Raoul Ploquin

Raoul Édouard Ploquin (born May 30, 1900 in Paris , France , † November 29, 1992 in Louveciennes , Île-de-France ) was a French film producer , journalist , dialogue writer, occasional director and association official .

Life

Ploquin studied literature in his hometown Paris and worked as a journalist between 1921 and 1923. In 1924 he became head of the public relations department of the film production company Films Albatros , in 1928 he took over the same position at ACE, where he remained until 1933.

Even in the silent film era, Ploquin began to take an active part in the production of films: his first work in the 1920s was the production of subtitles. In the early sound film years, from 1930 to 1933, Ploquin also worked as a dialogue writer and in this role also made first contacts with the German film industry when he wrote the texts for the French versions of German original productions. Having been recognized as a specialist in German film, Ploquin advanced to head of production for the French-language versions of German UFA films in 1933 . Under his hand, the versions intended for France of several productions by Reinhold Schünzel , Gerhard Lamprecht , Gustav Ucicky , Karl Hartls , Hans Steinhoff , Heinz Hilperts and Detlef Siercks were created under his hand until 1936 . Right at the start of this phase, in 1933, Ploquin also co-directed Ludwig Berger's French-language version of the German hit, the Waltz War .

This activity ended in 1936 and Ploquin began to shoot French originals in the film studios of the Third Reich - at a time when numerous German artists had long since left their homeland, which had become Nazi. In addition, Kay Weniger says, "In life, more is taken from you than given ..." in the preface to German film emigration:

“It is noteworthy that between Germany and France between 1933 and 1939 there was also the“ opposite route ”: a lot of travel from West to East. The French film producer Raoul Ploquin, who was initially appointed head of production for the French-language UFA film versions in 1933 and was responsible for French films produced in the UFA studios, has produced a series of extremely popular films since the mid to late 1930s. local film stars to Berlin to shoot purely French films in the studios there. The best-known names include Jean Gabin , Michèle Morgan , Raimu , Madeleine Renaud , Pierre Fresnay and the comedian Fernandel , who in 1939, a few months before the outbreak of war, was one of the last Parisian audience favorites to film a domestic production (“L'héritier des Mondésir ") traveled to the German capital."

- Quoted from Kay Less 2011

Some of these films were also shown in German cinemas at the end of the 1930s. This last Franco-German cooperation before September 1939 abruptly broke off with the outbreak of World War II . After the occupation of Paris in 1940, Raoul Ploquin was appointed director of the Comité d'organisation du cinéma, which was to promote the reorganization of the French film industry. In 1943 he produced Henri-Georges Clouzot's masterpiece The Raven for Alfred Greven's Continental film . In the same year Ploquin became self-employed and became managing director of the Société des films Raoul Ploquin. In this role he produced several quite successful entertainment films. In 1956 he received an Oscar nomination for participation in the best original story for the Fernandel comedy The Calf with Five Feet . It was not until 1966 that Ploquin stopped producing.

further activities

Raoul Ploquin was also President of Unifrance-Film from 1955 to 1961, and since his election in April 1955 he was temporarily president or honorary president of the Syndicat des producteurs et exportateurs de films, the association of French producers and film exporters.

At the Cannes Film Festival in 1961 and 1964 , Ploquin was also a member of the jury.

Movies

as a film producer, unless otherwise stated

• 1933: La guerre des valses (also co-director)
• 1933: Un jour viendra
• 1934: Vers l'abîme
• 1934: L'or
• 1934: Voronzeff
• 1935: Le Miroir aux Alouettes
• 1935: Le baron tzigane
• 1935: Le domino vert
• 1935: Valse royale
• 1935: Jonny haute-couture
• 1936: Les pattes de mouches
• 1936: Her first case (Un mauvais garçon) (also co-director)
• 1937: The Heartbreaker (Gueule d'amour)
• 1937: The Strange Mr. Victor (L'étrange Monsieur Victor)
• 1938: He and his sister (Ma sœur de lait)
• 1938: Queen of Hearts (L'entraîneuse)
• 1938: SOS Sahara
• 1938: Avocate d'amour
• 1939: L'héritier de Mondésir
• 1943: The Raven (Le corbeau) (anonymous)
• 1943: Jump into the clouds (Le ciel est à vous)
• 1944: The Ladies of the Bois de Boulogne (Les dames de Bois de Boulogne)
• 1947: La vie en rose (La vie en rose)
• 1950: L'invité du Mardi (L'invité du mardi)
• 1950: Without giving the address (Sans laisser d'address)
• 1951: L'amour, Madame (L'amour, Madame)
• 1952: Douze heures de bonheur
• 1954: The calf with five feet (Le mouton à cinq pattes)
• 1958: The gorilla sends his regards (Le gorille vous salue bien)
• 1958: The affairs of Madame M. (Maxime)
• 1959: The gorilla strikes (La valse du gorille)
• 1961: The joys of the big city (Le tracassin ou les plaisirs de la vie)
• 1963: La foire aux cancres
• 1966: Green Hearts (Les cœurs verts)
• 1966: La Musica (La musica)

literature

• Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 6: N - R. Mary Nolan - Meg Ryan. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 265.

Web links

• Raoul Ploquin in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kay Less : "In life, more is taken from you than given ...". Lexicon of filmmakers who emigrated from Germany and Austria between 1933 and 1945. A general overview. Acabus Verlag, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86282-049-8 , p 27th