Star of French cinema's first speech (10)
I believe the answer is:
decoration
'star' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'of french cinema's first speech' is the wordplay.
'of french' becomes 'de'.
'first' says to take the initial letters.
'speech' becomes 'oration' (oration is a kind of speech).
The initial letter of 'cinemas' is 'c'.
'de'+'c'+'oration'='DECORATION'
(Other definitions for decoration that I've seen before include "Adornment - medal" , "Flags put out" , "Bunting (in honour of a brave man?)" , "Medal; ornament" , "New Year's honour, say" .)