Charles Decroix
Charles Decroix (* 19th century ; † 20th century ) was a French director , film producer and screenwriter with a top career in German film before the First World War , one of the forgotten pioneers from the early days of European cinema.
Life
The early successes
The son of an Alsatian shoemaker came across cinematography in 1899. In the period that followed, Decroix initially wrote scripts and shot numerous recordings for smaller and larger companies at home and abroad, including Film d'Art Italy, Gaumont and Lux.
In 1909 he was engaged by Pathé , for which Decroix staged a Balzac adaptation of Les paysans and a short film grotesque with Max Linder Une conquête . He had shot the short comedy Corn Surgeon Out of Love with Linder last year .
In the spring of 1910 he came to Berlin and worked for German production companies for the next four years. Until the outbreak of the First World War, Decroix was one of the leading filmmakers in the early days of German cinematography, who gave German cinema its first artistic inspiration and also brought technical know-how with him. Both his dramas and a number of comedies met with goodwill. In 1913 he founded his own production company, Films Charles Decroix. At that time, Decroix was considered to be the discoverer of subsequently celebrated silent film stars such as Bernd Aldor and Fern Andra . Among the directors he trained included Carl Wilhelm .
Internment in Switzerland
The French citizen Decroix fled Berlin in August 1914 when the World War broke out and the German Reich declared war on France. At this point he was in the middle of filming the Andra melodrama "Mondfischerin", which remained unfinished. He settled in Switzerland , where he was interned in the village of Frutigen until the end of the war in 1918 . Only in the period between the beginning of the year and the summer of 1917 did he succeed in obtaining directing orders for several films in and around Zurich .
Post-war activities
After the war, Charles Decroix returned to France . He tried to continue his film career in Alsace in 1919, but his stay in Germany before the war brought him violent hostility and prevented the realization of planned projects. Thereupon Charles Decroix returned to Berlin for two film projects, which he realized with Heinrich Bolten-Baeckers . After these two comedies with the married couple Leo Peukert and Sabine Impekoven in the leading roles, Decroix disappeared from the public eye.
Filmography as a director (selection)
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Web links
- Charles Decroix in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Michael Wedel: Decroix, Charles Encyclopedia Of Early Cinema, 2009
- Charles Decroix at filmportal.de
Remarks
- ↑ A new Decroix genre , advertisement by Monopolfilm-Vertriebs-Ges. mbH, In: Lichtbild-Bühne, No. 21, May 24, 1913; Reprint in: Hans-Michael Bock : Der Komische Kintopp, Early German Comedies , FilmMaterialien 10, CineGraph and Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek, Hamburg, Berlin 1997, online version at CineGraph.de ; Associated publication: Der Komische Kintopp: early German comedies = Drôle de ciné: premiers comiques allemands , audio-visual media, speaker: Ulrich Tukur, ARTE, Strasbourg 1997
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Decroix, Charles |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French film director, film producer and screenwriter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 19th century |
| DATE OF DEATH | 20th century |