Jules Kruger

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Jules Kruger , also Jules Krüger , completely Gustave Jules Krüger , (born July 12, 1891 in Strasbourg , German Empire , † December 13, 1959 in Clichy-la-Garenne , France ) was a French cameraman with an outstanding career in pre-war French films.

Life

Born in Strasbourg, he made his first contacts with film at an early age. In 1908 the only 17-year-old Krüger photographed his first work, which was also the first (short) Swiss feature film ever. He then worked for years as a photo reporter for various French newspapers and magazines such as Le Matin and Le Journal .

After a short assistantship and a film offer from Belgium in 1920, he began his regular work as head cameraman in Paris in 1922 : initially for a few side works by the director Luitz-Morat, and later for the avant-garde of French cinema such as Germaine Dulac , Abel Gance and Marcel L'Herbier . Gance engaged Krüger in 1925 for his main work Napoleon , a four-hour monumental epic about life and love, victories and defeats of the French emperor . This powerfully staged strip went beyond all previous frames of silent film cinema: shaped like an image of a saint, a triptych, Krüger, who now mostly called himself Kruger, created images of unusual power and agility, which made him the most visionary and technically adept visual designer of French cinema of his time did.

Krüger was also to make his sound film debut under the direction of Gances ( The End of the World ) . He then worked on various high-quality films by other directors, including Paul Czinner's first two sound films (the French version by Ariane and both versions of The Dreaming Mouth ), Raymond Bernard's adaptation of Victor Hugos Les Misérables and Sacha Guitrys / Christian-Jaques The Pearls of the Crown . Many of the films Kruger photographed up to the mid-1930s - dramas and melodramas, adventure stories and those with a historical background - ran successfully in German versions, especially in Austria , but a number of them also in Germany .

From 1934 to 1939, Krüger was engaged several times for selected top works by director Julien Duvivier (including People in the North , The Love Alley of Morocco , The Cross of Golgotha ): it was his artistically most fruitful and commercially successful period. At the end of 1937, Krüger followed two offers for Erich Pommers to film in London, where he worked with Charles Laughton .

Krüger's oeuvre during the Second World War is rather insignificant, only his camera work in the mystery crime thriller Das unheimliche Haus (1942) once again testified to his keen sense for atmosphere and the creation of tension and proved his ability to create a gloomy mood (typical for the occupation) .

In 1947 Krüger / Kruger left France, worked for some time in Spanish film and ended his work in the cinema in the early 1950s. He later returned to France, where he died in 1959, now forgotten by the film industry, northwest of Paris.

Filmography (selection)

  • 1908: Une aventure de Redzipet
  • 1920: Gerfaut
  • 1922: The Adulteress (Le sang d'Allah)
  • 1922: The Devil's Floor (La terre du diable)
  • 1923: La mendiante de St. Sulpice
  • 1923: The Empress's Violet (Violettes impériales)
  • 1924: Faubourg Montmartre
  • 1924: The gallant prince (Le prince charming)
  • 1925: La terre promise
  • 1925: Artist's Blood (Âme d'artiste)
  • 1927: Napoleon (Napoléon)
  • 1927: The Apaches of Paris (Paname n'est pas Paris)
  • 1927: Sables
  • 1928: The Money (L'Argent)
  • 1929: Cagliostro
  • 1929: The false daughter of the Tsar (La Tarakanova)
  • 1930: The end of the world (La fin du monde)
  • 1930: Ariane
  • 1931: The wooden crosses (Les croix de bois)
  • 1931: Gagne ta vie
  • 1932: The dreaming mouth (also French verse Mélo)
  • 1933: The Cardsharp (L'épervier)
  • 1934: Frauensee (Lac aux dames)
  • 1934: The Damned (Les Misérables)
  • 1934: Tartarin de Tarascon
  • 1934: Lady of the Camellias (La dame aux camélias)
  • 1934: People in the North (Marie Chapdelaine)
  • 1935: La traviesa molinera
  • 1935: The love alley of Morocco (La bandera)
  • 1935: The Cross of Golgotha (Golgotha)
  • 1935: Between evening and morning (Veille d'armes)
  • 1936: Anne-Marie
  • 1936: Guild gang (La Belle Équipe)
  • 1936: Club de femmes
  • 1936: Le roi
  • 1937: Pépé le Moko - In the dark of Algiers (Pépé le Moko)
  • 1937: La dame de Malacca (also German verse: Other world )
  • 1937: The pearls of the crown (Les perles de la couronne)
  • 1937: Le messager
  • 1937: The Vessel of Wrath
  • 1938: St. Martin's Lane (St. Martin's Lane)
  • 1938: Le récif de corail
  • 1939: La charrette fantôme
  • 1941: Once a year (Caprices)
  • 1942: The Eerie House (Les inconnus de la maison)
  • 1942: Mariage d'amour
  • 1942: The double life of Mr. Moulinet (Le bienfaiteur)
  • 1943: Untel père et fils
  • 1943: Graine au vent
  • 1945: To little luck (Au petit bonheur)
  • 1946: The Countess of Lunegarde (Lunegarde)
  • 1946: Le bateau à soupe
  • 1946: Here the judiciary was wrong (Contre-enquête)
  • 1947: Une grande fille toute simple
  • 1948: Olé, torero
  • 1949: Pacto de silencio
  • 1950: Tempête sur les mauvents
  • 1951: La canción de la Malibran

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 4: H - L. Botho Höfer - Richard Lester. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 500 f.

Web links