Henri-Georges Clouzot

Henri-Georges Clouzot

Birth : 1907-11-20, Niort, Deux-Sèvres, France

Death : 1977-01-12

History

​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Henri-Georges Clouzot (August 18, 1907 – January 12, 1977) was a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best remembered for his work in the thriller film genre, having directed The Wages of Fear and Les Diaboliques, which are critically recognized to be among the greatest films from the 1950s. Clouzot also directed documentary films, including The Mystery of Picasso, which was declared a national treasure by the government of France. Clouzot was an early fan of the cinema and, desiring a career as a writer, moved to Paris. He was later hired by producer Adolphe Osso to work in Berlin, writing French-language versions of German films. After being fired from German studios due to his friendship with Jewish producers, Clouzot returned to France, where he spent years bedridden after contracting tuberculosis. Upon recovering, Clouzot found work in Nazi occupied France as a screenwriter for the German-owned company Continental Films. At Continental, Clouzot wrote and directed films that were very popular in France. His second film Le Corbeau drew controversy over its harsh look at provincial France and Clouzot was fired from Continental before its release. As a result of his association with Continental, Clouzot was barred by the French government from filmmaking until 1947. After the ban was lifted, Clouzot reestablished his reputation and popularity in France during the late 1940s with successful films including Quai des Orfèvres. After the release of his comedy film Miquette et sa mère, Clouzot married Véra Gibson-Amado, who would star in his next three feature films. In the early and mid-1950s, Clouzot drew acclaim from international critics and audiences for The Wages of Fear and Diabolique. Both films would serve as source material for remakes decades later. After the release of La Vérité, Clouzot's wife Véra died of a heart attack and Clouzot's career suffered due to depression, illness and new critical views of films from the French New Wave. Clouzot's career became less active in later years, limited to a few television documentaries and two feature films in the 1960s. Clouzot wrote several unused scripts in the 1970s and died in Paris in 1977. Description above from the Wikipedia article Henri-Georges Clouzot, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia

