Henri Fescourt

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Marcelin-Henri Fescourt (born November 23, 1880 in Béziers , † August 13, 1966 in Neuilly-sur-Seine ) was a French film director.

Life

Marcellin-Henri Fescourt studied law and after graduating he worked as a music critic and journalist for the newspaper "L'Intransigeant". He also worked as a playwright. In 1912 Fescourt made his directorial debut with the Gaumont film company , where he made around 20 films before the outbreak of war. It was not until 1921 that he continued his film career. At the film company of Louis Nalpas , which had dedicated itself to the Film d'Art , he was the director of literary adaptations such as Mathias Sandorf (1921) after Jules Verne , Les Misérables (1925) after Victor Hugo and Monte Cristo (1928) after Alexandre Dumas. In particular , Les Misérables, comprising 32 film roles , and the four-hour Monte Cristo with Jean Angelo in the title role are considered to be Fescourt's main works. Fescourt was hardly successful in talkies. His last film was Retour de flamme (1943), a comedy with Renée Saint-Cyr .

For decades of successful work in the field of literature and film art, Fescourt was awarded the Knight's Cross of the French Legion of Honor in 1926 together with Henry Roussel (1875-1946).

In the 1940s Fescourt lectured at the film school " Institut des hautes études cinématographiques " and, as the successor to Germaine Dulac, at the " École technique de photographie et de cinéma " (1943-1946). He founded his own drama school and took over its management. As a teacher he was able to win, among others, Louis Delluc's widow Eve Francis . From 1945 to 1953 Fescourt was a member of the film control commission as a representative of the technicians' union.

He wrote two books. In 1950 his work "Du Cinématographe au Cinéma" was published, which deals with the technical development of filmmaking, and in 1960 his memoirs "La Foi et les Montagnes".

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Knight's Cross of the French Legion of Honor. Illustrated Film Week 1926, accessed on May 10, 2020 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Fescourt, Henri
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fescourt, Marcelin-Henri (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French film director
DATE OF BIRTH November 23, 1880
PLACE OF BIRTH Beziers
DATE OF DEATH August 13, 1966
Place of death Neuilly-sur-Seine