Julien Duvivier
Encyclopedia
Julien Duvivier was a French film director. He was prominent in French cinema in the years 1930-1960. Amongst his most original films, chiefly notable are La Bandera
, Pépé le Moko
, Panique
, Voici le temps des assassins
and Marianne de ma jeunesse.
, as a writer and assistant of, amongst others, André Antoine, Louis Feuillade
and Marcel L'Herbier
. In 1919 he directed his first film. In the 1920s several of his films had a religious concern; - Credo ou la tragédie de Lourdes, L'abbé Constantin and La Vie miraculeuse de Thérèse Martin
- a film about the Carmelite saint Thérèse of Lisieux.
, made in 1930, was his first success. It was also his first 'talkie' , as it was of the actor Harry Baur
. They worked together many more times in the 1930s. In 1934 Duvivier collaborated with Jean Gabin
for the first time in the film Maria Chapdelaine. In 1935, for La Bandera
, he availed himself of the writing talent of Charles Spaak
, who had previously worked with Jacques Feyder
, Jean Gremillon
, Marc Allégret
and Marcel L'Herbier
. They too would work together many times from this point onwards. Having made Golem (1936), a remake of an earlier German horror film
, Duvivier set out on La belle équipe
, with Jean Gabin, Charles Vanel
and Raymond Aimos. The film remains key to his work. Five unemployed men hit the lottery jackpot and decide to buy a seaside café/dance hall together. The unexpected however, keeps happening. Once jealousy over a woman, Gina, (Viviane Romance), gets mixed up with the venture, there is little left to save. The original ending of the film involving a killing, was judged too pessimistic, and another, happier ending, was filmed. It was the happier version that was released, though both versions still exist. L'Homme du jour (1936), with Maurice Chevalier
in the lead role is a minor work in the director's canon but Pépé le Moko
and Un Carnet de Bal are incontestable summits.
Pépé le Moko which plunges into the midst of the gangster underworld, and which had the Casbah
(Arab quarter) of Algiers
for exotic backdrop, was the film which propelled Jean Gabin
into the category of an international star. In 1938 Duvivier signed a contract with MGM and made his first American film, a biopic of Johann Strauss
, The Great Waltz
. The next year, back in France, he made La Fin du Jour, in which theatre actors in retirement struggle to see that their retirement home remains open. Michel Simon
played an old ham actor, and Louis Jouvet
, an old leading actor who still believes in his seductive powers. La Charrette fantôme followed, a horror film adapted from a novel by Selma Lagerlof
. In 1940 Untel père et fils
, a family history starring Raimu
, Michèle Morgan
, and Jouvet, was not able to be shown - because of the political situation - until the end of the war, at least in France. It is generally considered a minor work, and even a failure.
most notably, Duvivier left to work in the United States. He made 5 films in these years. Lydia
; two anthology films, Tales of Manhattan
with Charles Boyer
and Rita Hayworth
amongst other stars, and Flesh and Fantasy
with Edward G. Robinson
, Charles Boyer
and Barbara Stanwyck
; The Impostor, a remake of Pépé le Moko
and again with Jean Gabin; and Destiny, (1944), a Reginald Le Borg
film to which Duvivier contributed uncredited.
, an exhaustive summary of the lowest of human instincts, was the most personal, darkest, and nihilistic of his works. It was a bitter failure - with critics and the public. Duvivier continued, notwithstanding, to work in France until the end of his life, (after a short detour to Great Britain in 1948 to shoot Anna Karenina
and to Spain for Black Jack
in 1950.) In 1951 he made Sous le ciel de Paris, a highly original film from the point of view of the way the film was cut. In the course of a day in Paris one follows people whose paths will cross. The same year Duvivier shot the first of the humorous Don Camillo
films from the Giovanni Guareschi books, Le Petit monde de Don Camillo
. It met with immediate popular success and he followed its success with Le Retour de Don Camillo in 1953. The series continued with other directors. In 1956's Voici le temps des assassins
, Jean Gabin
played a decent restaurateur in Les Halles
who is swindled by a cynical young woman, Catherine, (Danièle Delorme
). In 1959 he made Marie-Octobre
with Danielle Darrieux
, Serge Reggiani
, and Bernard Blier
amongst others. It was an exercise in style; 11 people, 9 men, 2 women, and a mise en scène
that followed the unities of time, place, and action, it had a constant concern for the framing of the composition to reinforce an inquisitorial, menacing atmosphere. The same year he was invited to be part of the jury of the Cannes Film Festival
, 1959, the year the Nouvelle Vague
emerged.
