Marcel Carné

Directing

Marcel Carné

Born 1906-08-18 · Paris, France

Born in Paris, France, the son of a cabinet maker whose wife died when their son was five, Marcel Carné began his career as a film critic, becoming editor of the weekly publication, Hebdo-Films, and working for Cinémagazine and Cinémonde between 1929 and 1933. In the same period he worked in silent film as a camera assistant with director Jacques Feyder. By age 25, Carné had already directed his first short film, Nogent, Eldorado du dimanche (1929). He assisted Feyder (and René Clair) on several films through to La kermesse héroïque (1935). Feyder accepted an invitation to work in England for Alexander Korda, for whom he made Knight Without Armour (1937), but made it possible for Carné to take over his project, Jenny (1936), as its director. The film marked the beginning of a successful collaboration with surrealist poet and screenwriter Jacques Prévert. This collaborative relationship lasted for more than a dozen years, during which Carné and Prévert created their best remembered films. Together, they were involved in the poetic realism film movement of fatalistic tragedies. Under the German occupation of France during World War II, Carné worked in the Vichy zone where he subverted the regime's attempts to control art; several of his team were Jewish, including Joseph Kosma and set designer Alexandre Trauner. Under difficult conditions they made Carné's most highly regarded film Les Enfants du paradis (Children of Paradise, 1945) released after the Liberation of France. In the late 1990s, the film was voted "Best French Film of the Century" in a poll of 600 French critics and professionals. Post war, he and Prévert followed this triumph with what at the time was the most expensive production ever undertaken in the history of French film. But the result, titled Les Portes de la nuit, was panned by the critics and a box office failure and was their last completed film. By the 1950s, Carné's reputation was in eclipse. The critics of Cahiers du Cinema, who became the film makers of the New Wave, dismissed him and placed his film's merits solely with Prevert. Other than his 1958 hit Les Tricheurs, Carné's postwar films met with only uneven success and many were greeted by an almost unrelenting negative criticism from the press and within members of the film industry. In 1958, Carné was the Head of the Jury at the 6th Berlin International Film Festival. Carné made his last film in 1976. Carné was gay and made little secret about it. Several of his later films contain references to male homosexuality or bisexuality. His one-time partner was Roland Lesaffre who appeared in many of his films. In 1989 a book was published by Edward Baron Turk as part of the Harvard Film Studies that told his story under the title Child of Paradise: Marcel Carné and the Golden Age of French Cinema. Marcel Carné died in 1996 in Clamart, Hauts-de-Seine, and was buried in the Cimetière Saint-Vincent in Montmartre. Description above from the Wikipedia article Marcel Carné, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

Carné, Prévert : drôle de duo poster
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No synopsis available yet.

Carné, Prévert : drôle de duo

2019

1940: Taking over French Cinema poster
9.0

Paris, 1940. German occupation forces create a new film production company, Continental, and put Alfred Greven – producer, cinephile, and opportunistic businessman – in charge. During the occupation, under Joseph Goebbels’s orders, Greven hires the best artists and technicians of French cinema to produce successful, highly entertaining films, which are also strategically devoid of propaganda. Simultaneously, he takes advantage of the confiscation of Jewish property to purchase film theaters, studios and laboratories, in order to control the whole production line. His goal: to create a European Hollywood. Among the thirty feature films thus produced under the auspices of Continental, several are, to this day, considered classics of French cinema.

1940: Taking over French Cinema

2019

Marcel Carné: My Life in Film poster
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An interview of French film director Marcel Carné by Didier Decoin

Marcel Carné: My Life in Film

1995

Le Fantôme de Laurent Terzieff poster
6.0

Laurent Terzieff was more than a good actor, after having been a real "star" in the cinema, through his professional choices, he gradually became a real "conscience of the theater", so much had he thought about his art. He received six Molière awards and was always unanimously praised by his peers. “THE GHOST OF LAURENT TERZIEFF” is a daring portrait, as it explores in depth “the secrets of a soul” and the atypical journey of the actor.

Le Fantôme de Laurent Terzieff

2020

No artwork available
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Documentary about the making of Marcel Carne's 1945 film Children of Paradise (France), interviewing the director, the actors and production designer, as well as other French directors.

The Birth of Children of Paradise

1967

Behind the camera

Children of Paradise poster
8.0

In a chaotic 19th-century Paris teeming with aristocrats, thieves, psychics, and courtesans, theater mime Baptiste is in love with the mysterious actress Garance. But Garance, in turn, is loved by three other men: pretentious actor Frederick, conniving thief Lacenaire, and Count Edouard of Montray.

Children of Paradise

1945

The Devil's Envoys poster
6.8

At the end of the 15th century, a man and a woman, posing as traveling minstrels, are sent by the Devil to a castle to seduce its inhabitants.

The Devil's Envoys

1942

Hôtel du Nord poster
7.1

On the meandering Canal St. Martin, at the Parisian Hôtel du Nord, a nearly fatal gunshot separates a dejected young couple. But, amid a sad but beautiful panorama of lively characters, love has the final say. Can life be a fairy tale?

Hôtel du Nord

1938

Port of Shadows poster
7.4

Down a foggy, desolate road to the port city of Le Havre travels Jean, an army deserter looking for another chance to make good on life. Fate, however, has a different plan for him, as acts of both revenge and kindness render him front-page news.

