FILM CASSETTE A film cassette is disclosed wherein a film roll whose outermost convolution comprises a film leader is coiled about a spool rotatable within the cassette shell, a pair of flexible flanges are coaxially arranged on the spool to radially confine the film leader within respective skirted peripheries of the flanges to prevent the leader from substantially contacting an interior wall of the cassette shell, and a film stripper projecting from the interior wall is received between a leading end of the film leader and then next-inward convolution of the film roll to free successive sections of the leader from the flanges by inducing the leader to flex the flanges away from one another at their skirted peripheries responsive to rotation of the spool in a film unwinding direction. A film flattening member projects from the interior wall of the cassette shell in the vicinity of the film stripper and a light-trapping passageway to the exterior of the shell to support successive sections of the film leader substantially flat as those sections are freed from the flanges, to facilitate initial and subsequent movement of the leader into the passageway.