Julien Duvivier

1896 - 1967

DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHY

It was as an actor, in 1916 at the Théâtre de l'Odéon under the direction of André Antoine, that Duvivier's career began.[8] In 1918 he moved on to Gaumont, as a writer and assistant of, amongst others, André Antoine, Louis Feuillade and Marcel L'Herbier. In 1919 he directed his first film. In the 1920s several of his films had a religious concern: Credo ou la tragédie de Lourdes, L'abbé Constantin and La Vie miraculeuse de Thérèse Martin — a film about the Carmelite saint Thérèse of Lisieux.

In the 1930s Duvivier was part of the production company, 'Film d'Art', founded by Marcel Vandal and Charles Delac and he worked as part of a team. He stayed with them for nine years. David Golder (1930), was his first success. It was also his first 'talkie', as it was of the actor Harry Baur. They worked together many more times in the 1930s. In 1934 Duvivier collaborated with Jean Gabin for the first time in the film Maria Chapdelaine, while for La Bandera (1935), he availed himself of the writing talent of Charles Spaak, who had previously worked with Jacques Feyder, Jean Grémillon, Marc Allégret and Marcel L'Herbier. They too would work together many times from this point onwards. Having made Le Golem (1936), a remake of an earlier German horror film, Duvivier set out on La belle équipe (also 1936), with Jean Gabin, Charles Vanel and Raymond Aimos. The film remains a significant example of his work. Five unemployed men hit the lottery jackpot and decide to buy a seaside café/dance hall together. The unexpected, however, keeps happening. Once jealousy over a woman, Gina, (Viviane Romance), gets mixed up with the venture, there is little left to save. The original ending of the film involving a killing, was judged too pessimistic, and another, happier ending, was filmed. It was the happier version that was released, though both versions still survive. L'Homme du jour (1936), with Maurice Chevalier in the lead role is a minor work in the director's canon but Pépé le Moko and Un Carnet de Bal (both 1937) are incontestable summits.

Pépé le Moko, which plunges into the midst of the gangster underworld and which had the Casbah (Arab quarter) of Algiers for exotic backdrop, was the film which propelled Jean Gabin into the category of an international star. In 1938 Duvivier signed a contract with MGM and made his first American film, a biopic of Johann Strauss, The Great Waltz. The next year, back in France, he made La Fin du Jour, in which theatre actors in retirement struggle to see that their retirement home remains open. Michel Simon played an old ham actor, and Louis Jouvet, an old leading actor who still believes in his seductive powers. La Charrette fantôme followed, a horror film adapted from a novel by Selma Lagerlof. In 1940 Untel père et fils, a family history starring Raimu, Michèle Morgan, and Louis Jouvet, was not able to be shown — because of the political situation — until the end of the war, at least in France. It is generally considered a minor work, and even a failure.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julien_Duvivier

DIRECTOR FILMOGRAPHY

Le diable et les 10 commandements
La chambre ardente Boulevard
La grande vie
Marie-Octobre
La femme et le pantin
Pot Bouille
L'homme à l'imperméable
Voici le temps des assassins...
Marianne de ma jeunesse
L'affaire Maurizius
Le retour de Don Camillo
La fête à Henriette
Le petit monde de Don Camillo
Sous le ciel de Paris
Dernier témoin
Au royaume des cieux
Anna Karénine
Panique
L'imposteur
Obsessions Untel père et fils Six destins
Lydia
La charrette fantôme La fin du jour
Toute la ville danse
Un carnet de bal
L'homme du jour
La belle équipe
Le golem
La bandera
Golgotha
Maria Chapdelaine
Le paquebot Tenacity
La machine à refaire la vie
Le petit roi
La tête d'un homme
La Vénus du collège
Poil de carotte
Die fünf verfluchten Gentlemen
Allo Berlin? Ici Paris!
Les cinq gentlemen maudits
David Golder
Au bonheur des dames
La vie miraculeuse de Thérèse Martin
Maman Colibri
Le miracle de la mer
Le tourbillon de Paris
L'homme à l'Hispano
Le mystère de la tour Eiffel
Le mariage de Mademoiselle Beulemans
Révélation
Poil de carotte
L'abbé Constantin
L'oeuvre immortelle
Coeurs farouches
Credo ou la tragédie de Lourdes
La machine à refaire la vie
Le reflet de Claude Mercoeur
Der unheimliche Gast
L'ouragan sur la montagne
Les Roquevillard
Le logis de l'horreur
La reincarnation de Serge Renaudier
Le prix du sang

Julien Duvivier

DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHY

DIRECTOR FILMOGRAPHY

FILMOGRAPHY IN FILMSET