A history of French cinema (1950-1959)

A history of French cinema is presented as a series of works, classified by successive decades (from the 1930s to the present day) to offer the reader a complete panorama of French cinema. For each year, the major films, a great director, an actress and an actor are highlighted, as well as a large thematic dossier addressing the essential questions of the period for cinema. Through these analyses, and the perspective of works and artists in a historical, social, political and even technical context, this book aims to be the relevant story – and on occasion, impertinent! – the history, rich but still too little known, of our cinema.

Volume 3: 1950-1959

French cinema of the 1950s is not always recognized at its fair value. Caught between a golden age that lasted until the end of the 1940s and the advent of modernity in the 1960s, the 1950s were quickly accused of conformism; a period of “French Quality” – a pejorative formula for Cinema notebooks – which nevertheless sees the birth of works as important as Devil's Beauty (Rene Clair), Pleasure (Max Ophüls), golden helmet (Jacques Becker) or The Crossing of Paris (Claude Autant-Lara), we would settle for less! Above all, with the democratization of color ( French Cancan , a magnificent tribute by Jean Renoir to his father), the emergence of a new thriller ( Touchez pas au grisbi, Du rififi chez les hommes ), the advent of new actresses more in step with their time (Martine Carol, Jeanne Moreau, Anouk Aimée and of course Brigitte Bardot), French cinema is already beginning its transformation. And if in 1959 the first films of the New Wave came out ( Le Beau Serge by Claude Chabrol and The four hundred Blows by François Truffaut), the whole decade will have testified beforehand to an aspiration to modernity: from Louis Malle ( Ascenseur pour l'échafaud, Les Amants ) to Alain Resnais ( Nuit et Brouillard, Hiroshima mon amour ) via Jean-Pierre Melville ( Two Men in Manhattan ) and Henri-Georges Clouzot ( The Picasso Mystery ).

A history of French cinema invites you to dive into the 1950s, a decade as rich as it is varied.

Inspector of National Education, Philippe Pallin has directed his activities as a teacher and trainer towards the history and techniques of cinema.

Alternately music and cinema critic, television author and radio producer, Denis Zorgniotti now teaches the History of Cinema at 3IS in Nantes.