Production

Pierre Braunberger

Born 1905-07-29 · Paris, France

Pierre Braunberger (29 July 1905, Paris – 16 November 1990, Aubervilliers) was a French producer, executive producer, and actor. Born into a family of physicians, Braunberger at the age of seven was already determined not have the same life as his father, and not to take up medicine as a career. He saw a screening of Fantômas at the Gaumont Théâtre, the first cinema to open in Paris, and decided to work in the cinema. After the First World War, at the age of 15, he produced and directed his first film: Frankfurt in Germany. He left for successive adventures in Berlin, London at Brocklis establishments, where he worked. In 1923, he left for New York, where he worked for a few weeks at Fox Film Corporation, and became a director of production along with Ferdinand H. Adam where he also worked on films with Frank Merrill. In the course of his films in Los Angeles, he came to know Irving Thalberg who employed him at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as one of his assistants. He stayed there for eighteen months, and established contacts with one of the greatest directors of the time. Wanting to direct and produce in France, he returned to Paris and got to know Jean Renoir, with whom he worked on Avec qui il va tourner, The Whirlpool of Fate, Nana and Tire-au-flanc. In 1929, Braunberger created Productions Pierre Braunberger and Néofilms for the production of his first French-speaking film (La route est belle by Robert Florey). In 1930, Braunberger became head of the Pantheon Cinema and continued there for sixty years. He renovated the lobby, created 450 seats, and installed Western Electric projectors and sound equipment. Although subtitles were yet to be invented, he was the first to show foreign films in their original versions. One year later, he met with Roger Richebé to produce under the name of Établissements Braunberger-Richebé. A few films were produced, such as le Blanc et le noir by Robert Florey, Isn't Life a Bitch? by Jean Renoir, and Chocolatière et Fanny by Marc Allégret. In 1933, still only 28, he decided to continue alone, and formed studios de Billancourt, which became Paris-Studio-Cinéma. During World War two he was not able to produce a film because he was Jewish. At the end of the Second World War, Braunberger transformed a local Gestapo office into the Cinema Studio "Studio Lhmond", which he used to discover new talents of the "nouvelle vague", including Jean-Pierre Melville, Jean-Luc Godard and Alain Resnais. In 1966 he was the head of the jury at the 16th Berlin International Film Festival. Braunberger had a close relationship with philosopher Gilles Deleuze. In the late 1970s, Braunberger produced two films for Polish filmmaker Walerian Borowczyk. Braunberger died in 1990. Source: Article "Pierre Braunberger" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Vivre Sa Vie poster
7.7

Twelve episodic tales in the life of a Parisian woman and her slow descent into prostitution.

Vivre Sa Vie

1962

In Memory of Rock poster
8.0

The rock-wild youth of the 1960s during the apparitions of their idols.

In Memory of Rock

1963

Van Gogh poster
6.7

The biography of Dutch artist Van Gogh, illustrated only with images of his paintings and drawings, or details of those, and according dramatic musical score.

Van Gogh

1948

Shoot the Piano Player poster
7.2

Charlie is a former classical pianist who has changed his name and now plays jazz in a grimy Paris bar. When Charlie's brothers, Richard and Chico, surface and ask for Charlie's help while on the run from gangsters they have scammed, he aids their escape. Soon Charlie and Lena, a waitress at the same bar, face trouble when the gangsters arrive, looking for his brothers.

Shoot the Piano Player

1960

Emilienne poster
4.0

Emilienne is an elegant and seductive study of a ménage-a-trois based on the novel by Claude Des Olbes. Nouky, a young artist, shows up at Emilienne's art gallery with her portfolio of erotic sketches. Emilienne is greatly impressed, unaware that this fledging talent is the mistress of her husband Claude. When Emilienne is invited to pose nude for Nouky, she too falls for the young artist's seductive charms. Thus Nouky makes herself the center of a sexual triangle that will change the lives of Claude and Emilienne forever...

Emilienne

1975

Forfaiture poster
6.6

Denise Moret joins her husband, Pierre, in Mongolia where he works as a civil engineer. One night she loose a lot of money on the roulette and therefore is forced to borrow money from Prince Lee-Lang. The Prince immediately begins to flirt and make advances towards Denise. Advances she rejects.

Forfaiture

1937

Jocelyn poster
9.0

In 1786, Jocelyn entered the Seminary. He leaves his share of the inheritance to his younger sister Julie. In 1793, on the point of being ordained a priest, the Revolution forced him to take refuge in the Alps. There he meets Laurence, first disguised as a young boy. A great friendship binds them which turns into love when Jocelyn discovers the girl's true identity. Yet faithful to the promise he made to the Superior of his Seminary, Jocelyn will not abandon his faith.

