Regno Unito, Essex, Leigh-on-Sea, Primavera 2021

Leigh-on-Sea è una città dell'Essex, in Inghilterra. Si trova sul lato settentrionale dell'estuario del Tamigi, a poche miglia dalle acque aperte del Mare del Nord a est, e una distanza simile dalla costa del Kent a sud. Con la bassa marea la battigia di Leigh presenta un'ampia distesa di distese fangose ​​e torrenti, che si estendono al largo verso il canale di acque profonde del Tamigi (Canale di Yantlet). I ritrovamenti archeologici di ceramiche e monete di epoca romano-britannica nella località suggeriscono un insediamento precoce. L'insediamento lungo il fiume di "Old Leigh", o "The Old Town", è storicamente significativo; una volta era sulla rotta di spedizione principale per Londra. Dal Medioevo fino all'inizio del XX secolo, Old Leigh ha ospitato la piazza del mercato dell'insediamento e la via principale (nota come Leigh Strand). Leigh era cresciuta fino a diventare un porto prospero nel XVI secolo; navi grandi fino a 340 tonnellate sono state costruite qui per la pesca e altri scopi. Il principale pesce pescato dai pescherecci di Leigh è sempre stato molluschi e bianchetti. Due dei pub di Old Leigh, il Peter Boat e Ye Olde Smack - devono i loro nomi a tipi di pescherecci locali. I commercianti di pesce locali sbarcano, lavorano e commerciano quotidianamente un'ampia gamma di forniture, tra cui gamberetti, aragoste, granchi, spigole, eglefini, merluzzi e sgombri, vongole, buccini, cozze e ostriche. Leigh-on-Sea è stata spesso citata come uno dei posti migliori in cui vivere nel Regno Unito, a causa di fattori come la sua vicinanza a Londra, le vicine scuole e, un buon accesso alle attività sportive e artistiche, molteplici opportunità di sviluppare abilità , e un forte senso di appartenenza e spirito di comunità.

Leigh-on-Sea is a town in Essex, England. It is situated on the northern side of the Thames Estuary, only a few miles from the open waters of the North Sea to the east, and a similar distance from the Kent coast to the south. At low tide, Leigh's foreshore has a wide expanse of mudflats and creeks, extending offshore towards the deep water channel of the Thames (Yantlet Channel). Archaeological finds of pottery and coins from the Romano-British era in the locality suggest an early settlement. The riverside settlement of 'Old Leigh', or 'The Old Town', is historically significant; it was once on the primary shipping route to London. From the Middle Ages until the turn of the 20th century, Old Leigh hosted the settlement's market square, and high street (known as Leigh Strand). Leigh had grown to become a prosperous port by the 16th century; ships as large as 340 tons were built here for fishing and other purposes. The main seafood catch from Leigh fishing boats has always been shellfish and whitebait. Two of Old Leigh's pubs – the Peter Boat and Ye Olde Smack – owe their names to types of local fishing boat. Local fish merchants land, process and trade a wide range of supplies daily, including shrimps, lobster, crab, seabass, haddock, cod and mackerel, cockles, whelks, mussels and oysters. Leigh-on-Sea has frequently been cited as one of the best places to live in the UK, owing to factors such as its proximity to London, and schools, good access to sports and arts activities, multiple opportunities to develop skills, and a strong sense of belonging and community spirit.

Regno Unito, Essex, Leigh-on-Sea, Primavera 2021

Leigh-on-Sea è una città dell'Essex, in Inghilterra. Si trova sul lato settentrionale dell'estuario del Tamigi, a poche miglia dalle acque aperte del Mare del Nord a est, e una distanza simile dalla costa del Kent a sud. Con la bassa marea la battigia di Leigh presenta un'ampia distesa di distese fangose ​​e torrenti, che si estendono al largo verso il canale di acque profonde del Tamigi (Canale di Yantlet). I ritrovamenti archeologici di ceramiche e monete di epoca romano-britannica nella località suggeriscono un insediamento precoce. L'insediamento lungo il fiume di "Old Leigh", o "The Old Town", è storicamente significativo; una volta era sulla rotta di spedizione principale per Londra. Dal Medioevo fino all'inizio del XX secolo, Old Leigh ha ospitato la piazza del mercato dell'insediamento e la via principale (nota come Leigh Strand). Leigh era cresciuta fino a diventare un porto prospero nel XVI secolo; navi grandi fino a 340 tonnellate sono state costruite qui per la pesca e altri scopi. Il principale pesce pescato dai pescherecci di Leigh è sempre stato molluschi e bianchetti. Due dei pub di Old Leigh, il Peter Boat e Ye Olde Smack - devono i loro nomi a tipi di pescherecci locali. I commercianti di pesce locali sbarcano, lavorano e commerciano quotidianamente un'ampia gamma di forniture, tra cui gamberetti, aragoste, granchi, spigole, eglefini, merluzzi e sgombri, vongole, buccini, cozze e ostriche. Leigh-on-Sea è stata spesso citata come uno dei posti migliori in cui vivere nel Regno Unito, a causa di fattori come la sua vicinanza a Londra, le vicine scuole e, un buon accesso alle attività sportive e artistiche, molteplici opportunità di sviluppare abilità , e un forte senso di appartenenza e spirito di comunità.

Leigh-on-Sea is a town in Essex, England. It is situated on the northern side of the Thames Estuary, only a few miles from the open waters of the North Sea to the east, and a similar distance from the Kent coast to the south. At low tide Leigh's foreshore has a wide expanse of mud flats and creeks, extending offshore towards the deep water channel of the Thames (Yantlet Channel). Archaeological finds of pottery and coins from Romano-British era in the locality suggest early settlement. The riverside settlement of 'Old Leigh', or 'The Old Town', is historically significant; it was once on the primary shipping route to London. From the Middle Ages until the turn of the 20th century, Old Leigh hosted the settlement's market square, and high street (known as Leigh Strand). Leigh had grown to become a prosperous port by the 16th century; ships as large as 340 tons were built here for fishing and other purposes.The main seafood catch from Leigh fishing boats has always been shellfish and whitebait. Two of Old Leigh's pubs – the Peter Boat and Ye Olde Smack – owe their names to types of local fishing boat. Local fish merchants land, process and trade a wide range of supplies daily, including shrimps, lobster, crab, seabass, haddock, cod and mackerel, cockles, whelks, mussels and oysters. Leigh-on-Sea has frequently been cited as one of the best places to live in the UK, owing to factors such as its proximity to London, and schools, good access to sports and arts activities, multiple opportunities to develop skills, and a strong sense of belonging and community spirit.

Regno Unito, Essex, Leigh-on-Sea, Primavera 2021

Leigh-on-Sea è una città dell'Essex, in Inghilterra. Si trova sul lato settentrionale dell'estuario del Tamigi, a poche miglia dalle acque aperte del Mare del Nord a est, e una distanza simile dalla costa del Kent a sud. Con la bassa marea la battigia di Leigh presenta un'ampia distesa di distese fangose ​​e torrenti, che si estendono al largo verso il canale di acque profonde del Tamigi (Canale di Yantlet). I ritrovamenti archeologici di ceramiche e monete di epoca romano-britannica nella località suggeriscono un insediamento precoce. L'insediamento lungo il fiume di "Old Leigh", o "The Old Town", è storicamente significativo; una volta era sulla rotta di spedizione principale per Londra. Dal Medioevo fino all'inizio del XX secolo, Old Leigh ha ospitato la piazza del mercato dell'insediamento e la via principale (nota come Leigh Strand). Leigh era cresciuta fino a diventare un porto prospero nel XVI secolo; navi grandi fino a 340 tonnellate sono state costruite qui per la pesca e altri scopi. Il principale pesce pescato dai pescherecci di Leigh è sempre stato molluschi e bianchetti. Due dei pub di Old Leigh, il Peter Boat e Ye Olde Smack - devono i loro nomi a tipi di pescherecci locali. I commercianti di pesce locali sbarcano, lavorano e commerciano quotidianamente un'ampia gamma di forniture, tra cui gamberetti, aragoste, granchi, spigole, eglefini, merluzzi e sgombri, vongole, buccini, cozze e ostriche. Leigh-on-Sea è stata spesso citata come uno dei posti migliori in cui vivere nel Regno Unito, a causa di fattori come la sua vicinanza a Londra, le vicine scuole e, un buon accesso alle attività sportive e artistiche, molteplici opportunità di sviluppare abilità , e un forte senso di appartenenza e spirito di comunità.

Leigh-on-Sea is a town in Essex, England. It is situated on the northern side of the Thames Estuary, only a few miles from the open waters of the North Sea to the east, and a similar distance from the Kent coast to the south. At low tide Leigh's foreshore has a wide expanse of mud flats and creeks, extending offshore towards the deep water channel of the Thames (Yantlet Channel). Archaeological finds of pottery and coins from Romano-British era in the locality suggest early settlement. The riverside settlement of 'Old Leigh', or 'The Old Town', is historically significant; it was once on the primary shipping route to London. From the Middle Ages until the turn of the 20th century, Old Leigh hosted the settlement's market square, and high street (known as Leigh Strand). Leigh had grown to become a prosperous port by the 16th century; ships as large as 340 tons were built here for fishing and other purposes.The main seafood catch from Leigh fishing boats has always been shellfish and whitebait. Two of Old Leigh's pubs – the Peter Boat and Ye Olde Smack – owe their names to types of local fishing boat. Local fish merchants land, process and trade a wide range of supplies daily, including shrimps, lobster, crab, seabass, haddock, cod and mackerel, cockles, whelks, mussels and oysters. Leigh-on-Sea has frequently been cited as one of the best places to live in the UK, owing to factors such as its proximity to London, and schools, good access to sports and arts activities, multiple opportunities to develop skills, and a strong sense of belonging and community spirit.

Ferrari 166 Spyder Corsa with chassis number 014I was constructed in May of 1948 and is a right hand drive vehicle. It was raced extensively by the factory during 1948 and sold to a privateer at the close of the season.

Chassis 014I was the seventh competition sports Ferrari built (at least the seventh to be numbered). The two new shorter-wheelbase Spyder Corsas believed to be 008I and 014I were given to Ferrari's two works driver - Tazio Nuvolari and Raymond Sommer. It is uncertain what happened to chassis 008I. O141 was later sold to Giampiero Biancheti of Milan who also owned 003S, the 1948 Mille Miglia-winning 166S.

The privateer, Giampiero Bianchetti of Milano continued its racing career by entering it in competition during the 1949 season.

The inaugural race for the vehicle came in May of 1948 when it was entered in a Grand Prix event, Formula 2 competition. Driven by Giuseppe Farina and bearing the number 8. At the conclusion of the event, the 166 Spyder Corsa was no longer on the track. It had retired earlier and given a DNF. Its first race it would finish would come during its next outing which was in June. It was driven by Giampiero Bianchetti at the Circuito di Mantua where it finished in seventh place overall. At the next event it finished in 5th overall and second in class. This would be its best finish during the 1948 season.

The 1948 season was disappointing, plagued with DNF and DNS during many of its entries. It did achieve a Second in Class driven by Bianchetti at the Aosta-Grn San Bernardo Hillclimb near the close of the season.

In 1956 it was re-bodied by Scaglietti using the 500 TR bodystyle. The fuel tank was cut down in size in order to make room for the new low bodywork and the spare wheel mounted above it. The car still has the original Spyder Corsa-type radiator with a rounded top tank. From new, the chassis has been modified slightly with the addition of lightening holes and extra bracing. It has a wheelbase that measures 88.75-inches and there is no evidence of chassis tampering, meaning this could very well be one of the two short-chassis Spyder Corsa's. Other modifications include Houdaille shock absorbers and radius rods to the rear axle. The original engine block has been replaced with a later 166 type. The timing hole is at 12-o'clock, though the Spyder Corsa's fly-wheel has the timing marks meant to be read at 2-o'clock. The three Weber 32DCF carburetors are period correct. Twin magnetos are mounted at the rear of the camshaft and the cam covers are of the later type. The car is fitted with a later 166 'nine-bolt' gearbox to match the later-type cylinder block. It has the original Spyder Corsa-type shift knob. The brake reservoir has been replaced in favor of a later type. Another modification was to the brake drums and the cooling hoods. The steering box is a replacement and believed to be from mid-1952. The four-original wheels have been replaced with wider 4.5-inch Borrani wire wheels.

From that time, it passed through the years in the collection of many prominent people. It was exported to the United States in 1957. In 1994 it was shown at the International Ferrari Concours in Monterey, California.

Las recordadas básculas "A. Bianchetti" que tenían su punto de venta en calle Perú 327 de la ciudad de Buenos Aires.

Chiara Pancaldi Trio @ Zingarò Jazz Club Faenza

25 gennaio 2017

Chiara Pancaldi – voce

Giancarlo Bianchetti – chitarra

Stefano Senni – contrabbasso

Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin.

Isabelle Adjani (1955) is a dark-haired beauty with porcelain skin and expressive blue eyes, who has appeared in nearly 50 films since 1970. The French film actress holds the record for most César Awards for Best Actress with five, for Possession (1981), L'Été Meurtrier/One Deadly Summer (1983), Camille Claudel (1988), La Reine Margot/Queen Margot (1994) and La journée de la jupe/Skirt Day (2009). She also received two Oscar nominations for Best Actress.

Isabelle Yasmine Adjani was born in the immigrant neighbourhood Gennevilliers in Hauts-de-Seine, a suburb of Paris, in 1955. Her father, Mohammed Cherif Adjani was Algerian. He was a soldier in the French Army in World War II. Her mother Augusta, called 'Gusti', was German. Isabelle grew up bi-lingual, speaking German and French fluently. After winning a school recitation contest, she began acting in amateur theatre by the age of twelve. At the age of 14, she starred in her first motion picture Le Petit bougnat/Little Bougnat (Bernard Michel, 1970), while on summer vacation. She made her second film, the coming-of-age drama Faustine et le bel été/Faustine and the Beautiful Summer (Nina Companeez, 1971), also while she was still at school. In 1972, the 17-year-old joined the prestigious Comédie française as the youngest company member ever. There she gained fame as a classical actress for her interpretation of Agnès, the main female role in Molière's L'École des femmes (The School For Wives). After only two years she left the Comédie française, to pursue a film career. She played minor roles in several films and enjoyed modest success as the spoiled teenage daughter of Lino Ventura in La Gifle/The Slap (Claude Pinoteau, 1974). She won the prestigious Prix Suzanne Bianchetti for Most Promising Actress. The following year, she landed her first major role as the mentally unbalanced daughter of author Victor Hugo in L Histoire d Adele H./The Story of Adèle H. (François Truffaut, 1975). Critics were enthused over her performance as the intense, unstable, love-obsessed Adèle Hugo. She was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar and received offers for roles in international films. For André Téchiné, she co-starred with Gerard Depardieu in Barocco (1976), as the instigator of a plot to blackmail a politician, and in Les Soeurs Bronte/The Bronte Sisters (1978), as Emily Bronte. In Roman Polanski's psychological thriller Le Locataire/The Tenant (1976), Adjani was the suicidal former occupant of the apartment rented by a confused man (Polanski himself). In Hollywood, she played a gambler opposite Ryan O’Neal in the crime thriller The Driver (Walter Hill, 1978). She then portrayed Lucy in the horror film Nosferatu/Nosferatu the Vampyre (Werner Herzog, 1979), a retelling of the Dracula legend featuring Klaus Kinski. In 1980 she had a son, Barnabé Nuytten with Flemish cinematographer Bruno Nuytten.

