In 1940 after France had fallen to the German army, journalist Jean Bruller and his wife, who lived outside Paris, were forced to share their home with a Nazi officer for an extended period of time. That experience inspired Bruller to write the novella Le Silence de la Mer (The Silence of the Sea) under the pseudonym Vercors. The book was secretly published in late 1941 and became known as “the first underground book of the occupation.” It also became an inspiration to the French Resistance in its depiction of using silence as a weapon against the enemy when no other option was possible. It might seem like an unusual choice for French director Jean-Pierre Melville’s feature film debut when you consider that he is mostly famous for his crime and gangster thrillers like Bob le Flambeur (1956), Le Deuxieme Souffle (aka Second Wind, 1966) and Le Samourai (1967). Then again, many consider Melville’s 1969 WW2 drama L’armee des Ombres (aka Army of Shadows) about French underground fighters in Nazi-occupied Paris his masterpiece. Add to this the fact that Melville was also an active member of the French Resistance and The Silence of the Sea makes perfect sense as his feature debut.