Writing
Joseph Kessel
Born 1898-01-31 · Clara, Argentina
Joseph Kessel (10 February 1898 – 23 July 1979), also known as "Jef" was a French journalist and novelist. He was a member of the Académie française and Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour. Kessel was born to a Jewish family in Villa Clara, Entre Ríos, Argentina, because of the constant journeys of his father, a Litvak physician. From 1905 to 1908, Joseph Kessel lived the first years of his childhood in Orenburg, Russia, before the family moved to France in 1908. He studied in lycée Masséna, Nice and lycée Louis-le-Grand, Paris and took part in the First World War as an aviator. He was also an aviator during the Second World War, in the Free French Groupe de Bombardement n° 1/20 "Lorraine" (342 Squadron RAF) with RAF Bomber Command, with Romain Gary, who was also a talented French novelist. Kessel wrote several novels and books that were later represented in the cinema, notably Belle de Jour (by Luis Buñuel in 1967). In 1943 he and his nephew Maurice Druon translated Anna Marly's song Chant des Partisans into French from its original Russian. The song became one of the anthems of Free French Forces during the Second World War. Kessel was elected to the Académie française in 1962 and died on 23 July 1979 in Avernes, Val-d'Oise of a ruptured aneurysm. He is buried in the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris. On his deathbed he was quoted as saying that his greatest accomplishment was the birth of his son, Joseph Kessel, who was born just a few months prior on 24 February of the same year. The Joseph-Kessel Prize (Prix Joseph Kessel) is a prestigious prize in French language literature, given to "a book of a high literary value written in French". The jury counts or has counted among its members Tahar Ben Jelloun, Jean-Marie Drot, Michèle Kahn, Pierre Haski, Gilles Lapouge, Michel Le Bris [fr], Érik Orsenna, Patrick Rambaud, Jean-Christophe Rufin, André Velter and Olivier Weber. Source: Article "Joseph Kessel" from Wikipedia in english, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Acting credits
Behind the camera
6.8A German intelligence officer investigates a prostitute's killing in Warsaw during World War II. He lands on three major Nazi generals as suspects, two of whom are also involved in a plot to kill Adolf Hitler.
The Night of the Generals
1967
9.0Two female agents from a rival gang are sent to disrupt the operations of a gold-smuggler's caravan in Africa.
Oasis
1955
6.9While on holiday on the French Riviera, former soldier Robert Teller recounts his time in WWII-era France, where he meets and falls in love with a poor girl named Lise. However, they're unable to marry when Lise is accused of prostitution and Teller's commanding officer forbids the match. The couple's love is again tested when Teller learns the truth about his would-be wife's whereabouts.
Act of Love
1953
6.2During the First World War, before joining a squadron at the front in 1918, Herbillon (Jean-Pierre Aumont) has a liaison with Helene (Annabella), a married woman. The young man discovers that his mistress is none other than the wife of Maury (Charles Vanel), an aviator friend.
Flight Into Darkness
1935
6.1In Africa in the fifties, during the Mau-Mau war, young Patricia's friendship with a lion she raised for years.
The Lion
2003
4.2Rahim's older brother Mokhi refuses to take him to Kabul's big bouzkachi game. Rahim decides to go there on his own. Guided by the angel of death, Azrael, Rahim follows a difficult path to Kabul.
The Devil's Pass
1959
6.6Film in two eras.1st era: They are not angels. Chronicle of a Free French parachute training camp during the Second World War. 2nd era: Terre de France. A group of paratroopers landed in Brittany sabotages the German installations.
Sky Battalion
1947
6.7World War I aviator Carbot attempts to establish a commercial airline after the war, for the purpose of delivering the mail to the outermost regions of France.
At the Grand Balcony
1949
10.0In 1912, a Russian officer is wrongly accused of having stolen important papers. His only alibi being to have spent the night with the wife of a colonel, he allows himself to be condemned so as not to compromise the latter. He manages to escape and hides in the guise of a poor boatman. One day, the truth comes out, the colonel commits suicide and the lovers are finally reunited.
Les Bateliers de la Volga
1935
NRThe first film shot in the small State of Sikkim (North Indian country).
Sikkim, terre secrète
1956
8.0A brilliant documentary about the growth of Israel into the Jewish homeland. Seventy-three years of struggle for religious freedom is vividly recorded using rare archive film footage and photographs of historic events in the development of 20th century Israel. Beginning with the Dreyfus Affair in 1894, the film covers Theodor Herzl, founder of modern Zionism; the earliest immigration and settlements; the formation of kibbutzim; the Balfour Declaration; the rise of European anti-Semitism; the British occupation of Palestine; Arab confrontations; the United Nations resolution; the "Exodus" incident, and the Six Day War.
A Wall in Jerusalem
1968
4.0A lady who had a secret affair lives in fear.
The Fear
1936
10.0When the war is over, a captain finds it very difficult to reintegrate into civilian life. Nothing happens, neither in journalism nor in insurance.
Cease Firing
1934
6.4During a French construction project in the Sudan, a military doctor fights against leprosy and the natives seek protection against witch doctors.
African Diary
1940