In 1981, Isabelle Adjani received a double Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival for her part as the impoverished mistress of Alan Bates in Merchant-Ivory's Quartet (James Ivory, 1981), and for her role as the unfaithful wife of Sam Neill struggling with demons in the horror film Possession (Andrzej Zulawski, 1981). Yuri German at AllMovie: “Filmed amidst the oppressive backdrop of the Berlin Wall by the expatriate Polish director Andrzej Zulawski (who was unable to work in his homeland after too many clashes with the authorities), the picture is so relentlessly intense and so deliberately esoteric, that most viewers would find it too hard to connect with. Still, its symbolism, its unbridled and flashy directorial style, and the tour de force performance by Isabelle Adjani earned this unique tale a cult following in Europe.” The following year, she received her first César Award for Possession. In 1983, she won the César again, now for her depiction of a vengeful woman in the blockbuster L'Été Meurtrier/One Deadly Summer (Jean Becker, 1983). That same year, she released the French pop album Pull Marine written and produced by Serge Gainsbourg. She starred in a music video for the hit title song Pull Marine, which was directed by Luc Besson. For the then 26-year-old Besson, she also starred in the successful comedy thriller Subway (Luc Besson, 1985) opposite Christophe Lambert. From 1986 to 1987, Adjani was romantically linked to actor Warren Beatty with whom she co-starred in the commercial failure Ishtar (Elaine May, 1987). In 1988, she co-produced and starred in a biopic of the sculptor Camille Claudel (Bruno Nuytten, 1988), the mistress of August Rodin (Gerard Depardieu). As she had done in her portrait of Adele Hugo, Adjani fully conveyed the passion and spirit of a strong-willed woman who descends into madness. She received her third César, a second Oscar nomination and a Berlin Film Festival Best Actress Award for this role. Following this publicity, she was chosen by People magazine as one of the '50 Most Beautiful People' in the world.

Isabelle Adjani won her fourth César for the ensemble epic La Reine Margot/Queen Margot (Patrice Chéreau, 1994), based on Victor Hugo's novel. The film provided her with another portrayal in her galaxy of fragile women surrounded by violence. She had a relationship with Daniel Day-Lewis from 1989 to 1995. He left her during her pregnancy with their son, Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis, who was born in 1995. The following year, she was teamed with Sharon Stone for Diabolique (Jeremiah S. Chechik, 1996), a remake of the classic psychological thriller Les Diaboliques by Henri-Georges Clouzot. Adjani again seemed out of her element as the meek, sickly wife of a belligerent school headmaster (Chazz Palminteri). Sandra Brennan at AllMovie: “She also continued to be highly visible on the political scene, staunchly supporting Algerian rebel activities and actively fighting racism against North African immigrants (such as her father) in France. She was particularly outspoken concerning the activities of the French National Front. In 1986, the anti-immigration group organized a smear campaign against her, starting rumours that she was dying of AIDS. This actually resulted in newspaper reports of Adjani's death, which caused her to go on national television to prove that she was, in fact, still alive.” In 2000, she made a rare stage acting appearance in the title role of a Parisian production of La Dame aux Camelias (Camille). After a five-year hiatus, Adjani returned to the screen starring in La Repentie/The Repentent (Laetitia Masson, 2002) with Sami Frey. The following year she appeared in the drama Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran/Monsieur Ibrahim (François Dupeyron, 2003) featuring Omar Sharif, and assumed a role originally meant for Sophie Marceau in the black comedy Bon Voyage (Jean-Paul Rappeneau, 2003). Adjani was engaged to composer Jean Michel Jarre, but they broke up in 2004. She won her fifth César for her role as a troubled and emotionally fragile woman at the centre of a firestorm in the psychological drama La journée de la jupe/Skirt Day (Jean-Paul Lilienfeld, 2008). In 2009, she denounced statements by Pope Benedict XVI claiming that condoms are not an effective method of AIDS prevention. Adjani was made a Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur in 2010. Her later films include the road movie Mammuth (Benoit Delépine, Gustave de Kervern, 2010) starring Gérard Depardieu and the action film De force (Frank Henry, 2011) with former soccer player Eric Cantona.

Sources: Yuri German (AllMovie), Sandra Brennan (AllMovie), Yasmine (IMDb), Yahoo! Movies, Wikipedia and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

French postcard in the série acteurs by Les Editions GIL, no. 5. Isabelle Adjani in L'Été Meurtrier/One Deadly Summer (Jean Becker, 1983).

Isabelle Adjani (1955) is a dark-haired beauty with porcelain skin and expressive blue eyes, who has appeared in nearly 50 films since 1970. The French film actress holds the record for most César Awards for Best Actress with five, for Possession (1981), L'Été Meurtrier/One Deadly Summer (1983), Camille Claudel (1988), La Reine Margot/Queen Margot (1994) and La journée de la jupe/Skirt Day (2009). She also received two Oscar nominations for Best Actress.

Isabelle Yasmine Adjani was born in the immigrant neighbourhood Gennevilliers in Hauts-de-Seine, a suburb of Paris, in 1955. Her father, Mohammed Cherif Adjani was Algerian. He was a soldier in the French Army in World War II. Her mother Augusta, called 'Gusti', was German. Isabelle grew up bi-lingual, speaking German and French fluently. After winning a school recitation contest, she began acting in amateur theatre by the age of twelve. At the age of 14, she starred in her first motion picture Le Petit bougnat/Little Bougnat (Bernard Michel, 1970), while on summer vacation. She made her second film, the coming-of-age drama Faustine et le bel été/Faustine and the Beautiful Summer (Nina Companeez, 1971), also while she was still at school. In 1972, the 17-year-old joined the prestigious Comédie française as the youngest company member ever. There she gained fame as a classical actress for her interpretation of Agnès, the main female role in Molière's L'École des femmes (The School For Wives). After only two years she left the Comédie française, to pursue a film career. She played minor roles in several films and enjoyed modest success as the spoiled teenage daughter of Lino Ventura in La Gifle/The Slap (Claude Pinoteau, 1974). She won the prestigious Prix Suzanne Bianchetti for Most Promising Actress. The following year, she landed her first major role as the mentally unbalanced daughter of author Victor Hugo in L Histoire d Adele H./The Story of Adèle H. (François Truffaut, 1975). Critics were enthused over her performance as the intense, unstable, love-obsessed Adèle Hugo. She was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar and received offers for roles in international films. For André Téchiné, she co-starred with Gerard Depardieu in Barocco (1976), as the instigator of a plot to blackmail a politician, and in Les Soeurs Bronte/The Bronte Sisters (1978), as Emily Bronte. In Roman Polanski's psychological thriller Le Locataire/The Tenant (1976), Adjani was the suicidal former occupant of the apartment rented by a confused man (Polanski himself). In Hollywood, she played a gambler opposite Ryan O’Neal in the crime thriller The Driver (Walter Hill, 1978). She then portrayed Lucy in the horror film Nosferatu/Nosferatu the Vampyre (Werner Herzog, 1979), a retelling of the Dracula legend featuring Klaus Kinski. In 1980 she had a son, Barnabé Nuytten with Flemish cinematographer Bruno Nuytten.

In 1981, Isabelle Adjani received a double Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival for her part as the impoverished mistress of Alan Bates in Merchant-Ivory's Quartet (James Ivory, 1981), and for her role as the unfaithful wife of Sam Neill struggling with demons in the horror film Possession (Andrzej Zulawski, 1981). Yuri German at AllMovie: “Filmed amidst the oppressive backdrop of the Berlin Wall by the expatriate Polish director Andrzej Zulawski (who was unable to work in his homeland after too many clashes with the authorities), the picture is so relentlessly intense and so deliberately esoteric, that most viewers would find it too hard to connect with. Still, its symbolism, its unbridled and flashy directorial style, and the tour de force performance by Isabelle Adjani earned this unique tale a cult following in Europe.” The following year, she received her first César Award for Possession. In 1983, she won the César again, now for her depiction of a vengeful woman in the blockbuster L'Été Meurtrier/One Deadly Summer (Jean Becker, 1983). That same year, she released the French pop album Pull Marine written and produced by Serge Gainsbourg. She starred in a music video for the hit title song Pull Marine, which was directed by Luc Besson. For the then 26-year-old Besson, she also starred in the successful comedy thriller Subway (Luc Besson, 1985) opposite Christophe Lambert. From 1986 to 1987, Adjani was romantically linked to actor Warren Beatty with whom she co-starred in the commercial failure Ishtar (Elaine May, 1987). In 1988, she co-produced and starred in a biopic of the sculptor Camille Claudel (Bruno Nuytten, 1988), the mistress of August Rodin (Gerard Depardieu). As she had done in her portrait of Adele Hugo, Adjani fully conveyed the passion and spirit of a strong-willed woman who descends into madness. She received her third César, a second Oscar nomination and a Berlin Film Festival Best Actress Award for this role. Following this publicity, she was chosen by People magazine as one of the '50 Most Beautiful People' in the world.

Isabelle Adjani won her fourth César for the ensemble epic La Reine Margot/Queen Margot (Patrice Chéreau, 1994), based on Victor Hugo's novel. The film provided her with another portrayal in her galaxy of fragile women surrounded by violence. She had a relationship with Daniel Day-Lewis from 1989 to 1995. He left her during her pregnancy with their son, Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis, who was born in 1995. The following year, she was teamed with Sharon Stone for Diabolique (Jeremiah S. Chechik, 1996), a remake of the classic psychological thriller Les Diaboliques by Henri-Georges Clouzot. Adjani again seemed out of her element as the meek, sickly wife of a belligerent school headmaster (Chazz Palminteri). Sandra Brennan at AllMovie: “She also continued to be highly visible on the political scene, staunchly supporting Algerian rebel activities and actively fighting racism against North African immigrants (such as her father) in France. She was particularly outspoken concerning the activities of the French National Front. In 1986, the anti-immigration group organized a smear campaign against her, starting rumours that she was dying of AIDS. This actually resulted in newspaper reports of Adjani's death, which caused her to go on national television to prove that she was, in fact, still alive.” In 2000, she made a rare stage acting appearance in the title role of a Parisian production of La Dame aux Camelias (Camille). After a five-year hiatus, Adjani returned to the screen starring in La Repentie/The Repentent (Laetitia Masson, 2002) with Sami Frey. The following year she appeared in the drama Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran/Monsieur Ibrahim (François Dupeyron, 2003) featuring Omar Sharif, and assumed a role originally meant for Sophie Marceau in the black comedy Bon Voyage (Jean-Paul Rappeneau, 2003). Adjani was engaged to composer Jean Michel Jarre, but they broke up in 2004. She won her fifth César for her role as a troubled and emotionally fragile woman at the centre of a firestorm in the psychological drama La journée de la jupe/Skirt Day (Jean-Paul Lilienfeld, 2008). In 2009, she denounced statements by Pope Benedict XVI claiming that condoms are not an effective method of AIDS prevention. Adjani was made a Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur in 2010. Her later films include the road movie Mammuth (Benoit Delépine, Gustave de Kervern, 2010) starring Gérard Depardieu and the action film De force (Frank Henry, 2011) with former soccer player Eric Cantona.

Sources: Yuri German (AllMovie), Sandra Brennan (AllMovie), Yasmine (IMDb), Yahoo! Movies, Wikipedia and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Vintage French postcard, 1920s. Editions Filma, No. 133. Photo Gaumont.

Marguérite Madys, aka Madys (1899-1986) was a French silent film actress, born Alice Marguérite Blandin.

Madys debuted in 1919 at the Gaumont company under her own first name in the film Âmes d'orient by Léon Poirier, with André Nox. She continued with Poirier in Le penseur (1920), in which she had the female lead opposite, again, André Nox. A new lead opposite Armand Tallier she had in the Gaumont production De la coupe aux lèvres (Guy du Fresnay, 1920), while she had a supporting part opposite Edmond Van Daële in Poirier's Narayana (1920). Madys was reunited with Nox in Du Fresnay's L'ami des montagnes (1921), while she had another lead in Du Fresnay's Les ailes s'ouvrent (1921). Madys returned to Poirier for L'ombre déchirée (1921), while she acted opposite Suzanne Bianchetti in Pierre Colombier's films Soirée de réveillon (1921) and Le pendentif (1921). Clearly, 1921 was Madys' most productive year, while she only did two in 1922: Son altesse (Henri Desfontaines) and Mon p'tit (René Plaissetty).

In 1923 Madys was more productive with four films: Le taxi 313-X-7 by Colombier, Ce pauvre chéri by Jean Kemm, L'espionne by Desfontaines, and Kemm's prestigious production L'enfant roi. with Andrée Lionel as Marie Antoinette, and partly shot at the castle of Versailles. In Enfants de Paris (Albert-Francis Bertoni, 1924) she had the female lead opposite Tramel, while in the same year she also acted as Yvette in Harry Piel's Franco-German coproduction Der Mann ohne Nerven/ L'homme sans nerfs, co-directed by Piel and Gérard Bourgeois, and with Denise Legeay, Albert Paulig, José Davert and Hermann Picha co-acting. With almost the same cast Madys acted in the Piel-Bourgeois film Schneller als der Tod/ Face à la mort (1924-25). Madys' last parts were as the good fairy in Le voyage imaginaire (1926) by René Clair, starring Dolly Davis and Jean Borlin, Les dévoyés (1926) by Henry Vorins, in which she had the female lead opposite Max Maxudian and Marie Glory, and L'agonie de Jérusalem/Revelation (1927) by Julien Duvivier.

Source: IMDb.

French postcard by Editions F. Nugeron, no. 6. Photo: Collection de l'École de Cinéma Camiris, Lyon. Isabelle Adjani in Ishtar (Elaine May, 1987).

Isabelle Adjani (1955) is a dark-haired beauty with porcelain skin and expressive blue eyes, who has appeared in 30 films since 1970. The French film actress holds the record for most César Awards for Best Actress with five, for Possession (1981), L'Été Meurtrier/One Deadly Summer (1983), Camille Claudel (1988), La Reine Margot/Queen Margot (1994) and La journée de la jupe/Skirt Day (2009). She also received two Oscar nominations for Best Actress.

