ABSTRACT
The Great War broke out at the moment that the film industry at all levels, production, distribution and exhibition was becoming established. Here the attention is on the local cinema cultures of three spaces: Louvain in Belgium, Southampton in England, and Stevens Point, Wisconsin, in the United States. The areas share marked differences: Louvain suffered considerably, including direct damage to its buildings, reprisal executions of its citizens and German occupation for the four years of the war; Southampton witnessed the parade of war through its role as the main embarkation point for British troops, as well as suffering the loss in unprecedented number of casualties which the British people endured; and Stevens Point was different again in that the war directly touched the local community, with its considerable German and Polish immigrant population, as the politics of the nation shifted from isolation to engagement. These were all factors in the exhibition strategies of local cinema exhibitors who negotiated new audiences. The article draws out similarities and differences in these areas to argue that the war’s impact on particular local cultures was significant in the establishment of cinema’s social function within each community.
