From 1940 to 1944, the German-owned Continental Films dominated the French film landscape, producing thirty features throughout the Nazi occupation. Charged with producing entertaining and profitable films rather than propaganda, producer Alfred Greven employed some of the greatest French actors and most prestigious directors of the time, including Maurice Tourneur, Henri Decoin, Henri-Georges Clouzot, and Marcel CarnE. Using recently opened archival documents, including reams of testimony from the Epuration (purification) hearings conducted shortly after the war, Christine Leteux has produced the most authoritative and complete history of the company and its impact on the French film industry-both during the war and after. She captures the wide range of responses to the firm from those who were eager to work for a company whose ideology matched their own, to others who reluctantly accepted contracts out of necessity, to those who abhorred the company but felt compelled to participate in order to protect family members from Nazi reprisals. She examines not only the formation and management of Continental Films but also the personalities involved, the fraught and often deadly political circumstances of the period, the critical reception of the films, and many of the more notorious and controversial events. As Bertrand Tavernier explains in his foreword, Leteux overturns many of the preconceptions and clichEs that have come to be associated with Continental Films. Published to rave reviews in French and translated by the author into English, this work shatters expectations and will reinvigorate study of a lesser-known but significant period of French film history.
Christine Leteux is the author of the biographies Albert Capellani: Cineaste du romanesque (self-translated into English as Albert Capellani: Pioneer of the Silent Screen) and Maurice Tourneur: Realisateur sans frontieres. She is the translator of several books by British film historian and filmmaker Kevin Brownlow and the winner of the Raymond Chirat Prize, awarded by the Lumiere Institute in Lyon.
Preface Prologue Chapter 1: Paris, Autumn 1940 Chapter 2: Alfred Greven Chapter 3: The beginnings of a society Chapter 4: Early productions Chapter 5: Decoin and Greven Chapter 6: Henri-Georges Clouzot, scriptwriter Chapter 7: Les Inconnus dans la maison (The Strangers in the House) Chapter 8: Greven's empire Chapter 9: Leaving Continental Chapter 10: The Russians of Billancourt Chapter 11: A Trip to Berlin Chapter 12: The Harry Baur affair Chapter 13: Filming in the afternoon Chapter 14: New directors Chapter 15: The Caprices affair Chapter 16: Richard Pottier Chapter 17: Maurice Tourneur Chapter 18: La Main du diable (Carnival of Sinners) Chapter 19: Maneuvers in a neutral zone Chapter 20: Documentaries Chapter 21: Le Corbeau (The Raven) Chapter 22: Les AnnEes difficiles (Difficult Years) Chapter 23: La Vie de plaisir (Life of Pleasure) Chapter 24: Endgame Chapter 25: Purge Chapter 26: Greven's last years Filmography Bibliography
"[A] lively, fine-grained history. . . . Full of revealing personal, sometimes painfully insightful stories. . . . Continental Films reveals a nation and industry in turmoil, but it never reduces any institution or person to a simple summary or limited set of traits. The Occupation was a horribly messy affair and Leteux presents it in new light with her spell-binding historical study."--The French Review "Captivating. . . . Leteux's book is equally good at the wide-angle picture of a country and a film industry at war, and the small, unexpected detail. . . . One can only agree with Bertrand Tavernier's enthusiastic foreword and share his 'jubilation' at this enlightening and, in spite of its dark and tragic setting, entertaining book."--The Times Literary Supplement "In chapter after chapter, Leteux reveals astonishing facts about Continental's history, personnel, and productions. Her engrossing, impeccably researched book adds nuance to the picture of filmmaking in occupied France and is a necessary corrective to more simplistic treatments of the subject. . . . Highly recommended."--CHOICE Reviews "The most accurate and dramatic account yet of this remarkable period. . . . Leteux's own detective work is extraordinary. With precise prose she illuminates a dark corner of film history where for too long rumours and lies have subsumed the facts."--Sight & Sound "Well-informed and engaging. . . . Leteux deftly handles both the cinematic, moral, and political complexities which Continental had to navigate."--Cineaste "[A] penetrating monograph. . . . Leteux writes with a trial lawyer's precision, packing copious research into just over 200 pages. . . . Leteux has produced a detailed picture of an industry under duress that never bogs down in unnecessary details."--Shepherd Express Praise for the French edition: "Soon to become a classic among film books. . . . A real page turner."--La Septieme Obsession "A striking 400-page 'feature film' as precise as the mechanics of a vintage Simplex projector. 'I've been waiting for such a book for years, ' exclaims Bertrand Tavernier in the foreword. He is not the only one."--Le Canard Enchaine "Provides a fascinating panorama, embodied, unexpected, confused, and illuminating."--Le Figaro