Isabelle Yasmine Adjani was born in the immigrant neighbourhood Gennevilliers in Hauts-de-Seine, a suburb of Paris, in 1955. Her father, Mohammed Cherif Adjani was Algerian. He was a soldier in the French Army in World War II. Her mother Augusta, called 'Gusti', was German. Isabelle grew up bi-lingual, speaking German and French fluently. After winning a school recitation contest, she began acting in amateur theatre by the age of twelve. At the age of 14, she starred in her first motion picture Le Petit bougnat/Little Bougnat (Bernard Michel, 1970), while on summer vacation. She made her second film, the coming-of-age drama Faustine et le bel été/Faustine and the Beautiful Summer (Nina Companeez, 1971), also while she was still at school. In 1972, the 17-year-old joined the prestigious Comédie française as the youngest company member ever. There she gained fame as a classical actress for her interpretation of Agnès, the main female role in Molière's L'École des femmes (The School For Wives). After only two years she left the Comédie française, to pursue a film career. She played minor roles in several films and enjoyed modest success as the spoiled teenage daughter of Lino Ventura in La Gifle/The Slap (Claude Pinoteau, 1974). She won the prestigious Prix Suzanne Bianchetti for Most Promising Actress. The following year, she landed her first major role as the mentally unbalanced daughter of author Victor Hugo in L Histoire d Adele H./The Story of Adèle H. (François Truffaut, 1975). Critics were enthused over her performance as the intense, unstable, love-obsessed Adèle Hugo. She was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar and received offers for roles in international films. For André Téchiné, she co-starred with Gerard Depardieu in Barocco (1976), as the instigator of a plot to blackmail a politician, and in Les Soeurs Bronte/The Bronte Sisters (1978), as Emily Bronte. In Roman Polanski's psychological thriller Le Locataire/The Tenant (1976), Adjani was the suicidal former occupant of the apartment rented by a confused man (Polanski himself). In Hollywood, she played a gambler opposite Ryan O’Neal in the crime thriller The Driver (Walter Hill, 1978). She then portrayed Lucy in the horror film Nosferatu/Nosferatu the Vampyre (Werner Herzog, 1979), a retelling of the Dracula legend featuring Klaus Kinski. In 1980 she had a son, Barnabé Nuytten with Flemish cinematographer Bruno Nuytten.

In 1981, Isabelle Adjani received a double Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival for her part as the impoverished mistress of Alan Bates in Merchant-Ivory's Quartet (James Ivory, 1981), and for her role as the unfaithful wife of Sam Neill struggling with demons in the horror film Possession (Andrzej Zulawski, 1981). Yuri German at AllMovie: “Filmed amidst the oppressive backdrop of the Berlin Wall by the expatriate Polish director Andrzej Zulawski (who was unable to work in his homeland after too many clashes with the authorities), the picture is so relentlessly intense and so deliberately esoteric, that most viewers would find it too hard to connect with. Still, its symbolism, its unbridled and flashy directorial style, and the tour de force performance by Isabelle Adjani earned this unique tale a cult following in Europe.” The following year, she received her first César Award for Possession. In 1983, she won the César again, now for her depiction of a vengeful woman in the blockbuster L'Été Meurtrier/One Deadly Summer (Jean Becker, 1983). That same year, she released the French pop album Pull Marine written and produced by Serge Gainsbourg. She starred in a music video for the hit title song Pull Marine, which was directed by Luc Besson. For the then 26-year-old Besson, she also starred in the successful comedy thriller Subway (Luc Besson, 1985) opposite Christophe Lambert. From 1986 to 1987, Adjani was romantically linked to actor Warren Beatty with whom she co-starred in the commercial failure Ishtar (Elaine May, 1987). In 1988, she co-produced and starred in a biopic of the sculptor Camille Claudel (Bruno Nuytten, 1988), the mistress of August Rodin (Gerard Depardieu). As she had done in her portrait of Adele Hugo, Adjani fully conveyed the passion and spirit of a strong-willed woman who descends into madness. She received her third César, a second Oscar nomination and a Berlin Film Festival Best Actress Award for this role. Following this publicity, she was chosen by People magazine as one of the '50 Most Beautiful People' in the world.

Isabelle Adjani won her fourth César for the ensemble epic La Reine Margot/Queen Margot (Patrice Chéreau, 1994), based on Victor Hugo's novel. The film provided her with another portrayal in her galaxy of fragile women surrounded by violence. She had a relationship with Daniel Day-Lewis from 1989 to 1995. He left her during her pregnancy with their son, Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis, who was born in 1995. The following year, she was teamed with Sharon Stone for Diabolique (Jeremiah S. Chechik, 1996), a remake of the classic psychological thriller Les Diaboliques by Henri-Georges Clouzot. Adjani again seemed out of her element as the meek, sickly wife of a belligerent school headmaster (Chazz Palminteri). Sandra Brennan at AllMovie: “She also continued to be highly visible on the political scene, staunchly supporting Algerian rebel activities and actively fighting racism against North African immigrants (such as her father) in France. She was particularly outspoken concerning the activities of the French National Front. In 1986, the anti-immigration group organized a smear campaign against her, starting rumours that she was dying of AIDS. This actually resulted in newspaper reports of Adjani's death, which caused her to go on national television to prove that she was, in fact, still alive.” In 2000, she made a rare stage acting appearance in the title role of a Parisian production of La Dame aux Camelias (Camille). After a five-year hiatus, Adjani returned to the screen starring in La Repentie/The Repentent (Laetitia Masson, 2002) with Sami Frey. The following year she appeared in the drama Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran/Monsieur Ibrahim (François Dupeyron, 2003) featuring Omar Sharif, and assumed a role originally meant for Sophie Marceau in the black comedy Bon Voyage (Jean-Paul Rappeneau, 2003). Adjani was engaged to composer Jean Michel Jarre, but they broke up in 2004. She won her fifth César for her role as a troubled and emotionally fragile woman at the centre of a firestorm in the psychological drama La journée de la jupe/Skirt Day (Jean-Paul Lilienfeld, 2008). In 2009, she denounced statements by Pope Benedict XVI claiming that condoms are not an effective method of AIDS prevention. Adjani was made a Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur in 2010. Her later films include the road movie Mammuth (Benoit Delépine, Gustave de Kervern, 2010) starring Gérard Depardieu and the action film De force (Frank Henry, 2011) with former soccer player Eric Cantona.

Sources: Yuri German (AllMovie), Sandra Brennan (AllMovie), Yasmine (IMDb), Yahoo! Movies, Wikipedia and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Romanian postcard by InterCONTEMPress. Photo: Isabelle Adjani in Camille Claudel (Bruno Nuytten, 1988).

Isabelle Adjani (1955) is a dark-haired beauty with porcelain skin and expressive blue eyes, who has appeared in nearly 50 films since 1970. The French film actress holds the record for most César Awards for Best Actress with five, for Possession (1981), L'Été Meurtrier/One Deadly Summer (1983), Camille Claudel (1988), La Reine Margot/Queen Margot (1994) and La journée de la jupe/Skirt Day (2009). She also received two Oscar nominations for Best Actress.

Isabelle Yasmine Adjani was born in the immigrant neighbourhood Gennevilliers in Hauts-de-Seine, a suburb of Paris, in 1955. Her father, Mohammed Cherif Adjani was Algerian. He was a soldier in the French Army in World War II. Her mother Augusta, called 'Gusti', was German. Isabelle grew up bi-lingual, speaking German and French fluently. After winning a school recitation contest, she began acting in amateur theatre by the age of twelve. At the age of 14, she starred in her first motion picture Le Petit bougnat/Little Bougnat (Bernard Michel, 1970), while on summer vacation. She made her second film, the coming-of-age drama Faustine et le bel été/Faustine and the Beautiful Summer (Nina Companeez, 1971), also while she was still at school. In 1972, the 17-year-old joined the prestigious Comédie française as the youngest company member ever. There she gained fame as a classical actress for her interpretation of Agnès, the main female role in Molière's L'École des femmes (The School For Wives). After only two years she left the Comédie française, to pursue a film career. She played minor roles in several films and enjoyed modest success as the spoiled teenage daughter of Lino Ventura in La Gifle/The Slap (Claude Pinoteau, 1974). She won the prestigious Prix Suzanne Bianchetti for Most Promising Actress. The following year, she landed her first major role as the mentally unbalanced daughter of author Victor Hugo in L Histoire d Adele H./The Story of Adèle H. (François Truffaut, 1975). Critics were enthused over her performance as the intense, unstable, love-obsessed Adèle Hugo. She was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar and received offers for roles in international films. For André Téchiné, she co-starred with Gerard Depardieu in Barocco (1976), as the instigator of a plot to blackmail a politician, and in Les Soeurs Bronte/The Bronte Sisters (1978), as Emily Bronte. In Roman Polanski's psychological thriller Le Locataire/The Tenant (1976), Adjani was the suicidal former occupant of the apartment rented by a confused man (Polanski himself). In Hollywood, she played a gambler opposite Ryan O’Neal in the crime thriller The Driver (Walter Hill, 1978). She then portrayed Lucy in the horror film Nosferatu/Nosferatu the Vampyre (Werner Herzog, 1979), a retelling of the Dracula legend featuring Klaus Kinski. In 1980 she had a son, Barnabé Nuytten with Flemish cinematographer Bruno Nuytten.

In 1981, Isabelle Adjani received a double Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival for her part as the impoverished mistress of Alan Bates in Merchant-Ivory's Quartet (James Ivory, 1981), and for her role as the unfaithful wife of Sam Neill, struggling with demons in the horror film Possession (Andrzej Zulawski, 1981). Yuri German at AllMovie: “Filmed amidst the oppressive backdrop of the Berlin Wall by the expatriate Polish director Andrzej Zulawski (who was unable to work in his homeland after too many clashes with the authorities), the picture is so relentlessly intense and so deliberately esoteric, that most viewers would find it too hard to connect with. Still, its symbolism, its unbridled and flashy directorial style, and the tour de force performance by Isabelle Adjani earned this unique tale a cult following in Europe.” The following year, she received her first César Award for Possession. In 1983, she won the César again, now for her depiction of a vengeful woman in the blockbuster L'Été Meurtrier/One Deadly Summer (Jean Becker, 1983). That same year, she released the French pop album Pull Marine written and produced by Serge Gainsbourg. She starred in a music video for the hit title song Pull Marine, which was directed by Luc Besson. For the then 26-year-old Besson, she also starred in the successful comedy thriller Subway (Luc Besson, 1985) opposite Christophe Lambert. From 1986 to 1987, Adjani was romantically linked to actor Warren Beatty with whom she co-starred in the commercial failure Ishtar (Elaine May, 1987). In 1988, she co-produced and starred in a biopic of the sculptor Camille Claudel (Bruno Nuytten, 1988), the mistress of August Rodin (Gerard Depardieu). As she had done in her portrait of Adele Hugo, Adjani fully conveyed the passion and spirit of a strong-willed woman who descends into madness. She received her third César, a second Oscar nomination and a Berlin Film Festival Best Actress Award for this role. Following this publicity, she was chosen by People magazine as one of the '50 Most Beautiful People' in the world.

Isabelle Adjani won her fourth César for the ensemble epic La Reine Margot/Queen Margot (Patrice Chéreau, 1994), based on Victor Hugo's novel. The film provided her with another portrayal in her galaxy of fragile women surrounded by violence. She had a relationship with Daniel Day-Lewis from 1989 to 1995. He left her during her pregnancy with their son, Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis, who was born in 1995. The following year, she was teamed with Sharon Stone for Diabolique (Jeremiah S. Chechik, 1996), a remake of the classic psychological thriller Les Diaboliques by Henri-Georges Clouzot. Adjani again seemed out of her element as the meek, sickly wife of a belligerent school headmaster (Chazz Palminteri). Sandra Brennan at AllMovie: “She also continued to be highly visible on the political scene, staunchly supporting Algerian rebel activities and actively fighting racism against North African immigrants (such as her father) in France. She was particularly outspoken concerning the activities of the French National Front. In 1986, the anti-immigration group organized a smear campaign against her, starting rumours that she was dying of AIDS. This actually resulted in newspaper reports of Adjani's death, which caused her to go on national television to prove that she was, in fact, still alive.” In 2000, she made a rare stage acting appearance in the title role of a Parisian production of La Dame aux Camelias (Camille). After a five-year hiatus, Adjani returned to the screen starring in La Repentie/The Repentent (Laetitia Masson, 2002) with Sami Frey. The following year she appeared in the drama Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran/Monsieur Ibrahim (François Dupeyron, 2003) featuring Omar Sharif, and assumed a role originally meant for Sophie Marceau in the black comedy Bon Voyage (Jean-Paul Rappeneau, 2003). Adjani was engaged to composer Jean Michel Jarre, but they broke up in 2004. She won her fifth César for her role as a troubled and emotionally fragile woman at the centre of a firestorm in the psychological drama La journée de la jupe/Skirt Day (Jean-Paul Lilienfeld, 2008). In 2009, she denounced statements by Pope Benedict XVI claiming that condoms are not an effective method of AIDS prevention. Adjani was made a Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur in 2010. Her later films include the road movie Mammuth (Benoit Delépine, Gustave de Kervern, 2010) starring Gérard Depardieu and the action film De force (Frank Henry, 2011) with former soccer player Eric Cantona.

Sources: Yuri German (AllMovie), Sandra Brennan (AllMovie), Yasmine (IMDb), Yahoo! Movies, Wikipedia and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Chiara Pancaldi Trio @ Zingarò Jazz Club Faenza

25 gennaio 2017

Chiara Pancaldi – voce

Giancarlo Bianchetti – chitarra

Stefano Senni – contrabbasso

French postcard by Télérama. Photo: Patrick Swirc.

Isabelle Adjani (1955) is a dark-haired beauty with porcelain skin and expressive blue eyes, who has appeared in nearly 50 films since 1970. The French film actress holds the record for most César Awards for Best Actress with five, for Possession (1981), L'Été Meurtrier/One Deadly Summer (1983), Camille Claudel (1988), La Reine Margot/Queen Margot (1994) and La journée de la jupe/Skirt Day (2009). She also received two Oscar nominations for Best Actress.

Isabelle Yasmine Adjani was born in the immigrant neighbourhood Gennevilliers in Hauts-de-Seine, a suburb of Paris, in 1955. Her father, Mohammed Cherif Adjani was Algerian. He was a soldier in the French Army in World War II. Her mother Augusta, called 'Gusti', was German. Isabelle grew up bi-lingual, speaking German and French fluently. After winning a school recitation contest, she began acting in amateur theatre by the age of twelve. At the age of 14, she starred in her first motion picture Le Petit bougnat/Little Bougnat (Bernard Michel, 1970), while on summer vacation. She made her second film, the coming-of-age drama Faustine et le bel été/Faustine and the Beautiful Summer (Nina Companeez, 1971), also while she was still at school. In 1972, the 17-year-old joined the prestigious Comédie française as the youngest company member ever. There she gained fame as a classical actress for her interpretation of Agnès, the main female role in Molière's L'École des femmes (The School For Wives). After only two years she left the Comédie française, to pursue a film career. She played minor roles in several films and enjoyed modest success as the spoiled teenage daughter of Lino Ventura in La Gifle/The Slap (Claude Pinoteau, 1974). She won the prestigious Prix Suzanne Bianchetti for Most Promising Actress. The following year, she landed her first major role as the mentally unbalanced daughter of author Victor Hugo in L Histoire d Adele H./The Story of Adèle H. (François Truffaut, 1975). Critics were enthused over her performance as the intense, unstable, love-obsessed Adèle Hugo. She was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar and received offers for roles in international films. For André Téchiné, she co-starred with Gerard Depardieu in Barocco (1976), as the instigator of a plot to blackmail a politician, and in Les Soeurs Bronte/The Bronte Sisters (1978), as Emily Bronte. In Roman Polanski's psychological thriller Le Locataire/The Tenant (1976), Adjani was the suicidal former occupant of the apartment rented by a confused man (Polanski himself). In Hollywood, she played a gambler opposite Ryan O’Neal in the crime thriller The Driver (Walter Hill, 1978). She then portrayed Lucy in the horror film Nosferatu/Nosferatu the Vampyre (Werner Herzog, 1979), a retelling of the Dracula legend featuring Klaus Kinski. In 1980 she had a son, Barnabé Nuytten with Flemish cinematographer Bruno Nuytten.

