1.
Vesoul
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Vesoul is a commune in the Haute-Saône department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté located in eastern France. It is the most populated municipality of the department with 15,920 inhabitants in 2009, and is the seventh largest city in Franche-Comté. The same year, the Urban community of Vesoul which covers 19 municipalities together had 34,055 inhabitants while the Urban area of Vesoul which includes 78 municipalities, had 59,244 inhabitants and its urban area is the fifth largest Franche-Comté. Its inhabitants are known in French as Vésuliens, nicknamed the Nice of the East, the reputation of Vesoul-based primarily on the song Vesoul by Jacques Brel and the Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema. Its 16,000 inhabitants, account Vesoul 2000 students and 8000 licensed sport, the city has received many labels and names that reflect the investigation brings to life Vesoul common. At the end of the Middle Ages, the city experienced a period of difficulties as plagues, epidemics. The town is the capital of the department, Vesoul is first mentioned in a document dated 899. That document speaks about an elevation with a fortified watchtower, the document speaks about Castrum Vesulium. Castrum is a fortification, and Vesulium has the syllable ves which meant hill or mountain in a language that was spoken before the Celts, today, there is a castle that forms the centre of the city. The first houses were built inside the walls of the castle, newcomers who found no place settled outside the city walls, on the flanks of the hill. In 1814, after the fall of the empire, a state was created. The principality was that of Free County, of the Vosges, today, one of the main factories of PSA Peugeot Citroën is near Vesoul. Vesoul is located in the center of the Haute-Saône and is equidistant from the cities of the department. It is located at the intersection of highways Road 19 and Road 57 and it is to 48 kilometres of Besançon,82 kilometres of Epinal,30 kilometres of Luxeuil-les-Bains,32 kilometres of Lure,64 kilometres of Belfort,59 kilometres of Gray and 105 kilometres of Dijon. The largest city near Vesoul is Besançon, lac de Vesoul - Vaivre Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema The first public library of Vesoul opened in 1771. The abbé Bardenet, superior of the Saint-Esprit hospital in Besançon, the collections became a lot larger with the Revolution. At that time, the revolutionaries took the books from the monasteries of the town, around 20,000 books were added to the library this way, including some 11th century manuscripts. The Mayors office was responsible for keeping the books, in 1981, the municipality decided to build a new building to encourage the public to read
Vesoul
Vesoul
Vesoul
Vesoul
2.
Boulogne-Billancourt
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Boulogne-Billancourt is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 8.2 km from the centre of Paris, Boulogne-Billancourt is a subprefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department and the seat of the Arrondissement of Boulogne-Billancourt. With an average income in 2013 of €47,592, nearly twice the French average of €25,548. Boulogne-Billancourt is the most populous suburb of Paris and one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe, formerly an important industrial site, it has successfully reconverted into business services and is now home to major communication companies headquartered in the Val de Seine business district. The original name of the commune was Boulogne-sur-Seine, before the 14th century, Boulogne was a small village called Menuls-lès-Saint-Cloud. The church, meant to become a pilgrimage centre closer to Paris than the distant city of Boulogne-sur-Mer, was named Notre-Dame de Boulogne la Petite, gradually, the village of Menuls-lès-Saint-Cloud became known as Boulogne-la-Petite, and later as Boulogne-sur-Seine. In 1924, Boulogne-sur-Seine was officially renamed Boulogne-Billancourt to reflect the development of the neighbourhood of Billancourt annexed in 1860. As for the name Billancourt, it was recorded for the first time in 1150 as Bullencort and it comes from Medieval Latin cortem, accusative of cors, meaning enclosure, estate, suffixed to the Germanic patronym Buolo, thus having the meaning of estate of Buolo. On 1 January 1860, the city of Paris was enlarged by annexing neighbouring communes, on that occasion, the communes of Auteuil and Passy were disbanded and divided between Boulogne-Billancourt and the city of Paris. Boulogne-sur-Seine received a part of the territory of Passy. Some of the events of the 1900 Summer Olympics took place in Boulogne-Billancourt. In 1929, the Bois de Boulogne, which was divided between the communes of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine, was annexed in its entirety by the city of Paris. On that occasion, Boulogne-Billancourt, to which most of the Bois de Boulogne belonged, Boulogne-Billancourt is famous for being the birthplace of three major French industries, cinema, automobile with Renault at Île Seguin, and aircraft. It is also famous for being the setting of the TV show Code Lyoko, with the city of Sèvres, Boulogne-Billancourt is part of the communauté dagglomération Val de Seine. Boulogne-Billancourt is served by two stations on Paris Métro Line 10, Boulogne – Jean Jaurès and Boulogne – Pont de Saint-Cloud and it is also served by three stations on Paris Métro Line 9, Marcel Sembat, Billancourt, and Pont de Sèvres. The Musée Albert-Kahn at 14, rue du Port, Boulogne-Billancourt is a museum and includes four hectares of gardens. The museum also includes photographs and film. The Musée des Années Trente is a museum of artistic and industrial objects from the 1930s, see also, Enseignement à Boulogne-Billancourt The public collèges in the commune include Jacqueline-Auriol, Bartholdi, Paul-Landowski, and Jean-Renoir
Boulogne-Billancourt
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The church of Our Lady of Boulogne-Billancourt
3.
