Entente cordiale | |
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Directed by | Marcel L'Herbier |
Written by | André Maurois (book) |
Produced by | Max Glass Bernard Natan |
Starring | Gaby Morlay Victor Francen Pierre Richard-Willm |
Cinematography | Marc Fossard Theodore J. Pahle |
Edited by | Raymond Leboursier |
Music by | Roger Bernstein Marcel Lattès |
Distributed by | Comptoir Français du Film (CFF) |
Release date |
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Running time | 110 minutes |
Country | France |
Language | French |
Entente cordiale is a 1939 French drama film directed by Marcel L'Herbier and starring Gaby Morlay, Victor Francen and Pierre Richard-Willm. [2] The film depicts events between the Fashoda crisis in 1898 and the 1904 signing of the Entente Cordiale creating an alliance between Britain and France and ending their historic rivalry. It was based on the book King Edward VII and His Times by André Maurois. It was made with an eye to its propaganda value, following the Munich Agreement of September 1938 and in anticipation of the outbreak of a Second World War which would test the bonds between Britain and France in a conflict with Nazi Germany.
Entente Cordiale was the third in Marcel L'Herbier's series of "Chroniques filmées" (following La Tragédie impériale and Adrienne Lecouvreur , both in 1938) in which he dramatised historical subjects in a manner "very close to reality", [3] albeit reluctantly combined with some romantic fiction. [4]
Filming took place at the Studios de Saint-Maurice (south-east of Paris) in January & February 1939, and it was ready for its gala première in April before representatives of the French and British governments. [5]
Marcel L'Herbier was a French filmmaker who achieved prominence as an avant-garde theorist and imaginative practitioner with a series of silent films in the 1920s. His career as a director continued until the 1950s and he made more than 40 feature films in total. During the 1950s and 1960s, he worked on cultural programmes for French television. He also fulfilled many administrative roles in the French film industry, and he was the founder and the first President of the French film school Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (IDHEC).
Le Carnaval des vérités is a 1920 French silent film written and directed by Marcel L'Herbier.
L' Homme du large is a 1920 French silent film directed by Marcel L'Herbier and based on a short story by Honoré de Balzac. It was filmed on the rugged southern coast of Brittany creating atmosphere in a film about the forces of good and evil that motivate human behaviour.
L'Argent ("money") is a French silent film directed in 1928 by Marcel L'Herbier. The film was adapted from the 1891 novel L'Argent by Émile Zola, and it portrays the world of banking and the stock market in Paris in the 1920s.
El Dorado is a French silent film directed in 1921 by Marcel L'Herbier. The film was notable for integrating a number of technical innovations into its narrative of a "cinematic melodrama". It achieved considerable success on its release, as a ground-breaking film that was distinctively French at a time when the cinema was felt to be dominated by American productions.
L'Inhumaine is a 1924 French science fiction drama film directed by Marcel L'Herbier. It has the subtitle histoire féerique. L'Inhumaine is notable for its experimental techniques and for the collaboration of many leading practitioners in the decorative arts, architecture and music. The film caused controversy on its release.
Jean d'Yd was the stage name of Jean Paul Félix Didier Perret. He was a French actor and comedian, and was born in Paris on 17 May 1880. He died in Vernon, Eure, France on 14 May 1964.
Jaque Catelain was a French actor who came to prominence in silent films of the 1920s, and who continued acting in films and on stage until the 1950s. He also wrote and directed two silent films himself, and he was a capable artist and musician. He had a close association with the director Marcel L'Herbier.
Marcelle Pradot was a French actress who worked principally in silent films. She was born at Montmorency, Val-d'Oise, near Paris. At the age of 18 while she was taking classes in dancing and singing in Paris, she was asked by Marcel L'Herbier to appear in his film Le Bercail (1919). She went on to appear in a further eight of L'Herbier's silent films, and then in his first sound film L'Enfant de l'amour (1930) with which she ended her acting career. She was noted as an aristocratic beauty, and she was described by the critic Louis Delluc as "the Infanta of French cinema".
The Last Days of Pompeii (1950) is a black and white French-Italian historical drama, directed by Marcel L'Herbier "in collaboration with" Paolo Moffa, who was also the director of production. It was adapted from Edward Bulwer-Lytton's novel The Last Days of Pompeii. The film has also been known as Sins of Pompeii.
Le Bonheur ("Happiness") is a 1934 French comedy-drama film directed by Marcel L'Herbier. It was adapted from Henri Bernstein's play Le Bonheur, which Bernstein had staged in Paris in March 1933 with Charles Boyer and Michel Simon in leading roles; Boyer and Simon took the same parts in the film.
Feu Mathias Pascal is a 1925 French silent film written and directed by Marcel L'Herbier. It was the first film adaptation of Luigi Pirandello's novel Il fu Mattia Pascal.
Gaby Morlay was a film actress from France.
Nights of Fire is a 1937 French drama film directed by Marcel L'Herbier and starring Gaby Morlay, Victor Francen and Madeleine Robinson. The scenario is based on the 1901 work The Living Corpse by Leo Tolstoy. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Guy de Gastyne and Eugène Lourié while the costumes were by Georges Annenkov.
La Route impériale is a 1935 French film directed by Marcel L'Herbier. It combines a romantic drama with a military adventure story, set against the contemporary background of British operations against a rebellion in the kingdom of Iraq.
Behind the Facade is a 1939 French drama film directed by Georges Lacombe and Yves Mirande and starring Lucien Baroux, Jules Berry and André Lefaur. The film's sets were designed by the art director Lucien Aguettand. It was shot at the Epinay Studios in Paris.
The King is a 1936 French comedy film directed by Pierre Colombier and starring Victor Francen, Raimu and Gaby Morlay. King Jean IV of Cerdagne visits Paris to sign an important treaty where he becomes involved with an actress and a dishonest Senator.
Little Devil-May-Care is a 1928 French-British silent drama film directed by Marcel L'Herbier and starring Betty Balfour, Jaque Catelain and Roger Karl.
La Galerie des monstres is a 1924 French drama film directed by Jaque Catelain, set against the background of a circus in Spain. It was produced by Cinégraphic, the production company of Marcel L'Herbier.
Veille d'armes is a 1935 French drama film directed by Marcel L'Herbier and starring Annabella and Victor Francen.