EUROPEAN FILMS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20101, 22 November 1939, Page 3

EUROPEAN FILMS

INDUSTRY UPSET BLACKED-OUT BY WAR PARIS, Oct. 3. The war already has “blacked out” the European motion picture industry. Scores of stars and hundreds of other players are in the armed services with writers, directors, cameramen and others. Many famous French and Central European scenario writers are looking to Hollywood for new jobs. Paris otlices of American producers are swamped with offers of scenarios. Jewish writers expelled by Nazi Germany and now impoverished, are trying to sell plays for the price of a meal. Prominent French movie figures preparing to go to Hollywood include Maurice Dekobra, author of popular romantic thrillers, and Jacques Constant. author of the original version of “Angiers.” Jacques rie Benac, author of the film “Lafayette," which has been entered in the New York World’s Fair film competition, will spend the winter in the United States. French stars already in active military service include Jean Gabin, coast artillery; Charles Boyer, and Agen Pierre Fresnay. husband of Yvonne Printemps. Maurice Chevalier and Victory Boucher are organising a volunteer theatrical troupe to entertain soldiers at the front and in training camps. Both are too old for active service,