André Calmettes (1861-1942) was a French actor and film director.

Biography

After being a theatre actor for twenty years, he joined the society ', founded in 1908 by the novelist and editor, at the urging of the

Sociétaires of the Comédie-Française The sociétaires of the Comédie-Française are chosen from among the ''pensionnaires'' who have been in the company a year or more. They are decided upon in the course of a general assembly of the company's administrative committee, made up of 6 e ...

. That same year, disturbed by the noise of the spectators, he suggested that films should have musical accompaniment. One of the first composers to produce music especially designed for a film was

Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (; 9 October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano C ...

, who arranged a piano score for Calmette's ''The Assassination of the Duke of Guise''. Originally the music was played in the theatre, but Calmette later found a way to put musicians behind the screen and synchronize their playing with the film. In the three years from 1909 to 1912, he gave a more theatrical touch to his work by casting famous stage actors such as

Sarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 or 23 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including '' La Dame Aux Camel ...

, Réjane and

Mounet-Sully Mounet-Sully (28 February 1841 – 3 March 1916), a French actor, was born at Bergerac. His birth name was Jean-Sully Mounet: "Mounet-Sully" (without the "Jean") was a stage name. Life He entered the Conservatoire at the age of twenty-one, wh ...

to do adaptations of classic literary works, both French and English. After 1913, he returned to the stage himself. He appeared in one film, ''Le Petit Chose'', by

André Hugon André Hugon (17 December 1886 – 22 August 1960) was a French film director, screenwriter and film producer best known for his silent films from 1913 onwards, particularly of the 1920s and into sound. Hugon was born in Algiers in 1886 wh ...

Partial filmography

* ''

The Assassination of the Duke of Guise ''The Assassination of the Duke of Guise'' ( 1908) (original French title: ''La Mort du duc de Guise''; often referred to as ''L'Assassinat du duc de Guise'') is a French historical film directed by Charles le Bargy and André Calmettes, adapte ...

'' (1908) * ''

La Tosca ''La Tosca'' is a five-Act (drama), act drama by the Nineteenth-century theatre, 19th-century Theatre of France, French playwright Victorien Sardou. It was first performed on 24 November 1887 at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin in Paris, wi ...

'' (1908) * ''

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

'' (1909) * '' Madame Sans-Gêne'' (1911) (Sources disagree as to whether the director was Calmettes,

Henri Desfontaines Henri Desfontaines (12 November 1876, Paris – 7 January 1931, Paris) was a French film director, actor, and scriptwriter. Filmography As director * 1908 : ''Hamlet'' * 1909 : '' Le Puits et le pendule'' * 1910 : '' Un invité gênant'' * 1 ...

or both.) * ''

The Lady of the Camellias ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article An article is any member ...

'' (1911) * ''

Richard III Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battl ...

'' (1912) * '' The Little Thing'' (1923)

References

External links

* * 1861 births 1942 deaths Film directors from Paris French male film actors French male silent film actors 20th-century French male actors French male stage actors Male actors from Paris {{france-film-bio-stub