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{{Infobox film
| name           = French Cops Learning English
| image          = French Interpreter Policeman (1908).webm
| alt            =
| caption        =
| director       = [[Georges Méliès]]
| producer       = <!-- or: | producers = -->
| writer         = <!-- or: | writers = -->
| starring       =
| cinematography =
| studio         = [[Star Film Company]]
| distributor    = <!-- or: | distributors = -->
| released       = {{film date|1908|08||}}
| runtime        = 138 meters<ref name=MM/>
| country        = France
| language       = Silent
}}
'''''French Cops Learning English''''',<ref name=Abel>{{citation|last=Abel|first=Richard|title=The Ciné Goes to Town: French Cinema, 1896–1914|location=Berkeley|publisher=University of California Press|year=1998|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VnPUIY1FapsC&pg=PA216|page=216|isbn=9780520912915}}</ref><ref name=Wizard>{{citation|first = Georges|last = Méliès|year = 2008|title = Georges Méliès: First Wizard of Cinema|medium = DVD; short film collection|publisher = Flicker Alley|location = Los Angeles|isbn=978-1893967359}}</ref> originally copyrighted in the United States as '''''French Interpreter Policeman''''',<ref name=MM/> is a 1908 French [[short film|short]] [[silent film|silent]] [[comedy film]] directed by [[Georges Méliès]]. It was released by Méliès's [[Star Film Company]] and is numbered 1288–1293 in its catalogues.<ref name=MM>{{citation|last1=Malthête|first1=Jacques|last2=Mannoni|first2=Laurent|title=L'oeuvre de Georges Méliès|year=2008|location=Paris|publisher=Éditions de La Martinière|isbn=9782732437323|page=354}}</ref>
==Plot==
In a room labelled "English School under the management of Miss Blackford," four French policemen and their chief are practicing English words. Miss Blackford, writing "What a fair fish" on her blackboard, tells one of the policemen to translate it into French; his attempt is "[[:wikt:fr:get lost|Va te faire fiche]]." The process repeats, with "Very well thank you" translated as "[[:wikt:manivelle|Manivelle]] [[Saint-Cloud|St. Cloud]]." Miss Blackford, holding up a placard reading "Conversation," lets in four young English ladies; the policemen and ladies court each other fervently.
The lesson is interrupted by the entrance of a higher-ranking officer, a Police Inspector, who is appalled at the sight of the police force in chaotic flirtation. However, when the "Conversation" placard is shown to him by way of explanation, he is immediately appeased, and nods cheerfully. The entire classroom bursts into a raucous [[can-can]] dance as the Inspector holds up a placard reading "Entente Cordiale."
==Production==
In 1908, the [[Motion Picture Patents Company]] changed the standardized prices used in the American film market, with films priced systematically by length. Though previous price standardizations had been useful to Méliès, the 1908 changes worked against him and contributed to his financial difficulties; under the new standards, his carefully planned and executed films were too expensive and time-consuming to make a profit.<ref>{{citation|last=Frazer|first=John|title=Artificially Arranged Scenes: The Films of Georges Méliès|year=1979|publisher=G. K. Hall & Co.|location=Boston|isbn=0-8161-8368-6|pages=46–48}}</ref> In an attempt to keep up with the new demands, Méliès doubled his output in 1908, turning out simpler films as quickly as possible from his two glass studios in [[Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis]].<ref name=Abel/>
''French Cops Learning English'' was filmed in Méliès's original glass studio, Studio A, rather than the larger and newer Studio B.<ref>{{Harvnb|Malthête|Mannoni|2008|p=253}}</ref> Méliès plays the Police Inspector.<ref name=Essai>{{citation|title=Essai de reconstitution du catalogue français de la Star-Film; suivi d'une analyse catalographique des films de Georges Méliès recensés en France|location=Bois d'Arcy|publisher=Service des archives du film du Centre national de la cinématographie|year=1981|isbn=2903053073|oclc=10506429|pages=319–320}}</ref>
As the placard at the end of the film suggests, the film is a topical comedy about the [[Entente Cordiale]] established in 1904 between Great Britain and France.<ref name=Abel/><ref name=Essai/> During the Entente, English tourists flocked to Paris; by 1907, they were so common that the Parisian [[Prefect of Police]], [[Louis Lépine]], formed a squad of police [[interpreter]]s to help tourists overcome the language barrier. Méliès used the topical subject to poke fun of the police in their roles as authority figures, a recurring theme in his films.<ref name=Essai/>
As [[Richard Abel (cultural historian)|Richard Abel]] has noted, Méliès's set is designed on a rigorously geometrical layout, emphasizing the systematic and [[marionette]]-like antics of the police students.<ref name=Abel/> Miss Blackford's outfit is that of a ''gommeuse'',<ref name=Essai/> a sensual and eccentrically comic type of [[café concert]] singer.<ref>{{citation|last=Gordon|first=Rae Beth|title=Why the French Love Jerry Lewis: From Cabaret to Early Cinema|location=Stanford, CA|publisher=Stanford University Press|year=2001|pages=74–75|isbn=9780804738941|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_FpLENBMIq4C&pg=PA74}}</ref> The extensive use of placards and other written text is unusual for a Méliès film, but necessary for plot comprehension, and especially for the wordplay.<ref name=Essai/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*{{IMDb title|0223313}}
{{Georges Méliès}}
[[Category:Films directed by Georges Méliès]]
[[Category:French silent short films]]
[[Category:French black-and-white films]]
[[Category:French comedy short films]]
[[Category:1908 comedy films]]
[[Category:1908 films]]
[[Category:Silent French comedy films]]
[[Category:1908 short films]]