The Last Tycoons - Episode 2
Distrib Films US • 52m
Directed by Florence Strauss • Documentary • 2020 • 56 minutes
Episode 2: The Tenacious Ones
“I came back here as though nothing had happened. The show must go on. Pretty stupid, I admit that. But that’s my character.” -- Pierre Braunberger
During WWII, the Nazis seized the operations of any production companies that were dormant for more than six months. And since Jewish producers were unable to work, many lost everything. This episode focuses on three men who were nothing if not tenacious.
Robert Dorfmann and Pierre Braunberger hid out together during part of the war. Braunberger wound up interned, as did producer Anatole Dauman. After the war, Braunberger regained possession of his old office and went right back to work. The episode also delves into the dawn of the New Wave and the production of Night and Fog—a documentary on the Nazi death camps the French government funded only reluctantly.
Films spotlighted in this episode:
Forbidden Games (1952) / Robert Dorfmann / dir. René Clément
A Story of Water (1961) / Pierre Braunberger / dir. Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut
Night and Fog (1956) / Anatole Daumann / dir. Alain Resnais
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