Pierre Chenal

Directing

Pierre Chenal

Born — Died

1904-12-05 — 1990-12-23

Place of birth

Bruxelles, Belgique

Known for

Directing

Credits

41 titles

Philippe Cohen, known as Pierre Chenal, is a French director, born December 5, 1904 in Brussels and died December 23, 1990 in La Garenne-Colombes. Chenal occupies an uncomfortable place in the history of French cinema: relatively unknown, he is cataloged as a filmmaker who left only a light body of work. His detailed filmography, however, tends to show the opposite. Made in the 1930s, his first short films were documentaries where the filmmaker used social realism. The Little Trades of Paris (1932) or A French City of Cinema had a didactic ambition which ranked him among the innovators at the time. Throughout his work, Pierre Chenal will maintain this taste for atmospheres tinged with trut…

Known for

Se abre el abismo poster
7.0

The arbitrariness of an evil father leads his children to patricide.

Se abre el abismo

1945

Native Son poster
5.5

In 1940s Chicago, a young black man takes a job as a chauffeur to a white family, which takes a turn for the worse when he accidentally kills the teenage daughter of the couple and then tries to cover it up.

Native Son

1951

Crime and Punishment poster
7.0

Former student Raskolnikov is pushed to murder when struggling to pay the rent on his apartment. When the murder is being investigated by the police, Raskolnikov struggles between trying to hide his guilt and the pressure to confess.

Crime and Punishment

1935

Beast at Bay poster
4.8

Melun, on 1959. On the return to an auction, a young and attractive widow, Elisabeth Vernon, finds at her home(with her) a wounded escapee of prison. The fugitive, Daniel Morane, is a handsome boy and justifies himself crimes(murders) of which we accuse it. The young woman is allowed convince, seduce, feels sorry, and agrees to help him(it). But during their escape(mare), the doubt seizes her …

Beast at Bay

1959

Versatile Lovers poster
3.6

Isabell runs a nursing home for wealthy women who are trying to detox from their various obsessions. Her lover, Serge Belaiev, a petty gangster, has pulled off a big hit but his partners have denounced him to the police in order to appropriate his share of the loot. Isabelle takes him in and hides him in an attic of this strange house. In love with Isabelle, Philippe Lansac, the owner of the place, decides to close the castle...

Versatile Lovers

1970

Scandals of Clochemerle poster
6.3

A little town erupts in turmoil about the construction of a public urinal. The army is sent in to restore order, but the military add to the confusion by getting involved with the local women.

Scandals of Clochemerle

1948

Film credits

Behind the camera

Se abre el abismo poster
7.0

The arbitrariness of an evil father leads his children to patricide.

Se abre el abismo

1945

Native Son poster
5.5

In 1940s Chicago, a young black man takes a job as a chauffeur to a white family, which takes a turn for the worse when he accidentally kills the teenage daughter of the couple and then tries to cover it up.

Native Son

1951

Native Son poster
5.5

In 1940s Chicago, a young black man takes a job as a chauffeur to a white family, which takes a turn for the worse when he accidentally kills the teenage daughter of the couple and then tries to cover it up.

Native Son

1951

Crime and Punishment poster
7.0

Former student Raskolnikov is pushed to murder when struggling to pay the rent on his apartment. When the murder is being investigated by the police, Raskolnikov struggles between trying to hide his guilt and the pressure to confess.

Crime and Punishment

1935

Crime and Punishment poster
7.0

Former student Raskolnikov is pushed to murder when struggling to pay the rent on his apartment. When the murder is being investigated by the police, Raskolnikov struggles between trying to hide his guilt and the pressure to confess.

Crime and Punishment

1935

Beast at Bay poster
4.8

Melun, on 1959. On the return to an auction, a young and attractive widow, Elisabeth Vernon, finds at her home(with her) a wounded escapee of prison. The fugitive, Daniel Morane, is a handsome boy and justifies himself crimes(murders) of which we accuse it. The young woman is allowed convince, seduce, feels sorry, and agrees to help him(it). But during their escape(mare), the doubt seizes her …

Beast at Bay

1959

Versatile Lovers poster
3.6

Isabell runs a nursing home for wealthy women who are trying to detox from their various obsessions. Her lover, Serge Belaiev, a petty gangster, has pulled off a big hit but his partners have denounced him to the police in order to appropriate his share of the loot. Isabelle takes him in and hides him in an attic of this strange house. In love with Isabelle, Philippe Lansac, the owner of the place, decides to close the castle...

Versatile Lovers

1970

Scandals of Clochemerle poster
6.3

A little town erupts in turmoil about the construction of a public urinal. The army is sent in to restore order, but the military add to the confusion by getting involved with the local women.

