Heartbeat of France

United Kingdom, 1961

Film
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Narrated by Peter Finch. Music composed by Marguerite Monnet. Sung by Colette Renard. This film, co-produced with Great Britain and France, attempts to depict the personality of “Modern” France. Covers highlights of pre-1960’s history - the revolt in Algeria; the German occupation and France’s part in the two World Wars; the “Indo-China War”; and the influence of General de Gaulle on French history. Illustrates this theory with examples, showing how the average Frenchman lives - a peasant farmer, a Parisian craftsman jeweller, and a worker in the Renault factory.

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Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

director

Peter Morely

production company

Associated-Rediffusion

Duration

00:49:10:00

Production places
United Kingdom
Production dates
1961

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

321233

Language

English

Subject categories

Agriculture, Business, Commerce & Industry → Agriculture - France

Agriculture, Business, Commerce & Industry → Farm life - France

Agriculture, Business, Commerce & Industry → Industry - History

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Cities and towns - France

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → France

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → France - Social life and customs

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Travel

Armed Forces, Military, War & Weapons → World War, 1939-1945 - France

Documentary

Documentary → Documentary films - France

Documentary → Documentary films - Great Britain

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → France - Politics and government

Educational & Instructional

Educational & Instructional → Educational films

History → Algeria - History - Autonomy and independence movements

History → Algeria - History - Revolution, 1954-1962

History → France - History

History → France - History - 20th century

History → History

History → Industry - History

Places → Cities and towns - France

Places → France

Short films

Short films → Short films - France

Short films → Short films - Great Britain

Travelogue

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Black and White

Holdings

16mm film; Access Print (Section 1)

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/68378--heartbeat-of-france/ |title=Heartbeat of France |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=22 March 2025 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}