Profile

Henri-Georges Clouzot
Henri-Georges Clouzot
Henri-Georges Clouzot

Movies

1940: Taking over French Cinema
Self (archive footage)
Paris, 1940. German occupation forces create a new film production company, Continental, and put Alfred Greven – producer, cinephile, and opportunistic businessman – in charge. During the occupation, under Joseph Goebbels’s orders, Greven hires the best artists and technicians of French cinema to produce successful, highly entertaining films, which are also strategically devoid of propaganda. Simultaneously, he takes advantage of the confiscation of Jewish property to purchase film theaters, studios and laboratories, in order to control the whole production line. His goal: to create a European Hollywood. Among the thirty feature films thus produced under the auspices of Continental, several are, to this day, considered classics of French cinema.
Clouzot : The Early Works
Writers' Production
A master of suspense admired even by Hitchcock, Henri-Georges Clouzot is famous for acid-tinged thrillers about cold-blooded murder and ugly politics, whether in a French town or a Latin American oil field. But his early writing career was quite different: he provided the scenarios and dialogue for ten years’ worth of clever farces and affecting melodramas, often with musical numbers. My Cousin from Warsaw, Dragnet Night, The Unknown Singer, I’ll Be Alone After Midnight, The Terror of Batignolles, Tell Me Tonight, Dream Castle
The Inferno Unseen
Director
Henri-George Clouzot’s The Inferno, starring Romy Schneider, is one of the most tantalizing uncompleted projects in film history. The Inferno Unseen is a newly edited assemblage of rushes filmed in 1964. With his cinematographers Andréas Winding, Armand Thirard, and Claude Renior, Clouzot staged seemingly endless kinetic and optical experiments focusing primarily on Schneider performing simple, seductive actions in carefully composed mises-en-scène. Departing from Serge Bromberg’s critically acclaimed documentary about the making of Clouzot’s film (2009), The Inferno Unseen focuses solely on Clouzot’s intoxicating visions, allowing them to build their own momentum as they unfurl in all their glory. Rollo Smallcombe is a London-based music producer, composer and filmmaker. His sonic inspirations range from the early experiments of Musique Concrete through to modern video-game, film, and horror scores.
The Clouzot Scandal
Self (archive footage)
Great filmmakers claim the artistic influence of French director Henri-Georges Clouzot (1907-1977), a master of suspense, with a unique vision of the world, who knew how to offer both great shows and subtle studies of characters. Beyond the myth of the tyrannical director, a contrasting portrait of a visionary, an agitator, an artist against the system.
They Saw Inferno
Self (archival footage)
A wonderful documentary that sheds additional light on the fascinating project ‘Inferno’ was, as well as how those who were involved with it reacted to it during the shooting process. A riveting adjunct to the main feature, offering a glut of interviews with various people associated with the production, and presenting quite a bit more production data, as well as some unseen footage from Clouzot's shoot.
Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno
Self (archive footage)
In 1964, Henri-Georges Clouzot's production of L'Enfer came to a halt. Despite huge expectations, major studio backing and an unlimited budget, after three weeks the production collapsed. This documentary presents Inferno's incredible expressionistic original rushes, screen tests, and on-location footage, whilst also reconstructing Clouzot's original vision, and shedding light on the ill-fated endeavor through interviews, dramatizations of unfilmed scenes, and Clouzot's own notes.
Henri-Georges Clouzot: An Enlightened Tyrant
Self (archive footage)
Documentary about the life and career of French director Henri-Georges Clouzot.
Diabolique
Original Film Writer
The wife and mistress of a cruel school master collaborate in a carefully planned and executed scheme to murder him. The plan goes well until the body, which has been strategically dumped, disappears. The psychological strain starts to weigh on the two women when a retired police investigator begins looking into the man's disappearance on a whim.
Torment
Original Film Writer
An irritable and stressed-out hotel manager begins to develop paranoid delusions about his wife's infidelity.
Notre Dame de la Croisette
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
A woman goes to Cannes and, lost in its chaos and unable to obtain tickets, ends up watching it on television from her hotel room.
Sorcerer
Thanks
Four men from different parts of the globe, all hiding from their pasts in the same remote South American town, agree to risk their lives transporting several cases of dynamite (which is so old that it is dripping unstable nitroglycerin) across dangerous jungle terrain.
Woman in Chains
Writer
Gallery director Stanislas bolsters the development of modern art with his collection of surprising works. His newest acquisition is a sculpture by Gilbert, whose wife Josée is captivated by Stanislas. But unbeknownst to her, Stanislas is amassing photographs of a very perverse, disturbed nature.
Woman in Chains
Director
Gallery director Stanislas bolsters the development of modern art with his collection of surprising works. His newest acquisition is a sculpture by Gilbert, whose wife Josée is captivated by Stanislas. But unbeknownst to her, Stanislas is amassing photographs of a very perverse, disturbed nature.
Herbert von Karajan, Symphonie n°5 Beethoven
Director
Verdi – Messa da Requiem
Director
Herbert von Karajan conducts La Scala Orchestra and Chorus with soloists Leontyne Price, Fiorenza Cossotto, Luciano Pavarotti, and Nicolai Ghiaurov.
Carl Th. Dreyer
Self
