Writing

René Wheeler

Born — Died

1912-02-08 — 2000-12-11

Place of birth

Paris, France

Known for

Writing

Credits

26 titles

René Wheeler (8 February 1912 - 11 December 2000) was a French screenwriter and film director. He co-wrote the story of the film A Cage of Nightingales (1945) with Georges Chaperot, for which they both received an Academy Award nomination in 1947. Their story would later serve as an inspiration for the hugely successful film The Chorus (2004). Wheeler also co-wrote the screenplay for the 1955 heist film Rififi. Source: Article "René Wheeler" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Known for

Jour de fête poster
7.1

Jour de Fête tells the story of an inept and easily-distracted French mailman who frequently interrupts his duties to converse with the local inhabitants, as well as inspect the traveling fair that has come to his small community. Influenced by too much wine and a newsreel account of rapid transportation methods used by the United States postal system, he goes to hilarious lengths to speed the delivery of mail while aboard his bicycle.

Jour de fête

1949

Fan-Fan the Tulip poster
6.7

Fanfan is a young handsome peasant. He joins the army to escape marriage because a gypsy girl predicted he will get glory and the king's daughter as a wife. But the gypsy girl was in fact Adeline, the daughter of the recruiting officer. Once he has discovered the stratagem, Fanfan refuses to forget this dream and decides to fulfill the destiny of the fake prediction.

Fan-Fan the Tulip

1952

The Seven Deadly Sins poster
6.0

A compilation of segments covers the seven deadly sins of greed, wrath, envy, pride, lust, sloth, and gluttony.

The Seven Deadly Sins

1952

Rififi poster
7.8

Out of prison after a five-year stretch, jewel thief Tony turns down a quick job his friend Jo offers him, until he discovers that his old girlfriend Mado has become the lover of local gangster Pierre Grutter during Tony's absence. Expanding a minor smash-and-grab into a full-scale jewel heist, Tony and his crew appear to get away clean, but their actions after the job is completed threaten the lives of everyone involved.

Rififi

1955

The Love of a Woman poster
6.8

Marie, a young doctor, settles down on the Ouessant Island. She will be able to win the diffidence of the local population but she will have to fight for her independence after falling in love with an Italian engineer.

The Love of a Woman

1953

The Wicked Go to Hell poster
6.4

Two convicts attempt to escape from prison in a violent tale of deception, survival, and moral ambiguity.

The Wicked Go to Hell

1955

Behind the camera

Jour de fête poster
7.1

Jour de Fête tells the story of an inept and easily-distracted French mailman who frequently interrupts his duties to converse with the local inhabitants, as well as inspect the traveling fair that has come to his small community. Influenced by too much wine and a newsreel account of rapid transportation methods used by the United States postal system, he goes to hilarious lengths to speed the delivery of mail while aboard his bicycle.

Jour de fête

1949

Fan-Fan the Tulip poster
6.7

Fanfan is a young handsome peasant. He joins the army to escape marriage because a gypsy girl predicted he will get glory and the king's daughter as a wife. But the gypsy girl was in fact Adeline, the daughter of the recruiting officer. Once he has discovered the stratagem, Fanfan refuses to forget this dream and decides to fulfill the destiny of the fake prediction.

Fan-Fan the Tulip

1952

The Seven Deadly Sins poster
6.0

A compilation of segments covers the seven deadly sins of greed, wrath, envy, pride, lust, sloth, and gluttony.

The Seven Deadly Sins

1952

Rififi poster
7.8

Out of prison after a five-year stretch, jewel thief Tony turns down a quick job his friend Jo offers him, until he discovers that his old girlfriend Mado has become the lover of local gangster Pierre Grutter during Tony's absence. Expanding a minor smash-and-grab into a full-scale jewel heist, Tony and his crew appear to get away clean, but their actions after the job is completed threaten the lives of everyone involved.

Rififi

1955

The Love of a Woman poster
6.8

Marie, a young doctor, settles down on the Ouessant Island. She will be able to win the diffidence of the local population but she will have to fight for her independence after falling in love with an Italian engineer.

The Love of a Woman

1953

The Wicked Go to Hell poster
6.4

Two convicts attempt to escape from prison in a violent tale of deception, survival, and moral ambiguity.

The Wicked Go to Hell

1955

Bold Adventure poster
5.8

In the 16th century, as Flanders is invaded by the Spanish, Till the Mischievous uses stratagems to enter the service of Ferdinand Alvare de Toledo, Duke of Alba, and from there organize resistance against the invaders.

Bold Adventure

1956

Theodora, Slave Empress poster
6.2

Teodora, a Roman courtesan and former slave girl, marries the Roman emperor Justinian and assumes the throne as Empress of Rome. But the divide between nobility and slave is too great. Teodora seeks justice for her people, and revolution and armed conflict erupt in both Byzantium and Rome.

Theodora, Slave Empress

1954

Forgive Our Trespasses poster
6.0

In a port area of ​​France, clashes between a gang of young delinquents and a tribe of gypsies.

Forgive Our Trespasses

1956

Robinson Crusoeland poster
5.6

Stan and Ollie are marooned on an island in the south pacific ocean.

Robinson Crusoeland

1951

A Cage of Nightingales poster
7.5

In France, in 1930, a supervisor of a boarding school for young offenders seeks to awaken the music by forming a choir, despite the skepticism of his boarding school director.