Scandals of Clochemerle

1948

Alibi poster
6.6

Paris, 1937. Winckler kills his enemy Gordon, a Chicago mobster, from the stage of a Parisian music hall, where he performs telepathy. He pays another artist, Helene, so that she tells the police they've spent the night together, which doesn't fool Callas, the police officer who investigates the murder. He hires one of his fellow officers in order to seduce Helene.

Alibi

1937

Street Without a Name poster
10.0

The story focuses on a street in the Parisian banlieue where Italian and French workers live. Their neighborhood will soon be demolished and a mysterious character hides himself in this street.

Street Without a Name

1934

Street Without a Name poster
10.0

The story focuses on a street in the Parisian banlieue where Italian and French workers live. Their neighborhood will soon be demolished and a mysterious character hides himself in this street.

Street Without a Name

1934

The Mutineers of Elsinore poster
7.0

A journalist takes command of a ship after the crew mutiny against the brutal captain. It was an adaptation of the novel The Mutiny of the Elsinore by Jack London.

The Mutineers of Elsinore

1936

The Mutineers of Elsinore poster
7.0

A journalist takes command of a ship after the crew mutiny against the brutal captain. It was an adaptation of the novel The Mutiny of the Elsinore by Jack London.

The Mutineers of Elsinore

1936

El viaje sin regreso poster
NR

At the core of this enormously bleak melodrama, there is a beautiful, passionate woman (Florence Marly, Chenal's wife) who capriciously oscillates between two men (Chiola, De Paula), even though she knows her fate is fatally linked to one of them.

El viaje sin regreso

1946

The Man from Nowhere poster
6.8

Mathias Pascal, saddled with a stupid wife and a nagging mother-in-law, leaves home and is extremely lucky at several gambling resorts. He returns home and discovers that a drowned man, fished out of the river, bears an uncanny likeness to him and is being buried by his family as him. This, to him, is a pleasant turn of events and he goes to Rome, where he falls in love with Louise Paleari. Count Papiano, a jealous suitor of Louise's, threatens him with arrest unless he produces credentials to prove his identity.

The Man from Nowhere

1937

The Man from Nowhere poster
6.8

Mathias Pascal, saddled with a stupid wife and a nagging mother-in-law, leaves home and is extremely lucky at several gambling resorts. He returns home and discovers that a drowned man, fished out of the river, bears an uncanny likeness to him and is being buried by his family as him. This, to him, is a pleasant turn of events and he goes to Rome, where he falls in love with Louise Paleari. Count Papiano, a jealous suitor of Louise's, threatens him with arrest unless he produces credentials to prove his identity.

The Man from Nowhere

1937

The Corpse Breaks a Date poster
5.3

On the night of his marriage, a young bourgeois man runs over a cyclist. He believes he is dead and hides the body. However, a mysterious character will later appear in his life.

The Corpse Breaks a Date

1944

The Corpse Breaks a Date poster
5.3

On the night of his marriage, a young bourgeois man runs over a cyclist. He believes he is dead and hides the body. However, a mysterious character will later appear in his life.

The Corpse Breaks a Date

1944

Les suites d'un premier lit poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Les suites d'un premier lit

1935

Dangerous Games poster
6.0

Alain is the only son of a wealthy bourgeois couple. He takes violin lessons in Ménilmontant, where he is spotted by Fleur, a poor girl: she is going to kidnap him and demand a ransom from the young man's parents, money which will be used to pay for a good lawyer for her brother accused of killing a policeman.

Dangerous Games

1958

Dangerous Games poster
6.0

Alain is the only son of a wealthy bourgeois couple. He takes violin lessons in Ménilmontant, where he is spotted by Fleur, a poor girl: she is going to kidnap him and demand a ransom from the young man's parents, money which will be used to pay for a good lawyer for her brother accused of killing a policeman.

Dangerous Games

1958

Sirocco poster
6.0

Town trollop Safia, much against her better judgment, falls in love with Matteo, a beggar and mystic in the native quarter of Sirocco. She flees to France, first as the mistress and then wife of a wealthy archaeologist, and bears him Matteo's child, whom he believes to be his own. Complications arise years later when Matteo finds Safia, and a ring of blackmailers uncover her past and exposes her to her husband.

Sirocco

1938

The Last Turning poster
6.5

Frank, a hobo, ends up in a garage-truck stop in the middle of nowhere. Nick Marino, its older, kind and naive owner, is married to Cora, a sexy and mercenary woman half his age. Frank, although not a fan of hard work, accepts Nick's offer to work for him. Of course, it is not for Nick's sake that the young man becomes his attendant, but for the love of Cora under whose spell he has fallen at once. It does not take long before Cora, who despises her husband, asks her lover to help her get rid of him. Frank is reluctant at first but ...

The Last Turning

1939

Sinners of Paris poster
5.5

Michel Piccoli plays a police inspector whose best friend is murdered on the orders of gang boss Charles Vanel. The inspector knows full well that Vanel is too crafty and well-connected to ever stand trial for his crime, so he carefully lays a subtle trap for his adversary. Unfortunately, both Piccoli and Vanel are thwarted by a pair of scheming females.

