JCM312/French Cinema Between the Wars I: Popular Front (Discussion)

Le Million

In the following four instances, sound and image are not in sync. How does sound comment on or shape the image in these scenes? Is it diegetic or non-diegetic? (Online at http://tvcrit.org/EO/DV/Million.php Vimeo password: tcf123abc! )
1. Groups 2 & 5: :00:37:55 Michel in a taxi.
2. Group 3: :01:12:00 The backstage struggle for the jacket.
3. Group 4: :00:56:09 Michel and Béatrice, trapped on stage.
4. Group 1: :00:04:16 Interrupted embrace.

Group 4: In 1936, right after the Popular Front scored a victory in the election, there were nationwide strikes. What impact did these strikes have on the film industry? Specifically, what was the "Contrat Collectif"?
Group 1: Among the significant events of 1936 was the founding of Ciné-Liberté. What were the objectives of this association and what was Renoir's relationship to it?
- Describe the film, La vie est à nous, and its relationship to the Popular Front
Groups 2 & 5: Strebel writes that the working man (often played by Jean Gabin), aka the "proletarian hero," was often a part of films of this era. How does she characterize him (e.g., in The Crime of M. Lange)?
Group 3: According to Strebel, "The parallels between the growth of the cinematographic movement [that is, 1930s French "social cinema"] and its corresponding socio-political movement, the Popular Front, are extremely close." How so?

Actor ... character

Strebel, Elizabeth Grottle. "French Social Cinema and the Popular Front." Journal of Contemporary History 12, no. 3 (July 1977), 499-519.