1940: Taking over French Cinema (2019) [N/A]
Release Date:
May 19, 2019
Original Title:
1940, main basse sur le cinéma français
Genres:
Documentary | History | TV Movie
Production Companies:
France Télévisions
Histoire TV
Talweg Production
Production Countries:
France
Ratings / Certifications:
FR: U
Runtime: 55
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.