Michel Michelet (July 14, 1894 – December 28, 1995) was a
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Defi ...
of
film scores
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...
.Mayer & McDonnell p.129 Born as Mikhail Isaakovich Levin to a
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
family in
Kiev
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
(then in the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
), he moved to
Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
before settling in France where he became a celebrated composer. He worked on many films during the 1930s following the introduction of
sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed before ...
. Following the
Nazi invasion of France
The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of French Third Rep ...
in 1940, he emigrated to the United States where he continued to work on
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
productions including several
films noir
Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American '' ...
. Later he provided scores for some European films in the post-war era.
He was nominated twice at the
17th Academy Awards
The 17th Academy Awards were held on March 15, 1945 at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, honoring the films of 1944. This was the first time the complete awards ceremony was broadcast nationally, on the Blue Network ( ABC Radio). Bob Hope hosted the 7 ...
La Femme d'une nuit
''La Femme d'une nuit'' ("The woman of one night") is a 1931 French drama film directed by Marcel L'Herbier. It was made simultaneously with Italian and German versions of the same story, which were however not only in different languages but i ...
The Faceless Voice
''The Faceless Voice'' (French: ''La voix sans visage'') is a 1933 French drama film directed by Leo Mittler and starring Lucien Muratore, Véra Korène and Jean Servais.Oscherwitz & Higgins p. 281
Plot
The singer Saltore is accused of murder ...
Les yeux noirs
Les Yeux Noirs is the name of a French band combining elements of jazz manouche and other Romani music, Yiddish, and Klezmer music. The group was founded by two brothers, Eric and Olivier Slabiak, who both play violin. Other members of the band ...
'' (1935)
* ''
Compliments of Mister Flow
''Compliments of Mister Flow'' or ''Mister Flow'' is a 1936 French mystery film directed by Robert Siodmak and starring Fernand Gravey, Edwige Feuillère and Louis Jouvet.Greco p.190 It was based on the 1927 novel '' Mister Flow'' by Gaston Le ...
Forty Little Mothers
''Forty Little Mothers'' is a 1940 American comedy-drama film directed by Busby Berkeley and starring Eddie Cantor.
Plot
Out-of-work professor Gilbert Jordan Thompson stops a suicidal stranger named Marian Edwards from jumping off a pier and he ...
'' (1936)
* ''
The Lie of Nina Petrovna
''The Lie of Nina Petrovna'' (French: ''Le mensonge de Nina Petrovna'') is a 1937 French drama film directed by Viktor Tourjansky and starring Isa Miranda, Fernand Gravey and Aimé Clariond.Gundle p.131 It is a remake of the 1929 silent film ''The ...
Alert in the Mediterranean
''Alert in the Mediterranean'' (French: ''Alerte en Méditerranée'') is a 1938 French thriller film directed by Léo Joannon and starring Pierre Fresnay, Nadine Vogel and Rolf Wanka. It was the fifth most popular film at the French box office in ...
La Brigade sauvage
''Savage Brigade'' (French: ''La Brigade sauvage'') is a 1939 French drama film directed by Marcel L'Herbier and starring Véra Korène, Charles Vanel and Florence Marly. The film was completed by Jean Dréville.Serge Panine'' (1939)
* '' Personal Column'' (1939)
* ''
Immediate Call
''Immediate Call'' (French: ''Rappel immédiat'') is a 1939 French comedy drama film directed by Léon Mathot and starring Mireille Balin, Roger Duchesne and Bernard Lancret.Lennig p.392
Cast
* Mireille Balin as Helen Wells
* Roger Duchesne as ...
'' (1939)
* ''
Savage Brigade
''Savage Brigade'' (French: ''La Brigade sauvage'') is a 1939 French drama film directed by Marcel L'Herbier and starring Véra Korène, Charles Vanel and Florence Marly. The film was completed by Jean Dréville.The Emigrant'' (1940)
* ''
Miss Annie Rooney
'' Miss Annie Rooney '' is a 1942 American drama film directed by Edwin L. Marin. The screenplay by George Bruce has some similarities to the silent film, ''Little Annie Rooney'' starring Mary Pickford, but otherwise, the films are unrelated. ''M ...
The Hairy Ape
''The Hairy Ape'' is a 1922 expressionist play by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. It is about a beastly, unthinking laborer known as Yank, the protagonist of the play, as he searches for a sense of belonging in a world controlled by the rich ...
