Directing

Sacha Guitry

Born 1885-02-20 · Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire [now Russia]

Alexandre-Pierre Georges Guitry (21 February 1885 – 24 July 1957), known as Sacha Guitry, was a French stage actor, film actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright of the boulevard theatre. He was the son of a leading French actor, Lucien Guitry, and followed his father into the theatrical profession. He became known for his stage performances, particularly in boulevardier roles. He was also a prolific playwright, writing 115 plays throughout his career. He was married five times, always to rising actresses whose careers he furthered. Probably his best-known wife was Yvonne Printemps to whom he was married between 1919 and 1932. Guitry's plays range from historical dramas to contemporary light comedies. Some have musical scores, by composers including André Messager and Reynaldo Hahn. When silent films became popular Guitry avoided them, finding the lack of spoken dialogue fatal to dramatic impact. From the 1930s to the end of his life he enthusiastically embraced the cinema, making as many as five films in a single year. The later years of Guitry's career were overshadowed by accusations of collaborating with the occupying Germans after the capitulation of France in the Second World War. The charges were dismissed, but Guitry, a strongly patriotic man, was disillusioned by the vilification he received from some of his compatriots. By the time of his death, his popular esteem had been restored to the extent that 12,000 people filed past his coffin before his burial in Paris. Guitry was born at No 12 Nevsky Prospect, Saint Petersburg, Russia, the third son of the French actors Lucien Guitry and his wife Marie-Louise-Renée née Delmas de Pont-Jest (1858–1902). The couple had eloped, in the face of family disapproval, and were married at St Martin in the Fields, London, in 1882. They then moved to the then Russian capital, where Lucien ran the French theatre company, the Théâtre Michel, from 1882 to 1891. The marriage was brief. Guitry senior was a persistent adulterer, and his wife instituted divorce proceedings in 1888. Two of their sons died in infancy (one in 1883 and the other in 1887); the other surviving son, Jean (1884–1920) became an actor and journalist. The family's Russian nurse habitually shortened Alexandre-Pierre's name to the Russian diminutive "Sacha", by which he was known all his life. The young Sacha made his stage debut in his father's company at the age of five. Lucien Guitry, considered the most distinguished actor in France since Coquelin, was immensely successful, both critically and commercially. When he returned to Paris he lived in a flat in a prestigious spot, overlooking the Place Vendôme and the Rue de la Paix. The young Sacha lived there, and for his schooling he was first sent to the well-known Lycée Janson de Sailly in the fashionable Sixteenth arrondissement. He did not stay long there, and went to a succession of other schools, both secular and religious, before abandoning formal education at the age of sixteen. ... Source: Article "Sacha Guitry" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Acting credits

4.0

Michel Desnoyer has turned his private life into a comic stage play. But the volcanic Ecaterina is not at all pleased to find out that Michel's sister is the mistress of the man she loves.

Toâ

1949

6.3

The film follows the life of Napoleon from his early life in Corsica to his death at Saint Helena. The film is notable for its use of location shooting for numerous scenes, especially at the French estates of Malmaison and Fontainebleau, the Palace of Versailles, and sites of Napoleonic battles including Austerlitz and Waterloo.

Napoleon

1955

5.9

The young American actor Carl Erikson is the darling of the moment. Whilst in Paris on business, he is signing autographs, including one for Paulette Nanteuil, the actress all the rage in France but a complete stranger to Carl. Charmed by the young woman, he hopes to see her again, but she had given him a false name – that of her friend, Claudine André, a journalist. Meanwhile, Carl Erikson has an interview scheduled with Philippe de Morannes, editor-in-chief of ‘Paris-Soir’ and Paulette’s lover. To thank him for granting him the interview, Philippe unwittingly becomes an accomplice of fate by offering him a ticket to Paulette’s show. Carl sneaks into her dressing room, and Paulette, swept away, gives herself to him for a night of passion. Should she leave Philippe or break up with Carl? Will Philippe succumb to Claudine’s charms, even though she herself is not taken with Carl?

Quadrille

1938

4.2

A home movie version of the Dumas play. A young woman becomes a courtesan and tragedy befalls her. Appearances are made by many socialites of 1920s Paris and New York.

Camille: The Fate of a Coquette

1926

6.7

Witty narration follows the history of Versailles Palace; founded by Louis XIII, enlarged by autocratic Louis XIV, whose personal affairs and amours, and those of his two successors, are pursued in more detail to the start of the Revolution, after which the story is brought rapidly up to date.

Royal Affairs in Versailles

1953

7.1

American multi-millionaire Michael Brandon marries his eighth wife, Nicole, the daughter of a broke French Marquis. But she doesn't want to be only a number in the line of his ex-wives and undertakes her own strategy to tame him.

Bluebeard's 8th Wife

1938

6.3

A girl, Marie, who got engaged to a boy who is leaving for military training (thirteen days) wins two million on the raffle, thanks to an older man, Claude, whom she calls her good luck …

Good Luck

1935

6.5

The story of the seven pearls of the English Crown, from Henry VIII to 1937 – three of them missing.

The Pearls of the Crown

1937

5.8

Guitry reprises his role as Pasteur which he played successfully at the Vaudeville Theatre in 1919.

