1940: Taking over French Cinema
2019•U•55m•9.0•Released
DocumentaryHistoryTV Movie
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.
Director
Pierre-Henri Gibert
Writer
Pierre-Henri Gibert
Languages
French, German
Studio
Talweg Production
Cast
Sarah-Jane Sauvegrain
Self (voice)
Louis-Émile Galey
Self (archive footage)
Claude Heymann
Self (archive footage)
Jean Dréville
Self (archive footage)
Marcel Carné
Self (archive footage)
Raoul Ploquin
Self (voice) (archive footage)
Henri Calef
Self (archive footage)
Jean-Paul Le Chanois
Self (archive footage)
Michel Duran
Self (archive footage)
Henri-Georges Clouzot
Self (archive footage)
Hans Borgelt
Self (archive footage)
Danielle Darrieux
Self (archive footage)
Max Douy
Self (archive footage)
Louis Cochet
Self (archive footage)
Charles Spaak
Self (archive footage)
Production
Company
Talweg Production
Company
France Télévisions
Company
Histoire TV
Producer
Vincent Gazaigne
Recommended
8.2
Shoah
1985
8.3
Night and Fog
1956
7.3
The Soviet Story
2008
6.9
Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound
2019
7.1
4 Little Girls
1997
7.1
Audrey
2020
7.7
The Extraordinary Voyage
2011
6.6
Titanic: 20 Years Later with James Cameron
2017
7.7
Nazi Concentration Camps
1945
7.2
Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché
2018
7.8
The Green Book: Guide to Freedom
2019
7
Visions of Light
1992
7.4
The Last Days
1998
7.3
The Atomic Cafe
1982
7.4
Another Day of Life
2018
7.1
Making The Witcher
2020
6.8
The War Room
1993
7.8
They Shall Not Grow Old
2018
7.3
Kubrick by Kubrick
2020
7.8
The Godfather Family: A Look Inside
1990
Similar Movies
5.9
The Christmas Contest
2021
Prête-moi ton docteur
2024
6
Toho Unused Special Effects Complete Collection
1986
4.6
Trapped in Space
1994
Camera Threat
2017
6.6
The Soul Keeper
2003
7
America America
1963
5.2
Accounts
1983
5
Boyfriends of Christmas Past
2021
7.2
Nous l'orchestre de Paris
2026
Argentina... Argentina...
2006
8
The Click Trap
2024
6.6
The Widow of Saint-Pierre
2000
6.5
Madame DuBarry
1919
7.5
Yamazakura, The Cherry Tree in the Hills
2008
Très chère électricité
2025
7
LIMITLESS: Victor Wembanyama's Journey to the NBA
2023
7.6
Bitter Lake
2015
5.9
With This Ring
2015
6.2
Creating a Universe - The Making of Rebel Moon
2024