In 1962 Duvivier made a final anthology film, Le Diable et les dix Commandements
, and in 1963 Chair de Poule, a film whose scenario has resemblances with The Postman Always Rings Twice
and which again features an unscrupulous woman. In 1967, just as the production of Diaboliquement vôtre reached completion, a film about a man made amnesiac following a car accident, Duvivier himself was in a traffic accident, triggering a heart attack which killed him. He was 71; he left behind a filmography comprising nearly 70 films. He is buried in the cemetery of Rueil-Malmaison
in the Hauts-de-Seine
.
La Bandera (film)
La Bandera is a 1935 film directed by Julien Duvivier, based on a novel by Pierre Mac Orlan. -Plot:Curfew bells are ringing at night in Paris, while a man and his drunken girlfriend Jacqueline walk down the street. Pierre Gilieth comes out of house #25 looking very frightened, both Pierre Gilieth...
, Pépé le Moko
Pépé le Moko
Pépé le Moko is a 1937 French film directed by Julien Duvivier and starring Jean Gabin. It depicts an infamous gangster, Pépé le Moko who tries to escape the police by hiding in the casbah of the city of Algiers...
, Panique
Panique
Panique is a French film directed by Julien Duvivier, made in 1946 and released in 1947, starring Michel Simon and Viviane Romance. In 1989 Patrice Leconte remade the film as Monsieur Hire, with the title rôle played by Michel Blanc.-Plot:...
, Voici le temps des assassins
Voici le temps des assassins
Voici le temps des assassins is a French film directed by Julien Duvivier, released in April 1956. The title is a line of Matinée d'ivresse - part of Illuminations by Arthur Rimbaud.-Plot:...
and Marianne de ma jeunesse.
Early years
It was as an actor, in 1916 at the Théâtre de l'Odéon under the direction of Andre Antoine, that Duvivier's career began. In 1918 he moved on to GaumontGaumont Film Company
Gaumont Film Company is a French film production company founded in 1895 by the engineer-turned-inventor, Léon Gaumont . Gaumont is the oldest continously operating film company in the world....
, as a writer and assistant of, amongst others, André Antoine, Louis Feuillade
Louis Feuillade
Louis Feuillade was a prolific and prominent French film director from the silent era. Between 1906 and 1924 he directed over 630 films...
and Marcel L'Herbier
Marcel L'Herbier
Marcel L'Herbier, Légion d'honneur, was a French film-maker, who achieved prominence as an avant-garde theorist and imaginative practitioner with a series of silent films in the 1920s. His career as a director continued until the 1950s and he made more than 40 feature films in total...
. In 1919 he directed his first film. In the 1920s several of his films had a religious concern; - Credo ou la tragédie de Lourdes, L'abbé Constantin and La Vie miraculeuse de Thérèse Martin
La Vie miraculeuse de Thérèse Martin
La Vie miraculeuse de Thérèse Martin , is a French film, silent, directed by Julien Duvivier, and released in 1929...
- a film about the Carmelite saint Thérèse of Lisieux.
The 1930s
In the 1930s Duvivier was part of the production company, 'Film d'Art', founded by Marcel Vandal and Charles Delac and he worked as part of a team. He stayed with them for nine years. David GolderDavid Golder
David Golder is writer Irène Némirovsky's first novel. It was recently re-issued following the popularity of the newly-discovered masterpiece Suite Française, written by Némirovsky whilst in hiding in France during the Second World War...
, made in 1930, was his first success. It was also his first 'talkie' , as it was of the actor Harry Baur
Harry Baur
Harry Baur was a French actor. Baur was Jewish and tortured to death by the Gestapo during World War II....
