Jacques Becker
Birth : 1906-09-15, Paris, France
Death : 1960-02-21
History
Jacques Becker (French: [bɛkɛʁ]; 15 September 1906 – 21 February 1960) was a French screenwriter and film director.
Becker first worked in the 1930s as an assistant to director Jean Renoir during what is considered the latter's peak period, including such works as Partie de campagne (1936) and La Grande Illusion (1937). In the early part of World War II, Becker was held in a German prisoner-of-war camp for a year. During the Nazi occupation of France, he became a film director in his own right and he also joined the Comité de libération du cinéma français. He would go on to direct the period romance Casque d'or (1952), the influential gangster film Touchez pas au grisbi (1954), and the prison escape drama Le Trou (1959). While he remains lesser-known internationally than peers such as Marcel Carné and Renoir, Becker is nonetheless regarded as a major French filmmaker, with Casque d'or held in high esteem among film critics.
Becker died at the age of 53 in 1960 and was interred in the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris.
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Himself
Episode of the French television series about the work of film director Jacques Becker. (A 27-minute excerpt from this show appears on the Criterion Collection's release of "Casque d'Or." )
Dialogue
Four prison inmates have been hatching a plan to literally dig out of jail when another prisoner, Claude Gaspard, is moved into their cell. They take a risk and share their plan with the newcomer. Over the course of three days, the prisoners and friends break through the concrete floor using a bed post and begin to make their way through the sewer system -- yet their escape is anything but assured.
Screenplay
Four prison inmates have been hatching a plan to literally dig out of jail when another prisoner, Claude Gaspard, is moved into their cell. They take a risk and share their plan with the newcomer. Over the course of three days, the prisoners and friends break through the concrete floor using a bed post and begin to make their way through the sewer system -- yet their escape is anything but assured.
Director
Four prison inmates have been hatching a plan to literally dig out of jail when another prisoner, Claude Gaspard, is moved into their cell. They take a risk and share their plan with the newcomer. Over the course of three days, the prisoners and friends break through the concrete floor using a bed post and begin to make their way through the sewer system -- yet their escape is anything but assured.
Screenplay
Biographic film chronicling the last year of the life of the Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani, 1919, who falls in love with a girl from a wealthy family. Her parents are against this relationship and stop financial help. Modigliani worked and died in abject poverty in the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris, France.
Director
Biographic film chronicling the last year of the life of the Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani, 1919, who falls in love with a girl from a wealthy family. Her parents are against this relationship and stop financial help. Modigliani worked and died in abject poverty in the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris, France.
Writer
Arsène Lupin is extremely popular among the population, because he allows the needy to share in his acquired wealth. Before entering the service of the German Emperor Wilhelm II, he removes his vault in Alsace, steals two paintings of old masters, steals valuable gems and calls out to the police prefect to avoid his arrest. But this time he risks being seriously recognized. Lupin must once again use his fine intellect to deftly escape the situation.
Director
Arsène Lupin is extremely popular among the population, because he allows the needy to share in his acquired wealth. Before entering the service of the German Emperor Wilhelm II, he removes his vault in Alsace, steals two paintings of old masters, steals valuable gems and calls out to the police prefect to avoid his arrest. But this time he risks being seriously recognized. Lupin must once again use his fine intellect to deftly escape the situation.
Writer
A lord’s servant, Ali Baba, is sent to retrieve a slave for his master, but ends up on an adventure filled with gold, mischief, love, and forty famous thieves instead.
Director
A lord’s servant, Ali Baba, is sent to retrieve a slave for his master, but ends up on an adventure filled with gold, mischief, love, and forty famous thieves instead.
Adaptation
Gentleman gangster Max and his partner, Riton, pull off their last, most successful heist and find themselves comfortable enough to retire in the style they enjoy. However, Max confides the details of the theft to his younger mistress, Josey -- who has secretly taken up with ambitious young rival gangster Angelo. Angelo then has Riton kidnapped and demands the stash of gold as ransom, which threatens Max's dreams of the perfect retirement.
Director
Gentleman gangster Max and his partner, Riton, pull off their last, most successful heist and find themselves comfortable enough to retire in the style they enjoy. However, Max confides the details of the theft to his younger mistress, Josey -- who has secretly taken up with ambitious young rival gangster Angelo. Angelo then has Riton kidnapped and demands the stash of gold as ransom, which threatens Max's dreams of the perfect retirement.
Director
While Henri Laurent speeds along on the racing circuits, his pretty wife Françoise goes from luxury boutique to luxury boutique with her best friend Denise. One day, Denise lets her know that Henri has a lover. Outraged, Françoise moves out of marital home and rents a maids' room in Rue de l'Estrapade. Henri tries to get his wife back but Françoise does not listen. She even looks for a job in a prêt-à-porter shop and lets herself be courted by Robert, her neighbor across the landing...
Adaptation
Ex-convict Georges Manda returns to the free world determined to go straight and takes a steady job as a carpenter. Unable to completely shake his connections with the underground, he meets with a former prison mate, older gangster Félix Leca, who introduces him to his mistress, the sweet but guarded Marie "Casque d'Or". Marie and Georges fall into a passionate relationship, driving Félix to do everything in his power to ruin the couple.
