Hollywood’s Film Wars with France:: Film-Trade Diplomacy and the Emergence of the French Film Quota Policy

Hollywood’s Film Wars with France examines how Hollywood was able to establish a permanent dominance over the French market for motion pictures. This history of American film policy towards France is documented by a wealth of diplomatic correspondence, which reveals that American exports were promoted through close collaboration between the State Department, the United States Embassy in France, the Department of Commerce, and the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA). It is based on hitherto unstudied documents from these institutions. While European film production was at a standstill after World War I, Hollywood companies flooded the European market with hundreds of films at very low prices. Hollywood’s dominant position should not be considered as solely the result of successful collaboration between corporate capitalism and the federal government in Washington, but also as the failure of the French government to provide proper assistance to its film industry. The support French film producers obtained from their government did not begin to compare with the whole-hearted support Hollywood received from the MPPDA. This book shows how Hollywood has upheld its dominant position in France by using monopolistic trade practices and diplomatic pressure. Hollywood’s prominence must be considered the result of manipulations of the international political economy involving the interplay of economics and politics in the world arena. Jens Ulff-Moller is in the Department of Film and Media Studies, University of Copenhagen.