Alsace
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Alsace is a cultural and historical region in eastern France now located in the administrative region of Grand Est. Alsace is located on Frances eastern border and on the west bank of the upper Rhine adjacent to Germany, from 1982 until January 2016, Alsace was the smallest of 22 administrative regions in metropolitan France, consisting of the Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin departments. Territorial reform passed by the French legislature in 2014 resulted in the merger of the Alsace administrative region with Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine to form Grand Est. The predominant historical language of Alsace is Alsatian, a Germanic dialect also spoken across the Rhine, but today most Alsatians primarily speak French, the political status of Alsace has been heavily influenced by historical decisions, wars, and strategic politics. The economic and cultural capital as well as largest city of Alsace is Strasbourg, the city is the seat of several international organizations and bodies. The name Alsace can be traced to the Old High German Ali-saz or Elisaz, an alternative explanation is from a Germanic Ell-sass, meaning seated on the Ill, a river in Alsace. In prehistoric times, Alsace was inhabited by nomadic hunters, by 1500 BC, Celts began to settle in Alsace, clearing and cultivating the land. It should be noted that Alsace is a surrounded by the Vosges mountains. It creates Foehn winds which, along with irrigation, contributes to the fertility of the soil. In a world of agriculture, Alsace has always been a region which explains why it suffered so many invasions and annexations in its history. By 58 BC, the Romans had invaded and established Alsace as a center of viticulture, to protect this highly valued industry, the Romans built fortifications and military camps that evolved into various communities which have been inhabited continuously to the present day. While part of the Roman Empire, Alsace was part of Germania Superior, with the decline of the Roman Empire, Alsace became the territory of the Germanic Alemanni. The Alemanni were agricultural people, and their Germanic language formed the basis of modern-day dialects spoken along the Upper Rhine, Clovis and the Franks defeated the Alemanni during the 5th century AD, culminating with the Battle of Tolbiac, and Alsace became part of the Kingdom of Austrasia. Under Clovis Merovingian successors the inhabitants were Christianized, Alsace formed part of the Middle Francia, which was ruled by the eldest grandson Lothar I. Lothar died early in 855 and his realm was divided into three parts, the part known as Lotharingia, or Lorraine, was given to Lothars son. The rest was shared between Lothars brothers Charles the Bald and Louis the German, the Kingdom of Lotharingia was short-lived, however, becoming the stem duchy of Lorraine in Eastern Francia after the Treaty of Ribemont in 880. Alsace was united with the other Alemanni east of the Rhine into the duchy of Swabia. Alsace experienced great prosperity during the 12th and 13th centuries under Hohenstaufen emperors, Frederick I set up Alsace as a province to be ruled by ministeriales, a non-noble class of civil servants
Alsace
Alsace
Alsace
Alsace
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Dijon
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Dijon is a city in eastern France, capital of the Côte-dOr département and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region. The earliest archaeological finds within the city limits of Dijon date to the Neolithic period, Dijon later became a Roman settlement named Divio, located on the road from Lyon to Paris. Population,151,576 within the city limits,250,516 for the greater Dijon area, the city has retained varied architectural styles from many of the main periods of the past millennium, including Capetian, Gothic and Renaissance. Many still-inhabited town houses in the central district date from the 18th century. Dijon architecture is distinguished by, among other things, toits bourguignons made of tiles glazed in terracotta, green, yellow and black, Dijon holds an International and Gastronomic Fair every year in autumn. With over 500 exhibitors and 200,000 visitors every year, Dijon is also home, every three years, to the international flower show Florissimo. The historical center of the city has been registered since July 4,2015 as a UNESCO World Heritage site, the earliest archaeological finds within the city limits of Dijon date to the Neolithic period. Dijon later became a Roman settlement called Divio, which may mean sacred fountain, saint Benignus, the citys apocryphal patron saint, is said to have introduced Christianity to the area before being