Cinema of Paradox: French Filmmaking Under the German Occupation

by Evelyn Ehrlich

From 1940 to 1944 the French cinema thrived both economically and artistically under the Nazi occupation. Despite the harsh and grim conditions of defeat, the French film industry produced many good films and a few enduring classics, including Carne's Children of Paradise, one of the most beloved of all French films.

Cinema of Paradox reveals, for the first time in English, the difficult course of French filmmaking from the...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231059264
• ISBN13: 9780231059268
• Release Date: October 1985
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 235 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 22 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Insightful overview of film making in occupied France

Cinema of Paradox: French Filmmaking Under the German Occupation by Evelyn Ehrlich is an interesting overview of film making during the German occupation of France in World War Two. The book investigates the control on films by both the Germans and the Vichy Government, censorship, conditions of physical production, financing, expulsion of Jews, the retribution against collaborators upon liberation and other aspects. Also significant is how these factors affected the style of French film making until the "New Wave" in the 1960s. While numerous films are cited, to illustrate specific points, the book is by no means a film by film review. The book is clearly written and organized. I especially appreciated the depth of analysis. For example the conceit that French film makers made allegorical films, indirectly attacking the Nazis, that sneaked by stupid German censors. The author shows that the Germans were well aware of possible interpretations of films but had other objectives in allowing them to pass. The book is relatively short but represents a comprehensive overview. The subject matter could easily support a book twice as long by adding more examples or personal recollections. However I doubt that the added length would add materially to the analysis or insights contained in the existing volume. I can highly recommend this informative book to those interested in films, French cinema, the German occupation of France, Vichy etc.