Pasteur

1935

6.3

On the death of the famous singer Maria Malibran, Countess Merlin retraces the main lines of the unusual destiny of this young woman entirely devoted to her art.

La Malibran

1944

6.1

La Vie d'un honnête homme English: The Virtuous Scoundrel, is a French comedy drama film from 1953, directed by Sacha Guitry, written by Sacha Guitry, starring Michel Simon and Louis de Funès.

The Virtuous Scoundrel

1953

6.8

Désiré is hired by Odette Cléry as a valet. She is the mistress of Félix Montignac, Minister of Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones. Désiré is assisted by Adèle, the cook, and Madeleine, ‘Madame’s’ maid. The summer holidays take this little group to Deauville, to a holiday villa. But here’s the thing, Désiré is a man whose appearance, self-assurance and profession—which is, in fact, hereditary—are not entirely in keeping with his tastes and mindset. As the son, grandson and great-grandson of a servant, he derives genuine pleasure from obeying—and indeed, Désiré says so himself: ‘Serving is a marvellous thing. It means having the right to be without a will...’ But, alas! Every coin has two sides, and his only real taste lies in his mistresses. Adapted from the play of the same name by Sacha Guitry, premiered at the Théâtre Édouard VII (Théâtre de Sacha Guitry) in Paris’s 9th arrondissement on 27 April 1927.

Désiré

1937

6.9

A husband who has just cheated on his wife returns home in the early morning, puzzled. He finds there, without knowing it, the lover of his wife, to whom he confesses his infidelity.

Let's Make a Dream

1936

6.0

A wealthy baron, without offspring, who knows death is approaching, wants to adopt a man who kept him alive a bit longer, when he was almost run over by a horse drawn cart.

Tu m'as sauvé la vie

1950

7.3

Jean-Gaspard Deburau is a very successful mime, the most famous in his category. One day, he falls head over heels in love with Marie Duplessis, a courtesan better known as "La Dame aux Camélias". But he soon realizes that he is but a number in her long list of lovers. He will find comfort in devoting his time teaching his art to his son Charles.

Deburau

1951

6.1

A documentary view of the galas of Paris’s Palais Garnier in the 1950s and ’60s.

A Night at the Opera

2020

5.9

Historical film directed and written by Sacha Guitry follows the the history of Paris from its founding through the significant events in the city's history.

If Paris Were Told to Us

1956

From Joan of Arc to Philippe Pétain poster

9.0

Sitting at his desk, Guitry gives us a lecture on French history from Joan of Arc to the Occupation, with some focus on a number of its great writers and musicians.

From Joan of Arc to Philippe Pétain

1944

5.0

Three successive sketches: Sacha Guitry successively calls Pauline Carton, Gaston Severin and Paul Pauley by telephone, to invite them to the Ambassadors gala dinner.

Dîner de gala aux Ambassadeurs

1934

6.5

The film is a 125-minute, black-and-white biography of French priest and diplomat Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754–1838), who served for 50 years under five different French regimes: the Absolute Monarchy, the Revolution, the Consulate, the Empire, and the Constitutional Monarchy. Its title comes from one of the main historical nicknames for Talleyrand, that he shares with demon king Asmodeus and English poet Lord Byron.

The Devil Who Limped

1948

5.4

The history of one of France's most famous streets is retold, featuring multiple performances from Guitry himself.

Let’s Go Up the Champs-Élysées

1938

7.1

A man remarried his wife's sister whom he believes died in a fire. The alleged deceased reappears and sows trouble and discord in the new household.

Two Doves

1949

7.5

Life story of a charming scoundrel, with little dialogue other than the star/director's witty narration. As a boy, only he survives a family tragedy when he's deprived of supper (poisonous mushrooms!) for stealing...concluding that dishonesty pays. Through years of dabbling in crime and amusing adventures, two women appear and reappear in his life, a dazzling blonde jewel thief and a stunning brunette gambler. Finally, he meets the mysterious Charbonnier who had saved his life in World War I, leading to the surprising next phase in his career...

The Story of a Cheat

1936

6.2

Mrs Cambronne, of British origin, to whom the famous ‘remark’ made by her husband, General Pierre Cambronne, has been much recounted, presses her husband with questions in an attempt to discover its meaning. But the general refuses to offer any explanation and remains silent. An adaptation of Sacha Guitry’s play of the same name, also written in 1936. Released in cinemas on 26 March 1937 at the Cinéma Normandie in Paris’s 8th arrondissement. The film was shot in a single afternoon on November 19, 1936, featuring the four actors who had originally performed the play on stage. The props came from the theater and were returned there that same evening. As Guitry explains at the beginning of his film, this production is dedicated to the memory of Edmond Rostand, who suggested the subject of the play—on which the film is based—to the author of “Mot de Cambronne.”

Le Mot de Cambronne

1937

Behind the camera

4.0

Michel Desnoyer has turned his private life into a comic stage play. But the volcanic Ecaterina is not at all pleased to find out that Michel's sister is the mistress of the man she loves.

Toâ

1949

4.0

Michel Desnoyer has turned his private life into a comic stage play. But the volcanic Ecaterina is not at all pleased to find out that Michel's sister is the mistress of the man she loves.