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1940: Taking over French Cinema
9.0 / 10• 2019• 55m•NR• French
DocumentaryHistoryTV Movie
Storyline
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.
Cast & Crew
Sarah-Jane Sauvegrain
Self (voice)
LeadLG
Louis-Émile Galey
Self (archive footage)
CH
Claude Heymann
Self (archive footage)
Jean Dréville
Self (archive footage)
Marcel Carné
Self (archive footage)
RP
Raoul Ploquin
Self (voice) (archive footage)
HC
Henri Calef
Self (archive footage)
Jean-Paul Le Chanois
Self (archive footage)
What People Are Saying
5.0
“A staggering achievement of craft and ambition. Pierre-Henri Gibert's vision lands with breathtaking precision.”
5.0
“Every frame feels alive. 1940: Taking over French Cinema is the rare release that takes its audience seriously.”
