ABSTRACT
This chapter, which does no more than touch on its subject in the hope of initiating a more comprehensive, European-wide examination, sets out to make a simple point: that during the period from the beginning of sound cinema until the mid-1950s (or rather until television took over as the new dispenser of banal, easily assimilated or demagogic images and consequently robbed cinemas of some of their patrons), there existed in all the major European industries (certainly the French and Italian, probably the West German and Spanish, and possibly others — work remains to be done on this) a category of low-grade films that were destined to be seen only by audiences in their country of origin. In at least one case, that of Italy, it may be that some of those films were aimed solely at filmgoers in specific regions.
