Encyclopedia of French Film Directors

2 • ABOULKER, MARCEL
ABOULKER, MARCEL (Paul Marcel Samuel
Aboulker / January 1, 1905, Algiers, Algeria–September
12, 1952, Garches, Hauts-de-Seine, France)
Born of a great dynasty from Algiers, he was a member
of a partisan group that prepared the American
debarkation in Africa. On D-day he was among the
fi ghters who took control of Algiers against Vichy
forces. Having graduated from Ecole Polytechnique,
he created several successful radio programs broadcast
by Le Poste Parisien. He was an assistant to
director Roger Richebé for one movie (1938 Prison
de Femmes / USA: Marked Girls) before turning to
fi lm directing. He wrote a book on the liberation of
Algiers (Alger et ses Complots, Les Documents Nuit et
Jour, 1945).
Filmography
1939 En Correctionnelle (short; also screenwriter)
1940 Les Surprises de la Radio (as Marcel-Paul)
1948 Les Aventures des Pieds Nickelés (also coadapter)
1950 Le Trésor des Pieds, Nickelés (also co-adapter)
La Dame de chez Maxim’s (also screenwriter,
adapter)
1951 Les Mousquetaires du Roi (unfi nished)
1952 Les Femmes sont des Anges
ACCURSI, CLAUDE (May 28, 1920, Paris, France–)
He adapted a British play before joining the Pathé
Studios Screenplay department at the Liberation.
He notably co-wrote Voyage-Surprise (Pierre Prévert;
1947), Trois Femmes (André Michel; 1952), Teodora, imperatrice
di Bisanzio / Théodora, Impératrice de Byzance
/ USA: Theodora, Slave Empress (Riccardo Freda; Italy
/ France; 1954), and Les Jeunes Loups / I giovani lupi
(Marcel Carné; France / Italy, 1968).
Filmography
1951 Ca c’est du Cinéma (documentary; co-director
with Raymond Bardonnet; also co-screenwriter)
1974 Dada au Cœur (also screenwriter, dialogist)
ACHARD, LAURENT (April 17, 1967, Yonne,
France–)
He grew up in province. Arrived in Paris, he was an
assistant to directors Jean-Claude Guiguet (Faubourg
Saint-Martin, 1986) and Gérard Frot-Coutaz (Après
Après-Demain, 1990).
Filmography
1990 Qu’en savent les Morts (short; also screenwriter,
dialogist)
1994 Dimanche ou les Fantômes (short; also screenwriter,
dialogist)
1997 Une Odeur de Géranium (short; also screenwriter,
dialogist)
1998 Plus qu’hier, moins que Demain (also co-screenwriter,
co-dialogist)
2004 La Peur, petit Chasseur (short; also screenwriter,
dialogist)
2006 Le Dernier des Fous (also co-screenwriter, codialogist)
2007 Laissez-les grandir ici! (documentary; co-director
only)
ACHARD, MARCEL (July 5, 1899, Sainte-Foy-les-
Lyon, France–September 4, 1974, Paris, France)
A former teacher and journalist, he wrote his fi rst
play in 1922 and soon became one of the most renowned
French Boulevard playwrights. Jean de la Lune,
Domino, Noix de Coco, and Patate are probably his most
known and successful works. From 1931 (Jean de la
Lune; Jean Choux and Michel Simon) to 1964 (Patate;
Robert Thomas), he wrote or co-wrote screenplays
and dialogues of about forty fi lms (including La Veuve
Joyeuse, the French version of Ernst Lubitsch’s The
Merry Widow, 1934, and Max Ophüls’s Madame de . . . /
Gioielli di Madame de . . . / UK: Diamond Earrings / USA:
The Earrings of Madame de . . . , France / Italy, 1953).
A long time before being elected at the French Academy
(1959) and appearing as himself in Goodbye Again
/ Aimez-vous Brahms? (Anatole Litvak, USA / France,
1961), he played in two “avant-garde” fi lms (Entr’acte,
René Clair, 1924, and Traité de Bave et d’Eternité / USA:
Venom and Eternity, Isidore Isou, 1951).
Filmography
1935 Folies-Bergère (also screenwriter, adapter, dialogist;
French-language version of Roy Del
Ruth’s Folies-Bergeres)
1943 Les Deux Timides (uncredited; co-director with
Yves Allégret; shot in 1941)
1949 Jean de la Lune (also screenwriter, dialogist)
1950 La Valse de Paris (also screenwriter, dialogist)
ADAM, JEAN-FRANÇOIS (Jean-François Albert
Hermant Abraham-Adam / February 14, 1938, Paris,
France–October 14, 1980, Paris, France)