Jocelyn

1952

Montparnasse poster
6.4

Come take an avant-garde walk in the Montparnasse of the late 1920's. This district of Paris, filmed in a most unusual way, shows how dedicated it is to art. Visit its art galleries and exhibitions, take a glimpse of famous painter Fujita, of Luis Buñuel eyeing the legs of beautiful Parisian passing the terrace of the café where he sits, of Italian futurists Marinetti, Prampolini and Russolo.

Montparnasse

1929

Cinéma-Cinéma poster
NR

A tragic spin on the futility of revolution, in cinema and elsewhere.

Cinéma-Cinéma

1969

A Day in the Country poster
7.3

The family of a Parisian shop-owner spends a day in the country. The daughter falls in love with a man at the inn, where they spend the day.

A Day in the Country

1946

Erotissimo poster
5.7

Annie is a middle-age wife, still sexy and pampered by her husband, Phillippe, who is the owner and general manager of a dynamic company. Under the deluge of sexy Swedish movies, sexy advertising on the streets, sexy intimate clothing in ladies' shops, and even talks about sex and marital infidelity with her mother and female friends, Annie starts feeling left aside by her husband, and trying to attract in a number of ways - and failing. It's not the all-purpose secretary at the office that is keeping him late, it's a tax expert that, asking the most innocent questions, is finding out how Philippe can manage a company without profits, and still manage a home, may be two... with high quality levels.

Erotissimo

1969

Let's Make a Dirty Movie poster
3.9

A bumbling film crew attempts to make a porno movie.

Let's Make a Dirty Movie

1976

La Chienne poster
7.3

Cashier Maurice Legrand is married to the wretched Adele. By chance, he meets Lucienne, 'Lulu', and makes her his mistress. He thinks he has finally found love, but Lulu is a streetwalker, still in love with her pimp.

La Chienne

1931

Guernica poster
6.1

Alain Resnais & Robert Hessen use the famous Picasso mural "Guernica" in combination with newspaper headlines in an anti-war cry against the Spanish Civil War. Narration by Jacques Pruvost highlights the Guernica atrocity of April 1937, followed by a poem by Paul Eluard read by María Casares to a discordant score by Guy Bernard.

Guernica

1951

America as Seen by a Frenchman poster
6.9

At the end of the 1950s, French documentarian François Reichenbach spent eighteen months traveling the United States, documenting its diverse regions, their inhabitants, and their pastimes. The result is a journey through a multitude of different Americas, filtered through a French sensibility.

America as Seen by a Frenchman

1960

Catch Me a Spy poster
5.0

While on vacation, a woman's husband is taken by the Russian government. After one attempt fails, she begins looking for a suitable spy to capture and trade in exchange for her husband, but she develops an attraction to the one she thinks is a good candidate.

Catch Me a Spy

1971

Backbiters poster
6.8

About the conflict between social classes through the life of the unhappy Catherine Ferrand, an orphan girl, who is a victim of the jealousy of women and the greed of men.

Backbiters

1927

La Femme d'une nuit poster
8.0

A lieutenant of the French navy, ready to kill himself in despair, renounces his project after spending a night with a beautiful stranger, the Princess of Lystrie.

La Femme d'une nuit

1930

Charlotte and Her Boyfriend poster
6.4

This short features a man who is visited by his ex-lover. The moment she arrives, the man starts his constant barrage of speech; the woman doesn't say much. She just mocks the man and pretends she isn't listening. She pulls faces at him and larks about; while the man is trying his best to get her back in his life, then in the next sentence he says he hates her.

Charlotte and Her Boyfriend

1958

Julietta poster
6.4

Julietta Valendor is in love with lawyer André Landrecourt. He is unaware of her feelings. He puts her up one day when he has his fiancée, Rosie, staying with him... Based on a novel of Louise de Vilmorin.

Julietta

1953

Black and White poster
6.1

A one-night stand with an entertainer threatens to destroy a woman's marriage after she gives birth to a black child.

Black and White

1931

O Seasons, O Castles poster
6.4

A short documentary on the chateaux of the Loire in France was commissioned by the French Tourist Bureau.

O Seasons, O Castles

1958

Fantasia Among the Squares poster
5.0

Sagamore Noonan lives in seclusion on a farm in Alabama, where he distills moonshine during Prohibition. He receives a visit from his brother Doc Noonan and his son Billy. A young stripper and her gangster boyfriend come to disturb their peace.

Fantasia Among the Squares

1971

Fool’s Mate poster
6.6

Claire is a chic young Parisian woman married to a somewhat older husband, Jean. Claire meets her lover, Claude, at his apartment, where he gifts her a fur coat. Now Claire needs to figure out how to return home with this expensive gift without the affair being found out.

Fool’s Mate

1956