martyred. The Duchy of Burgundy was a key in the transformation of medieval times toward early modern Europe, the Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy now houses city hall and a museum of art. In 1513, Swiss and Imperial armies invaded Burgundy and besieged Dijon, the siege was extremely violent, but the town succeeded in resisting the invaders. After long negotiations, Louis II de la Trémoille managed to persuade the Swiss, during the siege, the population called on the Virgin Mary for help and saw the towns successful resistance and the subsequent withdrawal of the invaders as a miracle. For those reasons, in the following the siege the inhabitants of Dijon began to venerate Notre-Dame de Bon-Espoir. Although a few areas of the town were destroyed, there are no signs of the siege of 1513 visible today. However, Dijons museum of arts has a large tapestry depicting this episode in the towns history. Dijon is situated at the heart of a plain drained by two small converging rivers, the Suzon, which crosses it mostly underground from north to south, farther south is the côte, or hillside, of vineyards that gives the department its name. Dijon lies 310 km southeast of Paris,190 km northwest of Geneva, the average low of winter is −1 °C, with an average high of 4.2 °C. The average high of summer is 25.3 °C with a low of 14.7 °C. Average normal temperatures are between 2.3 °C and 5.3 °C from November to March, and 17.2 to 19.7 °C from June to August, the climate is oceanic but with a greater temperature range than closer to the Atlantic coastline
Dijon
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Top: Dijon City Hall, Bottom: Saint Benigne Cathedral, Statue of Jean-Philippe Rameau, Statue of Francois Rude, Saint Michel Church
Dijon
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Porte Guillaume (Guillaume Gate), Place Darcy (Darcy Square), in the center of Dijon.
Dijon
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A jar of Dijon mustard
5.
Alberto Cavalcanti
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Alberto de Almeida Cavalcanti was a Brazilian-born film director and producer. Cavalcanti was born in Rio de Janeiro, the son of a prominent mathematician and he was a precociously intelligent child, and by the age of 15 was studying law at university. Following an argument with a professor he was expelled and his father sent him to Geneva, Switzerland on condition that he did not study law or politics. Cavalcanti chose to study architecture instead, at 18 he moved to Paris to work for an architect, later switching to working on interior design. After a visit back to Brazil he took up a position at the Brazilian consulate in Liverpool, Cavalcanti corresponded with Marcel LHerbier, a leading light in Frances avant-garde film movement. This led to a job offer from LHerbier for Cavalcanti to work as a set designer. In 1920 Cavalcanti left his job at the Consulate and moved back to France to work for LHerbier, he was to be involved in the making of numerous films, the most notable being LInhumaine. He was soon making his own films, in 1926 directing his first, Rien Que les Heures — a day in the life of Paris, in 1927 he collaborated with Walter Ruttmann on a similar project set in Berlin, called Berlin, Die Sinfonie der Großstadt. Cavalcanti took a job with Paramounts French studios after the talkies came in, in the same year Cavalcanti returned to England to work for John Griersons GPO Film Unit. He was involved in many capacities, from production to sound engineer and he was to spend seven years at the GPO Film Unit, working on many projects, most notably, Coal Face, Night Mail, Message to Geneva, Four Barriers, and Spare Time. Much of Cavalcantis work at the GPO was uncredited, he acted as a mentor to new film makers. When Cavalcanti was told that the way the position could become permanent was to become a naturalized British citizen. In 1940 Cavalcanti joined Ealing Studios, under the leadership of producer Michael Balcon and he worked as an art editor, producer and director. His most notable works of this period were Yellow Caesar, Went the Day Well, three Songs of Resistance, Champagne Charlie, Dead of Night and Nicholas Nickleby. In 1946 Cavalcanti left Ealing over a dispute about money and he went on to direct three more films in the UK, before returning to Brazil in 1950. In Brazil Cavalcanti worked as a producer for Companhia Cinematográfica Vera Cruz, after being blacklisted as a communist in Brazil, he moved back to Europe. He spent much of the 1960s and 1970s working as an itinerant film maker in various countries, including East Germany, France, Cavalcanti died in Paris at the age of 85
Alberto Cavalcanti
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Alberto Cavalcanti
6.