. They worked together many more times in the 1930s. In 1934 Duvivier collaborated with Jean Gabin
Jean Gabin
-Biography:Born Jean-Alexis Moncorgé in Paris, he grew up in the village of Mériel in the Seine-et-Oise département, about 22 mi north of Paris. The son of cabaret entertainers, he attended the Lycée Janson de Sailly...
for the first time in the film Maria Chapdelaine. In 1935, for La Bandera
La Bandera
La Bandera is a fictional character, a mutant in the Marvel Comics Universe. Her first appearance was in Wolverine vol. 2 #19.-Fictional character biography:...
, he availed himself of the writing talent of Charles Spaak
Charles Spaak
Charles Spaak was a Belgian screenwriter who was noted particularly for his work in the French cinema during the 1930s...
, who had previously worked with Jacques Feyder
Jacques Feyder
Jacques Feyder was a Belgian actor, screenwriter and film director who worked principally in France, but also in the USA, Britain and Germany. He was a leading director of silent films during the 1920s, and in the 1930s he became associated with the style of poetic realism in French cinema...
, Jean Gremillon
Jean Grémillon
Jean Grémillon was a French film director. After directing a number of documentaries during the 1920s, many now lost, he had his first substantial success with the dramatic feature Maldone in 1928...
, Marc Allégret
Marc Allégret
Marc Allégret was a French screenwriter and film director.Born in Basel, Basel-Stadt, Switzerland, he was the elder brother of Yves Allégret. Marc was educated to be a lawyer. Allégret became André Gide's lover when he was fifteen and Gide was forty-seven...
and Marcel L'Herbier
Marcel L'Herbier
Marcel L'Herbier, Légion d'honneur, was a French film-maker, who achieved prominence as an avant-garde theorist and imaginative practitioner with a series of silent films in the 1920s. His career as a director continued until the 1950s and he made more than 40 feature films in total...
. They too would work together many times from this point onwards. Having made Golem (1936), a remake of an earlier German horror film
The Golem: How He Came Into the World
The Golem: How He Came Into the World is a 1920 silent horror film by Paul Wegener. It was directed by Carl Boese and Wegener, written by Wegener and Henrik Galeen, and starred Wegener as the golem. The script was adapted from the 1915 novel The Golem by Gustav Meyrink...
, Duvivier set out on La belle équipe
La belle équipe
La belle équipe is a French film, directed by Julien Duvivier, and released in 1936. The script was written by Duvivier and Charles Spaak. Music was by Maurice Yvain - the song Quand on s'promène au bord de l'eau , sung by Jean Gabin was written by Duvivier, Maurice Yvain and Louis Poterat...
, with Jean Gabin, Charles Vanel
Charles Vanel
Charles-Marie Vanel, known as Charles Vanel was a French director and actor. He made his screen debut in 1912, in Robert Péguy's Jim Crow...
and Raymond Aimos. The film remains key to his work. Five unemployed men hit the lottery jackpot and decide to buy a seaside café/dance hall together. The unexpected however, keeps happening. Once jealousy over a woman, Gina, (Viviane Romance), gets mixed up with the venture, there is little left to save. The original ending of the film involving a killing, was judged too pessimistic, and another, happier ending, was filmed. It was the happier version that was released, though both versions still exist. L'Homme du jour (1936), with Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Auguste Chevalier was a French actor, singer, entertainer and a noted Sprechgesang performer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including Louise, Mimi, Valentine, and Thank Heaven for Little Girls and for his films including The Love Parade and The Big Pond...
in the lead role is a minor work in the director's canon but Pépé le Moko
Pépé le Moko
Pépé le Moko is a 1937 French film directed by Julien Duvivier and starring Jean Gabin. It depicts an infamous gangster, Pépé le Moko who tries to escape the police by hiding in the casbah of the city of Algiers...
and Un Carnet de Bal are incontestable summits.
Pépé le Moko which plunges into the midst of the gangster underworld, and which had the Casbah
Casbah
The Casbah ) is specifically the citadel of Algiers in Algeria and the traditional quarter clustered around it. More generally, a kasbah is the walled citadel of many North African cities and towns...