Screenplay
Ex-convict Georges Manda returns to the free world determined to go straight and takes a steady job as a carpenter. Unable to completely shake his connections with the underground, he meets with a former prison mate, older gangster Félix Leca, who introduces him to his mistress, the sweet but guarded Marie "Casque d'Or". Marie and Georges fall into a passionate relationship, driving Félix to do everything in his power to ruin the couple.
Director
Ex-convict Georges Manda returns to the free world determined to go straight and takes a steady job as a carpenter. Unable to completely shake his connections with the underground, he meets with a former prison mate, older gangster Félix Leca, who introduces him to his mistress, the sweet but guarded Marie "Casque d'Or". Marie and Georges fall into a passionate relationship, driving Félix to do everything in his power to ruin the couple.
Writer
Newlyweds Edward & Caroline are preparing for an important evening when a quarrel over Caroline's dress sets off a series of domestic brouhahas.
Director
Newlyweds Edward & Caroline are preparing for an important evening when a quarrel over Caroline's dress sets off a series of domestic brouhahas.
Writer
Hopes and love and ambitions and friendship in a group of young jazz-loving Parisians.
Director
Hopes and love and ambitions and friendship in a group of young jazz-loving Parisians.
Writer
She's working in a big store, he's a typographer and they lost their winning lottery ticket.
Director
She's working in a big store, he's a typographer and they lost their winning lottery ticket.
First Assistant Director
The family of a Parisian shop-owner spends a day in the country. The daughter falls in love with a man at the inn, where they spend the day.
Seminarian (uncredited)
The family of a Parisian shop-owner spends a day in the country. The daughter falls in love with a man at the inn, where they spend the day.
Writer
Philippe Clarence, a famous Parisian dressmaker, seduces his friend's fiancee. But, for the first time in his life, this is for real. The film is also a sharp picture of the fashion world.
Director
Philippe Clarence, a famous Parisian dressmaker, seduces his friend's fiancee. But, for the first time in his life, this is for real. The film is also a sharp picture of the fashion world.
Adaptation
An old woman living in an inn is killed and her family members seem like the likely culprits.
Director
An old woman living in an inn is killed and her family members seem like the likely culprits.
Director
A man is shot In the hotel of an imaginary South American country. Clarence and Montès, two inspector students, must solve this murder, but they don't know that dead guy is the USA public enemy No.1.
Director
Dupuy, the first officer of the Cristobal, a French merchant ship, is informed by cabaret dancer La Rubia that the Cristobal carries a priceless secret cargo of gold. Based on the novel by Albert t'Serstevens.
First Assistant Director
A group of French soldiers, including the patrician Captain de Boeldieu and the working-class Lieutenant Maréchal, grapple with their own class differences after being captured and held in a World War I German prison camp. When the men are transferred to a high-security fortress, they must concoct a plan to escape beneath the watchful eye of aristocratic German officer von Rauffenstein, who has formed an unexpected bond with de Boeldieu.
L'officier anglais
A group of French soldiers, including the patrician Captain de Boeldieu and the working-class Lieutenant Maréchal, grapple with their own class differences after being captured and held in a World War I German prison camp. When the men are transferred to a high-security fortress, they must concoct a plan to escape beneath the watchful eye of aristocratic German officer von Rauffenstein, who has formed an unexpected bond with de Boeldieu.
Le jeune chômeur
A propaganda film of the communist party of France, showing how the comrades help the proletariat against the capitalists.
Writer
A propaganda film of the communist party of France, showing how the comrades help the proletariat against the capitalists.
Director
A propaganda film of the communist party of France, showing how the comrades help the proletariat against the capitalists.
François Chotard, wholesale grocer, gives his daughter in marriage to Julien Collinet, a writer who prefers dreaming to working, a situation conducive to quarrels between the son and the father- in-law. Until the day when Julien receives the Prix Goncourt, prestigious literary award. Chotard has a sudden change of heart.
Le Poète (uncredited)
Michel Simon gives one of the most memorable performances in screen history as Boudu, a Parisian tramp who takes a suicidal plunge into the Seine and is rescued by a well-to-do bookseller, Edouard Lestingois. The Lestingois family decides to take in the irrepressible bum, and he shows his gratitude by shaking the household to its foundations. With Boudu Saved from Drowning, legendary director Jean Renoir takes advantage of a host of Parisian locations and the anarchic charms of his lead actor to create an effervescent satire of the bourgeoisie.
Assistant Director
Michel Simon gives one of the most memorable performances in screen history as Boudu, a Parisian tramp who takes a suicidal plunge into the Seine and is rescued by a well-to-do bookseller, Edouard Lestingois. The Lestingois family decides to take in the irrepressible bum, and he shows his gratitude by shaking the household to its foundations. With Boudu Saved from Drowning, legendary director Jean Renoir takes advantage of a host of Parisian locations and the anarchic charms of his lead actor to create an effervescent satire of the bourgeoisie.
Production Manager
A gang of thieves utilize a cross-road garage as their hideaway; after accidentally murdering a jewel thief, the heat is on.
Assistant Director
A gang of thieves utilize a cross-road garage as their hideaway; after accidentally murdering a jewel thief, the heat is on.
Un ouvrier agricole
A young French woman who inherits her uncle's property in Algeria finds herself schemed against by her envious cousins, and romanced by a handsome but previously irresponsible young man who works for his uncle on a neighbouring farm.
