Gathering up the handful of French films from 1944 which have English Subtitles,I decided to take a peak for reviews of the titles. Having found the Arrow box set featuring four of his works to be a mixed bag, the informative review by dbdumonteil gave me a idea of what to expect,as I took a seat for Sacha Guitry's lecture.
View on the film:
Stating in the film that streets in Britain are named after failed battles, auteur film maker Sacha Guitry brings "The Guitry Touch" along to pay his respects to Philippe Petain/the Vichy Govt (unlike the British and their failures in battle, you only back winners,right Sacha?)
Only showing his hands on camera, Guitry continues to show his love for the stage,and distaste for the cinema of this period with dull static camera shots over the historical books Guitry reads from/points to camera, only interrupted by dissolves to close-ups of the pages.
Begining his "history" of France at Joan of Arc (used by the Vichy Govt Head of State's Bureau of Documentation as a symbol of "Eternal France",and also as a anti-British propaganda image) Guitry's "history lesson" is one that avoids mentioning huge moments in French history, from no kings after the 17th century appearing,and Petain being the lone French politician to be featured,to Guitry completely skipping over The French Revolution (!)
Unknown to Guitry as he placed his bet on Petain,a new chapter in French history was going to be written two months after his lecture came out in cinemas: The liberation of France.