851.4061 Motion Pictures/450: Telegram
The Chargé in France (Tuck) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 27—3:43 p.m.]
1427. Bern’s 4359, September 24, 10 a.m. We have been unable so far to obtain from Foreign Office officials confirmation of the existence of the order forbidding transit through France to Switzerland of American films but these officials privately admit it is in effect and that it constitutes direct violation of the 1936 Trade Agreement.
We believe that if the Foreign Office is [garbled word] in suppressing either this measure or that banning American films from French screens they must be provided with a threat of concrete reprisals as suggested in our telegram number 1352 of September 12.
We understand that the measure forbidding transits [is?] in response to direct German pressure and consequently will be harder to have countermanded than that banning American films which is almost certainly of purely French inspiration.
Repeated to Bern.