At the world premiere of "Gertrud" in Paris, December 1964, Dreyer is greeted by many celebrities of the French cinema: Clouzot, Langlois, Truffaut, Godard, Anna Karina. Afterwards Dreyer delivers short comments on the style of each of his films.
Karajan: Mozart Violin Concerto No 5, Dvorak Symphony No.9
Director
Combining the forces of two of the 20th century's greatest musicians - Yehudi Menuhin and Herbert von Karajan in their only recorded performance together - this magnificent programme marks a high point in filmed classical music, directed by master filmmaker and long-time Karajan collaborator Henri-Georges Clouzot. Herbert von Karajan conducts the Wiener Symphoniker and the Berliner Philharmoniker in performances of Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5, and Dvorak's Symphony No. 9, filmed in 1966 by film director Henry-Georges Clouzot.
Yehudi Menuhin und Herbert von Karajan – Mozart: Konzert für Violine und Orchester Nr. 5
Director
Tokyo Olympiad
Thanks
This impressionistic portrait of the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics pays as much attention to the crowds and workers as it does to the actual competitive events. Highlights include an epic pole-vaulting match between West Germany and America, and the final marathon race through Tokyo's streets. Two athletes are highlighted: Ethiopian marathon runner Abebe Bikila, who receives his second gold medal, and runner Ahamed Isa from Chad, representing a country younger than he is.
Karajan in Rehearsal
Director
Karajan conducts rehearsal and performance of Schubert's Symphony No. 4 with the Vienna Symphony in Vienna, Nov. 1965, and Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 with the Berlin Philharmonic, January 1966. Henri-Georges Clouzot directs.
La Vérité
Screenplay
As Dominique Marceau is being tried for the murder of Gilbert Tellier, accounts by different witnesses paint a picture of the kind of relationship the two used to share.
La Vérité
Director
As Dominique Marceau is being tried for the murder of Gilbert Tellier, accounts by different witnesses paint a picture of the kind of relationship the two used to share.
The Spies
Producer
A doctor at a run-down psychiatric hospital is offered a large sum of money to shelter a new patient. Soon the place is full of suspicious and secretive characters, all apparently international secret agents trying to find out who and what the patient is.
The Spies
Writer
A doctor at a run-down psychiatric hospital is offered a large sum of money to shelter a new patient. Soon the place is full of suspicious and secretive characters, all apparently international secret agents trying to find out who and what the patient is.
The Spies
Director
A doctor at a run-down psychiatric hospital is offered a large sum of money to shelter a new patient. Soon the place is full of suspicious and secretive characters, all apparently international secret agents trying to find out who and what the patient is.
The Mystery of Picasso
Producer
Using a specially designed transparent 'canvas' to provide an unobstructed view, Picasso creates as the camera rolls. He begins with simple works that take shape after only a single brush stroke. He then progresses to more complex paintings, in which he repeatedly adds and removes elements, transforming the entire scene at will, until at last the work is complete.
The Mystery of Picasso
Writer
Using a specially designed transparent 'canvas' to provide an unobstructed view, Picasso creates as the camera rolls. He begins with simple works that take shape after only a single brush stroke. He then progresses to more complex paintings, in which he repeatedly adds and removes elements, transforming the entire scene at will, until at last the work is complete.
The Mystery of Picasso
Self (uncredited)
Using a specially designed transparent 'canvas' to provide an unobstructed view, Picasso creates as the camera rolls. He begins with simple works that take shape after only a single brush stroke. He then progresses to more complex paintings, in which he repeatedly adds and removes elements, transforming the entire scene at will, until at last the work is complete.
The Mystery of Picasso
Director
Using a specially designed transparent 'canvas' to provide an unobstructed view, Picasso creates as the camera rolls. He begins with simple works that take shape after only a single brush stroke. He then progresses to more complex paintings, in which he repeatedly adds and removes elements, transforming the entire scene at will, until at last the work is complete.
If All the Guys in the World...
Writer
Diabolique
Writer
The cruel and abusive headmaster of a boarding school, Michel Delassalle, is murdered by an unlikely duo -- his meek wife and the mistress he brazenly flaunts. The women become increasingly unhinged by a series of odd occurrences after Delassalle's corpse mysteriously disappears.
Diabolique
Producer
The cruel and abusive headmaster of a boarding school, Michel Delassalle, is murdered by an unlikely duo -- his meek wife and the mistress he brazenly flaunts. The women become increasingly unhinged by a series of odd occurrences after Delassalle's corpse mysteriously disappears.
Diabolique
Director
The cruel and abusive headmaster of a boarding school, Michel Delassalle, is murdered by an unlikely duo -- his meek wife and the mistress he brazenly flaunts. The women become increasingly unhinged by a series of odd occurrences after Delassalle's corpse mysteriously disappears.
The Wages of Fear
Producer
In a run-down South American town, four men are paid to drive trucks loaded with nitroglycerin into the jungle through to the oil field. Friendships are tested and rivalries develop as they embark upon the perilous journey.
The Wages of Fear
Screenplay
In a run-down South American town, four men are paid to drive trucks loaded with nitroglycerin into the jungle through to the oil field. Friendships are tested and rivalries develop as they embark upon the perilous journey.