In 1981, Isabelle Adjani received a double Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival for her part as the impoverished mistress of Alan Bates in Merchant-Ivory's Quartet (James Ivory, 1981), and for her role as the unfaithful wife of Sam Neill struggling with demons in the horror film Possession (Andrzej Zulawski, 1981). Yuri German at AllMovie: “Filmed amidst the oppressive backdrop of the Berlin Wall by the expatriate Polish director Andrzej Zulawski (who was unable to work in his homeland after too many clashes with the authorities), the picture is so relentlessly intense and so deliberately esoteric, that most viewers would find it too hard to connect with. Still, its symbolism, its unbridled and flashy directorial style, and the tour de force performance by Isabelle Adjani earned this unique tale a cult following in Europe.” The following year, she received her first César Award for Possession. In 1983, she won the César again, now for her depiction of a vengeful woman in the blockbuster L'Été Meurtrier/One Deadly Summer (Jean Becker, 1983). That same year, she released the French pop album Pull Marine written and produced by Serge Gainsbourg. She starred in a music video for the hit title song Pull Marine, which was directed by Luc Besson. For the then 26-year-old Besson, she also starred in the successful comedy thriller Subway (Luc Besson, 1985) opposite Christophe Lambert. From 1986 to 1987, Adjani was romantically linked to actor Warren Beatty with whom she co-starred in the commercial failure Ishtar (Elaine May, 1987). In 1988, she co-produced and starred in a biopic of the sculptor Camille Claudel (Bruno Nuytten, 1988), the mistress of August Rodin (Gerard Depardieu). As she had done in her portrait of Adele Hugo, Adjani fully conveyed the passion and spirit of a strong-willed woman who descends into madness. She received her third César, a second Oscar nomination and a Berlin Film Festival Best Actress Award for this role. Following this publicity, she was chosen by People magazine as one of the '50 Most Beautiful People' in the world.

Isabelle Adjani won her fourth César for the ensemble epic La Reine Margot/Queen Margot (Patrice Chéreau, 1994), based on Victor Hugo's novel. The film provided her with another portrayal in her galaxy of fragile women surrounded by violence. She had a relationship with Daniel Day-Lewis from 1989 to 1995. He left her during her pregnancy with their son, Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis, who was born in 1995. The following year, she was teamed with Sharon Stone for Diabolique (Jeremiah S. Chechik, 1996), a remake of the classic psychological thriller Les Diaboliques by Henri-Georges Clouzot. Adjani again seemed out of her element as the meek, sickly wife of a belligerent school headmaster (Chazz Palminteri). Sandra Brennan at AllMovie: “She also continued to be highly visible on the political scene, staunchly supporting Algerian rebel activities and actively fighting racism against North African immigrants (such as her father) in France. She was particularly outspoken concerning the activities of the French National Front. In 1986, the anti-immigration group organized a smear campaign against her, starting rumours that she was dying of AIDS. This actually resulted in newspaper reports of Adjani's death, which caused her to go on national television to prove that she was, in fact, still alive.” In 2000, she made a rare stage acting appearance in the title role of a Parisian production of La Dame aux Camelias (Camille). After a five-year hiatus, Adjani returned to the screen starring in La Repentie/The Repentent (Laetitia Masson, 2002) with Sami Frey. The following year she appeared in the drama Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran/Monsieur Ibrahim (François Dupeyron, 2003) featuring Omar Sharif, and assumed a role originally meant for Sophie Marceau in the black comedy Bon Voyage (Jean-Paul Rappeneau, 2003). Adjani was engaged to composer Jean Michel Jarre, but they broke up in 2004. She won her fifth César for her role as a troubled and emotionally fragile woman at the centre of a firestorm in the psychological drama La journée de la jupe/Skirt Day (Jean-Paul Lilienfeld, 2008). In 2009, she denounced statements by Pope Benedict XVI claiming that condoms are not an effective method of AIDS prevention. Adjani was made a Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur in 2010. Her later films include the road movie Mammuth (Benoit Delépine, Gustave de Kervern, 2010) starring Gérard Depardieu and the action film De force (Frank Henry, 2011) with former soccer player Eric Cantona.

Sources: Yuri German (AllMovie), Sandra Brennan (AllMovie), Yasmine (IMDb), Yahoo! Movies, Wikipedia and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, no. 548. Daniel Mendaille as Le Mari (the husband) in the French silent film Verdun, visions d'histoire (Leon Poirier, 1928). See our blog post filmstarpostcards.blogspot.com/2013/11/verdun-visions-dhi...

Daniel Mendaille (27 November 1885 – 17 May 1963) was a French stage and film actor whose career spanned nearly sixty years.

Born Daniel Henri Elie Mendaille in Tours, Indre-et-Loire, Mendaille studied architecture at the Académie royale d'architecture, Institut de France in Paris. At age twenty, he abandoned his studies in architecture and enrolled in the Conservatoire de Paris and studied acting under Paul Mounet. After graduating, he was engaged at the Théâtre des Variétés, Cirque d'Hiver, Théâtre Antoine and the l’Œuvre et de la Renaissance.

During the early 1900s, he began appearing in small roles in film. One of his first roles was in the 1909 Albert Capellani-directed short La mort du duc d'Enghien en 1804 (English release title: The Death of the Duc d'Enghien) for the Société Cinématographique des Auteurs et Gens de Lettres (SCAGL), affiliated with Pathé-Frères. Mendaille continued to work in theater and film, but his film career really set off from 1921. Already a featured actor, he began performing in leading roles in such films as Léon Poirier's in Le coffret de jade (1921), Marcel Dumont's La proie (1921) and Robert Péguy's Le crime de Monique (1922). In 1923, he portrayed the Comte de Maupry in L'affaire du courrier de Lyon for Gaumont and was also part of the cast of Surcouf (1924) and Jean Chouan (1925), both serials directed by Luitz-Morat. He also had the lead in the s-f film La cité foudroyée (Luitz-Morat, 1924), as a mad, rejected scientist who wants to destroy Paris with his invention of a ray gun. The next year, Luitz-Morat would give him another lead in La course du flambeau (1925). In 1927 Mendaille appeared in an uncredited part in Abel Gance's Napoléon, while instead the following year he had a major part as The Husband in Léon Poirier's World War I silent docudrama Verdun: visions d'histoire (1928), opposite Albert Préjean, Suzanne Bianchetti, Pierre Nay, Berthe Jalabert, Thomy Bourdelle, Maurice Schutz, José Davert and Antonin Artaud.

Daniel Mendaille had little difficulty transitioning to the sound era of films, playing in first French sound feature Le requin (1930), opposite Albert Préjean and Rudolf Klein-Rogge. Notable performances of the 1930s include the portrayal of a miner in Georg Wilhelm Pabst's La tragédie de la mine (1931), Bredow in the French-language version of Fritz Lang's The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933), a diplomat in Alexis Granowsky's Moscow Nights (1934) opposite French actress Annabella, Coupeau in the first sound film adaptation of Émile Zola's L'Assommoir (Gaston Roudès, 1933) opposite Line Noro as Gervaise, and as Micheletto, the chief henchman in Abel Gance's historical drama Lucrèce Borgia (1935) opposite Edwige Feuillère in the title role. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Mendaille would often be relegated to supporting roles as a character actor or in bit parts, with notable performances in such films as Jacques Becker's Casque d'Or (1952), Max Ophüls' The Earrings of Madame de… (1953), Christian-Jaque's adaptation of Émile Zola's Nana (1955) and Max Ophüls' Lola Montès (1955). Mendaille appeared in approximately 120 films.

Daniel Mendaille was married to Spanish-born actress Leda Ginelly. Following Ginelly's death in April 1959, he retired from performing and lived a secluded life at the family residence in Couilly-Pont-aux-Dames, where he died in May 1963 at age 77.

Sources: English and French Wikipedia, IMDb.

Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 947. Photo: Dear Film. Etchika Choureau in Les Enfants de l'amour/Children of Love (Léonide Moguy, 1953).

French actress Etchika Choureau (1929) died on 25 January 2022, at the age of 92. Choureau's film career started very promisingly with three films and an award in 1953. During the 1950s, the beauty with the green eyes and long blond hair graced films in France, Germany, Italy, and Hollywood. After a long affair with the Crown prince of Morocco, she tried to make a come-back but failed and retired.

Etchika Choureau was born Jeannine Paulette Verret in Paris in 1929 (some sources says 1923, others 1933). In 1948 the beautiful 19-year-old girl met Max Choureau, four years her senior whose parents are beekeepers in the Gâtinais. They fell in love and were married. After various jobs, she enrolled in the Paris Conservatory of Arts to study drama. At her graduation, she won the first prize in a contest with film diva Edwige Feuillère heading the jury. Actor Alain Cuny discovered her and pushed her to accept a beautiful role in the Italian film I vinti/The Vanquished (1953), an early work of legendary director Michelangelo Antonioni. This anthology film contains three stories of well-off youths in the post-war years who commit murders, one taking place in Paris, another in Rome, and another in London. In the French episode Sans Amour (Without Love), Choureay plays a young temptress in a gang of aimless youth from working-class families. They cold-bloodedly plan and carry out the murder of a boastful bourgeois classmate (Jean-Pierre Mocky), just out of envy. Antonioni had huge problems when he tried to find funding for such ambitious, resolutely downbeat material. The result was banned in France for a long time. In 1953 Choureau also divorced but kept the name of her ex-husband as a pseudonym. That same year she starred in two more remarkable films. She played a mortally ill village girl in L'envers du paradis/The Other Side of Pardise (Edmond T. Gréville, 1953) starring Erich von Stroheim. The third film was Les enfants de l'amour/Children of Love (Léonide Moguy, 1953), a drama about unwed mothers in which she played a double role. It earned her that year le Prix Suzanne-Bianchetti (the Suzanne Bianchetti award) for the Most Promising Actress. After this jump-start, she made nine more films in France, Italy, and Germany during the following years. Although she co-starred in these films with stars like Jean Marais, Michel Simon, and Isa Miranda, none of these productions was memorable.

In 1957 Etchika Choureau tried to conquer Hollywood. She played the female leads in two American war films made by Warner Bros. In Darby's Rangers (William A. Wellman, 1958) she was the love interest of James Garner, and in Lafayette Escadrille (William A. Wellman, 1958) of Tab Hunter. According to the fan magazines Hunter was deeply in love with her, but his studio wouldn’t allow him to fly to Paris to visit her... She had a real love affair with Moulay Hassan II, the Crown Prince of Morocco. She retired from the screen. In 1961 their relationship suddenly ended when Hassan was proclaimed King of Morocco following the death of His Majesty Mohammed V. After an absence of four years, Choureau tried to revive her cinema career with three new roles. First, she played the lead in the drama La prostitution/Prostitution (Maurice Boutel, 1963). The following year she had a small part in the romantic adventure film Angélique, marquise des anges/Angélique (Bernard Borderie, 1964), the first part of the romantic Angélique cycle, set in Mid-17th century France. This huge box office hit meant the breakthrough for lead actress Michèle Mercier but did nothing for the career of Choureau. She played in only one more film, Paris au mois d'août/Paris in August (Pierre Granier-Deferre, 1966) as the wife of Charles Aznavour. Then she retired permanently. Three years later, she married auctioneer Philippe Rheims. Etchika Choureau had appeared in only seventeen films.

Sources: Yves Foucart (Les gens du Cinema), Michael Hastings (AllMovie), Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen, Wikipedia (French), and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

French postcard in the Collection Cinéma by Star, Neuilly.

Isabelle Adjani (1955) is a dark-haired beauty with porcelain skin and expressive blue eyes, who has appeared in nearly 50 films since 1970. The French film actress holds the record for most César Awards for Best Actress with five, for Possession (1981), L'Été Meurtrier/One Deadly Summer (1983), Camille Claudel (1988), La Reine Margot/Queen Margot (1994) and La journée de la jupe/Skirt Day (2009). She also received two Oscar nominations for Best Actress.

Isabelle Yasmine Adjani was born in the immigrant neighbourhood Gennevilliers in Hauts-de-Seine, a suburb of Paris, in 1955. Her father, Mohammed Cherif Adjani was Algerian. He was a soldier in the French Army in World War II. Her mother Augusta, called 'Gusti', was German. Isabelle grew up bi-lingual, speaking German and French fluently. After winning a school recitation contest, she began acting in amateur theatre by the age of twelve. At the age of 14, she starred in her first motion picture Le Petit bougnat/Little Bougnat (Bernard Michel, 1970), while on summer vacation. She made her second film, the coming-of-age drama Faustine et le bel été/Faustine and the Beautiful Summer (Nina Companeez, 1971), also while she was still at school. In 1972, the 17-year-old joined the prestigious Comédie française as the youngest company member ever. There she gained fame as a classical actress for her interpretation of Agnès, the main female role in Molière's L'École des femmes (The School For Wives). After only two years she left the Comédie française, to pursue a film career. She played minor roles in several films and enjoyed modest success as the spoiled teenage daughter of Lino Ventura in La Gifle/The Slap (Claude Pinoteau, 1974). She won the prestigious Prix Suzanne Bianchetti for Most Promising Actress. The following year, she landed her first major role as the mentally unbalanced daughter of author Victor Hugo in L Histoire d Adele H./The Story of Adèle H. (François Truffaut, 1975). Critics were enthused over her performance as the intense, unstable, love-obsessed Adèle Hugo. She was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar and received offers for roles in international films. For André Téchiné, she co-starred with Gerard Depardieu in Barocco (1976), as the instigator of a plot to blackmail a politician, and in Les Soeurs Bronte/The Bronte Sisters (1978), as Emily Bronte. In Roman Polanski's psychological thriller Le Locataire/The Tenant (1976), Adjani was the suicidal former occupant of the apartment rented by a confused man (Polanski himself). In Hollywood, she played a gambler opposite Ryan O’Neal in the crime thriller The Driver (Walter Hill, 1978). She then portrayed Lucy in the horror film Nosferatu/Nosferatu the Vampyre (Werner Herzog, 1979), a retelling of the Dracula legend featuring Klaus Kinski. In 1980 she had a son, Barnabé Nuytten with Flemish cinematographer Bruno Nuytten.

