Jean Gabin was a French actor and singer. Considered a key figure in French cinema, he starred in several classic films including Pépé le Moko (1937), La grande illusion (1937), Le Quai des brumes (1938), La bête humaine (1938), Le jour se lève (1939), and Le plaisir (1952). During his career he had twice won both the Silver Bear for Best Actor from the Berlin International Film Festival and the Volpi Cup for Best Actor from the Venice Film Festival respectively. Gabin was made a member of the Légion d'honneur in recognition of the important role he played in French cinema.
Poetic realism was a film movement in France of the 1930s. More a tendency than a movement, poetic realism is not strongly unified like Soviet montage or French Impressionism but were individuals who created this lyrical style. Its leading filmmakers were Pierre Chenal, Jean Vigo, Julien Duvivier, Marcel Carné, and, perhaps the movement's most significant director, Jean Renoir. Renoir made a wide variety of films some influenced by the leftist Popular Front group and even a lyrical short feature film. Frequent stars of these films were Jean Gabin, Michel Simon, Simone Signoret, and Michèle Morgan.
Julien Duvivier was a French film director and screenwriter. He was prominent in French cinema in the years 1930–1960. Amongst his most original films, chiefly notable are La Bandera, Pépé le Moko, Little World of Don Camillo, Panic (Panique), Voici le temps des assassins and Marianne de ma jeunesse.
Lucie Madeleine Renaud was a French actress best remembered for her work in the theatre. She did though appear in several films directed by Jean Grémillon including Remorques and Lumière d'été.
Maria Chapdelaine is a romance novel written in 1913 by the Breton writer Louis Hémon, who was then residing in Quebec. Aimed at young French and Quebecois people, the book had been included in school curricula, translated, and has been extensively analyzed and adapted.
Charles-Marie Vanel was a French actor and director. During his 76-year film career, which began in 1912, he appeared in more than 200 films and worked with many prominent directors, including Alfred Hitchcock, Luis Buñuel, Jacques Feyder, and Henri-Georges Clouzot. He is perhaps best remembered for his role as a desperate truck driver in Clouzot's The Wages of Fear for which he received a Special Mention at the Cannes Film Festival in 1953.
Remorques is a 1941 French drama film directed by Jean Grémillon. The screenplay was written by Jacques Prévert and André Cayatte (adaptation), based on the novel by Roger Vercel. The film stars Jean Gabin, Madeleine Renaud and Michèle Morgan.
Charles Spaak was a Belgian screenwriter who was noted particularly for his work in the French cinema during the 1930s. He was the son of the dramatist and poet Paul Spaak, the brother of the politician Paul-Henri Spaak, and the father of the actresses Catherine Spaak and Agnès Spaak.
They Were Five is a 1936 French drama film directed by Julien Duvivier and starring Jean Gabin, Charles Vanel, and Viviane Romance. It tells the story of five unemployed workers who win the jackpot in the national lottery but their solidarity then proves fragile.
Lovers of Paris is a 1957 French film directed by Julien Duvivier and starring Gérard Philipe. It is based on the 1882 novel Pot-Bouille by Émile Zola.
The Tunnel is a 1933 French-German science fiction film directed by Curtis Bernhardt and starring Jean Gabin, Madeleine Renaud and Robert Le Vigan. It was the French language version of the German film The Tunnel, with a different cast and some changes to the plot. Both were followed in 1935 by an English version. Such Multiple-language versions were common in the years immediately following the introduction of sound, before the practice of dubbing had come to dominate international releases. Germany and France made a significant number of films together at this time.
The Beautiful Sailor is a 1932 French drama film directed by Harry Lachman and starring Pierre Blanchar, Madeleine Renaud and Jean Gabin. It was made by the French subsidiary of Paramount Pictures at the company's Joinville Studios.
Jules Kruger (1891–1959) was a French cinematographer. He is known particularly for films which he photographed in the 1920s and 1930s for Abel Gance, Marcel L'Herbier, Raymond Bernard, and Julien Duvivier. He also worked in Great Britain and in Spain.
Gustave Honoré Hamilton was a 20th-century Belgian film actor.
The Little King is a 1933 French drama film directed by Julien Duvivier and starring Robert Lynen, Arlette Marchal and Béatrice Bretty.
The Man with the Hispano is a 1926 French silent drama film directed by Julien Duvivier and starring Huguette Duflos, Georges Galli and Acho Chakatouny. The title refers to a luxury Hispano-Suiza car. It was based on a novel of the same title by Pierre Frondaie and was remade as a sound film The Man with the Hispano in 1933.
Marianne of My Youth is a 1955 French–West German romantic drama film directed by Julien Duvivier and starring Marianne Hold, Horst Buchholz and Pierre Vaneck. It was released in separate French language and German language versions. It is based on a 1932 novel Schmerzliches Arkadien by Peter von Mendelssohn.
The Phantom Carriage or The Phantom Wagon is a 1939 French drama film directed by Julien Duvivier and starring Pierre Fresnay, Marie Bell and Micheline Francey. It is based on the novel Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness! by Selma Lagerlöf, which had previously been adapted into the 1921 Swedish silent film The Phantom Carriage by Victor Sjöström.
Their Last Night is a 1953 French crime drama film directed by Georges Lacombe and starring Jean Gabin, Madeleine Robinson and Robert Dalban. It was shot at the Billancourt Studios in Paris and on location around the city. The film's sets were designed by the art director Léon Barsacq.
