Of course, a French director could have just as easily, if not more easily, directed these films. Having already edited a pair of English war documentaries (that were directed by others) in 1941, Hitchcock considered such work to be his patriotic duty, and he immediately accepted the offer from Sidney Bernstein of the Ministry's Film Division. When the British government, specifically the British Ministry of Information, decided to produce a pair of war propaganda dramas to help raise the spirits of people in Occupied France, Alfred Hitchcock was the first choice to direct the dramas. With movies such as Rebecca and Foreign Correspondent, he had conquered Hollywood and become world renowned. These two short films may well be the most challenging films to assess in the entire Hitchcock filmography, for their overt goal of propaganda establishes a set of expectations alien to Hitchcock's suspense films, thus creating conflicts for the filmmaker and the critics alike.īy the mid-1940s, Hitchcock was on top of the movie world. Made in 1944, Aventure malgache (which translates as "Madagascan Adventure") and Bon Voyage remained virtually unseen until a 50th anniversary re-release and subsequent video distribution. All rights reserved.)Īt the peak of his career, Alfred Hitchcock, renown for his British and Hollywood-made suspense cinema, diverged from his usual formula to make two French language adventure movies designed as World War II propaganda films. Images - Alfred Hitchcock's WWII French Films and the Limits of PropagandaĪ tense scene from the final moments of Bon Voyage.
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