(Arab quarter) of Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
for exotic backdrop, was the film which propelled Jean Gabin
Jean Gabin
-Biography:Born Jean-Alexis Moncorgé in Paris, he grew up in the village of Mériel in the Seine-et-Oise département, about 22 mi north of Paris. The son of cabaret entertainers, he attended the Lycée Janson de Sailly...
into the category of an international star. In 1938 Duvivier signed a contract with MGM and made his first American film, a biopic of Johann Strauss
Johann Strauss II
Johann Strauss II , also known as Johann Baptist Strauss or Johann Strauss, Jr., the Younger, or the Son , was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas...
, The Great Waltz
The Great Waltz (film)
The Great Waltz is a 1938 American biographical film based very loosely on the life of Johann Strauss II. It starred Luise Rainer, Fernand Gravet and Miliza Korjus. Rainer received top billing at the producer's insistence, but her role is comparatively minor as Strauss' wife, Poldi Volgelhuber...
. The next year, back in France, he made La Fin du Jour, in which theatre actors in retirement struggle to see that their retirement home remains open. Michel Simon
Michel Simon
Michel Simon , was a Swiss actor. The actor François Simon is his son.-Early years:...
played an old ham actor, and Louis Jouvet
Louis Jouvet
Louis Jouvet was a renowned French actor, director, and theatre director.- Life :Overcoming speech impediments and sometimes paralyzing stage fright as a young man, Jouvet's first important association was with Jacques Copeau's Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier, beginning in 1913...
, an old leading actor who still believes in his seductive powers. La Charrette fantôme followed, a horror film adapted from a novel by Selma Lagerlof
Selma Lagerlöf
Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf was a Swedish author. She was the first female writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, and most widely known for her children's book Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige ....
. In 1940 Untel père et fils
The Heart of a Nation
The Heart of a Nation is a 1943 French drama film directed by Julien Duvivier who co-wrote screenplay with Marcel Achard and Charles Spaak. The film stars Raimu, Michèle Morgan and Louis Jouvet...
, a family history starring Raimu
Raimu
Raimu was the stage name for the French actor Jules Auguste Muraire .-Biography:Born in Toulon in the Var département, he made his stage debut there in 1899. After coming to the attention of the then great music hall star Félix Mayol who was also from Toulon, in 1908 he was given a chance to work...
, Michèle Morgan
Michèle Morgan
Michèle Morgan is a French film actress, who was a leading lady for three decades.- Career :Morgan was born Simone Renée Roussel in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, a western suburb of Paris....
, and Jouvet, was not able to be shown - because of the political situation - until the end of the war, at least in France. It is generally considered a minor work, and even a failure.
The War, his American period
During the Second World War, unlike Marcel CarnéMarcel Carné
-Biography:Born in Paris, France, the son of a cabinet maker whose wife died when their son was five, 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...
most notably, Duvivier left to work in the United States. He made 5 films in these years. Lydia
Lydia (film)
Lydia is a 1941 drama film, directed by Julien Duvivier. It stars Merle Oberon as Lydia MacMillan, a woman whose life is seen from her spoiled, immature youth through bitter and resentful middle years, until at last she is old and accepting...
; two anthology films, Tales of Manhattan
Tales of Manhattan
Tales of Manhattan is a 1942 American anthology film directed by Julien Duvivier. Thirteen writers, including Ben Hecht, Alan Campbell, Ferenc Molnár, Samuel Hoffenstein, and Donald Ogden Stewart worked on the six stories in this film.-Cast:...
with Charles Boyer
Charles Boyer
Charles Boyer was a French actor who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. After receiving an education in drama, Boyer started on the stage, but he found success in movies during the 1930s. His memorable performances were among the era's most highly praised romantic dramas,...
and Rita Hayworth
Rita Hayworth
Rita Hayworth was an American film actress and dancer who attained fame during the 1940s as one of the era's top stars...
amongst other stars, and Flesh and Fantasy
Flesh and Fantasy
Flesh and Fantasy is a 1943 American anthology film directed by Julien Duvivier, starring Edward G. Robinson, Charles Boyer and Barbara Stanwyck. The making of this film was inspired by the success of Duvivier's previous anthology film, the 1942 Tales of Manhattan.Flesh and Fantasy tells three...
with Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...
