1940: Taking over French Cinema

Documentary, History · 2019

Paris, 1940. German occupation forces create a new film production company, Continental, and put Alfred Greven – producer, cinephile, and opportunistic businessman – in charge. During the occupation, under Joseph Goebbels’s orders, Greven hires the best artists and technicians of French cinema to produce successful, highly entertaining films, which are also strategically devoid of propaganda. Simultaneously, he takes advantage of the confiscation of Jewish property to purchase film theaters, studios and laboratories, in order to control the whole production line. His goal: to create a European Hollywood. Among the thirty feature films thus produced under the auspices of Continental, several are, to this day, considered classics of French cinema.

Starring

Pierre-Henri Gibert, Sarah-Jane Sauvegrain, Pierre-Henri Gibert, Louis-Émile Galey, Claude Heymann, Pierre-Henri Gibert, Yoann Crez, Jean Dréville, Yoann Crez, Marcel Carné

Director

Pierre-Henri Gibert