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The History of French Cinema: 1940

3/2 -

Henri Decoin’s Battements de Coeur (Heartbeats), starring his wife Danielle Darrieux and Claude Dauphin, is released. [ADD]

20/2 -

The Normandy Cinema in Normandy re-opens after its interior is refurbished to resemble an ocean liner. [ADD]

23/3 -

Maurice Tourneur resumes production of Volpone with Harry Baur, Louis Jouvet and Charles Dutton.   Production was halted in 1938 because of financial difficulties. [ADD]

1/5 -

Max Ophuls completes filming of De Mayerling a Sarajevo, which records the life of Francois-Ferdinand Hapsburg, after receiving permission to leave his post at the front to do so. [ADD]

5/9 -

Actors Jean-Louis Barrault and Madeleine Renaud marry after meeting on the set of Jean-Benoit Levy’s Helene. [ADD]

26/10 -

A law is passed by the Nazis to regulate the film industry.   Double features are banned and replaced by shorts or propaganda documentaries.   Workers within the industry must possess professional identity cards in order to keep their jobs. [ADD]

30/10 -

Distributor Henri Beauvais releases a reconstructed version of the late Jean Vigo’s L’Atalante (1934) for the Ursuline Studios. [ADD]

2/11 -

A decree is published in the Journal official to create the Comite d’organisation de l’industrie cinematographique (COIC), a film authority to oversee all aspects of the domestic film industry.   Identity cards are to be issued to all film professionals – excluding Jews, who are not considered entitled to be cardholders. [ADD]

20/12 -

Jean Renoir and Dido Freire board the Siboney, Bound for America.   Renoir shares a cabin with Antoine De Saint-Exupery. [ADD]

Other Key French Films of 1940

La comedie du bonheur (Marcel L’Herbier) [ADD]

La Fille du puisatier (Marcel Pagnol) [ADD]

The History of Cinema: 1940