Pathé Exchange, commonly known as Pathé, was an American film production and distribution company, largely of Hollywood's silent era. Known for its groundbreaking newsreel and wide array of shorts, it grew out of the American division of the major French studio Pathé Frères, which began distributing films in the United States in 1904. Ten years later, it produced the enormously successful The Perils of Pauline, a twenty-episode serial that came to define the genre. The American operation was incorporated as Pathé Exchange toward the end of 1914 and spun off as an independent entity in 1921. The following year, it released Robert J. Flaherty's influential documentary Nanook of the North. Other notable feature releases included the controversial drama Sex (1920) and director/producer Cecil B. DeMille's smash-hit biblical epic The King of Kings (1927). For much of the 1920s, Pathé distributed the shorts of comedy pioneers Hal Roach and Mack Sennett and innovative animator Paul Terry. Famed comedian Harold Lloyd starred under the Pathé banner in both shorts and features for Roach and then in three features for his own production company.

In late 1926, investment banker Elisha Walker acquired control of the studio through his Blair & Co. firm, subsequently bringing in financier and Hollywood maestro Joseph P. Kennedy as a co-owner and managing director. Finally, in January 1931, most of its assets, including its motion picture production facilities, employee contracts, and distribution exchanges, were acquired by the major RKO Pictures studio, which established a semiautonomous, short-lived RKO Pathé division. (Four films completed by Pathé Exchange, two already in release, also became RKO properties.) While Pathé Exchange continued to exist as a holding company for minor assets not included in the sale, it was no longer a film production or distribution company.

Filmography

1910s Title Status Excuse Me (1915) extant The Greater Will (1915) lost Via Wireless (1915) extant Arms and the Woman (1916) lost The Romantic Journey (1916) lostThe Test (1916) extant Big Jim Garrity (1916) extant Patria (1917) incomplete Sylvia of the Secret Service (1917) lost The Angel Factory (1917) incomplete The Little Patriot (1917) lost Runaway Romany (1917) lost Vengeance Is Mine (1917) lost Over the Hill (1917) lost Her New York (1917) lost Kick In (1917) lost The Image Maker (1917) lost Twin Kiddies (1917) extant Eye for an Eye (1917) extant Sold at Auction (1917) lost Her Life and His (1917) lost The Vicar of Wakefield (1917) extant Crime and Punishment (1917) lost Her Beloved Enemy (1917) lost The Empress (1917) extant Told at Twilight (1917) extant Mary Lawson's Secret (1917) lost When Love Was Blind (1917) lost Sunshine and Gold (1917) extant The Neglected Wife (1917) incomplete The Recoil (1917) incomplete The Candy Girl (1917) lost The Iron Heart (1917) lost An Amateur Orphan (1917) lost Blind Man's Luck (1917) lost The Fires of Youth (1917) extant The Woman in White (1917) extant The Fatal Ring (1917) unclear The Cigarette Girl (1917) extant It Happened to Adele (1917) unclear The Last of the Carnabys (1917) lost The Mad Lover (1917) lost The On-the-Square Girl (1917) lost The Streets of Illusion (1917) extant Miss Nobody (1917) extant Tears and Smiles (1917) lost War and the Woman (1917) extant Under False Colors (1917) lost A Crooked Romance (1917) lost Stranded in Arcady (1917) extant The Heart of Ezra Greer (1917) lost The Mark of Cain (1917) extant Convict 993 (1918) lost Innocent (1918) lost The Other Woman (1918) lost Loaded Dice (1918) lost The Naulahka (1918) extant Daddy's Girl (1918) lost The Great Adventure (1918) extant The House of Hate (1918) incomplete The Hillcrest Mystery (1918) lost Mrs. Slacker (1918) extant Ruler of the Road (1918) extant How Could You, Caroline? (1918) lost The Mysterious Client (1918) lost More Trouble (1918) lost The Yellow Ticket (1918) lost A Daughter of the West (1918) lost For Sale (1918) lost Kidder and Ko (1918) lost The Voice of Destiny (1918) incomplete A Little Sister of Everybody (1918) lost Annexing Bill (1918) lost The Ghost of Rosy Taylor (1918) extant The First Law (1918) extant Waifs (1918) incomplete Ghost of the Rancho (1918) incomplete Hands Up (1918) lost The Eyes of Julia Deep (1918) extant Her Man (1918) extant The Bells (1918) lost A Japanese Nightingale (1918) extant Money Isn't Everything (1918) lost Border Raiders (1918) extant Hobbs in a Hurry (1918) lost Rosemary Climbs the Heights (1918) unclear All the World to Nothing (1918) lost Wives and Other Wives (1918) lost The Narrow Path (1918) lost Two-Gun Betty (1918) lost Fair Enough (1918) lost The Drifters (1919) lost The Midnight Stage (1919) extant The Lightning Raider (1919) incomplete When a Man Rides Alone (1919) lost Fighting Through (1919) lost The Amazing Impostor (1919) lost Terror of the Range (1919) lost Todd of the Times (1919) lost Come Again Smith (1919) lost Molly of the Follies (1919) lost Common Clay (1919) lost Where the West Begins (1919) extant Carolyn of the Corners (1919) lost The Forfeit (1919) lost The Little Diplomat (1919) lost The Twin Pawns (1919) extant The End of the Game (1919) extant Brass Buttons (1919) extant Thunderbolts of Fate (1919) extant The Silver Girl (1919) incomplete Gates of Brass (1919) lost The Intrusion of Isabel (1919) lost As a Man Thinks (1919) lost The Tiger's Trail (1919) fragment Unknown Love (1919) extant The Best Man (1919) lost The Cry of the Weak (1919) lost Charge It to Me (1919) lost Some Liar (1919) lost All Wrong (1919) lost A Bachelor's Wife (1919) lost The Bishop's Emeralds (1919) lost Trixie from Broadway (1919) lost A Sporting Chance (1919) extant Oh, Boy! (1919) extant The Profiteers (1919) lostSahara (1919) extant Yvonne from Paris (1919) lost Our Better Selves (1919) lost The Tiger Lily (1919) lost The Blue Bonnet (1919) lostA White Man's Chance (1919) lost The Westerners (1919) lost This Hero Stuff (1919) lost The World Aflame (1919) lost The Thirteenth Chair (1919) lost The Love Cheat (1919) lost Six Feet Four (1919) extant The Virtuous Model (1919) extant The False Code (1919) fragment Impossible Catherine (1919) extant A Damsel in Distress (1919) incomplete The Moonshine Trail (1919) lost Bound and Gagged (1919) incomplete The Hellion (1919) lost The Black Secret (1919) extant A Woman of Pleasure (1919) lost You Never Know Your Luck (1919) extant The Bandbox (1919) lost Fighting Cressy (1919) lost The Right to Lie (1919) extant Desert Gold (1919) lost Dawn (1919) lost Brothers Divided (1919) lost The A.B.C. of Love (1919) extant The Lord Loves the Irish (1919) extantThe Lone Wolf's Daughter (1919) extant The Prince and Betty (1919) lost The Adventures of Ruth (1919) lost The Capitol (1919) extant Eve in Exile (1919) extant The Joyous Liar (1919) lost

1920s