In 1981, Isabelle Adjani received a double Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival for her part as the impoverished mistress of Alan Bates in Merchant-Ivory's Quartet (James Ivory, 1981), and for her role as the unfaithful wife of Sam Neill struggling with demons in the horror film Possession (Andrzej Zulawski, 1981). Yuri German at AllMovie: “Filmed amidst the oppressive backdrop of the Berlin Wall by the expatriate Polish director Andrzej Zulawski (who was unable to work in his homeland after too many clashes with the authorities), the picture is so relentlessly intense and so deliberately esoteric, that most viewers would find it too hard to connect with. Still, its symbolism, its unbridled and flashy directorial style, and the tour de force performance by Isabelle Adjani earned this unique tale a cult following in Europe.” The following year, she received her first César Award for Possession. In 1983, she won the César again, now for her depiction of a vengeful woman in the blockbuster L'Été Meurtrier/One Deadly Summer (Jean Becker, 1983). That same year, she released the French pop album Pull Marine written and produced by Serge Gainsbourg. She starred in a music video for the hit title song Pull Marine, which was directed by Luc Besson. For the then 26-year-old Besson, she also starred in the successful comedy thriller Subway (Luc Besson, 1985) opposite Christophe Lambert. From 1986 to 1987, Adjani was romantically linked to actor Warren Beatty with whom she co-starred in the commercial failure Ishtar (Elaine May, 1987). In 1988, she co-produced and starred in a biopic of the sculptor Camille Claudel (Bruno Nuytten, 1988), the mistress of August Rodin (Gerard Depardieu). As she had done in her portrait of Adele Hugo, Adjani fully conveyed the passion and spirit of a strong-willed woman who descends into madness. She received her third César, a second Oscar nomination and a Berlin Film Festival Best Actress Award for this role. Following this publicity, she was chosen by People magazine as one of the '50 Most Beautiful People' in the world.

Isabelle Adjani won her fourth César for the ensemble epic La Reine Margot/Queen Margot (Patrice Chéreau, 1994), based on Victor Hugo's novel. The film provided her with another portrayal in her galaxy of fragile women surrounded by violence. She had a relationship with Daniel Day-Lewis from 1989 to 1995. He left her during her pregnancy with their son, Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis, who was born in 1995. The following year, she was teamed with Sharon Stone for Diabolique (Jeremiah S. Chechik, 1996), a remake of the classic psychological thriller Les Diaboliques by Henri-Georges Clouzot. Adjani again seemed out of her element as the meek, sickly wife of a belligerent school headmaster (Chazz Palminteri). Sandra Brennan at AllMovie: “She also continued to be highly visible on the political scene, staunchly supporting Algerian rebel activities and actively fighting racism against North African immigrants (such as her father) in France. She was particularly outspoken concerning the activities of the French National Front. In 1986, the anti-immigration group organized a smear campaign against her, starting rumours that she was dying of AIDS. This actually resulted in newspaper reports of Adjani's death, which caused her to go on national television to prove that she was, in fact, still alive.” In 2000, she made a rare stage acting appearance in the title role of a Parisian production of La Dame aux Camelias (Camille). After a five-year hiatus, Adjani returned to the screen starring in La Repentie/The Repentent (Laetitia Masson, 2002) with Sami Frey. The following year she appeared in the drama Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran/Monsieur Ibrahim (François Dupeyron, 2003) featuring Omar Sharif, and assumed a role originally meant for Sophie Marceau in the black comedy Bon Voyage (Jean-Paul Rappeneau, 2003). Adjani was engaged to composer Jean Michel Jarre, but they broke up in 2004. She won her fifth César for her role as a troubled and emotionally fragile woman at the centre of a firestorm in the psychological drama La journée de la jupe/Skirt Day (Jean-Paul Lilienfeld, 2008). In 2009, she denounced statements by Pope Benedict XVI claiming that condoms are not an effective method of AIDS prevention. Adjani was made a Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur in 2010. Her later films include the road movie Mammuth (Benoit Delépine, Gustave de Kervern, 2010) starring Gérard Depardieu and the action film De force (Frank Henry, 2011) with former soccer player Eric Cantona.

Sources: Yuri German (AllMovie), Sandra Brennan (AllMovie), Yasmine (IMDb), Yahoo! Movies, Wikipedia and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin. Isabelle Adjani in L'histoire d'Adèle H. (François Truffaut, 1975).

Isabelle Adjani (1955) is a dark-haired beauty with porcelain skin and expressive blue eyes, who has appeared in 30 films since 1970. The French film actress holds the record for most César Awards for Best Actress with five, for Possession (1981), L'Été Meurtrier/One Deadly Summer (1983), Camille Claudel (1988), La Reine Margot/Queen Margot (1994) and La journée de la jupe/Skirt Day (2009). She also received two Oscar nominations for Best Actress.

Isabelle Yasmine Adjani was born in the immigrant neighbourhood Gennevilliers in Hauts-de-Seine, a suburb of Paris, in 1955. Her father, Mohammed Cherif Adjani was Algerian. He was a soldier in the French Army in World War II. Her mother Augusta, called 'Gusti', was German. Isabelle grew up bi-lingual, speaking German and French fluently. After winning a school recitation contest, she began acting in amateur theatre by the age of twelve. At the age of 14, she starred in her first motion picture Le Petit bougnat/Little Bougnat (Bernard Michel, 1970), while on summer vacation. She made her second film, the coming-of-age drama Faustine et le bel été/Faustine and the Beautiful Summer (Nina Companeez, 1971), also while she was still at school. In 1972, the 17-year-old joined the prestigious Comédie française as the youngest company member ever. There she gained fame as a classical actress for her interpretation of Agnès, the main female role in Molière's L'École des femmes (The School For Wives). After only two years she left the Comédie française, to pursue a film career. She played minor roles in several films and enjoyed modest success as the spoiled teenage daughter of Lino Ventura in La Gifle/The Slap (Claude Pinoteau, 1974). She won the prestigious Prix Suzanne Bianchetti for Most Promising Actress. The following year, she landed her first major role as the mentally unbalanced daughter of author Victor Hugo in L Histoire d Adele H./The Story of Adèle H. (François Truffaut, 1975). Critics were enthused over her performance as the intense, unstable, love-obsessed Adèle Hugo. She was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar and received offers for roles in international films. For André Téchiné, she co-starred with Gerard Depardieu in Barocco (1976), as the instigator of a plot to blackmail a politician, and in Les Soeurs Bronte/The Bronte Sisters (1978), as Emily Bronte. In Roman Polanski's psychological thriller Le Locataire/The Tenant (1976), Adjani was the suicidal former occupant of the apartment rented by a confused man (Polanski himself). In Hollywood, she played a gambler opposite Ryan O’Neal in the crime thriller The Driver (Walter Hill, 1978). She then portrayed Lucy in the horror film Nosferatu/Nosferatu the Vampyre (Werner Herzog, 1979), a retelling of the Dracula legend featuring Klaus Kinski. In 1980 she had a son, Barnabé Nuytten with Flemish cinematographer Bruno Nuytten.

In 1981, Isabelle Adjani received a double Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival for her part as the impoverished mistress of Alan Bates in Merchant-Ivory's Quartet (James Ivory, 1981), and for her role as the unfaithful wife of Sam Neill struggling with demons in the horror film Possession (Andrzej Zulawski, 1981). Yuri German at AllMovie: “Filmed amidst the oppressive backdrop of the Berlin Wall by the expatriate Polish director Andrzej Zulawski (who was unable to work in his homeland after too many clashes with the authorities), the picture is so relentlessly intense and so deliberately esoteric, that most viewers would find it too hard to connect with. Still, its symbolism, its unbridled and flashy directorial style, and the tour de force performance by Isabelle Adjani earned this unique tale a cult following in Europe.” The following year, she received her first César Award for Possession. In 1983, she won the César again, now for her depiction of a vengeful woman in the blockbuster L'Été Meurtrier/One Deadly Summer (Jean Becker, 1983). That same year, she released the French pop album Pull Marine written and produced by Serge Gainsbourg. She starred in a music video for the hit title song Pull Marine, which was directed by Luc Besson. For the then 26-year-old Besson, she also starred in the successful comedy thriller Subway (Luc Besson, 1985) opposite Christophe Lambert. From 1986 to 1987, Adjani was romantically linked to actor Warren Beatty with whom she co-starred in the commercial failure Ishtar (Elaine May, 1987). In 1988, she co-produced and starred in a biopic of the sculptor Camille Claudel (Bruno Nuytten, 1988), the mistress of August Rodin (Gerard Depardieu). As she had done in her portrait of Adele Hugo, Adjani fully conveyed the passion and spirit of a strong-willed woman who descends into madness. She received her third César, a second Oscar nomination and a Berlin Film Festival Best Actress Award for this role. Following this publicity, she was chosen by People magazine as one of the '50 Most Beautiful People' in the world.

Isabelle Adjani won her fourth César for the ensemble epic La Reine Margot/Queen Margot (Patrice Chéreau, 1994), based on Victor Hugo's novel. The film provided her with another portrayal in her galaxy of fragile women surrounded by violence. She had a relationship with Daniel Day-Lewis from 1989 to 1995. He left her during her pregnancy with their son, Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis, who was born in 1995. The following year, she was teamed with Sharon Stone for Diabolique (Jeremiah S. Chechik, 1996), a remake of the classic psychological thriller Les Diaboliques by Henri-Georges Clouzot. Adjani again seemed out of her element as the meek, sickly wife of a belligerent school headmaster (Chazz Palminteri). Sandra Brennan at AllMovie: “She also continued to be highly visible on the political scene, staunchly supporting Algerian rebel activities and actively fighting racism against North African immigrants (such as her father) in France. She was particularly outspoken concerning the activities of the French National Front. In 1986, the anti-immigration group organized a smear campaign against her, starting rumours that she was dying of AIDS. This actually resulted in newspaper reports of Adjani's death, which caused her to go on national television to prove that she was, in fact, still alive.” In 2000, she made a rare stage acting appearance in the title role of a Parisian production of La Dame aux Camelias (Camille). After a five-year hiatus, Adjani returned to the screen starring in La Repentie/The Repentent (Laetitia Masson, 2002) with Sami Frey. The following year she appeared in the drama Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran/Monsieur Ibrahim (François Dupeyron, 2003) featuring Omar Sharif, and assumed a role originally meant for Sophie Marceau in the black comedy Bon Voyage (Jean-Paul Rappeneau, 2003). Adjani was engaged to composer Jean Michel Jarre, but they broke up in 2004. She won her fifth César for her role as a troubled and emotionally fragile woman at the centre of a firestorm in the psychological drama La journée de la jupe/Skirt Day (Jean-Paul Lilienfeld, 2008). In 2009, she denounced statements by Pope Benedict XVI claiming that condoms are not an effective method of AIDS prevention. Adjani was made a Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur in 2010. Her later films include the road movie Mammuth (Benoit Delépine, Gustave de Kervern, 2010) starring Gérard Depardieu and the action film De force (Frank Henry, 2011) with former soccer player Eric Cantona.

Sources: Yuri German (AllMovie), Sandra Brennan (AllMovie), Yasmine (IMDb), Yahoo! Movies, Wikipedia and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Vintage Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, 1970s.

French postcard by Humour a la Carte, Paris, no. ST-158.

Isabelle Adjani (1955) is a dark-haired beauty with a porcelain skin and expressive blue eyes, who has appeared in 30 films since 1970. The French film actress holds the record for most César Awards for Best Actress with five, for Possession (1981), L'Été Meurtrier/One Deadly Summer (1983), Camille Claudel (1988), La Reine Margot/Queen Margot (1994) and La journée de la jupe/Skirt Day (2009). She also received two Oscar nominations for Best Actress.

Isabelle Yasmine Adjani was born in the immigrant neighborhood Gennevilliers in Hauts-de-Seine, a suburb of Paris, in 1955. Her father was Mohammed Cherif Adjani was Algerian. He was a soldier in the French Army in World War II. Her mother Augusta, called "Gusti", was German. She grew up bi-lingual, speaking German and French fluently. After winning a school recitation contest, she began acting in amateur theater by the age of twelve. At the age of 14, she starred in her first motion picture Le Petit bougnat (1970, Bernard Michel), while on summer vacation. She made her second film, the coming-of-age drama Faustine et le bel ete (1971, Nina Companeez), also while she was still at school. In 1972, the 17-year-old joined the prestigious Comédie française as the youngest company member ever. There she gained fame as a classical actress for her interpretation of Agnès, the main female role in Molière's L'École des femmes. After only two years she left the Comédie française, to pursue a film career. She played minor roles in several films, and enjoyed modest success as the spoiled teenage daughter of Lino Ventura in La Gifle/The Slap (1974, Claude Pinoteau). She won the prestigious Prix Suzanne Bianchetti for Most Promising Actress. The following year, she landed her first major role as the mentally unbalanced daughter of author Victor Hugo in L Histoire d Adele H./The Story of Adèle H. (1975, François Truffaut). Critics enthused over her performance as the intense, unstable, love-obsessed Adèle Hugo. She was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar and received offers for roles in international films. For André Téchiné, she co-starred with Gerard Depardieu in Barocco (1976), as the instigator of a plot to blackmail a politician, and in Les Soeurs Bronte/The Bronte Sisters (1978), as Emily Bronte. In Roman Polanski's psychological thriller Le Locataire/The Tenant (1976), Adjani was the suicidal former occupant of the apartment rented by a confused man (Polanski himself). In Hollywood she played a gambler opposite Ryan O’Neal in the crime thriller The Driver (1978, Walter Hill). She then portrayed Lucy in the horror film Nosferatu/Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979, Werner Herzog), a retelling of the Dracula legend featuring Klaus Kinski. In 1980 she had a son, Barnabé Nuytten with Flemish cinematographer Bruno Nuytten.

In 1981, Isabelle Adjani received a double Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival for her part as the impoverished mistress of Alan Bates in Merchan-Ivory's Quartet (1981, James Ivory), and for her role as the unfaithful wife of Sam Neill struggling with demons in the horror film Possession (1981, Andrzej Zulawski). Yuri German at AllMovie: “Filmed amidst the oppressive backdrop of the Berlin Wall by the expatriate Polish director Andrzej Zulawski (who was unable to work in his homeland after too many clashes with the authorities), the picture is so relentlessly intense and so deliberately esoteric, that most viewers would find it too hard to connect with. Still its symbolism, its unbridled and flashy directorial style, and the tour de force performance by Isabelle Adjani earned this unique tale a cult following in Europe.” The following year, she received her first César Award for Possession. In 1983, she won the César, for her depiction of a vengeful woman in the blockbuster L'Été Meurtrier/One Deadly Summer (1983, Jean Becker). That same year, she released the French pop album Pull marine written and produced by Serge Gainsbourg. She starred in a music video for the hit title song Pull Marine, which was directed by Luc Besson. For the then 26-year-old Besson she also starred in the successful comedy thriller Subway (1985, Luc Besson) opposite Christophe Lambert. From 1986 to 1987 Adjani was romantically linked to actor Warren with whom she co-starred in the commercial failure Ishtar (1987, Elaine May). In 1988, she co-produced and starred in a biopic of the sculptor Camille Claudel (1988, Bruno Nuytten), the mistress of August Rodin (Gerard Depardieu). As she had done in her portrait of Adele Hugo, Adjani fully conveyed the passion and spirit of a strong-willed woman who descends into madness. She received her third César, a second Oscar nomination and a Berlin Film Festival Best Actress Award for this role. Following this publicity, she was chosen by People magazine as one of the '50 Most Beautiful People' in the world.

