Comedy is France's most popular cinema genre. Silent films (1895-1930) featured slapstick and burlesque humor. Georges Méliès created first cinema studio and silent comedies
Born in Dublin in 1854 to literary parents. Attended Trinity College Dublin and Magdalen College, Oxford. Won Newdigate Prize in 1878 with poem "Ravenna". Influenced by Ruskin and Pater on art's importance