Billancourt Studios was a

film studio A film studio (also known as movie studio or simply studio) is a major entertainment company that makes films. Today, studios are mostly financing and distribution entities. In addition, they may have their own studio facility or facilities; how ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

which operated between 1922 and 1992. Located in

Boulogne-Billancourt Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious Communes of France, commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris ...

, it was one of the leading French studios.Szczepanik & Vonderau p.141 It was founded in the

silent era A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, wh ...

Henri Diamant-Berger Henri Diamant-Berger (9 June 1895 – 7 May 1972) was a French film director, director, film producer, producer and screenwriter. In a career that lasted more than 50 years, he directed 48 films between 1913 in film, 1913 and 1959 in film, 1959, ...

. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the studio was used by Continental Films, a company financed by the German occupiers. They are also known as the Paris-Studio-Cinéma. They should not be confused with the nearby Boulogne Studios.

History

Henri Diamant-Berger set up his studios in the buildings sold by the aircraft cabin builder Niepce and Fetterer, taking advantage of the infrastructure left behind and the immensity of the buildings. He thus created the first modern French studio, including on the same place restaurant, workshops, dressing rooms. A clean power plant produces lights of unrivaled power. In 1926, the studios were bought by Pierre Braunberger and Roger Richebé under the name Paris Studios Cinéma. They know with talking pictures their real start thanks to the Western Electric sound recording system. In 1933, a fire provided an opportunity to rebuild better and bigger. A room of fifteen meters high under ceiling is traversed by modular metal walkways. Set designers Alexandre Trauner and Eugène Lourié, cinematographer Henri Alekan and unique technical know-how propel the studios to first place in Europe.

References

Bibliography

* Crisp, C.G. ''The Classic French Cinema, 1930-1960''. Indiana University Press, 1993. * Petr Szczepanik, Patrick Vonderau. ''Behind the Screen: Inside European Production Cultures''. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. French film studios {{film-studio-stub