Port of Shadows

1938

Young Wolves poster
4.4

Alain, "a young wolf", elegant and racy, is maintained by the princess Linzani. At the same time, he goes out with a girl of his age, Sylvie, who despite her bold attitude has never had a lover.

Young Wolves

1968

Young Wolves poster
4.4

Alain, "a young wolf", elegant and racy, is maintained by the princess Linzani. At the same time, he goes out with a girl of his age, Sylvie, who despite her bold attitude has never had a lover.

Young Wolves

1968

Daybreak poster
7.6

After committing a murder, a man locks himself in his apartment and recollects the events that led him to the killing.

Daybreak

1939

Bizarre, Bizarre poster
7.0

A French farce set in Victorian London where a botanist and his wife get into trouble when they pretend to go missing in order to hide from their sanctimonious cousin – an Anglican bishop who is leading a campaign against such writing.

Bizarre, Bizarre

1937

The Cheaters poster
6.5

Bob Letellier, a good looking rich kid who studies science, makes the acquaintance of Alain, a cynical and immoral young man. The latter introduces him to the existentialist circles of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Bob is invited to a party and becomes Clo's lover, a rich heiress.

The Cheaters

1958

Air of Paris poster
6.2

Victor Le Garrec, a former boxer, runs a gym in Paris while dreaming of finding an aspiring champion who will reach the goals he was never able to achieve.

Air of Paris

1954

Air of Paris poster
6.2

Victor Le Garrec, a former boxer, runs a gym in Paris while dreaming of finding an aspiring champion who will reach the goals he was never able to achieve.

Air of Paris

1954

Thérèse Raquin poster
6.6

Star-crossed lovers Thérèse and Laurent think they've gotten away with murder after Thérèse's weakling husband "falls" from a speeding train. But when forced to contend with a blackmailer's demands and the mute accusations of Thérèse's mother-in-law, it's only a matter of time before the law, their passion or blind chance trips them up.

Thérèse Raquin

1953

Gates of the Night poster
7.0

In post-Liberation Paris, a man reunites with a friend and meets the woman of his dreams, only to discover her brother's dark past.

Gates of the Night

1946

Three Rooms in Manhattan poster
6.1

When his wife leaves him, a young French actor, François Combe, moves to New York to work for a television company. One evening, he meets an attractive young woman, Kay Larsi, in a bar.

Three Rooms in Manhattan

1965

Three Rooms in Manhattan poster
6.1

When his wife leaves him, a young French actor, François Combe, moves to New York to work for a television company. One evening, he meets an attractive young woman, Kay Larsi, in a bar.

Three Rooms in Manhattan

1965

Law Breakers poster
5.5

A judge investigating police corruption finds that the deeper he digs, the more roadblocks he finds.

Law Breakers

1971

Law Breakers poster
5.5

A judge investigating police corruption finds that the deeper he digs, the more roadblocks he finds.

Law Breakers

1971

Marie of the Port poster
5.7

Henri Chatelard is well into his forties, owns a restaurant and a cinema in the city, and appreciates women. When he meets Marie, an 18-ish strong-head who just lost her father in a small fishing village, it is not clear who is the hunter and who is the prey.

Marie of the Port

1950

Marie of the Port poster
5.7

Henri Chatelard is well into his forties, owns a restaurant and a cinema in the city, and appreciates women. When he meets Marie, an 18-ish strong-head who just lost her father in a small fishing village, it is not clear who is the hunter and who is the prey.

Marie of the Port

1950

The Marvelous Visit poster
5.2

In a small French village, an angel appears disguised as a beautiful young blond.

The Marvelous Visit

1974

The Marvelous Visit poster
5.2

In a small French village, an angel appears disguised as a beautiful young blond.

The Marvelous Visit

1974

Jenny poster
6.1

When her fiancé breaks off their engagement, Danielle leaves London and returns to her mother, Jenny, in Paris. With her business partner Benoît, Jenny runs what appears to be a respectable nightclub – it is in fact a place where wealthy men can buy the favours of attractive young women. Oblivious to her mother's professional and personal life, Danielle meets a handsome young man named Lucien, and falls in love with him – not realising that he is Jenny's lover...

Jenny

1936

The Country I Come From poster
6.8

One Christmas Eve, a carefree young man, Eric, arrives in a small provincial town. Here, he meets Julien, a bar pianist who is his exact double. Julien is in love with Marinette, a pretty waitress, but he is too shy to make any romantic overtures. Eric decides to give the course of true love a helping hand by pretending to be Julien. Meanwhile, Eric’s fabulously wealthy uncle has sent his minions out to bring him back home, so that he may celebrate Christmas in the bosom of his family.

The Country I Come From

1956

The Country I Come From poster
6.8

One Christmas Eve, a carefree young man, Eric, arrives in a small provincial town. Here, he meets Julien, a bar pianist who is his exact double. Julien is in love with Marinette, a pretty waitress, but he is too shy to make any romantic overtures. Eric decides to give the course of true love a helping hand by pretending to be Julien. Meanwhile, Eric’s fabulously wealthy uncle has sent his minions out to bring him back home, so that he may celebrate Christmas in the bosom of his family.

The Country I Come From

1956