
Despite the strides, technical and aesthetic, that we've seen in French cinema especially, the badge of prestige was still leveraged more on how this new art form cohered to the more traditional (respectable) mediums of literature and theater, rather than focused on the aspects wholly unique to cinema itself. Obviously there's evolutionary overlap, as Melies and his peers are deeply steeped in traditional literature, from folk and fairy tales to popular genres like science fiction and mysteries, just as they're inherently dependent on certain theatrical production standards. But rather than marvel at the camera tricks and techniques which can defy physical space, these techniques were more often viewed as perjorative as Melies' source - simply as tricks, carnival sleight-of-hand, even charlatanism. Meanwhile, as we first saw in the feature-length production of Michel Carre's Prodigal Son, using film to merely ape a theatrical production was more auspiciously received. And we see it again a year later with the more modestly 17 minutes of The Assassination of the Duke of Guise, a handsome picture which is nonetheless more reknowned for its acceptance among the higher brows of the French fine arts community, being produced by Le Film d'Art (founded specifically to appeal to France's "cultural elite"), directed by established and venerated theater professionals, rather than the more hoi polloi entertainers like magicians and such, and given an original screenplay from an eminent "man of letters", Henri Lavedan, all of which conferred upon the film medium a touch of gravitas. Cinema had finally broken the intelligensia's cherry. And since the major liability in the cinema form at the time remained a lack of sound (although synchronized sound cylinder recordings were becoming more common), the additional grace of a new original score from Camille Saint-Saens placed that cherry right on top.
Among the other remaining French output of 1908, I'd rather highlight the film from Albert Capellani, L'Arlesienne, a film which had been an established play by Alphonse Daudet, which used the esteemed original score from that play by Georges Bizet, and marked the inauguration of SCAGL (trans: the Cinematographic Society of Authors and Writers - the first use of "auteur" by filmmakers), a parallel attempt among French filmmakers to command their proper due respect. Almost as a punctuation, "The Girl From Arles", despite being an adaptation of a traditional three-act play, is not confined to the theater at all, being shot on location in the south of France, making good use of its Roman amphitheatre. Also, perhaps more impressively, it exhibits probably the very first use of a camera pan, creating a nearly 180 degree panorama. It shares its prestige from traditional theater and classical music all while emphasizing cinema's liberation from the stage.