'' (1944)
* ''
Voice in the Wind
''Voice in the Wind'' is a 1944 American film noir directed by Arthur Ripley and written by Friedrich Torberg, based on a story written by Arthur Ripley. The drama features Francis Lederer, Sigrid Gurie and J. Edward Bromberg.
Plot
Jan Foley (L ...
'' (1944)
* ''
Music for Millions
''Music for Millions'' is a 1944 musical film, musical comedy film directed by Henry Koster and starring Margaret O'Brien, José Iturbi, Jimmy Durante, June Allyson, Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917), Marsha Hunt, Hugh Herbert, Harry Davenport (ac ...
Lured
''Lured'' is a 1947 film noir directed by Douglas Sirk and starring George Sanders, Lucille Ball, Charles Coburn, and Boris Karloff. The film is a remake of Robert Siodmak's 1939 French film '' Pièges'' (titled ''Personal Column'' in the U ...
'' (1947)
* ''
Impact
Impact may refer to:
* Impact (mechanics), a high force or shock (mechanics) over a short time period
* Impact, Texas, a town in Taylor County, Texas, US
Science and technology
* Impact crater, a meteor crater caused by an impact event
* Impact ...
'' (1949)
* ''
Outpost in Morocco
''Outpost in Morocco'' is a 1949 American action adventure film directed by Robert Florey, starring George Raft and Marie Windsor. Paul Gerard (Raft), a Moroccan Spahi officer and his French Foreign Legion garrison, holds off attacks from the na ...
'' (1949)
* ''
The Man on the Eiffel Tower
''The Man on the Eiffel Tower'' is a 1950 American Ansco Color film noir mystery film directed by Burgess Meredith and starring Charles Laughton, Franchot Tone, Meredith, and Robert Hutton. It is based on the 1931 novel '' La Tête d'un homme'' ...
'' (1949)
* ''
Siren of Atlantis
''Siren of Atlantis'', also known as ''Atlantis the Lost Continent'', is a 1949 American black-and-white fantasy-adventure film, distributed by United Artists, that stars Maria Montez and her husband Jean Pierre Aumont. It was the first feature sh ...
Fort Algiers
''Fort Algiers'' is a 1953 American adventure film directed by Lesley Selander and written by Theodore St John. The film reused action sequences from ''Outpost in Morocco'' (1949) and starred Yvonne De Carlo, Carlos Thompson, Raymond Burr, Le ...
'' (1953)
* ''
The Body Beautiful
''The Body Beautiful'' is a musical with a book by Joseph Stein and Will Glickman, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and music by Jerry Bock.
The first collaboration by Harnick and Bock, and the only one to have a contemporary setting, its plot focuses ...
'' (1953)
* ''
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
''The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms'' is a 1953 American science fiction monster film directed by Eugène Lourié, with special effects by Ray Harryhausen. The film stars Paul Christian, Paula Raymond, Cecil Kellaway, and Kenneth Tobey. The screenp ...
A Missionary
''A Missionary'' (French: ''Un missionnaire'') is a 1955 French drama film directed by Maurice Cloche and starring Yves Massard, Marie-France Planeze and René Blancard. It was shot in Guinea and Cameroon.Crisp p.157 The film is in Eastmancolor.
...
Girl from Hong Kong
''Girl from Hong Kong'' (german: Bis zum Ende aller Tage) is a 1961 West German romance film directed by Franz Peter Wirth and starring Hanns Lothar, Helmut Griem and Akiko Wakabayashi.Schrader & Winkler p. 175
The film's sets were designed by th ...
'' (1961)
* ''
A Queen for Caesar
''A Queen for Caesar'' ( it, Una regina per Cesare, french: Cléopâtre une reine pour César) is a 1962 Italian-French historical drama film directed by Piero Pierotti and Victor Tourjansky and starring Pascale Petit, George Ardisson and Rik Bat ...
'' (1962)
* ''
Captain Sindbad
''Captain Sindbad'' is a 1963 independently made fantasy and adventure film, produced by Frank King and Herman King, directed by Byron Haskin, that stars Guy Williams and Heidi Brühl. The film was shot at the Bavaria Film studios in Germany an ...
'' (1963)
References
Bibliography
* Geoff Mayer & Brian McDonnell. ''Encyclopedia of Film Noir''. ABC-CLIO, 2007.