Comments on: A glimpse into early French ‘talkies’..

By: Nicholas Gruen

Nicholas Gruen — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Wow,

Thx for that Sophie.

(I was just wondering where you’d got to!)

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Did he work all with Jacques Tourneur? I only know Tourneur from his Hollywood period (the Val Lewton films, including ‘I Walked with a Zombie’ – personal favourite, despite the title! – and the original and best of the American films noir, ‘Out of the Past’). But I know Tourneur was active in the early ‘thirties in France and his films from that period are still very well regarded. Love to get hold of them. A fascinating period of world cinema as you say.

By: sophie

sophie — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

I’m not sure, Rob. I know he worked with lots of different directors for Pathe Nathan, so he may well have done with Tourneur. I’m still trying to establish a list of the films he did work on and that’s not very easy, as the cameramen are often not credited–and it’s only through his photos(which my dad has in France and has made copies of selected ones for me)that we know about Melo and Les Croix de Bois. I think too that the film on which he doubled for Fairbanks MAY have been 1931′s ‘L’Aviateur’, which was made in Paris, but I’m not absolutely sure. I’m hoping to get onto the Cinemateque francais, the archives of French cinema about it, but in good French style they don’t appear to answer emails, so I’ll have to reach them by post!

By: sophie

sophie — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

I’m not sure, Rob. He may well have done. I know he worked with lots of different directors and I’m still trying to establish a list of films he was involved with(cameramen often were not credited then)so it’s quite painstaking detective work! I’ve been trying too to get onto the Cinematheque francais, the French archives, but as in good French style they’re not answering their emails, I’ll have to send them stuff by post!

By: sophie

sophie — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

sorry for the double-up!

By: David Tiley

David Tiley — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Boy, what a ladykiller. A man of action, he has taken off his tie.

Even Belmondo would have gone no further.

Seriously, a great snap. I love those old production stills. A historian of sound would probably be able to place that equipment really accurately because it was changing fast. I presume that is a camera built into a sound proofing box, though there is no evidence of any connection for syncing purposes between camera and sound.

It may just have been a staged shot with some gear in a corner since we can see no performers.

By: sophie

sophie — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

actually, David, I think it was taken at a break in the shooting..or perhaps just before it started. I’ve got a couple of others from that film, one of which shows him in action(backside foremost!) with performers sitting around, also a lovely still actually of a scene of a dance..Will try and upload those too, just for interest’s sake! And because they’re great pics..He was certainly a ladykiller, very debonair, handsome and elegant(part of the reason for his doing the Fairbanks stunt was he looked quitea lot like him). And he was very sporty too–loved fast cars(he had a gorgeous red Bugatti in the 30′s, and his family owned some fantastic cars), motorbikes(his sister told me he had one of the first Harleys imported into France), skiing, and so on..He was very disappointed in his only son, my father, who hates all sports with a passion!
But he was also very aggressive and domineering..and at times quite scary!

By: Pip Wilson

Pip Wilson — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Hello, Sophie,
Was just surfing by this place for the first time and saw your name (old Simply Living days). Fascinating piece. Good luck. Pip

By: sophie

sophie — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Why, hello, Pip! How very nice to see you here..thanks so much for dropping by.