Isabelle Adjani won her fourth César for the ensemble epic La Reine Margot/Queen Margot (1994, Patrice Chéreau), based on Victor Hugo's novel. The film provided her with another portrayal in her galaxy of fragile women surrounded by violence. She had a relationship with Daniel Day Lewis from 1989 to 1995. He left her during her pregnancy with their son, Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis, who was born in 1995. The following year, she was teamed with Sharon Stone for Diabolique (1996, Jeremiah S. Chechik), a remake of the classic psychological thriller Les Diaboliques by Henri-Georges Clouzot. Adjani again seemed out of her element as the meek, sickly wife of a belligerent school headmaster (Chazz Palminteri). Sandra Brennan at AllMovie: “She also continued to be highly visible on the political scene, staunchly supporting Algerian rebel activities and actively fighting racism against North African immigrants (such as her father) in France. She was particularly outspoken concerning the activities of the French National Front. In 1986, the anti-immigration group organized a smear campaign against her, starting rumors that she was dying of AIDS. This actually resulted in newspaper reports of Adjani's death, which caused her to go on national television to prove that she was, in fact, still alive.” In 2000, she made a rare stage acting appearance in the title role of a Parisian production of La Dame aux Camelias. After a five year hiatus, Adjani returned to the screen starring in La Repentie/The Repentent (2002, Latitia Masson) with Sami Frey. The following year she appeared in the drama Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran/Monsieur Ibrahim (2003, François Dupeyron) featuring Omar Sharif, and assumed a role originally meant for Sophie Marceau in the black comedy Bon Voyage (2003, Jean-Paul Rappeneau). Adjani was engaged to composer Jean Michel Jarre, but they broke up in 2004. She won her fifth Cesar for her role as a troubled and emotionally fragile woman at the center of a firestorm in the psychological drama La journée de la jupe/Skirt Day (2008, Jean-Paul Lilienfeld). In 2009, she denounced statements by Pope Benedict XVI claiming that condoms are not an effective method of AIDS prevention. Adjani was made a Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur in 2010. Her most recent films are the road movie Mammuth (2010, Benoit Delépine, Gustave de Kervern) starring Gérard Depardieu, and the action film De force (2011, Frank Henry) with former soccer player Eric Cantona.

Sources: Sandra Brennan (AllMovie), Yahoo! Movies, Wikipedia and IMDb.

Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 1410. Photo: Warner Bros.

French actress Etchika Choureau (1929) died on 25 January 2022, at the age of 92. Choureau's film career started very promisingly with three films and an award in 1953. During the 1950s, the beauty with the green eyes and long blond hair graced films in France, Germany, Italy, and Hollywood. After a long affair with the Crown prince of Morocco, she tried to make a come-back but failed and retired.

Etchika Choureau was born Jeannine Paulette Verret in Paris in 1929 (some sources says 1923, others 1933). In 1948 the beautiful 19-year-old girl met Max Choureau, four years her senior whose parents are beekeepers in the Gâtinais. They fell in love and were married. After various jobs, she enrolled in the Paris Conservatory of Arts to study drama. At her graduation, she won the first prize in a contest with film diva Edwige Feuillère heading the jury. Actor Alain Cuny discovered her and pushed her to accept a beautiful role in the Italian film I vinti/The Vanquished (1953), an early work of legendary director Michelangelo Antonioni. This anthology film contains three stories of well-off youths in the post-war years who commit murders, one taking place in Paris, another in Rome, and another in London. In the French episode Sans Amour (Without Love), Choureay plays a young temptress in a gang of aimless youth from working-class families. They cold-bloodedly plan and carry out the murder of a boastful bourgeois classmate (Jean-Pierre Mocky), just out of envy. Antonioni had huge problems when he tried to find funding for such ambitious, resolutely downbeat material. The result was banned in France for a long time. In 1953 Choureau also divorced but kept the name of her ex-husband as a pseudonym. That same year she starred in two more remarkable films. She played a mortally ill village girl in L'envers du paradis/The Other Side of Pardise (Edmond T. Gréville, 1953) starring Erich von Stroheim. The third film was Les enfants de l'amour/Children of Love (Léonide Moguy, 1953), a drama about unwed mothers in which she played a double role. It earned her that year le Prix Suzanne-Bianchetti (the Suzanne Bianchetti award) for the Most Promising Actress. After this jump-start, she made nine more films in France, Italy, and Germany during the following years. Although she co-starred in these films with stars like Jean Marais, Michel Simon, and Isa Miranda, none of these productions was memorable.

In 1957 Etchika Choureau tried to conquer Hollywood. She played the female leads in two American war films made by Warner Bros. In Darby's Rangers (William A. Wellman, 1958) she was the love interest of James Garner, and in Lafayette Escadrille (William A. Wellman, 1958) of Tab Hunter. According to the fan magazines Hunter was deeply in love with her, but his studio wouldn’t allow him to fly to Paris to visit her... She had a real love affair with Moulay Hassan II, the Crown Prince of Morocco. She retired from the screen. In 1961 their relationship suddenly ended when Hassan was proclaimed King of Morocco following the death of His Majesty Mohammed V. After an absence of four years, Choureau tried to revive her cinema career with three new roles. First, she played the lead in the drama La prostitution/Prostitution (Maurice Boutel, 1963). The following year she had a small part in the romantic adventure film Angélique, marquise des anges/Angélique (Bernard Borderie, 1964), the first part of the romantic Angélique cycle, set in Mid-17th century France. This huge box office hit meant the breakthrough for lead actress Michèle Mercier but did nothing for the career of Choureau. She played in only one more film, Paris au mois d'août/Paris in August (Pierre Granier-Deferre, 1966) as the wife of Charles Aznavour. Then she retired permanently. Three years later, she married auctioneer Philippe Rheims. Etchika Choureau had appeared in only seventeen films.

Sources: Yves Foucart (Les gens du Cinema), Michael Hastings (AllMovie), Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen, Wikipedia (French), and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 451. Photo: Sam Lévin.

French stage actress Geneviève Kervine (1931-1989) appeared in some 30 films during the 1950s and 1960s. Although she was good-looking and chosen as most promising actress of 1955 in France, most of her films proved to be not very memorable.

Geneviève Kervine was born as Genevieve Marie Antoinette Kervingant in Dakar, Senegal in 1931. Her father was a physician-Colonel in the army, who assigned in Senegal. Later, she made her stage debut at the Opera Hanoi in Vietnam, where his father was stationed then. At the end of the 1940s, she returned to France. She studied drama with Charles Dullin, and in the meanwhile she played small roles in operettas, which were very popular at the time, including Phi-Phi at the Bouffes-Parisiens. After her stage training, she had her first engagements in theater and cabaret. In 1952, she made her film debut in the crime film Cent francs par seconde/Hundred Francs Every Second (Jean Boyer, 1952) with Philippe Lemaire. It was followed by supporting parts in films like the comedy Belle mentalité/Wonderful Mentality (André Berthomieu, 1953) starring Jean Richard, Une vie de garcon/A Boy’s Life (Jean Boyer, 1954), and Ma petite folie/My little madness (Maurice Labro, 1954) starring actor-singer Jean Bretonnière. Bretonnière and Kervine fell in love, and would stay and work together for the rest of their lives. The following year they starred together in La villa Sans-Souci/ The Villa Sans-Souci (Maurice Labro, 1955). Meanwhile Kervine appeared with Noël-Noël and Suzy Delair in Le fil à la patte/Fly in the Ointment (Guy Lefranc, 1954), based on the popular farce by Georges Feydeau. She played opposite Jean-Paul Aumont in Dix-huit heures d'escale/Eighteen Hours of Call/ (René Jolivet, 1955). In 1955, she won the prestigious Prix Suzanne Bianchetti, a French award for the most promising young actress. She appeared in dozens of films in this period, but none of them seems to be very remarkable. In 1957 she appeared in the comedy Cinq millions comptant/ Five million cash (André Berthomieu, 1957) starring Jane Sourza. A year later she appeared opposite the great Michel Simon in a not so great drama Un certain Monsieur Jo/A Certain Mr. Jo (René Jolivet, 1958) – the IMDb voters gave it less than five stars.

During the 1960s, Geneviève Kervine made less and less films. However, she often had leading parts, such as in La nuit des suspectes/Night of the Suspicious (Victor Merenda, 1960), which was later remade by François Ozon as 8 Femmes/8 Women (2002) with Virginie Ledoyen in the Kervine role. In the thriller Callaghan remet ça/Callaghan did it again (Willy Rozier, 1961), she had the female lead opposite Tony Wright as private eye Slim Callaghan, hero of a series of popular crime novels by Peter Cheyney. In Germany she played in the Eurospy film Es muß nicht immer Kaviar sein/Operation Caviar (Géza von Radványi, 1961) starring O.W. Fischer. The success of this comic thriller lead to a sequel, Diesmal muß es Kaviar sein/It’s Always Caviar (Géza von Radványi, 1961). Her next film, the comedy of errors C'est pas moi, c'est l'autre/ It's not me, the other (Jean Boyer, 1962), was also her last. Kervine and Jean Bretonnière often appeared together in stage plays. They married in 1967. With the company of Herbert-Karsenty, the pair did numerous tours through the provinces of France. Incidentally Kervine could be seen on French TV. In 1977 she appeared in the mini-series Histoire de la grandeur et de la décadence de César Birotteau/ History of the grandeur and decadence of Cesar Birotteau (René Lucot, 1977), based on a novel by Honoré de Balzac. Her final TV appearance was in the TV play Peau de vache/Cow-Hide (Pierre Sabbagh, 1980) with Jean Bretonnière and Sophie Desmarets. Geneviève Kervine died in 1989 in Paris, following a ruptured aneurysm. She was survived by Jean Bretonnière who died in 2001. Their son, Marc Bretonnière is also an actor.

Sources: Wikipedia (French), and IMDb.

French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 549. Photo: Alban. Suzanne Bianchetti as La Femme (the wife) in Verdun, visions d'histoire/Verdun (Léon Poirier, 1928).

French film actress Suzanne Bianchetti (1889-1936) was one of France's most loved and respected actresses of her time. She played Empress Eugénie in Violettes impériales (Henry Roussel, 1924) and Queen Marie Antoinette in Abel Gance's epic Napoléon (1927) and again in Richard Oswald's Cagliostro (1929). She worked with many other great names of the silent cinema. After her death the Prix Suzanne Bianchetti was created in her memory, an annual French award to be given to the most promising young actress.

Salon Rétromobile 2017

Paris expo portes de Versailles

Châssis n° 014I

Moteur n° 014I

pilotée par Fernando Righetti, Raymond Sommer, Giuseppe Farina et Giampiero Bianchetti

French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 659. Photo: Sam Lévin.

French stage actress Geneviève Kervine (1931-1989) appeared in some 30 films during the 1950s and 1960s. Although she was good-looking and chosen as the most promising actress of 1955 in France, most of her films proved to be not very memorable.

Geneviève Kervine was born as Genevieve Marie Antoinette Kervingant in Dakar, Senegal in 1931. Her father was a physician-Colonel in the army, who assigned in Senegal. Later, she made her stage debut at the Opera Hanoi in Vietnam, where his father was stationed then. At the end of the 1940s, she returned to France. She studied drama with Charles Dullin, and in the meanwhile she played small roles in operettas, which were very popular at the time, including Phi-Phi at the Bouffes-Parisiens. After her stage training, she had her first engagements in theater and cabaret. In 1952, she made her film debut in the crime film Cent francs par seconde/Hundred Francs Every Second (Jean Boyer, 1952) with Philippe Lemaire. It was followed by supporting parts in films like the comedy Belle mentalité/Wonderful Mentality (André Berthomieu, 1953) starring Jean Richard, Une vie de garcon/A Boy’s Life (Jean Boyer, 1954), and Ma petite folie/My little madness (Maurice Labro, 1954) starring actor-singer Jean Bretonnière. Bretonnière and Kervine fell in love, and would stay and work together for the rest of their lives. The following year they starred together in La villa Sans-Souci/ The Villa Sans-Souci (Maurice Labro, 1955). Meanwhile Kervine appeared with Noël-Noël and Suzy Delair in Le fil à la patte/Fly in the Ointment (Guy Lefranc, 1954), based on the popular farce by Georges Feydeau. She played opposite Jean-Paul Aumont in Dix-huit heures d'escale/Eighteen Hours of Call/ (René Jolivet, 1955). In 1955, she won the prestigious Prix Suzanne Bianchetti, a French award for the most promising young actress. She appeared in dozens of films in this period, but none of them seems to be very remarkable. In 1957 she appeared in the comedy Cinq millions comptant/ Five million cash (André Berthomieu, 1957) starring Jane Sourza. A year later she appeared opposite the great Michel Simon in a not so great drama Un certain Monsieur Jo/A Certain Mr. Jo (René Jolivet, 1958) – the IMDb voters gave it less than five stars.

During the 1960s, Geneviève Kervine made less and less films. However, she often had leading parts, such as in La nuit des suspectes/Night of the Suspicious (Victor Merenda, 1960), which was later remade by François Ozon as 8 Femmes/8 Women (2002) with Virginie Ledoyen in the Kervine role. In the thriller Callaghan remet ça/Callaghan did it again (Willy Rozier, 1961), she had the female lead opposite Tony Wright as private eye Slim Callaghan, hero of a series of popular crime novels by Peter Cheyney. In Germany she played in the Eurospy film Es muß nicht immer Kaviar sein/Operation Caviar (Géza von Radványi, 1961) starring O.W. Fischer. The success of this comic thriller lead to a sequel, Diesmal muß es Kaviar sein/It’s Always Caviar (Géza von Radványi, 1961). Her next film, the comedy of errors C'est pas moi, c'est l'autre/ It's not me, the other (Jean Boyer, 1962), was also her last. Kervine and Jean Bretonnière often appeared together in stage plays. They married in 1967. With the company of Herbert-Karsenty, the pair did numerous tours through the provinces of France. Incidentally Kervine could be seen on French TV. In 1977 she appeared in the mini-series Histoire de la grandeur et de la décadence de César Birotteau/ History of the grandeur and decadence of Cesar Birotteau (René Lucot, 1977), based on a novel by Honoré de Balzac. Her final TV appearance was in the TV play Peau de vache/Cow-Hide (Pierre Sabbagh, 1980) with Jean Bretonnière and Sophie Desmarets. Geneviève Kervine died in 1989 in Paris, following a ruptured aneurysm. She was survived by Jean Bretonnière who died in 2001. Their son, Marc Bretonnière is also an actor.

