Alfred Greven (9 October 1897—9 February 1973) was a German film producer. He is best known for his work during

World War II 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 ...

, when he was head of the German-controlled French film company

Continental Films Continental Films was a German-controlled French film production company. It stood as the sole authorized film production organization in Nazi-occupied France. Established in October 1940, it was entirely bankrolled by the German government ...

Life and career

In the 1930s, Greven was a producer at UFA where he worked with some French directors on multi-language film productions. Greven is best known for his role during the

German military administration in occupied France during World War II The Military Administration in France (; ) was an Military Administration (Nazi Germany), interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zone in areas of northern and western French Third ...

, when he was the managing director of

, the French film production company set up by Germany. In this capacity, Greven produced notable films by French directors including

Henri-Georges Clouzot Henri-Georges Clouzot (; 20 November 1907 – 12 January 1977) was a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best remembered for his work in the thriller film genre, having directed '' The Wages of Fear'' (1953) and '' Les Diabo ...

Christian-Jaque Christian-Jaque (byname of Christian Maudet; 4 September 1904 – 8 July 1994) was a French filmmaker. From 1954 to 1959, he was married to actress Martine Carol, who starred in several of his films, including ''Lucrèce Borgia'' (1953), ''M ...

Henri Decoin Henri Decoin (18 March 1890 – 4 July 1969) was a French film director and screenwriter, who directed more than 50 films between 1933 and 1964. He was also a swimmer who won the national title in 1911 and held the national record in the 500 ...

Maurice Tourneur Maurice Félix Thomas (; 2 February 1876 – 4 August 1961), known as Maurice Tourneur (), was a French film director and screenwriter. Life Born Maurice Félix Thomas in the Épinettes district (17th arrondissement of Paris), his father was a w ...

and

André Cayatte André Cayatte (; 3 February 1909 – 6 February 1989) was a French filmmaker, writer and lawyer, who became known for his films centering on themes of crime, justice, and moral responsibility. Biography Cayatte began his directoral career at ...

. Greven also created the distribution company Société de gestion et d'exploitation du cinéma, which bought and set up new cinemas in France.

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...

was dissatisfied with the high quality of Greven's work in France, because he thought Greven raised the level of French cinema and inspired national pride, which was not supposed to be his task. Goebbels wrote in his diary that the French had been content with "cheap trash", and he wished Greven would continue to provide them with that. Goebbels thought Greven's commitment to French cinema threatened the establishment of Germany as the dominant power in European culture, which he wanted to be analogous to how the United States dominated the American continents through its cinema.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Greven, Alfred 1897 births 1973 deaths German film producers German occupation of France during World War II Nazi Party members