The Wages of Fear
Director
In a run-down South American town, four men are paid to drive trucks loaded with nitroglycerin into the jungle through to the oil field. Friendships are tested and rivalries develop as they embark upon the perilous journey.
Miquette
Writer
A provincial ingenue leaves her mother’s tobacco shop with dreams of a life in the Parisian theater, only to become entangled in relationships with a lecherous aristocrat, his starry-eyed nephew, and an old ham actor.
Miquette
Director
A provincial ingenue leaves her mother’s tobacco shop with dreams of a life in the Parisian theater, only to become entangled in relationships with a lecherous aristocrat, his starry-eyed nephew, and an old ham actor.
Brasil
Director
Abandoned documentary on the country Brazil which director Clouzot wanted to make while on honeymoon with his wife Véra Clouzot whose of Brazilian origin. Only an introductionary section set in Paris was ever filmed.
Brasil
Self
Abandoned documentary on the country Brazil which director Clouzot wanted to make while on honeymoon with his wife Véra Clouzot whose of Brazilian origin. Only an introductionary section set in Paris was ever filmed.
Return to Life
Writer
In France in 1946, the difficult return to civilian life of five deportees and prisoners of war after having lived through the hell of the Second World War.
Return to Life
Director
In France in 1946, the difficult return to civilian life of five deportees and prisoners of war after having lived through the hell of the Second World War.
Manon
Screenplay
Port of Marseille, France, recently liberated from the German yoke. Caught as stowaways aboard a ship, Manon, a young woman who was accused of collaborating with the Nazis, and Robert, a freedom fighter who saved her from reprisals, tell the captain about the many challenges they have had to face in order to survive.
Manon
Director
Port of Marseille, France, recently liberated from the German yoke. Caught as stowaways aboard a ship, Manon, a young woman who was accused of collaborating with the Nazis, and Robert, a freedom fighter who saved her from reprisals, tell the captain about the many challenges they have had to face in order to survive.
Jenny Lamour
Screenplay
Paris, France, December 1946. Jenny Lamour, an ambitious cabaret singer, and Maurice, her extremely jealous pianist husband, become involved in the thorough investigation of the murder of a shady businessman, led by Antoine, a peculiar and methodical police inspector.
Jenny Lamour
Dialogue
Paris, France, December 1946. Jenny Lamour, an ambitious cabaret singer, and Maurice, her extremely jealous pianist husband, become involved in the thorough investigation of the murder of a shady businessman, led by Antoine, a peculiar and methodical police inspector.
Jenny Lamour
Director
Paris, France, December 1946. Jenny Lamour, an ambitious cabaret singer, and Maurice, her extremely jealous pianist husband, become involved in the thorough investigation of the murder of a shady businessman, led by Antoine, a peculiar and methodical police inspector.
Le Corbeau
Screenplay
Remy Germain is a doctor in a French town who becomes the focus of a vicious smear campaign, as letters accusing him of having an affair and performing unlawful abortions are mailed to village leaders. The mysterious writer, who signs each letter as "Le Corbeau" (The Raven) soon targets the whole town, exposing everyone's dark secrets. This allegorical film was highly controversial at the time of its release, and was banned in France after the Liberation.
Le Corbeau
Adaptation
Remy Germain is a doctor in a French town who becomes the focus of a vicious smear campaign, as letters accusing him of having an affair and performing unlawful abortions are mailed to village leaders. The mysterious writer, who signs each letter as "Le Corbeau" (The Raven) soon targets the whole town, exposing everyone's dark secrets. This allegorical film was highly controversial at the time of its release, and was banned in France after the Liberation.
Le Corbeau
Director
Remy Germain is a doctor in a French town who becomes the focus of a vicious smear campaign, as letters accusing him of having an affair and performing unlawful abortions are mailed to village leaders. The mysterious writer, who signs each letter as "Le Corbeau" (The Raven) soon targets the whole town, exposing everyone's dark secrets. This allegorical film was highly controversial at the time of its release, and was banned in France after the Liberation.
The Murderer Lives at Number 21
Screenplay
Inspector Wens moves into a Paris boarding house to catch a serial killer.
The Murderer Lives at Number 21
Adaptation
Inspector Wens moves into a Paris boarding house to catch a serial killer.
The Murderer Lives at Number 21
Director
Inspector Wens moves into a Paris boarding house to catch a serial killer.
Strangers in the House
Screenplay
Loursat, a lawyer, lives with his daughter Nicole in a sinister and vast bourgeois residence. Abandoned for nearly twenty years by his wife, the brilliant lawyer has sunk into alcoholism and his relationship with his daughter is virtually non-existent. However, one day the corpse of a stranger is discovered in the residence of Loursat. Nicole, who frequents a gang of young people who escape boredom by stealing cars and other objects, is immediately suspected.
Strangers in the House
Dialogue
Loursat, a lawyer, lives with his daughter Nicole in a sinister and vast bourgeois residence. Abandoned for nearly twenty years by his wife, the brilliant lawyer has sunk into alcoholism and his relationship with his daughter is virtually non-existent. However, one day the corpse of a stranger is discovered in the residence of Loursat. Nicole, who frequents a gang of young people who escape boredom by stealing cars and other objects, is immediately suspected.