Sources: Wikipedia (French), and IMDb.

Please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Construction Autogrill

Pavesi Villoresi Lainate (A8)

near Milano

1958

Architect: Angelo Bianchetti

www.autogrillpavesi.eu/galleries/lainate/

French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 370. Photo: Raymond Heil.

French stage actress Geneviève Kervine (1931-1989) appeared in some 30 films during the 1950s and 1960s. Although she was good-looking and chosen as most promising actress of 1955 in France, most of her films proved to be not very memorable.

Geneviève Kervine was born as Genevieve Marie Antoinette Kervingant in Dakar, Senegal in 1931. Her father was a physician-Colonel in the army, who assigned in Senegal. Later, she made her stage debut at the Opera Hanoi in Vietnam, where his father was stationed then. At the end of the 1940s, she returned to France. She studied drama with Charles Dullin, and in the meanwhile she played small roles in operettas, which were very popular at the time, including Phi-Phi at the Bouffes-Parisiens. After her stage training, she had her first engagements in theater and cabaret. In 1952, she made her film debut in the crime film Cent francs par seconde/Hundred Francs Every Second (Jean Boyer, 1952) with Philippe Lemaire. It was followed by supporting parts in films like the comedy Belle mentalité/Wonderful Mentality (André Berthomieu, 1953) starring Jean Richard, Une vie de garcon/A Boy’s Life (Jean Boyer, 1954), and Ma petite folie/My little madness (Maurice Labro, 1954) starring actor-singer Jean Bretonnière. Bretonnière and Kervine fell in love, and would stay and work together for the rest of their lives. The following year they starred together in La villa Sans-Souci/ The Villa Sans-Souci (Maurice Labro, 1955). Meanwhile Kervine appeared with Noël-Noël and Suzy Delair in Le fil à la patte/Fly in the Ointment (Guy Lefranc, 1954), based on the popular farce by Georges Feydeau. She played opposite Jean-Paul Aumont in Dix-huit heures d'escale/Eighteen Hours of Call/ (René Jolivet, 1955). In 1955, she won the prestigious Prix Suzanne Bianchetti, a French award for the most promising young actress. She appeared in dozens of films in this period, but none of them seems to be very remarkable. In 1957 she appeared in the comedy Cinq millions comptant/ Five million cash (André Berthomieu, 1957) starring Jane Sourza. A year later she appeared opposite the great Michel Simon in a not so great drama Un certain Monsieur Jo/A Certain Mr. Jo (René Jolivet, 1958) – the IMDb voters gave it less than five stars.

During the 1960s, Geneviève Kervine made less and less films. However, she often had leading parts, such as in La nuit des suspectes/Night of the Suspicious (Victor Merenda, 1960), which was later remade by François Ozon as 8 Femmes/8 Women (2002) with Virginie Ledoyen in the Kervine role. In the thriller Callaghan remet ça/Callaghan did it again (Willy Rozier, 1961), she had the female lead opposite Tony Wright as private eye Slim Callaghan, hero of a series of popular crime novels by Peter Cheyney. In Germany she played in the Eurospy film Es muß nicht immer Kaviar sein/Operation Caviar (Géza von Radványi, 1961) starring O.W. Fischer. The success of this comic thriller lead to a sequel, Diesmal muß es Kaviar sein/It’s Always Caviar (Géza von Radványi, 1961). Her next film, the comedy of errors C'est pas moi, c'est l'autre/ It's not me, the other (Jean Boyer, 1962), was also her last. Kervine and Jean Bretonnière often appeared together in stage plays. They married in 1967. With the company of Herbert-Karsenty, the pair did numerous tours through the provinces of France. Incidentally Kervine could be seen on French TV. In 1977 she appeared in the mini-series Histoire de la grandeur et de la décadence de César Birotteau/ History of the grandeur and decadence of Cesar Birotteau (René Lucot, 1977), based on a novel by Honoré de Balzac. Her final TV appearance was in the TV play Peau de vache/Cow-Hide (Pierre Sabbagh, 1980) with Jean Bretonnière and Sophie Desmarets. Geneviève Kervine died in 1989 in Paris, following a ruptured aneurysm. She was survived by Jean Bretonnière who died in 2001. Their son, Marc Bretonnière is also an actor.

Sources: Wikipedia (French), and IMDb.

Please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

French postcard by Cinémagazine-Sélection, Paris, no. 747. Suzanne Bianchetti in Cagliostro/Cagliostro - Liebe und Leben eines großen Abenteurers (Richard Oswald, 1929). Photo: Alban. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

On 18 June 2022, a Marie-Antoinette post will be published on our blog European Film Star Postcards.

French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 757. Photo: Sam Lévin.

French stage actress Geneviève Kervine (1931-1989) appeared in some 30 films during the 1950s and 1960s. Although she was good-looking and chosen as most promising actress of 1955 in France, most of her films proved to be not very memorable.

Geneviève Kervine was born as Genevieve Marie Antoinette Kervingant in Dakar, Senegal in 1931. Her father was a physician-Colonel in the army, who assigned in Senegal. Later, she made her stage debut at the Opera Hanoi in Vietnam, where his father was stationed then. At the end of the 1940s, she returned to France. She studied drama with Charles Dullin, and in the meanwhile she played small roles in operettas, which were very popular at the time, including Phi-Phi at the Bouffes-Parisiens. After her stage training, she had her first engagements in theater and cabaret. In 1952, she made her film debut in the crime film Cent francs par seconde/Hundred Francs Every Second (Jean Boyer, 1952) with Philippe Lemaire. It was followed by supporting parts in films like the comedy Belle mentalité/Wonderful Mentality (André Berthomieu, 1953) starring Jean Richard, Une vie de garcon/A Boy’s Life (Jean Boyer, 1954), and Ma petite folie/My little madness (Maurice Labro, 1954) starring actor-singer Jean Bretonnière. Bretonnière and Kervine fell in love, and would stay and work together for the rest of their lives. The following year they starred together in La villa Sans-Souci/ The Villa Sans-Souci (Maurice Labro, 1955). Meanwhile Kervine appeared with Noël-Noël and Suzy Delair in Le fil à la patte/Fly in the Ointment (Guy Lefranc, 1954), based on the popular farce by Georges Feydeau. She played opposite Jean-Paul Aumont in Dix-huit heures d'escale/Eighteen Hours of Call/ (René Jolivet, 1955). In 1955, she won the prestigious Prix Suzanne Bianchetti, a French award for the most promising young actress. She appeared in dozens of films in this period, but none of them seems to be very remarkable. In 1957 she appeared in the comedy Cinq millions comptant/ Five million cash (André Berthomieu, 1957) starring Jane Sourza. A year later she appeared opposite the great Michel Simon in a not so great drama Un certain Monsieur Jo/A Certain Mr. Jo (René Jolivet, 1958) – the IMDb voters gave it less than five stars.

During the 1960s, Geneviève Kervine made less and less films. However, she often had leading parts, such as in La nuit des suspectes/Night of the Suspicious (Victor Merenda, 1960), which was later remade by François Ozon as 8 Femmes/8 Women (2002) with Virginie Ledoyen in the Kervine role. In the thriller Callaghan remet ça/Callaghan did it again (Willy Rozier, 1961), she had the female lead opposite Tony Wright as private eye Slim Callaghan, hero of a series of popular crime novels by Peter Cheyney. In Germany she played in the Eurospy film Es muß nicht immer Kaviar sein/Operation Caviar (Géza von Radványi, 1961) starring O.W. Fischer. The success of this comic thriller lead to a sequel, Diesmal muß es Kaviar sein/It’s Always Caviar (Géza von Radványi, 1961). Her next film, the comedy of errors C'est pas moi, c'est l'autre/ It's not me, the other (Jean Boyer, 1962), was also her last. Kervine and Jean Bretonnière often appeared together in stage plays. They married in 1967. With the company of Herbert-Karsenty, the pair did numerous tours through the provinces of France. Incidentally Kervine could be seen on French TV. In 1977 she appeared in the mini-series Histoire de la grandeur et de la décadence de César Birotteau/ History of the grandeur and decadence of Cesar Birotteau (René Lucot, 1977), based on a novel by Honoré de Balzac. Her final TV appearance was in the TV play Peau de vache/Cow-Hide (Pierre Sabbagh, 1980) with Jean Bretonnière and Sophie Desmarets. Geneviève Kervine died in 1989 in Paris, following a ruptured aneurysm. She was survived by Jean Bretonnière who died in 2001. Their son, Marc Bretonnière is also an actor.

Sources: Wikipedia (French), and IMDb.

Please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Lui sapeva che gli volevo bene abbastanza da sopportare il fatto di non avere sue notizie.

- Into the wild.

French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 375. Photo: Sam Lévin.

French stage actress Geneviève Kervine (1931 - 1989) appeared in some 30 films during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Although she was good-looking and chosen as most promising actress of 1955 in France, most of her films proved to be not very memorable.

Geneviève Kervine was born as Genevieve Marie Antoinette Kervingant in Dakar, Senegal in 1931. Her father was a physician-Colonel in the army, who assigned in Senegal. Later, she made her stage debut at the Opera Hanoi in Vietnam, where his father was stationed then. At the end of the 1940’s, she returned to France. She studied drama with Charles Dullin, and in the meanwhile she played small roles in operettas, which were very popular at the time, including Phi-Phi at the Bouffes-Parisiens. After her stage training, she had her first engagements in theater and cabaret. In 1952, she made her film debut in the crime film Cent francs par seconde/Hundred Francs Every Second (1952, Jean Boyer) with Philippe Lemaire. It was followed by supporting parts in films like the comedy Belle mentalité/Wonderful Mentality (1953, André Berthomieu) starring Jean Richard, Une vie de garcon/A Boy’s Life (1954, Jean Boyer), and Ma petite folie/My little madness (1954, Maurice Labro) starring actor-singer Jean Bretonnière. Bretonnière and Kervine fell in love, and would stay and work together for the rest of their lives. The following year they starred together in La villa Sans-Souci/ The Villa Sans-Souci (1955, Maurice Labro). Meanwhile Kervine appeared with Noël-Noël and Suzy Delair in Le fil à la patte/Fly in the Ointment (1954, Guy Lefranc), based on the popular farce by Georges Feydeau. She played opposite Jean-Paul Aumont in Dix-huit heures d'escale/Eighteen Hours of Call/ (1955, René Jolivet). In 1955, she won the prestigious Prix Suzanne Bianchetti, a French award for the most promising young actress. She appeared in dozens of films in this period, but none of them seems to be very remarkable. In 1957 she appeared in the comedy Cinq millions comptant/ Five million cash (1957, André Berthomieu) starring Jane Sourza. A year later she appeared opposite the great Michel Simon in a not so great drama Un certain Monsieur Jo/A Certain Mr. Jo (1958, René Jolivet) – the IMDb voters gave it less than five stars.

During the 1960’s, Geneviève Kervine made less and less films. However, she often had leading parts, such as in La nuit des suspectes/Night of the Suspicious (1960, Victor Merenda), which was later remade by François Ozon as 8 Femmes/8 Women (2002) with Virginie Ledoyen in the Kervine role. In the thriller Callaghan remet ça/Callaghan did it again (1961, Willy Rozier), she had the female lead opposite Tony Wright as private eye Slim Callaghan, hero of a series of popular crime novels by Peter Cheyney. In Germany she played in the Eurospy film Es muß nicht immer Kaviar sein/Operation Caviar (1961, Géza von Radványi) starring O.W. Fischer. The success of this comic thriller lead to a sequel, Diesmal muß es Kaviar sein/It’s Always Caviar (1961, Géza von Radványi). Her next film, the comedy of errors C'est pas moi, c'est l'autre/ It's not me, the other (1962, Jean Boyer), was also her last. Kervine and Jean Bretonnière often appeared together in stage plays. They married in 1967. With the company of Herbert-Karsenty, the pair did numerous tours through the provinces of France. Incidentally Kervine could be seen on French TV. In 1977 she appeared in the mini-series Histoire de la grandeur et de la décadence de César Birotteau/ History of the grandeur and decadence of Cesar Birotteau (1977, René Lucot), based on a novel by Honoré de Balzac. Her final TV appearance was in the TV play Peau de vache/Cow-Hide (1980, Pierre Sabbagh) with Jean Bretonnière and Sophie Desmarets. Geneviève Kervine died in 1989 in Paris, following a ruptured aneurysm. She was survived by Jean Bretonnière who died in 2001. Their son, Marc Bretonnière is also an actor.

Sources: Wikipedia (French), and IMDb.

Rencôntres d'Arles 2017

+++++++++++++++

FROM WIKIPEDIA

Audrey Justine Tautou (French pronunciation: [o.dʁɛ to.tu] (About this sound listen); born 9 August 1976)[1] is a French actress and model.[2] Signed by an agent at age 17, she made her acting debut at 18 on television and her feature film debut the following year in Venus Beauty Institute (1999), for which she received critical acclaim and won the César Award for Most Promising Actress. Her subsequent roles in the 1990s and 2000s included Le Libertin and Happenstance (2000).

Tautou achieved international recognition for her lead role in the 2001 film Amélie, which met with critical acclaim and was a major box-office success. Amélie won Best Film at the European Film Awards, four César Awards (including Best Film and Best Director), two BAFTA Awards (including Best Original Screenplay), and was nominated for five Academy Awards.

Tautou has since appeared in films in a range of genres, including the thrillers Dirty Pretty Things and The Da Vinci Code, and the romantic Priceless (2006). She has received critical acclaim for her many roles including the drama A Very Long Engagement (2004) and the biographical drama Coco avant Chanel (2009). She has been nominated three times for the César Award and twice for the BAFTA for Best Actress in a leading role. She became one of the few French actors in history to be invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in June 2004.[3]

Tautou has modeled for Chanel, Montblanc, L'Oréal and many other companies. She is an active supporter of several charities.

Early life

Tautou was born in Beaumont and was raised in Montluçon. Her father Bernard Tautou is a dental surgeon, and her mother Eveline is a teacher.[1] Tautou showed an interest in acting at an early age and started her acting lessons at the Cours Florent.[4]

Acting career

1990s

Tautou at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival

In 1998, Tautou participated in a Star Search-like competition sponsored by Canal+ called "Jeunes Premiers" (The Young Debuts) and won Best Young Actress at the 9th Béziers Festival of Young Actors. Tonie Marshall gave her a role in the César-winning Venus Beauty Institute (1999, also known as Vénus beauté (institut)). In 2000, she won the Prix Suzanne Bianchetti as her country's most promising young film actress.

