ABSTRACT
War broke out a month after Jean Giraudoux took office4 as a director of the Commissariat general. In August 1939 Giraudoux had recruited people he had known during his long stay in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; in particular those who were to become involved with films. The Commissariat général’s Service de Diffusion included several sections; printed matter, photography, radio and, of course, film. The first important step of the Commissariat général had been to take charge of film censorship, until then entrusted to an ad hoc commission of the Ministry of Education and Fine Arts. The most acute problem for the producers was continuing their work. A good many films were in the middle of shooting or preparation in September 1939. Mobilisation had deprived them of actors and technicians and unless the cinemas were to show only foreign films, it was essential to start up work again in France.