Sinners of Paris

1958

Sinners of Paris poster
5.5

Michel Piccoli plays a police inspector whose best friend is murdered on the orders of gang boss Charles Vanel. The inspector knows full well that Vanel is too crafty and well-connected to ever stand trial for his crime, so he carefully lays a subtle trap for his adversary. Unfortunately, both Piccoli and Vanel are thwarted by a pair of scheming females.

Sinners of Paris

1958

Devil and the Angel poster
6.0

The Director of an international banknote printing institute, mutilated by the face of the Great War, Frank Davres, falls in love with a young woman, Jeanne, admirably beautiful, but blind. He marries her. For her, he ruins himself and comes to issue counterfeit banknotes. The young woman does everything to make people forget her infirmity. One day, following an operation, she recovers her sight and notices the physical and moral ugliness of her husband. She hides her cure until the day when Frank, taken by the police, kills one of his accomplices and commits suicide. Jeanne leaves to join a friend with whom she was performing in a circus.

Devil and the Angel

1946

Fat Man's Worries poster
8.0

A young lady whose husband has been seeing someone else decides to make him jealous by flirting with the unlikely prospect of a fat man.Is it worth that guy's trouble to try to lose some weight, or is he kidding himself?

Fat Man's Worries

1933

Bâtir poster
10.0

After filming the construction site of the Berlitz Palace (2nd), Pierre Chenal shows us in contrast other contemporary architectural achievements which, using the same technical processes, do not sacrifice the structure of iron and concrete for decoration. A documentary to the glory of the modern designs of Mallet-Stevens and Le Corbusier.

Bâtir

1931

Bâtir poster
10.0

After filming the construction site of the Berlitz Palace (2nd), Pierre Chenal shows us in contrast other contemporary architectural achievements which, using the same technical processes, do not sacrifice the structure of iron and concrete for decoration. A documentary to the glory of the modern designs of Mallet-Stevens and Le Corbusier.

Bâtir

1931

Bâtir poster
10.0

After filming the construction site of the Berlitz Palace (2nd), Pierre Chenal shows us in contrast other contemporary architectural achievements which, using the same technical processes, do not sacrifice the structure of iron and concrete for decoration. A documentary to the glory of the modern designs of Mallet-Stevens and Le Corbusier.

Bâtir

1931

L'assassin connaît la musique poster
7.8

Lionel Fribourg, a great composer (at least that's what he thinks) has a problem with his noisy environment: he can't complete his unfinished symphony. Of course there is a market for unfinished symphonies but, for all he knows, only one became famous. So he had better find a way to finish it. At long last, he comes across Agnès, a divorced woman who agrees to let him her quiet home. Lionel, full of hope, resumes work...

L'assassin connaît la musique

1963

L'assassin connaît la musique poster
7.8

Lionel Fribourg, a great composer (at least that's what he thinks) has a problem with his noisy environment: he can't complete his unfinished symphony. Of course there is a market for unfinished symphonies but, for all he knows, only one became famous. So he had better find a way to finish it. At long last, he comes across Agnès, a divorced woman who agrees to let him her quiet home. Lionel, full of hope, resumes work...

L'assassin connaît la musique

1963

L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui poster
10.0

Regarding Le Corbusier: the man and his architecture

L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui

1930

L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui poster
10.0

Regarding Le Corbusier: the man and his architecture

L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui

1930

Le hasard mène le Jeu poster
10.0

No synopsis available yet.

Le hasard mène le Jeu

1985

Le hasard mène le Jeu poster
10.0

No synopsis available yet.

Le hasard mène le Jeu

1985

Small Trades in Paris poster
NR

Grinders, rag-men, China menders, mattress carders are among those small trades of yesteryear that have disappeared from our sight and fallen into oblivion. But way back in 1931 they were far from extinct and still populated and livened up the streets from dawn till dusk. The tenderness of Pierre Chenal look at them is only accentuated by the nostalgia experienced by today's viewer.

Small Trades in Paris

1932

The Lafarge Case poster
6.5

Based on true facts, a news item which was widely talked about in the nineteenth century, this is the story of a wife who might have poisoned her husband .

The Lafarge Case

1938

Missing Persons Section poster
6.6

The love affair of an ex-convict with a showgirl, unleashes the jealousy of his older, wealthy and unbalanced wife. A murder plot, staged phoney suicide and other twists and turns follow.

Missing Persons Section

1956

Missing Persons Section poster
6.6

The love affair of an ex-convict with a showgirl, unleashes the jealousy of his older, wealthy and unbalanced wife. A murder plot, staged phoney suicide and other twists and turns follow.

Missing Persons Section

1956