, Charles Boyer
Charles Boyer
Charles Boyer was a French actor who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. After receiving an education in drama, Boyer started on the stage, but he found success in movies during the 1930s. His memorable performances were among the era's most highly praised romantic dramas,...
and Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress. She was a film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...
; The Impostor, a remake of Pépé le Moko
Pépé le Moko
Pépé le Moko is a 1937 French film directed by Julien Duvivier and starring Jean Gabin. It depicts an infamous gangster, Pépé le Moko who tries to escape the police by hiding in the casbah of the city of Algiers...
and again with Jean Gabin; and Destiny, (1944), a Reginald Le Borg
Reginald Le Borg
Reginald Le Borg was an Austrian film director. He directed 68 films between 1936 and 1974. He was born in Vienna, Austria as Reginald Grobel and died in Los Angeles, California from a heart attack....
film to which Duvivier contributed uncredited.
After the war
On his return to France, Duvivier experienced some difficulties in resuming his career. In 1946, PaniquePanique
Panique is a French film directed by Julien Duvivier, made in 1946 and released in 1947, starring Michel Simon and Viviane Romance. In 1989 Patrice Leconte remade the film as Monsieur Hire, with the title rôle played by Michel Blanc.-Plot:...
, an exhaustive summary of the lowest of human instincts, was the most personal, darkest, and nihilistic of his works. It was a bitter failure - with critics and the public. Duvivier continued, notwithstanding, to work in France until the end of his life, (after a short detour to Great Britain in 1948 to shoot Anna Karenina
Anna Karenina (1948 film)
Anna Karenina [p] is a 1948 British film based on the 19th century novel, Anna Karenina, by the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. The film was directed by Julien Duvivier, and starred Vivien Leigh in the title role...
and to Spain for Black Jack
Black Jack (film)
Black Jack is a 1950 adventure film written and directed by Julien Duvivier and starring George Sanders, Herbert Marshall, Patricia Roc and Dennis Wyndham. It tells the story of a man who uses his yacht to smuggle drugs tries to go straight, but finds it harder than he had anticipated...
in 1950.) In 1951 he made Sous le ciel de Paris, a highly original film from the point of view of the way the film was cut. In the course of a day in Paris one follows people whose paths will cross. The same year Duvivier shot the first of the humorous Don Camillo
Don Camillo
Don Camillo is the main character created by the Italian writer and journalist Giovannino Guareschi , and is based on the historical Roman Catholic priest, WW II partisan and detainee of the concentration camps of Dachau and Mauthausen, Don Camillo Valota . Don Camillo is one of two protagonists,...
films from the Giovanni Guareschi books, Le Petit monde de Don Camillo
Le Petit monde de Don Camillo
Le Petit monde de Don Camillo is a 1952 Italian film directed by Julien Duvivier, starring Fernandel and Gino Cervi. It was the first film in the "Don Camillo" series, which made Fernandel an international star. The film was based on the novel Don Camillo by author Giovannino Guareschi....
. It met with immediate popular success and he followed its success with Le Retour de Don Camillo in 1953. The series continued with other directors. In 1956's Voici le temps des assassins
Voici le temps des assassins
Voici le temps des assassins is a French film directed by Julien Duvivier, released in April 1956. The title is a line of Matinée d'ivresse - part of Illuminations by Arthur Rimbaud.-Plot:...
, Jean Gabin
Jean Gabin
-Biography:Born Jean-Alexis Moncorgé in Paris, he grew up in the village of Mériel in the Seine-et-Oise département, about 22 mi north of Paris. The son of cabaret entertainers, he attended the Lycée Janson de Sailly...
played a decent restaurateur in Les Halles
Les Halles
Les Halles is an area of Paris, France, located in the 1er arrondissement, just south of the fashionable rue Montorgueil. It is named for the large central wholesale marketplace, which was demolished in 1971, to be replaced with an underground modern shopping precinct, the Forum des Halles...
who is swindled by a cynical young woman, Catherine, (Danièle Delorme
Danièle Delorme
Danièle Delorme is an French actress and film producer....
