French Newsreels and the Suez Crisis: How to Make a Failure Look like a Positive Outcome

Abstract

The four French newsreels companies touched on cautiously and relatively late with the Suez Crisis. Initially they contented themselves with mentioning diplomatic moves, maintained that Britain had seized the initiative and that France was merely giving it support to guarantee the liberty of navigation. Only Actualités françaises, considered a semi-official magazine because the state owned 60% of the capital, adopted a warlike stance. The approach changed with the Israeli offensive in the Sinai, not knowing how the French government would react, the newsreels put the emphasis on other on-going problems, notably the Hungarian revolution and its crackdown by the Soviet army. Pathé, lest bellicose of the newsreels, kept silent on the topic for a month and, after the retreat of the English and French troops, screened a few images without commentary. Gaumont wavered between enthusiasm for the French intervention in Egypt and approval of the withdrawal. Éclair, a small company that needed public monetary assistance and Actualités françaises backed the operation up to the end. In 1956 television sets were rare in France, only newsreels offered visual information. According to the cinema they used to visit, spectators had a fairly different idea of the Suez affair but it was always clear that France had fought for liberty and that it was not responsible for a forced depart.