French Communique, Documentary, 1940

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dsl ◊ 2016-03-24 02:00	Taken from If War Should Come - vol 3 (1939-41) of 3 BFI compilation DVD sets of shorts from The GPO Film Unit. Nothing on imdb and very little anywhere else, but http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1364863/index.html has info. Unusual 15 minute film designed for British audiences about life on and behind the Maginot Line in autumn/winter 1939 and early 1940. Has a haunting mood of ordinary people trying to do their ordinary stuff but knowing that a big traumatic change - German invasion - is imminent. Some very evocative shots of bombardment damage, but an eerie and subdued the-calm-before-the-storm atmosphere. Some stunning shots of evacuated Strasbourg - apparently population was given 4 hours to leave, not allowed to take luggage, and it then lay empty and undamaged for 10 months until June 1940. Hardly any vehicles - everything was horse and cart or mules or bicycles - almost as if clock turned back 30 years, and a big contrast to UK rural films of same time with lots of shiny tractors tearing up the fields, instead of here just peasants with little ploughs. Derelict stuff Empty Strasbourg A load of tripe

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dsl

◊ 2016-03-24 02:00

Taken from

If War Should Come - vol 3 (1939-41) of 3 BFI compilation DVD sets of shorts from The GPO Film Unit.

Nothing on imdb and very little anywhere else, but http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1364863/index.html has info. Unusual 15 minute film designed for British audiences about life on and behind the Maginot Line in autumn/winter 1939 and early 1940. Has a haunting mood of ordinary people trying to do their ordinary stuff but knowing that a big traumatic change - German invasion - is imminent. Some very evocative shots of bombardment damage, but an eerie and subdued the-calm-before-the-storm atmosphere. Some stunning shots of evacuated Strasbourg - apparently population was given 4 hours to leave, not allowed to take luggage, and it then lay empty and undamaged for 10 months until June 1940. Hardly any vehicles - everything was horse and cart or mules or bicycles - almost as if clock turned back 30 years, and a big contrast to UK rural films of same time with lots of shiny tractors tearing up the fields, instead of here just peasants with little ploughs.

Derelict stuff

Empty Strasbourg

A load of tripe

	The vehicle is part of the movie
	Vehicle used a lot by a main character or for a long time
	Vehicle used by a character or in a car chase
	Minor action vehicle or used in only a short scene
	Background vehicle
	Unknown vehicle role
	Seen only in preview/trailer
	Seen only in deleted scenes
	Seen only in an alternative ending
	Seen only in an extra DVD contents

French Communique, Documentary, 1940

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