). In 1959 he made Marie-Octobre
Marie-Octobre
Marie-Octobre is a 1959 French film directed by Julien Duvivier, based on the eponymous novel by Jacques Robert.-Plot:A group of ex-resistance fighters are brought together by Marie-Octobre, the code name of Marie-Helene Dumoulin...
with Danielle Darrieux
Danielle Darrieux
Danielle Yvonne Marie Antoinette Darrieux is a French actress and singer, who has appeared in more than 110 films since 1931. She is one of France's great movie stars and her eight-decade career is among the longest in film history....
, Serge Reggiani
Serge Reggiani
Serge Reggiani was an Italian-born French singer and actor. He was born in Reggio Emilia, Italy and moved to France with his parents at the age of eight...
, and Bernard Blier
Bernard Blier
Bernard Blier was a French character actor. His rotund features and premature baldness allowed him to often play cuckolded husbands in his early career. He proved to be one of France's most versatile and sought-after character actors, performing interchangeably in comedies and dramas...
amongst others. It was an exercise in style; 11 people, 9 men, 2 women, and a mise en scène
Mise en scène
Mise-en-scène is an expression used to describe the design aspects of a theatre or film production, which essentially means "visual theme" or "telling a story"—both in visually artful ways through storyboarding, cinematography and stage design, and in poetically artful ways through direction...
that followed the unities of time, place, and action, it had a constant concern for the framing of the composition to reinforce an inquisitorial, menacing atmosphere. The same year he was invited to be part of the jury of the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
, 1959, the year the Nouvelle Vague
French New Wave
The New Wave was a blanket term coined by critics for a group of French filmmakers of the late 1950s and 1960s, influenced by Italian Neorealism and classical Hollywood cinema. Although never a formally organized movement, the New Wave filmmakers were linked by their self-conscious rejection of...
emerged.
In 1962 Duvivier made a final anthology film, Le Diable et les dix Commandements
Le Diable et les Dix Commandements
Le Diable et les Dix Commandements , is a French comedy-drama film from 1963, directed by Julien Duvivier, written by David Alexander and Michel Audiard, starring Michel Simon and Louis de Funès...
, and in 1963 Chair de Poule, a film whose scenario has resemblances with The Postman Always Rings Twice
The Postman Always Rings Twice
The Postman Always Rings Twice is a 1934 crime novel by James M. Cain.The novel was quite successful and notorious upon publication, and is regarded as one of the more important crime novels of the 20th century...
and which again features an unscrupulous woman. In 1967, just as the production of Diaboliquement vôtre reached completion, a film about a man made amnesiac following a car accident, Duvivier himself was in a traffic accident, triggering a heart attack which killed him. He was 71; he left behind a filmography comprising nearly 70 films. He is buried in the cemetery of Rueil-Malmaison
Rueil-Malmaison
Rueil-Malmaison is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, in the Hauts-de-Seine department of France. It is located 12.6 kilometers from the center of Paris.-Name:...
in the Hauts-de-Seine
Hauts-de-Seine
Hauts-de-Seine is designated number 92 of the 101 départements in France. It is part of the Île-de-France region, and covers the western inner suburbs of Paris...
.
Filmography
- Haceldama ou le prix du sang (1919)
- La réincarnation de Serge Renaudier (1920)
- Les roquevillard (1922)
- L'ouragan sur la montagne (1922)
- Le reflet de Claude Mercœur (1923)
- La machine à refaire la vie (1924)
- Credo ou la tragédie de Lourdes (1924)
- L'œuvre immortelle (1924)
- Cœurs farouches (1924)
- Poil de carottePoil de carottePoil de carotte is a long short story or autobiographical novel by Jules Renard published in 1894, which recounts the childhood and the trials of a redheaded child...
(1925) - L'abbé Constantin (1925)
- L'homme à l'hispano (1926)
- Le mystère de la tour Eiffel (1927)
- Le mariage de Mademoiselle BeulemansLe Mariage de mademoiselle BeulemansLe Mariage de mademoiselle Beulemans is a Belgian play by Fernand Wicheler and Frantz Fonson. It was first published in 1910....
