Émile Cousinet, (12 November 1896 – 24 October 1964) was a French
film producer and
film director
A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...
.
Biography
The son of a carpenter, Couzinet became a traveling projectionist and then director of the
Royan
Royan (; in the Saintongeais dialect; ) is a commune and town in the south-west of France, in the Departments of France, department of Charente-Maritime in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. Capital of the Côte de Beauté, Royan is one of the mai ...
Casino.
In the 1920s, he decided to invest in the of
movie theatre
A movie theater (American English) or cinema (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business ...
s, including those of . In 1930, due to the unbridled competition of the barriers of Bordeaux, he acquired his own studios, the "Studios de la Côte de Beauté", a cinema complex installed in the seaside resort of Royan. After the destruction of the city at the end of World War II, he recreated his studios in Bordeaux, which then took the name ''Studios de la Côte d'Argent''. The infrastructures were developed near the castle Tauzin which became its main residence
He produced himself vaudevilles, of which he was also the screenwriter (occasionally under the name of Robert Eyquem) sometimes at the first degree or a little grivois, often adapted from
boulevard theatre. Thus, ''
Trois jours de bringue à Paris'' is an adaptation of ' by
Eugène Labiche
Eugène Marin Labiche (; 6 May 181522 January 1888) was a French dramatist. He remains famous for his contribution to the vaudeville genre and his passionate and domestic pochades.
In the 1860s, he reached his peak with a series of successe ...
whereas ' is drawn from a play by
Pierre Barillet and
Jean-Pierre Gredy.
As a representative pillar of popular cinema, he produced jubilant films including ', ', ''
The Cucuroux Family'', ''
Le Congrès des belles-mères'', and also '. If comedy was his favorite field, Couzinet also touched on other genres such as
swashbuckler film
A swashbuckler film is characterised by swordfighting and adventurous heroic characters, known as swashbucklers. While morality is typically clear-cut, heroes and villains alike often, but not always, follow a code of honor. Some swashbuckle ...
s ('), literary adaptation (''
Colomba'' after
Prosper Mérimée
Prosper Mérimée (; 28 September 1803 – 23 September 1870) was a French writer in the movement of Romanticism, one of the pioneers of the novella, a short novel or long short story. He was also a noted archaeologist and historian, an import ...
) or family melodrama (''
Quai des illusions'', a film for which he employed a certain
Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone ( ; ; 3 January 1929 – 30 April 1989) was an Italian filmmaker, credited as the pioneer of the spaghetti Western genre. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema.
Leone's film-making style ...
as an assistant.
He made famous cinema names such as
Pierre Larquey
Pierre Larquey (10 July 1884 Р17 April 1962) was a French film actor. He appeared in more than 200 films between 1913 and 1962. Born in C̩nac, Gironde, France, he died in Maisons-Laffitte at the age of 77.
Selected filmography
* ''P ...
,
Jeanne Fusier-Gir
Jeanne Fusier-Gir (1885–1973) was a French stage and film actress. She was married to the painter Charles Gir, and was the mother of the film director François Gir.Rège p. 442
Selected filmography
* '' The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard'' (1 ...
and
Gaby Morlay
Gaby Morlay (born Blanche Pauline Fumoleau; 8 June 1893 – 4 July 1964) was a film actress from France. play in his films. But he also helped the beginnings of truculent actors such as
Jean Carmet
Jean Carmet (; 25 April 1920 – 20 April 1994) was a French actor.
Life and career
Jean Carmet began working on stage and then in film in the early 1940s becoming a very popular comedic actor in his native country. He is best known internat ...
, who appeared in ''Mon curé champion du régiment'' and
Robert Lamoureux
Robert Lamoureux (4 January 1920 Р29 October 2011) was a French actor, screenwriter and film director. He appeared in more than 30 films between 1951 and 1994. He starred in the film '' The Adventures of Ars̬ne Lupin'', which was entered ...
, who held his own role in ''Le Don d'Adèle''.
The Couzinet empire gradually disappeared from the late 1950s in the context of concentration of the film industry.
Filmography
* 1939: '
* 1939: ''Le Club des fadas''
* 1942: '
* 1943: '
* 1947: ''
Hyménée
''Hyménée'' is a 1947 French drama film directed by Émile Couzinet. Starring Gaby Morlay, Maurice Escande, and Pierre Magnier, the film was shot in Bordeaux at the Studios de la Côte d'Argent in Gironde.
Plot
Although Pierre is married, he ...
''
* 1948: ''
Colomba''
* 1949: '
* 1950: ''
A Hole in the Wall''
* 1950: ''
Three Sailors in a Convent
''Three Sailors in a Convent'' (French: ''Trois marins dans un couvent'') is a 1950 French comedy film directed by Émile Couzinet and starring Frédéric Duvallès, Raphaël Patorni and Jacqueline Dor.https://www.unifrance.org/film/7414/trois- ...
''
* 1951: ''
Adele's Gift
''Adele's Gift'' (French: ''Le don d'Adèle'') is a 1951 French comedy film directed by Émile Couzinet and starring Marguerite Pierry, Lilo and Charles Dechamps. It is based on a play of the same title by Pierre Barillet and Jean-Pierre Gréd ...
''
* 1951: ''
That Rascal Anatole
''That Rascal Anatole'' (French: ''Ce coquin d'Anatole'') is a 1951 French comedy film directed by Émile Couzinet and starring Frédéric Duvallès, Armand Bernard and Daniel Sorano.https://www.unifrance.org/film/4887/ce-coquin-d-anatole It wa ...
''
* 1951: ''Buridan, héros de la Tour de Nesle''
* 1952: ''Trois Vieilles Filles en folie''
* 1952: ''
When Do You Commit Suicide?''
* 1952: ''
The Priest of Saint-Amour
''The Priest of Saint-Amour'' (French: ''Le curé de Saint-Amour'') is a 1952 French comedy film directed by Émile Couzinet and starring Frédéric Duvallès, Pierre Larquey and Jeanne Fusier-Gir.https://www.unifrance.org/film/5086/le-cure-de-sa ...
''
* 1953: ''
The Cucuroux Family''
* 1954: ''
The Congress of Mother-in-Laws
''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...
''
* 1954: ''
Three Days of Fun in Paris
''Three Days of Fun in Paris'' (French: ''Trois jours de bringue à Paris'') is a 1954 French comedy film directed by Émile Couzinet and starring Lucien Baroux, Armand Bernard and Pierre Larquey. It was based on a play by Eugène Labiche.Goble p. ...
''
* 1956: '
* 1957: '
* 1959: ''
Quay of Illusions
''Quay of Illusions'' (French: ''Quai des illusions'') is a 1959 French-Italian drama film directed by Émile Couzinet and starring Gaby Morlay, Louis Seigner and Lise Bourdin. The film's sets were designed by the art director René Renneteau.
S ...
''
* 1962: '
Bibliography
*
References
External links
on BIFI
*
*
Blog dedicated to Émile Couzinet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Couzinet, Emile
French film directors
French film producers
20th-century French screenwriters
People from Gironde
1896 births
1964 deaths