Henri Ménessier

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Henri Ménessier (born October 1, 1882 in Puteaux , France , † June 15, 1948 in Paris ) was a French film architect , a veteran of French and American cinema.

Live and act

Ménessier received his artistic training at an École des Beaux-Arts and began working as a set painter in film at the turn of the century. The production company Gaumont hired him in 1905 as their artistic director. In the same year, his house in Varennes served as the setting for the Pathé production “L'honneur d'un père” by Ferdinand Zecca . Ménessiers, influenced by Impressionism and fin-de-siècle ornaments, first brought artistic inspiration to the French films of those years, which had been very static until then.

In 1912 the producer Lewis J. Selznick brought him to the United States for the first time. There Ménessier worked as a film architect on a number of early US productions. These were mostly staged by other French people such as Maurice Tourneur , Albert Capellani and Léonce Perret there and later in Nice . In the early 1920s, Ménessier returned to French cinema, where he was allowed to work on a few lavish silent films. In 1929 he also directed the only time. In the course of the early talkies, Ménessier's oeuvre, whose buildings were praised primarily for their Belle Époque ensembles and the rich Art Nouveau elements, gradually lost its importance.

classification

"HM was praised for having overcome the plebeian content of the early days with artistic and art-appropriate (academic) decorations. The ornamentation and decoration of his furnishings are reminiscent of the Parisian Art Nouveau, ornamentation and lighting of the canvas backdrops are in the artistic fin-de-siècle Tradition of the Symbolists and Impressionists. "

Filmography

  • 1905: Esmeralda
  • 1906: La passion - La vie du Christ
  • 1913: Germinal
  • 1915: Camille
  • 1917: Read We Forget
  • 1918: Eye for Eye
  • 1918: House of Mirth
  • 1918: Mad Lover
  • 1918: A Modern Salomé
  • 1919: Out of the Fog
  • 1919: The Red Lantern
  • 1923: Kœnigsmark
  • 1924: The Recoil
  • 1925: Madame Sans Gêne (Madame Sans Gene)
  • 1925: Le puits de Jacob
  • 1926: Le berceau de dieu
  • 1926: Lolotte, the model (La femme nue)
  • 1927: The Greatest Sacrifice (The Garden of Allah)
  • 1928: The orchid dancer (La danseuse orchidée)
  • 1929: The Escape of Delia (L'évadée) (also director)
  • 1931: Le cordon bleu
  • 1931: The Duke of Reichstadt (also French verse: L'aiglon )
  • 1931: Rive gauche
  • 1931: Baroud
  • 1932: Monsieur Albert
  • 1932: La belle marinière
  • 1932: La poule
  • 1932: Un fil à la patte
  • 1933: Matricule 33
  • 1934: La cinquième empreinte
  • 1934: Lady of the Camellias (La dame aux camélias)
  • 1934: Fédora
  • 1935: Dora Nelson
  • 1935: Lucrezia Borgia (Lucrèce Borgia)
  • 1935: Parlez-moi d'amour
  • 1935: Sacré Léonce
  • 1936: L'assaut
  • 1936: A swindler's novel (Le roman d'un tricheur)
  • 1937: The Puritan (Le puritain)
  • 1938: Feux de joie
  • 1938: Garguisse
  • 1939: December night (Nuit de décembre)
  • 1941: Dernière aventure
  • 1942: Les affaires sont les affaires
  • 1942: La grande marnière
  • 1943: La malibran
  • 1943: La rabouilleuse
  • 1944: Vive la liberté!
  • 1947: The Foreign Legion fortress (Bethsabée)
  • 1949: Alice in Wonderland (Alice in Wonderland) (uncredited)

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 5: L - N. Rudolf Lettinger - Lloyd Nolan. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 391.
  • International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) (Ed.): International Directory of Cinematographers, Set- and Costume Designers of Film . Volume 2: France . Ed. by Alfred Krautz. Munich / New York / London / Paris 1983. p. 349 ff.
  • Helmut Weihsmann: Built Illusions - Architecture in Film , Vienna 1988, Promedia Druck- und VerlagsgesmbH, ISBN 3-900478-21-X , p. 258.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ according to Puteaux's birth register, year 1882, No. 381, p. 74
  2. ↑ according to the Paris death register, year 1948, No. 2046, p. 7
  3. ↑ Weihsmann p. 258.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Ménessier, Henri
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French film architect, a veteran of French and US cinema
DATE OF BIRTH October 1, 1882
PLACE OF BIRTH Puteaux , France
DATE OF DEATH June 15, 1948
Place of death Paris