Louis Gasnier
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Louis Joseph Gasnier was a French-born American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Born in Paris, Louis J. Gasnier began his career in the theatre as an actor and director, accounts vary as to when his film career began, according to Gasnier himself, his association with Pathé Frères commenced in 1899, during the earliest days of the company. However, Pathé was notoriously stingy with credits in those days, Gasniers earliest known credits begin through his association with Max Linder, whom he is said to have discovered. Gasnier helmed many of Linders earliest films and continued to work – sometimes as co-director with Linder – on projects featuring the comic through 1913. Gasnier also directed films in Italy for Film dArte Italiana. Sadoul, writing in 1965, commented that Gasnier directed 100 to 200 films from 1909-1914 alone. Pathé Frères established a production company in the United States in 1911. Gasnier resigned this position in 1916 and established a company, Astra Film. Seitz, which continued to distribute through Pathé. In 1919, Astra Film dropped Pathé as distributor and went with Robertson-Cole and these years were the highpoint of Gasniers career, these films were often marketed with his name above the title and some times as a one-word name – Gasnier. With the public, Gasnier was associated with adventure in exotic locales, such as what was endemic to serials. At Paramount, Gasnier directed foreign versions of films and piloted fledgling star Cary Grant through two early roles. Gasnier also made five films featuring the ultimately ill-fated King of the Tango, Carlos Gardel, Paramount did not renew Gasniers contract in 1935, and he was out of work for some time. Gasnier hastily accepted the first project came his way, offered to him by producer George A. Hirliman, Tell Your Children. Hirliman had learned there was money available to support films promoting pending anti-marijuana legislation. It proved a long retirement, and in a late interview Gasnier revealed that he was practically destitute, to make ends meet, Gasnier returned to acting, in small parts, in mainstream features, usually playing an elderly Frenchman. He died at the age of 87 in Hollywood, Louis J. Gasnier was lucky to find himself at the beginning of several key trends in the development of cinema. Max Learns to Skate could arguably be said to have constituted the beginnings of what would become regarded as classic silent screen comedy, both The Perils of Pauline and The Exploits of Elaine were international successes that established the American film serial as a distinct and viable genre
Louis Gasnier
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Louis J. Gasnier
7.
Les Aventures du roi Pausole
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Les aventures du roi Pausole is an opérette in three acts with music by Arthur Honegger and a French libretto by Albert Willemetz, based on the 1901 novel by Pierre Louÿs. It was Honegger’s third operatic work, but his first in lighter vein, excluding dialogue, there is around 75 minutes of music, making it longer than many of his more serious works. While showing the influence of Mozart, Chabrier and Messager, it contains a range of orchestral colours with occasional glances at jazz of the 1930s. Les aventures du roi Pausole was first performed at the Bouffes Parisiens on 12 December 1930, the opera was revived at the Théâtre des Capucines in 1947 and in Lausanne in 1990. A Toulon Opera production was seen at the Opéra-Comique in 2004. The Grand Théâtre de Genève mounted a production by Robert Sandoz in 2012, the complete score was recorded in August 1992 at Albisrieden church in Zurich. Along with the creators of principal roles, the original cast included Simone Simon, in 1933 Alexis Granowsky made a film version of the Louÿs original with André Berley and Josette Day. During a ballet given for the women of the harem, Aline falls for Mirabelle, while the king holds court under a cherry-tree – and lets off all the wrong-doers – Aline runs off with Mirabelle. But even after reading Aline’s note the king is indecisive, finally he follows the advice of his page Giglio and sets off on travels, and in search of his daughter. At the Golden Cockerel farm The seven farmers get everything ready for the arrival of the king, the farm is the only place to stay on the Tryphème road, and Aline and Mirabelle have stopped here. Mirabelle reveals to Aline that she is in travesty, after a duet they disappear as the king enters with Taxis, welcomed by a cantata from the farmers. Pausole sings an air of the legend of the ‘Coupe de Thulé’, Giglio, trying to seduce Thierette, spies Aline and Mirabelle through the key-hole, noting that Mirabelle is not a man. He sends Thierette away, and, in not to frighten the couple, dresses himself in a peasant’s dress. Aline decides that she prefers Giglio’s kisses to Mirabelle’s and all reveal their true identities, Giglio begins to interest Mirabelle and he agrees to help both Aline and Mirabelle escape. Pausole comes back and falls asleep, Aline finds him and leaves message to reassure him that she is fine. Diane à la Houppe and the harem enter and proclaim that revolt has broken out in the harem and this gives the king the chance to express his wish for peace, in which ‘national anthem’ all join. Aline and Mirabelle are in the same hôtel, the king’s daughter is yearning for the young page. Amid comings and goings from the different hotel rooms, there follow the entry of the Spanish chocolate, an air for Taxis, and a telephone duet
Les Aventures du roi Pausole
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Arthur Honegger
8.
