Encyclopedia of French Film Directors

Francis Blanche, Jacques Legras, Christian Duvaleix,
Pierre Olaf, Pierre Tornade, Micheline Dax, Robert
Rollis, Maurice Baquet, and Jean Carmet, with whom
he wrote and performed succesful comical shows
(Dugudu; Vos Gueules les Mouettes!; La Grosse Valse; Jupon
vole; En Sourdine . . . les Sardines; Le Chapeau de mon
Oncle; Pommes à l’Anglaise). Thanks to La Plume de ma
Tante, he won huge popularity with British and American
audiences (the tour lasted three years) and won a
Tony Award in 1959. Besides the movies he directed,
he played in about twenty fi lms (from 1940 Remorques
/ USA: Stormy Waters, Jean Grémillon, to 1987
La Passion Béatrice / Quarto comandamento / USA:
Beatrice / US video: The Passion of Beatrice, Bertrand
Tavernier, France / Italy). He wrote the screenplay of
Ah! Les Belles Bacchantes / UK: Femmes de Paris / USA:
Peek-a-Boo (Jean Loubignac, 1954). Autobiography:
1978 Ma Vie de Branquignol (Calmann-Lévy).
Filmography
1949 Branquignol (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter,
actor)
1950 La Patronne (also screenwriter, adapter, dialogist)
1951 Bertrand Cœur de Lion (also screenwriter, dialogist,
actor)
1961 La Belle Américaine / UK: The American Beauty
/ USA: What a Chassis (with the collaboration
of Pierre Tchernia; also co-screenwriter, coadapter,
actor)
1964 Allez France! / USA: The Counterfeit Constable
(with the collaboration of Pierre Tchernia;
also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist,
actor)
1968 Le Petit Baigneur / Si salvi chi puo (also screenwriter,
adapter, dialogist, actor)
1974 Vos Gueules les Mouettes (also co-screenwriter,
co-adapter, co-dialogist, actor)
DIAMANT-BERGER, HENRI (June 9, 1895, Paris,
France–May 1972, Paris, France)
After his law studies, he was an amateur stage actor
and then a journalist, publishing his articles in
Gil Blas. In the early 1910s, he met director André
Heuzé, with whom he created an illustrated weekly
magazine, Le Film, in 1914. Two years later, he became
chief editor of the review, which had, among his collaborators,
such great names as Abel Gance, Colette,
Raymond Bernard, Louis Delluc, Germaine Dulac, and
Jacques de Baroncelli. In 1921, he published texts in
DIAMANT-BERGER, HENRI • 325
Cinémagazine while directing his movies. He also was
a producer (1919 Le Petit Café / USA: The Little Cafe,
also adapter, Raymond Bernard; 1925 A la Gare / Ah,
quelle Gare, Robert Saidreau, shot in 1923; Paris qui
dort / Le Rayon de la Mort / UK: Paris Asleep / USA:
At 3:25, René Clair; Un Fil à la Patte, Robert Saidreau,
1949 Branquignol, Robert Dhéry; 1959 . . . Enfants des
Courants d’Air, short, Edouard Luntz; 1963 Un Drôle
de Paroissien / UK: Heaven Sent / USA: Thank Heaven
for Small Favors, Jean-Pierre Mocky; 1964 Allez France!
/ USA: The Counterfeit Constable, Robert Dhéry; 1967
Les Compagnons de la Marguerite / UK: Order of the
Daisy, Jean-Pierre Mocky), production manager (1937
La Fessée, Pierre Caron; 1959 Chaleurs d’Eté / USA:
Heat of the Summer, Louis Félix; 1960 Ravissante / Le
mogli degli altri, Robert Lamoureux, France / Italy),
screenwriter (1923 Le Costaud des Epinettes, as coadapter,
Raymond Bernard; Ma Tante d’Honfl eur, also
screenwriter, adapter, producer, Robert Saidreau;
1931 Général, à vos Ordres, D. B. Maurice = Maurice
Diamant-Berger; Ma Tante d’Honfl eur, as screenwriter,
adapter, dialogist, D. B. Maurice = Maurice Diamant-
Berger; 1932 L’Enfant du Miracle, as screenwriter,
dialogist, production manager; D. B. Maurice = Maurice
Diamant-Berger; 1933 L’Argent par les Fenêtres,
as screenwriter, Norman Lee, UK; 1935 Amants et
Voleurs, Raymond Bernard; 1945 Le Roi des Resquilleurs,
as co-adapter, Jean Devaivre; 1947 Le Chanteur inconnu,
as co-screenwriter, André Cayatte; 1970 L’Homme qui
vient de la Nuit, as screenwriter, dialogist, Jean-Claude
Dague), author of an original story (1931 Le Chanteur
inconnu, Victor Tourjansky), supervisor (1920 Le Secret
de Rosette Lambert, Raymond Bernard; 1928 Les Transatlantiques,
also producer, Pièrre Colombier), and
actor (1961 La Belle Américaine / USA: The American
Beauty / What a Chassis, Robert Dhéry, Pierre Tchernia).
Autobiography: 1977 Il était une Fois le Cinéma . . .
(Editions Jean-Claude Simoën). His grandson, Jérôme
Diamant-Berger, is also a fi lmmaker.
Filmography
1913 De Film . . . en Aiguilles (short; co-director with
André Heuzé)
1915 Le Lord ouvrier (short; also screenwriter)
Les Petits Poulbots (short; also screenwriter)
Les Gants blancs de Saint-Cyr (short; also
screenwriter)
Pour une Bouffée de Tabac (short; also screenwriter)
1916 Paris pendant la Guerre (four shorts: “Le Paradis,”
“Les Permissionnaires,” “Appartement à