An examination of pre-World War II French cinema, which analyzes the works of such directors as Renoir, Gremillon and Chenal in order to explain why the French

Just before World War II, French cinema reached a high point that has been dubbed the style of "poetic realism." Working with unforgettable actors like Jean Gab

This book investigates European efforts to overcome the American film industry's international pre-eminence.

Le Jour se leve (1939) directed by Marcel Carne, is widely recognised as the classic French Poetic Realist film. Told in flashback, it recounts the story of a m

Long before Edith Piaf sang "La vie en rose," her predecessors took to the stage of the belle epoque music hall, singing of female desire, the treachery of men,