(1927) - L'agonie de Jérusalem (1927)
- Le tourbillon de Paris (1928)
- La Vie miraculeuse de Thérèse MartinLa Vie miraculeuse de Thérèse MartinLa Vie miraculeuse de Thérèse Martin , is a French film, silent, directed by Julien Duvivier, and released in 1929...
(1929) - Maman Colibri (1929)
- La divine croisière (1929)
- David GolderDavid GolderDavid Golder is writer Irène Némirovsky's first novel. It was recently re-issued following the popularity of the newly-discovered masterpiece Suite Française, written by Némirovsky whilst in hiding in France during the Second World War...
(1930) - Au bonheur des dames (1930)
- Les cinq gentlemen maudits (1931)
- Allo Berlin? Ici Paris! (1931)
- La vénus du collège (1932)
- Poil de carottePoil de carottePoil de carotte is a long short story or autobiographical novel by Jules Renard published in 1894, which recounts the childhood and the trials of a redheaded child...
(1932) - La Tête d'un homme (1933)
- Le petit roi (1933)
- La machine à refaire la vie (1933)
- Le paquebot Tenacity (1934)
- Maria Chapdelaine (1934)
- GolgothaGolgotha (1935 film)Golgotha is a 1935 French film about the death of Jesus Christ. It was directed by Julien Duvivier, and stars Harry Baur as Herod and Jean Gabin as Pontius Pilate. Robert le Vigan plays Christ. It opened in the U.S. in 1937...
(1935) - La BanderaLa Bandera (film)La Bandera is a 1935 film directed by Julien Duvivier, based on a novel by Pierre Mac Orlan. -Plot:Curfew bells are ringing at night in Paris, while a man and his drunken girlfriend Jacqueline walk down the street. Pierre Gilieth comes out of house #25 looking very frightened, both Pierre Gilieth...
(1935) - Le golem (1936)
- L'homme du jour (1936)
- La belle équipeLa belle équipeLa belle équipe is a French film, directed by Julien Duvivier, and released in 1936. The script was written by Duvivier and Charles Spaak. Music was by Maurice Yvain - the song Quand on s'promène au bord de l'eau , sung by Jean Gabin was written by Duvivier, Maurice Yvain and Louis Poterat...
(1936) - Pépé le MokoPépé le MokoPépé le Moko is a 1937 French film directed by Julien Duvivier and starring Jean Gabin. It depicts an infamous gangster, Pépé le Moko who tries to escape the police by hiding in the casbah of the city of Algiers...
(1937) - Un carnet de bal (1937)
- The Great WaltzThe Great Waltz (film)The Great Waltz is a 1938 American biographical film based very loosely on the life of Johann Strauss II. It starred Luise Rainer, Fernand Gravet and Miliza Korjus. Rainer received top billing at the producer's insistence, but her role is comparatively minor as Strauss' wife, Poldi Volgelhuber...
(1938) musical about Johann StraussJohann Strauss IIJohann Strauss II , also known as Johann Baptist Strauss or Johann Strauss, Jr., the Younger, or the Son , was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas... - La Fin du jour (1939)
- La charrette fantôme (1939)
- LydiaLydia (film)Lydia is a 1941 drama film, directed by Julien Duvivier. It stars Merle Oberon as Lydia MacMillan, a woman whose life is seen from her spoiled, immature youth through bitter and resentful middle years, until at last she is old and accepting...
(1941) (American remake of Un carnet de bal) - Tales of ManhattanTales of ManhattanTales of Manhattan is a 1942 American anthology film directed by Julien Duvivier. Thirteen writers, including Ben Hecht, Alan Campbell, Ferenc Molnár, Samuel Hoffenstein, and Donald Ogden Stewart worked on the six stories in this film.-Cast:...
(1942) - Flesh and Fantasy (1943)
- Untel père et filsThe Heart of a NationThe Heart of a Nation is a 1943 French drama film directed by Julien Duvivier who co-wrote screenplay with Marcel Achard and Charles Spaak. The film stars Raimu, Michèle Morgan and Louis Jouvet...
