It takes nerve to forge ahead with a film when you’re broke, but it’s the kind of nerve that led to the production of some of the most successful mid-century French films. The New Wave was partly driven by producers who saw hand-held cameras and cheaper lighting as ways to save money. Breathless was a collaboration between a producer and director who were both dangerously close to bankruptcy. The Sucker went 200 million francs over budget, and producer Robert Dorfmann literally gambled the salaries of crew members to try to win enough to cover his overdrafts. Raoul Levy threatened to tear up his contract with Columbia unless the studio distributed And God created Woman in the US - a film that would turn Brigitte Bardot into a household name overnight.