1913), an eight-reel film distributed by George Kleine, and nearly 250 premieres of the Quo Vadis Film Company’s Quo Vadis? (1913), a three-reel film of ambiguous origins distributed by Paul De Outo. By mapping local premieres of both films across the United States from 1913 through 1916, the data show with spatiotemporal precision the spread of Quo Vadis? as one of cinema’s early blockbuster titles. Yet within this national phenomenon, the two films’ footprints reveal differing cultural geographies served by competing efforts to feature Quo Vadis? using alternative practices of distribution and exhibition. The study finds that Quo Vadis? played a more complex role mediating the rise of features than is yet known, serving rival modes of cinema where longer, more expensive films were celebrated but also contested.
Department
Communication Arts and Sciences
Publication Date
2022
Journal Title
Images: The International Journal of European Film, Performing Arts and Audiovisual Communication
Publisher
Adam Mickiewicz University Press, Poznan, Poland
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.14746/i.2022.41.01
Document Type
Article
Recommended Citation
Klenotic Jeffrey, ‘Big’ and ‘little’ Quo Vadis? in the United States, 1913–1916: Using GIS to map rival modes of feature cinema during the transitional era. “Images” vol. XXXII, no. 41. Poznań 2022. Adam Mickiewicz University Press. Pp. 5–25. ISSN 1731-450X. DOI 10.14746/i.2022.41.01.
Rights
© The Author(s), Adam Mickiewicz University Press, 2022. Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the CC license (BY, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Included in
Digital Humanities Commons, Film and Media Studies Commons, Geographic Information Sciences Commons, Mass Communication Commons
Comments
This is an open access article published by Adam Mickiewicz University Press in Images: The International Journal of European Film, Performing Arts and Audiovisual Communication in 2022.