1940: Taking over French Cinema
55 mins
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.
Louis-Émile Galey
Self (archive footage)
Claude Heymann
Self (archive footage)
Jean Dréville
Self (archive footage)
Raoul Ploquin
Self (voice) (archive footage)
Henri Calef
Self (archive footage)
Hans Borgelt
Self (archive footage)
Louis Cochet
Self (archive footage)
Christine Leteux
Book
Pierre-Henri Gibert
Writer
Vincent Gazaigne
Producer
Arnaud Guillemant
Original Music Composer
Julie Meigniez
Production Manager
Florence Bénichou
Editor
Pierre-Henri Gibert
Editor
Yoann Crez
Assistant Editor
Yoann Crez
Graphic Designer
Romain Egea
Art Designer
Jean-Marie Frémont
Color Grading
Baptiste Guichot
Sound Editor
Baptiste Guichot
Sound Mixer
Pierre-Henri Gibert
Director