(1943) - The Impostor (1944)
- PaniquePaniquePanique is a French film directed by Julien Duvivier, made in 1946 and released in 1947, starring Michel Simon and Viviane Romance. In 1989 Patrice Leconte remade the film as Monsieur Hire, with the title rôle played by Michel Blanc.-Plot:...
(1946) - Anna KareninaAnna Karenina (1948 film)Anna Karenina [p] is a 1948 British film based on the 19th century novel, Anna Karenina, by the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. The film was directed by Julien Duvivier, and starred Vivien Leigh in the title role...
(1948) - Au royaume des cieux (1949)
- Black JackBlack Jack (film)Black Jack is a 1950 adventure film written and directed by Julien Duvivier and starring George Sanders, Herbert Marshall, Patricia Roc and Dennis Wyndham. It tells the story of a man who uses his yacht to smuggle drugs tries to go straight, but finds it harder than he had anticipated...
(1950) - Sous le ciel de Paris (1951)
- Le Petit monde de Don CamilloLe Petit monde de Don CamilloLe Petit monde de Don Camillo is a 1952 Italian film directed by Julien Duvivier, starring Fernandel and Gino Cervi. It was the first film in the "Don Camillo" series, which made Fernandel an international star. The film was based on the novel Don Camillo by author Giovannino Guareschi....
(1951) - La Fête à Henriette (1952)
- Le Retour de Don Camillo (1953)
- L'Affaire Maurizius (1954)
- Marianne de ma jeunesse (1954)
- Voici le temps des assassinsVoici le temps des assassinsVoici le temps des assassins is a French film directed by Julien Duvivier, released in April 1956. The title is a line of Matinée d'ivresse - part of Illuminations by Arthur Rimbaud.-Plot:...
(1956) - L'Homme à l'imperméableL'Homme à l'imperméableThe Man in the Raincoat is a French-Italian comedy-thriller film directed by Julien Duvivier, scripted by the director and René Barjavel, from the novel Tiger by the Tail by James Hadley Chase. It was released in 1957 and shown at the 7th Berlin International Film Festival in competition for the...
(1957) - Pot-BouillePot-BouillePot-Bouille is the tenth novel in the Rougon-Macquart series by Émile Zola. It was serialized between January and April 1882 in the periodical Le Gaulois before being published in book form by Charpentier in 1883....
(1957) - La femme et le pantinLa Femme et le pantinThe Woman and the Puppet is a novel by Pierre Louÿs that was adapted for film several times.-Film adaptations:*1920 - The Woman and the Puppet - Frank Lloyd, starring Geraldine Farrar...
(1958) - Marie-OctobreMarie-OctobreMarie-Octobre is a 1959 French film directed by Julien Duvivier, based on the eponymous novel by Jacques Robert.-Plot:A group of ex-resistance fighters are brought together by Marie-Octobre, the code name of Marie-Helene Dumoulin...
(1959) - Das Kunstseidene MädchenDas Kunstseidene MädchenThe High Life is a 1960 French, West German and Italian film directed by Julien Duvivier.-Plot:Doris Putzke is fond of dating men in her quest for finding the perfect one. In her brief relationships, Doris is engaged, disturbing the relationships of her closest acquaintances while seeking...
/La Grande vie/The High Life (1960) - BoulevardBoulevard (1960 film)Boulevard is a French film directed by Julien Duvivier, released in 1960, and set in the Quartier Pigalle. It focuses on the character 'Jojo', an adolescent who lives in a poor room in Pigalle. Among the others who share the house where he lives is Jenny Dorr , a dancer, about whose glamorous...
(1960) - The Burning CourtThe Burning Court (film)The burning court is a French-Italian-German film directed by Julien Duvivier, released in 1962. The script was written by Charles Spaak and Duvivier, from the novel by John Dickson Carr.-Plot:...
(1962) - Le Diable et les dix commandementsLe Diable et les Dix CommandementsLe Diable et les Dix Commandements , is a French comedy-drama film from 1963, directed by Julien Duvivier, written by David Alexander and Michel Audiard, starring Michel Simon and Louis de Funès...
(1962) - Chair de poule (1963)
- Diaboliquement vôtre (1967)