Strangers in the House
Adaptation
Loursat, a lawyer, lives with his daughter Nicole in a sinister and vast bourgeois residence. Abandoned for nearly twenty years by his wife, the brilliant lawyer has sunk into alcoholism and his relationship with his daughter is virtually non-existent. However, one day the corpse of a stranger is discovered in the residence of Loursat. Nicole, who frequents a gang of young people who escape boredom by stealing cars and other objects, is immediately suspected.
Le dernier des six
Screenplay
Six friends promise to share their fortune in 5 years. The moment is very close, but one of the six is mysteriously murdered, then another... Superintendent Wenceslas Woroboyioetschik (aka Wens) is in charge of the investigation...
Le dernier des six
Dialogue
Six friends promise to share their fortune in 5 years. The moment is very close, but one of the six is mysteriously murdered, then another... Superintendent Wenceslas Woroboyioetschik (aka Wens) is in charge of the investigation...
Le dernier des six
Adaptation
Six friends promise to share their fortune in 5 years. The moment is very close, but one of the six is mysteriously murdered, then another... Superintendent Wenceslas Woroboyioetschik (aka Wens) is in charge of the investigation...
The Duel
Dialogue
A widow is loved by a doctor whose brother, an ecclesiastic unconsciously in love with the young woman, persuades her to enter a convent. Brought back on the straight and narrow by a missionary, the priest blesses his brother's marriage.
The Duel
Scenario Writer
A widow is loved by a doctor whose brother, an ecclesiastic unconsciously in love with the young woman, persuades her to enter a convent. Brought back on the straight and narrow by a missionary, the priest blesses his brother's marriage.
The World Will Shake
Screenplay
In this sci-fi film, a scientist invents a prescient machine that can tell people when they will die. Oddly enough, the people do not want to know and therefore begin to riot…
The Rebel
Writer
Pimaï, the strong-headed anarchist, joined the navy out of bravado. But the sweet influence of a young girl leads him to prove that he is worthy of the profession he has chosen and the flag he serves.
Caprice de princesse
Co-Director
Caprice de princesse
Dialogue
Dream Castle
Screenplay
A film actress falls for an extra on her set, he turns out to be a prince.
Dream Castle
Assistant Director
A film actress falls for an extra on her set, he turns out to be a prince.
All for Love
Co-Director
A famous tenor manages to charm away a lovely young lady who was just about to be married to the opera director.
All for Love
Dialogue
A famous tenor manages to charm away a lovely young lady who was just about to be married to the opera director.
Tell Me Tonight
Writer
Opera singer Enrico Ferraro, tired of his too many engagements, jumps off the train escaping from his manager and changes to another going to the Riviera. He makes a friend and stops at a village, where (it seems) he can at last have some well deserved holidays, with the added interest of meeting a beautiful girl in the surroundings.
Should We Wed Them?
Dialogue
Professor Bock is to inaugurate the museum, the construction of which was donated by a generous patron who remains anonymous. He learns that it is his brother's wife, a former dancer, and whom he hates. But her daughter falls in love with Jim, the son of the ex-dancer, and everything will work out.
I'll Be Alone After Midnight
Screenplay
A woman's marriage is on the rocks ; to avenge herself, she decides to take a lover for one night .So she buys all his stock from a balloon man and flies them through the Parisian sky ; all her balloons carry a message :"I will be alone after midnight" (hence the title); a lot a suitors comme to the rendezvous : a fisherman, a soldier, a traveler , a gentleman cambrioleur (a nod to Arsène Lupin?) and others ,much to Michel, a young man in love with her's displeasure.
I'll Be Alone After Midnight
Dialogue
A woman's marriage is on the rocks ; to avenge herself, she decides to take a lover for one night .So she buys all his stock from a balloon man and flies them through the Parisian sky ; all her balloons carry a message :"I will be alone after midnight" (hence the title); a lot a suitors comme to the rendezvous : a fisherman, a soldier, a traveler , a gentleman cambrioleur (a nod to Arsène Lupin?) and others ,much to Michel, a young man in love with her's displeasure.
Dragnet Night
Writer
A sailor, who meets a lovely music hall singer during a police raid, falls in love. In a contest at a fair, he defeats a former boxing champ. The ex-champ trains the sailor to become a boxer. After he wins the French championship, the sailor is swayed by easy money and a sultry coquette. The singer goes on a singing tour, and the sailor falls into decadence. He enters the European championship spiritually empty and in bad condition.
My cousin from Warsaw
Writer
Archibald Burel, a banker, has had enough of his wife cheating on him, and with his best friend Hubert into the bargain! One day he has (at least that is what he thinks!) a bright idea : he asks Sonia, his cousin living in Poland but staying in Paris at the moment, to seduce Hubert. In these conditions, how could Lucienne not fall into his arms again? Unfortunately for Archibald, things do not go (at all!) according to plan : he himself falls for Sonia while Hubert manages to reconquer Lucienne! Dispirited, Sonia decides to return to Warsaw.
The Terror of Batignolles
Director
An expressionist comedy greatly influenced by German Expressionism set in a bohemian enclave of northern Paris, which Clouzot made shortly before he served as assistant director to Anatole Litvak and E.A. Dupont and began scripting French versions of German films at Berlin’s UFA studios.