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1940: Taking over French Cinema

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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

Raoul Ploquin · Christine Leteux · Jean-Paul Le Chanois · Henri-Georges Clouzot · Louis-Émile Galey · Claude Heymann · Sarah-Jane Sauvegrain · Henri Calef · Michel Duran · Pierre-Henri Gibert · Marcel Carné · Jean Dréville

Studios & networks

France Télévisions · Histoire TV · Talweg Production