A Cage of Nightingales

1945

A Cage of Nightingales poster
7.5

In France, in 1930, a supervisor of a boarding school for young offenders seeks to awaken the music by forming a choir, despite the skepticism of his boarding school director.

A Cage of Nightingales

1945

Reproduction interdite poster
6.3

An art dealer in dire straits, after being ripped off by two crooks, one of whom owns a genuine painting by Gauguin while the other is an expert copyist, finds them again and, instead of killing them as he originally intended, joins in their game – with ultimately disastrous results.

Reproduction interdite

1957

Peace in the Fields poster
6.3

This is a film which was made in Belgium in the early '60s and was never released. However, it somehow got included in the American Oscar category for "Best Foreign Film," and was finally released in its home country in 1971. It explores the issues of prejudice and superstition in the Belgian countryside through the troubles of a middle-aged farmer whose mother has been accused of being a witch. In French, this picture is based on a true story which took place in the late 1920s and early '30s.

Peace in the Fields

1972

The Faceless Enemy poster
8.0

Professor Artus, a scientist specializing in artificial life, wants to try an experiment on an automaton; he is entrusted with a death row inmate. The professor is soon found murdered. It is Inspector Wens, helped by a journalist, who must solve the case. Franck Villard in the role of Wens succeeds Fresnay.

The Faceless Enemy

1946

A Star to the Sun poster
7.0

Martine, who has become a major star of the song in Paris, wants to return to visit her hometown. Confronted with Merlerault, a very haughty and noble character who wants to teach her how to live, she succumbs after a time of anger, to the charms of the gentleman. They get married but she forgot to tell her husband that her father is in fact the most famous poacher in the area.

A Star to the Sun

1943

L'homme de joie poster
10.0

A boudoir adventure during which the seductive Madame Jolivet, shocked by the behavior of her husband who appears with an actress, calls on the services of a young man, known as "the man of joy".

L'homme de joie

1950

The Loves of Colette poster
8.1

François, a young student at a provincial college, likes Colette, the daughter of the headmaster. Turlot his colleague, who commits suicide, left a diary where he writes of his relationship with Colette.

The Loves of Colette

1948

Castles in Spain poster
7.0

When the seductive Frenchwoman Geneviève Dupré, secretary to a Spanish businessman, travels to Madrid to announce the death of her boss to his brother, the famous bullfighter Mario Montes, it's love at first sight. Set in Spain, this melodrama is full of light, betrayal and blood, and takes place in the murky world of bullfighting.

Castles in Spain

1954

Castles in Spain poster
7.0

When the seductive Frenchwoman Geneviève Dupré, secretary to a Spanish businessman, travels to Madrid to announce the death of her boss to his brother, the famous bullfighter Mario Montes, it's love at first sight. Set in Spain, this melodrama is full of light, betrayal and blood, and takes place in the murky world of bullfighting.

Castles in Spain

1954

Towards Ecstasy poster
10.0

Catherine married Jérôme, a wealthy landowner living in North Africa, from a bourgeois but noxious background. While living in total family harmony, she is seized by a mystical crisis following a vision of a cleric in ecstasy. She abandons her home and worldly possessions to take a job as a maid. After a bumpy road that severely tested her spirituality, Catherine found peace by returning to live with her devoted partner.

Towards Ecstasy

1960

Towards Ecstasy poster
10.0

Catherine married Jérôme, a wealthy landowner living in North Africa, from a bourgeois but noxious background. While living in total family harmony, she is seized by a mystical crisis following a vision of a cleric in ecstasy. She abandons her home and worldly possessions to take a job as a maid. After a bumpy road that severely tested her spirituality, Catherine found peace by returning to live with her devoted partner.

Towards Ecstasy

1960

Alert Nights poster
7.0

Hélène, a young waitress working in a bar frequented by German soldiers, saves the life of Pierre, a Resistance fighter. Her jealous lover has her arrested first and then released. Later on, Hélène is wounded while walking in the streets. Pierre has her transported to friends with the hope of taking her to London with him. Unfortunately, owing to lack of space in the plane, Pierre has to fly alone. Hélène has to wait several weeks before being able to board a new plane. When the day comes at last, the Germans are waiting for the plane on the clandestine airfield.

Alert Nights

1946

The Lovers of the Pont Saint-Jean poster
6.9

On the banks of the Rhône, not far from Tain l'Hermitage, Alcide Garonne, an old ferryman - and incidentally a poacher - lives out of wedlock with Victorine Rousset nicknamed Maryse, a colorful tramp. When Garrone's son, Pilou, a worker, falls in love with Augusta, the mayor's daughter, the unconventional old couple tries to protect the unconventional young pair from the disapproval of self righteous villagers.

The Lovers of the Pont Saint-Jean

1947

The First Weapons poster
6.2

A sensitive teen-age boy survives the brutalities of a country training school.

The First Weapons

1950

Danger of Death poster
5.7

Loiseau the pharmacist mistakenly mixes potassium cyanide into a batch of cough syrup and sells five bottles. With horror he discovers his mistake and sets out to find the buyers. He finds only four. The fifth, not a regular customer, comes back to the pharmacy...

Danger of Death

1947