Jewish images in the French cinema of the 1930s

NOTES AND REFERENCES

• For studies relating to the Jewish image in the cinema see: Erens Patricia Between two worlds: Jewish images in American film The Kaleidoscopic Lens: How Hollywood Views Ethnic Groups Miller R.M. Jerome S. Ozer Englewood, N.J. 1980 Short, K.R.M. (1981) Hollywood fights anti-semitism 1945–1947, in: Short, K.R.M. (Ed.) Feature Films as History (London); Short, K.R.M. (1980) The experience of eastern Jewry in America—as portrayed in the cinema of the 1920's and 30's, in: Short, K.R.M. & Fledelius, K. (Eds) History and Film: Methodology, Research Education (Eventus, Copenhagen); Hollstein, D. (1971) Antisemitische Filmpropaganda (Berlin); Sorlin, Pierre (1980) Présence des Juifs dans le cinéma français `a la veille de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, in: Yardeni, M. (Ed.) Les Juifs dans l'Histoire de France (Leiden).
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• There were no regular statistics for the cinema at that time and the best of the data were uncritically collected by professional magazines. We have two sources for the total receipts which tend to be contradictory Ciné-France 1937 juin 11 and Annuaire statistique, 1951, p. 270; take for instance the year 1934: the first gives a total amount of 832,000,000 francs, whereas the second gives 320,000,000 francs).
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• We only know the box-office hits of the last two years of the period, thanks to the Gallup Polls printed in a professional magazine La Cinématographie française 1938 February 25 and 31 March 1939. Grand Illusion by far topped the list in 1937; Pépé le Moko turned out a success too. Statistics are unavailable for the other movies analysed in this article.
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• From 200,000,000 admission tickets sold in 1930 the number rose to 220,000,000 in 1938, with a maximum of 234,000,000 in 1934. In 1931, 35,000,000 Frenchmen were over the age of ten; the ratio of seats to population is of course meaningless since the majority of the cinemas were concentrated in large cities and many people living in the country never saw a movie. Compare this statistical problem with the more useful data available on British cinema as given in Anthony Aldgate Cinema and History. British Newsreels and the Spanish Civil War London 1979 54 ff 54 ff and Pronay, N. (1971) British newsreels in the 1930s; audience and producers, History, 56, pp. 413–418.
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• Service de Nuit 1931 Etablissements Jacques Haik-Minerva dir. Henri Fescourt
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• Levi and C<sup>o</sup> 1930 Lévy et Cie The Levi Store (Les Galeries Lévy et Cie, 1931); Moses and Solomon Perfumers (Moise et Salomon parfumeurs, 1935); The Weddings of Miss Levi (Les mariages de Melle Lévy, 1936). The four films were produced by Hugon-films and directed by André Hugon, as was Mr. Begonia also treated in this article.
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• 1937 . La Grande Illusion , R.AC. . dir. Jean Renoir); La R`egle du Jeu (N.E.F., 1939, dir. Jean Renoir).
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• 1937 . Le Schpountz , Films Marcel Pagnol . dir. Marcel Pagnol) The ‘Schpountz’ is a poor sort of chap whom everybody makes fun of.
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• 1938 . “ L'Ange que j'ai vendu ” . In Production nouvelle de films dir. Michel Bernheim
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• 1938 . Remontons les Champs-Elysées , Flora-Film . dir. Sacha Guitry
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• 1936 . L'Argent , Sofra . dir. Pierre Billon
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• 1933 . Ces Messieurs de la Santé , Pathé-Natan . dir. Pierre Colombier). La Santé is a parisian jail; the ‘gentlemen’ from La Santé are thieves.
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• The same actor, Charpin, is alternatively a good chap in the Marius series and a swindler in The Angel I Sold or, in another sense in Pépé le Moko.
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• 1936 . L'Appel du silence , S.A.C.I.C. . dir. Léon Poirier
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• See the ludicrous countrymen in All's Well, Her Ladyship 1936 Tout va tr`es bien, Madame la Marquise and My Foster-sister (Ma sceur de lait, 1938).
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• See for instance Eric von Stroheim in Behind the Front 1939 Derri`ere la façade and The World will tremble (Le monde tremblera, 1939).
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• Both films were produced by cooperatives which started a fund and raised money from church-goers. Golgotha was directly supervised by a representative of the Paris archbishop. The third of these Catholic films was Thér`ese Martin Atlantic Film 1938 dir. Maurice de Canonge), the life of a French Nun who had been canonised in 1925.
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• 1934 . Maria Chapdeleine , Alex Nalpas . dir. Julien Duvivier) won a prize and was classified by American critics as one of the ten best foreign films. Duvivier cast Gabin for other well-fitted parts especially in Pépé le Moko (Paris-Film-Production, 1936).
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• 1935 . Golgotha , Ichtys Film . dir. Julien Duvivier). The film says much more than the Gospels on Judas's treason. We see Judas in semi-close up, his eyes popping out of his head. The Sanhedrin's representative arrives and whispers: “You may need some money”. After a short while Judas goes to the Sanhedrin and his first question is: “How much money are you going to give me?”. The Gospels do not assert that Judas betrayed for money. Notice that Judas is always photographed by night, in artificial light.
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• Some Jews are even good people in The Daughter of the Cobbler 1931 La Fille du Bouif (Isaac, a Jewish financier, who is a good chap, is swindled by a Frenchman) and in Our Friend Fritz (L'Ami Fritz, 1933).
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