One Reel a Week

One Reel a Week by Fred J. Balshofer and Arthur C. Miller, with the assistance of Bebe Bergsten, offers an unparalleled firsthand chronicle of the formative years of American cinema. Balshofer, a pioneering producer-director, and Miller, who rose from lab assistant to Academy Award–winning cinematographer, weave together their personal narratives to reconstruct the struggles and triumphs of early filmmaking. From duplicating French films in basement labs to evading Edison’s patent detectives, from establishing Crescent and Bison pictures to filming in Fort Lee, New Jersey, and later Los Angeles, their story captures the precarious blend of innovation, risk, and sheer audacity that gave birth to a new art form.

Written alternately by Balshofer and Miller, One Reel a Week delivers both technical detail and vivid anecdotes, charting the industry’s evolution from nickelodeons to major studios. Readers encounter Edwin S. Porter, Cecil B. DeMille, John Ford, and Mack Sennett, as well as the development of equipment, locations, and production practices that defined the silent era. With Kemp R. Niver’s foreword situating the memoirs in broader film history, the book serves as both a documentary record and a human story of ambition and adaptation. It is an essential resource for film historians and enthusiasts seeking an insider’s perspective on how a fledgling novelty became a cornerstone of modern culture.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1967.