Golgotha (1935 film)
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Golgotha is a 1935 French film about the death of Jesus Christ, released in English-speaking countries as Behold the Man. The film was directed by Julien Duvivier, and stars Harry Baur as Herod, Jean Gabin as Pontius Pilate, in 1935, the film opened in France, and in 1937 in United States and played throughout Europe. However, the British Board of Film Censors would not allow British eyes to see it, Le Vigans performance marks the first direct portrayal of Christ in a sound film. For the most part, Jesus is shown from a distance as was also the case in Ben-Hur, Quo Vadis, or The Robe. The National Board of Review named the film the sixth best foreign film of 1937, the score for the movie was composed by French composer Jacques Ibert. Un Sanhédrite Golgotha at the Internet Movie Database
Golgotha (1935 film)
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Golgotha
9.
Abel Gance
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Abel Gance was a French film director and producer, writer and actor. A pioneer in the theory and practice of montage, he is best known for three major silent films, Jaccuse, La Roue, and the monumental Napoléon. Born in Paris in 1889, Abel Gance was the son of a prosperous doctor, Abel Flamant. Initially taking his mothers name, he was brought up until the age of eight by his grandparents in the coal mining town of Commentry in central France. He then returned to Paris to rejoin his mother who had by then married Adolphe Gance and he started working as a clerk in a solicitors office, but after a couple of years he turned to acting in the theatre. When he was 18, he was given a contract at the Théâtre Royal du Parc in Brussels, where he developed friendships with the actor Victor Francen. While in Brussels, Gance wrote his first film scenarios, which he sold to Léonce Perret, back in Paris in 1909, he acted in his first film, Perrets Molière. At that stage he regarded the cinema as infantile and stupid and was drawn into film jobs by his poverty, but he nevertheless continued to write scenarios. During this period he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, often fatal at that time, Gance tried to maintain a connection with the theatre and he finished writing a monumental tragedy entitled Victoire de Samothrace, in which he hoped that Sarah Bernhardt would star. Its five-hour length, and Gances refusal to cut it, proved to be a stumbling block, with the outbreak of World War I, Gance was rejected by the army on medical grounds and in 1915 he started writing and directing for a new film company, Film dArt. He soon caused controversy with La Folie du docteur Tube, a fantasy in which he. The producers were outraged and refused to show the film, Gance nevertheless continued working for Film dArt until 1918, making over a dozen commercially successful films. His experiments included tracking shots, extreme close-ups, low-angle shots and his subjects moved steadily away from simple action films towards psychological melodramas, such as Mater dolorosa starring Emmy Lynn as a neglected wife who has an affair with her husbands brother. The film was a commercial success, and it was followed by La Dixième Symphonie. Here Gances mastery of lighting, composition and editing was accompanied by a range of literary and artistic references which some critics found pretentious and he re-enlisted in the Service Cinématographique in order to be able to film some scenes on a real battlefield at the front. The film made an impact and went on to have international distribution. He employed elaborate editing techniques and innovative use of cutting which made the film highly influential among other contemporary directors. The finished film was originally in 32 reels and ran for nine hours
Abel Gance
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Abel Gance by the
Studio Harcourt
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Poster by Cândido de Faria for the silent film Le tragique amour de Mona Lisa (1912) written by Gance. Collection
EYE Film Institute Netherlands.
