Léon Poirier (25 August 1884 – 27 June 1968) was a French film director,
screenwriter
A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based.
...
and film producer best known for his silent films from 1913 onwards. He directed some 25 films between 1913 and 1949. His most famous film today is ''
Verdun: Visions of History'', a drama-documentary depicting the
World War I Battle of Verdun. His later films adopted a form of poetic realism influenced by pictorialist photography.
Life
Poirier was the nephew of
Berthe Morisot
Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot (; January 14, 1841 – March 2, 1895) was a French painter and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists.
In 1864, Morisot exhibited for the first time in the highly es ...
. He began his career in the theatre, as secretary of the Théâtre du Gymnase. Following a serious accident, he withdrew from theatrical productions and accepted a contract from
Gaumont to make a film. In 1914 with the outbreak of war, he joined the army and became a lieutenant in the artillery, even though his accident exempted him from duty.
At the end of the conflict he returned to filmmaking, creating a large number of films in the silent era, but reducing his output after the advent of sound. Most of these works adopted a form of pictorialist naturalism.
[Ian Aitken, ''European Film Theory and Cinema: A Critical Introduction'', Edinburgh University Press, 2001, p.70]
In 1928 Poirier completed ''
Verdun: Visions of History'', a dramatized documentary about the battle. The film was shot on site of the carnage. Poirier utilised, ten years after the conflict, the battlefield and the ruins of the forts of
Vaux
Vaux may refer to:
People
* Antoine-Alexis Cadet de Vaux (1743–1828), French chemist and pharmacist
* Bernard Carra de Vaux (1867–1953), French orientalist who published accounts of his travels in the Middle East
*Clotilde de Vaux (1815–184 ...
and
Douaumont. The performers were French and German veterans and a few professional actors.
He directed his last film in 1947 and retired to
Urval
Urval () is a commune in the Dordogne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It is situated near the left bank of the river Dordogne, southeast of Le Buisson-de-Cadouin. It was part of the commune of Le Buisson-de-Cadouin betwee ...
where he died in 1968.
Filmography
* 1913: ''
Cadette''
* 1914: ''
Le Trèfle d'argent''
* 1914: ''
Le Nid
The Nest (''Le Nid'') is a political party in Togo
Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. ...
''
* 1914: ''
Ces demoiselles Perrotin''
* 1914: ''
L'Amour passe L'Amour may refer to:
People
* Louis L'Amour (1908–1988), American cowboy novelist
* Michelle L'amour (born 1980), American neo-burlesque performer
Other uses
* ''L'Amour'' (album), a 1983 album by Lewis
* ''L'Amour'' (film), a 1973 film
* ...
''
* 1919: ''
Âmes d'Orient''
* 1920: ''
Narayana
Narayana (Sanskrit: नारायण, IAST: ''Nārāyaṇa'') is one of the forms and names of Vishnu, who is in yogic slumber under the celestial waters, referring to the masculine principle. He is also known as Purushottama, and is consi ...
''
* 1920: ''
Le Penseur''
* 1921: ''
L'Ombre déchirée''
* 1921: ''
Le Coffret de jade''
* 1922: ''
Jocelyn''
* 1923: ''
Geneviève''
* 1923: ''
The Courier of Lyon
''The Courier of Lyon'' (French: ''L'affaire du courrier de Lyon'') is a 1937 French historical drama film directed by Claude Autant-Lara and Maurice Lehmann and starring Pierre Blanchar, Dita Parlo and Jacques Copeau.The A to Z of French Cinema p ...
''
* 1924: ''
La Brière ''La Brière'' (translated as ''Passion and Peat'') is a 1923 novel by Alphonse de Chateaubriant that won the Grand prix du roman de l'Académie française for that year.
The novel is set in the rustic fenland landscape west of Nantes, known as ...
''
* 1926: ''
La Croisière noire
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...
''
* 1928: ''
La Croisière jaune''
* 1928: ''
Verdun: Visions of History'' (''Verdun: Visions d'Histoire'')
* 1930: ''
Caïn, aventures des mers exotiques'', co-directed by
Emil-Edwin Reinert
Emil-Edwin Reinert, or Emile-Edwin Reinert, (16 March 1903 – 17 October 1953) was a French film director, screenwriter, audio engineer and producer.
Born in Rava-Ruska, Austria-Hungary in 1903, Reinert directed films in France, Great Britain, ...
* 1933: ''
La Croisière jaune'', co-directed by
André Sauvage
André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese form of the name Andrew, and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French language, French-speaking countries. It ...
* 1933: ''
La Voie sans disque
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...
''
* 1936: ''
The Call of Silence''
* 1937: ''
Sœurs d'armes''
* 1940: ''
Brazza ou l'épopée du Congo Brazza may refer to:
*Brazza (Lat. ''Brattia'') Italian name of the Croatian island of Brač, placed in the Adriatic sea
* Cora Slocomb di Brazza also Brazzà (1862–1944), American-born Italian activist and businesswoman
* Pierre Savorgnan de Br ...
''
* 1943: ''
Jeannou
''Jeannou'' is a 1943 French comedy film directed by Léon Poirier and starring Michèle Alfa, Saturnin Fabre and Thomy Bourdelle.
The film's sets were designed by the art director Raymond Druart. It was partly shot on location in Mouzens in t ...
''
* 1949: ''
La Route inconnue
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...
''
See also
*
1913 in film
1913 was a particularly fruitful year for film as an art form, and is often cited one of the years in the decade which contributed to the medium the most, along with 1917.
The year was one where filmmakers of several countries made great artist ...
References
External links
*
1884 births
1968 deaths
French film directors
French film producers
French male screenwriters
20th-century French screenwriters
Silent film directors
Writers from Paris
20th-century French male writers
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