French film company of course European (5)
I believe the answer is:
pathe
'french film company' is the definition.
(film company founded in 1896)
'course european' is the wordplay.
'course' becomes 'path' (path can mean a route or course).
'european' becomes 'e' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'path'+'e'='PATHE'
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for pathe that I've seen before include "Charles -, introduced newsreels to UK" , "Producer of newsreels" , "Cinema newsreel company" .)