Abel Gance
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Abel Gance Napoleon
10.
Gerhard Lamprecht
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Gerhard Lamprecht was a German film director, screenwriter and film historian. He directed 63 films between 1920 and 1958 and he also wrote for 26 films between 1918 and 1958. Lamprecht was fascinated by cinema since his childhood and started to work as a film projectionist at age twelve and he studied theatre and art history in Berlin. He also took lessons with Paul Bildt and appeared as a stage actor under the name of Gerhard Otto in some minor productions. Lamprecht got drafted by the German army in 1917 and was wounded in 1918, Lamprecht had sold his first film manuscript as early as 1914. With the end of World War I, Lamprecht started to work as a screenwriter, lamprechts first film as a director was Es bleibt in der Familie. Despite his young age – he was still in his early 20s – Lamprecht won prestige during the following years and he was responsible for the first film adaption of Thomas Manns Buddenbrooks in 1923. Among his most notable films during the 1920s are People to Each Other, Under the Lantern and The Old Fritz, Lamprecht also worked together with illustrator Heinrich Zille on a series of social realist films which depicted the authentic everyday life in Berlin. Lamprecht made a transition to sound films. In 1931, he directed the internationally acclamied Emil and the Detectives, during Nazi Germany, Lamprecht tried to avoid making propaganda films for the dictators. He mostly directed films, melodramas and literature adaptions during that time. One of his most important works during that time was perhaps Madame Bovary, in 1946, Lamprecht made a so-called Trümmerfilm, Somewhere in Berlin, which dealt about the lives of children in the destroyed, post-war Berlin. Somewhere in Berlin was a triumph and Lamprecht remained in demand as a director. Lamprechts last film was the Semidocumentary Menschen im Werk and he was a member of the jury at the 8th Berlin International Film Festival. Lamprecht owned a collection of film artifacts, which he had collected since his youth. Until 1966, he served as the first director of the Deutsche Kinemathek, afterwards, Lamprecht worked on a film catalogue with the names of all German silent films. The ten-book-volume Katalogisierung der deutschen Stummfilme aus den Jahren 1903-1931 was published in 1970 and is considered an important work for German film studies. Lamprecht was married with Elisabeth Donath from 1923 until his death in 1974 and he is buried at the Waldfriedhof Zehlendorf in Berlin
Gerhard Lamprecht
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Gerhard Lamprecht
11.
Robert Siodmak
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Robert Siodmak was a German film director who also worked in the United States. He is best remembered as a thriller specialist and for a series of stylish, unpretentious Hollywood films noirs he made in the 1940s, Siodmak was born in Dresden, Germany, the son of Rosa Philippine and Ignatz Siodmak. His parents were both from Jewish families in Leipzig and he worked as a stage director and a banker before becoming editor and scenarist for Curtis Bernhardt in 1925. At twenty-six he was hired by his cousin, producer Seymour Nebenzal, Siodmak worked at this for two years before he persuaded Nebenzal to finance his first feature, the silent chef doeuvre, Menschen am Sonntag in 1929. The script was co-written by Billy Wilder and Siodmaks brother Curt Siodmak and it was the last German silent and also included such future Hollywood artists as Fred Zinnemann, Edgar G. Ulmer, and Eugen Schufftan. But in his film, the crime thriller Stürme der Leidenschaft, with Emil Jannings and Anna Sten. With the rise of Nazism and following an attack in the press by Hitlers minister of propaganda Joseph Goebbels in 1933 after viewing Brennendes Geheimnis and his creativity flourished, as he worked for the next six years in a variety of film genres, from comedy to musical to drama. While in France, he was well on his way to becoming successor to Rene Clair, Siodmak arrived in California in 1939, where he made 23 movies, many of them widely popular thrillers and crime melodramas, which critics today regard as classics of film noir. Beginning in 1941, he first turned out several B-films and programmers for various studios before he gained a contract with Universal Studios in 1943. The best of early films are the thriller Fly by Night in 1942, with Richard Carlson and Nancy Kelly. As house director, his services were used to salvage troublesome productions at the studio. On Mark Hellingers production Swell Guy, for instance, Siodmak was brought in to replace Frank Tuttle only six days after completing work on The Killers. Siodmak worked steadily while under contract, overshadowed by high-profile directors, like Alfred Hitchcock, at Universal, Siodmak made yet another B-film, Son of Dracula, the third and best in a trilogy of Dracula movies. His second feature, and first A-film, was the Maria Montez/Jon Hall vehicle, Cobra Woman and his first all-out noir was Phantom Lady, for staff producer Joan Harrison, Universals first female executive and Alfred Hitchcocks former secretary and script assistant. A classic, however flawed, it showcased Siodmaks skill with camera and editing to dazzling effect, following the critical success of Phantom Lady, Siodmak directed Christmas Holiday with Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly. Beginning with this film, his work in Hollywood attained the stylistic and thematic characteristics that are evident in his later noirs. Christmas Holiday, adapted from a W. Somerset Maugham novel by Herman J. Mankiewicz, was Durbins most successful feature, Siodmaks use of black-and-white cinematography and urban landscapes, together with his light-and-shadow designs, formed the basic structure of classic noir films. A critical and financial success, it earned Siodmak his only Oscar nomination for direction in Hollywood, for 20th Century Fox and producer Darryl F
Robert Siodmak
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Robert Siodmak
12.
Jacques de Baroncelli
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Jacques de Baroncelli was a French film director best known for his silent films from 1915 to the late 1930s. He came from a Florentine family who had settled in Provence in the 15th century and his fathers side of the family were of Tuscan origin and part of the Ghibelline tradition, and they were hereditary Marquises of Javon. Though somewhat aristocratic, the family spoke Provençal, which was controversial at a time when it was considered to be a language of the common people. His brother was Folco de Baroncelli-Javon, He directed well over 80 films between 1915 and 1948 and in the 1940s released numerous films in the United States and Italy. One of his films, a version of the Pierre Louÿs novel La Femme et le pantin was filmed in the experimental Keller-Dorian color process, ramuntcho Roger la Honte Nitchevo The Duel The Passenger Temptation The Last Blow Fog Nitchevo S. O. S. Sahara Belle Étoile LHomme du Niger Le Pavillon brûle The Mysteries of Paris The Sea Rose Rocambole List of early color feature films Jacques de Baroncelli at the Internet Movie Database
Jacques de Baroncelli
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Jacques de Baroncelli
13.
Maurice Tourneur
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Maurice Tourneur was a French film director and screenwriter. Born Maurice Thomas in the Epinettes district of Paris, France, as a young man, Maurice Thomas first trained as a graphic designer and a magazine illustrator but was soon drawn to the theater. In 1904, he married the actress, Fernande Petit and they had a son, Jacques, who would follow his father into the film industry. Drawn to the new art of filmmaking, in 1911 he began working as an assistant director for the Éclair company, a quick learner and an innovator, within a short time he was directing films on his own using major French stars of the day such as Polaire. Before long, Maurice Tourneur was a major and respected force in American film, Tourneur admired D. W. Griffith and considered the skill level of American actors at the time ahead of their counterparts in Europe. Of the actresses he worked with, he called Mary Pickford the finest screen actress in the world, however, Tourneur opposed the evolving star system that Carl Laemmle had begun with his advertising campaign for actress Florence Lawrence. After directing several films for Adolph Zukors Artcraft Pictures Corporation in 1917 and 1918. In 1921 he became a citizen of the United States. He was removed from production on Metro-Goldwyn-Mayers version of Jules Vernes The Mysterious Island in 1928, after his trouble with MGM, Tourneur decided to move back to his native France. There, he continued to make films both at home and in Germany, easily making the change to talkies, in 1933 he met his second wife, actress Louise Lagrange, while shooting his film, LHomme mystérieux. Tourneur went on to another two dozen films, several of which were crime thrillers, until a 1949 automobile accident in which he was seriously injured. Health and age prevented him from directing more films, but a voracious reader, after his death in 1961, Maurice Tourneur was interred in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. Maurice Tourneur was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6243 Hollywood Blvd, recently, the American Film Institutes Center for Film and Video Preservation and the National Archives of Canada have been cooperating on the restoration of Tourneurs 1915 film, The Cub. Maurice Tourneur at the Internet Movie Database Some contemporary interviews with, and articles by, Maurice Tourneur Maurice Tourneur
Maurice Tourneur
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Maurice Tourneur in 1919.
Maurice Tourneur
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The Velvet Paw (1916)
Maurice Tourneur
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Advertisement (1919)