2000s

In 2001, Tautou rose to international fame for her performance as the eccentric lead in the romantic comedy Amélie (original French title: Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain; English: The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain), a film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Written by Jeunet with Guillaume Laurant, the film is a whimsical depiction of contemporary Parisian life, set in Montmartre. It tells the story of a shy waitress, who decides to change the lives of those around her for the better, while struggling with her own isolation. The film was an international co-production between companies in France and Germany.

The film met with critical acclaim and was a major box-office success. Amélie won Best Film at the European Film Awards; it won four César Awards (including Best Film and Best Director), two BAFTA Awards (including Best Original Screenplay), and was nominated for five Academy Awards. Grossing over $33 million in limited theatrical release, it is still the highest-grossing French-language film released in the United States.[5]

In 2002, she acted in the British thriller film Dirty Pretty Things directed by Stephen Frears and written by Steven Knight, a drama about two illegal immigrants in London. It was produced by BBC Films and Celador Films. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and won a British Independent Film Award for "Best Independent British Film" in 2003.

Tautou at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

In 2004, she played in A Very Long Engagement, a romantic war film, co-written and directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet starring Tautou. It is a fictional tale about a young woman's desperate search for her fiancé who might have been killed in the Battle of the Somme, during World War I. It was based on a novel of the same name, written by Sebastien Japrisot, first published in 1991. In June, she was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).[6]

In 2005, Tautou starred in her first full Hollywood production, opposite Tom Hanks, in the film version of Dan Brown's best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code, directed by Ron Howard and released in May 2006.

She starred alongside Gad Elmaleh in Pierre Salvadori's Hors de prix (Priceless), released 13 December 2006. The film has been compared to Breakfast at Tiffany's.[7]

Tautou starred with Guillaume Canet in Claude Berri's Ensemble, c'est tout in 2007, an adaptation of the eponymous novel by Anna Gavalda.

2010s–present

Tautou at the 41st César Awards dinner in 2016

Tautou played the lead role in the biopic of fashion designer Coco Chanel, titled Coco avant Chanel, and directed by Anne Fontaine.[8][9][10][11] Filming began in Paris in September 2008, and released in France on 22 April 2009. The script is partially based on Edmonde Charles-Roux’s book "L’Irrégulière" ("The Non-Conformist"). Instead of releasing Coco Before Chanel in the United States itself, Warner Bros. let Sony Pictures Classics handle the release there.[12] The film grossed $6 million in the United States.[13][14]

Coco Before Chanel was nominated for four BAFTA Awards, three European Film Awards, six César Awards and the Academy Award for Best Costume Design.

In 2011, she appeared in Delicacy, a French romantic comedy-drama directed by David and Stéphane Foenkinos and based on the novel of the same name by David Foenkinos. David was nominated for the 2012 Best Writing (Adaptation) César Award and the film was nominated as Best Film.[15]

She appeared in the music video of "I Love Your Smile", a song by British singer-songwriter Charlie Winston.[16]

She was the host of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.[17]

She was a member of the jury of the 2015 Berlin Film Festival.[18] She appeared in The Odyssey as Simone Melchior Coustea.

Public image and modeling career

Tautou began modeling at a very young age, taking modeling courses and other activities, and has modeled for magazines such as Vogue, Elle, Harpers Bazaar, Marie Claire in many countries, and many others.[2]

Tautou was named in 2009 as the next spokesmodel for Chanel No. 5, replacing Nicole Kidman. She was directed in the advertisement by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, with whom she worked on Amélie and A Very Long Engagement. The advertisement was released in 2009 to coincide with the film's release.[19][20] She has also become the face of L'Oreal and Montblanc and several other ad campaigns.[21]

Tautou over the years has been declared a fashionista and icon by the press, appearing in many magazines, fashion, beauty, and culture. She has attended major fashion week events around the world as well as smaller events. The press sometimes refers to her as "The Chanel Muse".[2]

Personal life

She has studied at the Institut Catholique de Paris.[22] A church-goer when young, she has stated that she is "not officially" Catholic.[23]

Tautou says she considers France her base, where she plans to focus her career, rather than in the United States. She told Stevie Wong of The Straits Times "I am, at the end of the day, a French actress. I am not saying I will never shoot an English-language movie again, but my home, my community, my career is rooted in France. I would never move to Los Angeles."[24]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes

1999 Venus Beauty Institute Marie Cabourg Film Festival Award for Female Revelation

César Award for Most Promising Actress

Lumières Award for Most Promising Actress

SACD Award for Best Actress

Triste à mourir Caro Short film

2000 Épouse-moi Marie-Ange

Pretty Devils Anne-Sophie Original title: Voyou, voyelles

Le Libertin Julie d'Holbach

Happenstance Irène Original title: Le Battement d'ailes du papillon

2001 Amélie Amélie Poulain Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Performer

Lumières Award for Best Actress

Sant Jordi Award for Best Actress

Nominated – Audience Award for Best Actress

Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role

Nominated – César Award for Best Actress

Nominated – Empire Award for Best Actress

Nominated – European Film Award for Best Actress in Leading Role

Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actress

Nominated – Phoenix Film Critics Society for Best Actress

Nominated – Phoenix Film Critics Society for Best Newcomer

Nominated – Online Film Critics Society for Best Actress

Nominated – Vancouver Film Critics Circle for Best Actress

God Is Great and I'm Not Michèle Original title: Dieu est grand, je suis toute petite

2002 He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not Angélique Original title: À la folie... pas du tout

L'Auberge espagnole Martine Other titles: The Spanish Apartment and Pot Luck

Dirty Pretty Things Senay Gelik Nominated - European Film Award for Best Actress in Leading Role

2003 Les Marins perdus Lalla

Not on the Lips Huguette Verberie Original title: Pas sur la bouche

Happy End Val Chipzik

2004 A Very Long Engagement Mathilde Nominated - César Award for Best Actress

Nominated - European Film Award for Best Actress in Leading Role

2005 Russian Dolls Martine Original title: Les Poupées russes

2006 The Da Vinci Code Sophie Neveu

Priceless Irène NRJ Ciné Award (shared with Gad Elmaleh) for Best Kiss

2007 Hunting and Gathering Camille Fauque Original title: Ensemble, c'est tout

2009 Coco Before Chanel Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role

Nominated - César Award for Best Actress

Nominated - Lumières Award for Best Actress

2010 De vrais mensonges Emilie Dandrieux Other titles: Beautiful Lies and Full Treatment

2011 Delicacy Nathalie Kerr Original title: La délicatesse

2012 Headwinds Sarah Anderen

Thérèse Desqueyroux Thérèse Desqueyroux

2013 Mood Indigo Chloé Original title: L’Écume des jours

Chinese Puzzle Martine Original title: Casse-tête chinois

2015 Microbe & Gasoline Marie-Thérèse Guéret Original title: Microbe et Gasoil

2015 Eternity Valentine

2016 The Odyssey Simone Melchior Nominated - Globes de Cristal Award for Best Actress

2016 Open at Night Nawel

2017 Going Places Post-production

2017 Remise de peine Agnès Post-production

2017 Santa & Cie Post-production

Television

Year Title Role Notes

1996 Cœur de cible TV movie

1997 La Vérité est un vilain défaut The telephone operator TV movie

1997 Les Cordier, juge et flic Léa TV movie, episode: "Le Crime d'à côté"

1998 La Vieille Barrière A girl in the district TV movie

1998 Bébés boum Elsa TV movie

1998 Chaos technique Lisa TV movie

1998 Julie Lescaut Tracy TV movie, episode: "Bal masqué"

1999 Le Boiteux Blandine Piancet TV movie, episode: "Baby blues"

Theatre credits

Year Show Role Notes

2010 A Doll's House Nora Théâtre de la Madeleine

2011 Tour

References

Age sources

"Audrey Tautou". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 22 August 2008. "born Aug. 9, 1976/78, Beaumont, Auvergne, France"

"TAUTOU Audrey". Les Gens du Cinema. Retrieved 17 April 2013. "Lieu: BEAUMONT (63-France); Naissance: 9 août 1976; Reférence: Extrait de naissance n° 6672/1976 [translation: Location: BEAUMONT (63-France); Born: August 9, 1976; Reference: Birth Certificate No. 6672/1976]"

Willsher, Kim (14 April 2013). "Audrey Tautou: how the French learned to love the star of Amélie". The Observer. Retrieved 17 April 2013. "Born August 1976. Her father was a dental surgeon, her mother a teacher. She was raised in Montluçon, a town in central France."

"A propos de quelques ÉLÈVES CÉLÈBRES..." [About some famous students...]. Collège Jules Ferry Montlucon. Archived from the original on 30 October 2004. "née en 1976, élève de 1987 à 1991 [translation: born in 1976, a student from 1987 to 1991]"

Kangasniemi, Sanna (25 October 2013). "Ainaisesti ujo pariisitar". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish) (Friday supplement Nyt). Helsinki. pp. 10–11. Archived from the original on 28 October 2013. "Sitten hän vastaa. Syntymävuosi on 1976. ’Mutta pitäisin parempana, jos kirjoittaisitte 1978. Voisitteko kirjoittaa 1978? Kerron teille totuuden ja pyydän teitä valehtelemaan.’ [Then she replies. The birth year is 1976. ‘But I would prefer if you wrote 1978. Could you write 1978? I tell you the truth, and ask you to lie.’]"

"Audrey Tautou, sabia discreción Juan Ignacio Francia" (in Spanish). Lavanguardia.com. 2012-06-07. Retrieved 2013-12-01.

Academy Invites 127 to Membership Archived 11 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine.

Les florentins qui font la réputation de notre école, Cours Florent, retrieved 28 October 2009

"Foreign Language Movies at the Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2013-12-01.

Academy Invites 127 to Membership Archived 11 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine.

Staff (4 April 2008). ""Priceless" romance tale". The Washington Times. Retrieved 14 January 2011.

Reynolds, Simon (27 August 2008). "Warner Bros. backs Chanel biopic". Digital Spy.

Tautou at Imdb

Coco Before Chanel at Imdb

"Audrey Tautou: The New Coco Chanel". Movie-dvd-releases.com. 3 September 2008. Archived from the original on 20 May 2009. Retrieved 2013-12-01.

Jaafar, Ali (17 April 2009). "Hollywood biz without borders". Variety.

"Coco Before Chanel". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 29 September 2012.

Tobias, Scott (19 November 2004). "Foreign affairs". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 3 July 2009. Retrieved 20 June 2009.

"Palmarès 2012 - 37 ème cérémonie des César". Academie-cinema.org. Retrieved 2013-12-01.

"Audrey Tautou's in music video for Charlie Winston", BBC News, 17 February 2010

"Cannes Film Festival 2013: Audrey Tautou to host opening ceremony". The Telegraph. Retrieved 13 April 2013.

"Berlinale: Prizes of the International Jury".

Snead, Elizabeth (5 May 2008), "Is it a bird or a plane? Sarah Jessica Parker won't save the Costume Gala?", Los Angeles Times, archived from the original on 10 May 2008, retrieved 21 May 2008

"Audrey Tautou new face of Chanel", China Daily, 16 May 2008, archived from the original on 31 May 2008, retrieved 21 May 2008

"Sabia discrección: Audrey Tautou – Levante-EMV". Ocio.levante-emv.com. 2012-07-13. Retrieved 2013-12-01.

"Audrey Tautou rêve d’ailleurs" 9 August 2011, Culture-match, Paris Match (in French)

WENN (11 May 2006). "Tautou dismisses Da Vinci controversy". Actress Archives.com. UGO Entertainment. Archived from the original on 24 February 2007.

Wong, Stevie (28 May 2006). "From Amelie to Sophie". The Straits Times. Singapore: The Star Online eCentral. Archived from the original on 29 May 2012.

French postcard by Editions O.P., Paris, no. 82. Photo: Le Studio, Paris.

Junie Astor (1911-1967) was a French actress who was highly popular in the late 1930s.

Junie Astor was born Rolande Risterucci in Marseille in 1911. She was obliged to learn classic ballet which she abandoned for lessons at the Conservatoire National Supérieur d’Art Dramatique. This formation permitted her to have her debut on stage in the play Lundi 8 heures at the Théâtre des Ambassadeurs in 1933, in the company of Julien Carette. The same year Junie Astor also started in cinema with D’amour et d’eau fraîche, with Fernandel. The beautiful newcomer made her mark in Ademaï aviateur (1934) by Jean Tarride and with Noël-Noël. From then on, she played one (supporrting) part after another, such as in Tovarich (1934) by Jacques Deval and with André Lefaur and Irène de Zilahy, Mayerling (1936) by Anatole Litvak and with Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux, and with Danielle Darrieux, Valentine Tessier, Eve Francis, Betty Stockfeld in Club de femmes (1936) by Jacques Deval. On the instigation of producer Alexander Kamenka, Astor played Jean Gabin's love interest in Jean Renoir’s liberal adaptation of Gorki’s The Lower Depths: Les bas-fonds (1936), though the real leads were for Gabin as the bum and thief Pepel and Louis Jouvet as the impoverished Baron. Years after Renoir gave a severe critique, condemning Astor as non-photogenic.

Not everybody thought that way, though, because her role in Le coupable (1936) by Raymond Bernard won Junie Astor the prestigious Prix Suzanne Bianchetti for the most promising female acting talent of the year. (NB Bianchetti had been an actress in silent cinema, her husband the critic René Jeanne had created the award.) Despite the award Astor had to satisfy with supporting roles, though she had an active career in the 1930s, with the most important directors of those times, such as the Marcel Achard adaptation Noix de coco (Jean Boyer 1939) with Raimu and Marie Bell, and Battement de cœur (Henri Decoin 1940) with Danielle Darrieux and Claude Dauphin. She also tried her luck in Italy in 1939-1940 with films such as Tutto per la donna (Mario Soldati 1940) with Antonio Centa, even if these were not shown in France. In 1943 she also acted in L’éternel retour by Jean Delannoy and with Madeleine Sologne and Jean Marais.

In March 1942, Junie Astor was together with Danielle Darrieux, Suzy Delair, René Dary, Albert Préjean and Viviane Romance, part of the so-called ‘train of shame’ for Berlin, in occasion of the premiere of Premier rendez-vous by Henri Decoin and of a visit to the Berlin film studios. If Danielle Darrieux’s presence was understandable, for she wanted to liberate her husband Porfirio Rubirosa, one wonders why the other actors, working for the Franco-German Continental company, accepted to join this masquerade set up to legitimize the regime. At the Liberation, Astor had a last major role in Du Guesclin (1948), starring Fernand Gravey, and directed by Bernard de La Tour. Astor married De la Tour and they founded Astor Production, but the promising initiative struck ground – the marriage neither (they split after six years). Astor nevertheless joined Raymond Pellegrin in Coupable? (1950) and Eddy Constantine, Noël-Noël and Jean Richard in the comedy Les truands (Carlo Rim 1956). She also played in Maurice Boutel’s Interpol contre X (1960) and L’homme de l’Interpol (1965), but these B-series policiers didn’t help her career. In the 1950s Astor returned to the stage in Ombre chère (1952) by Jacques Deval and with Robert Lamoureux. Tired of her profession Astor focused on the exploitation of two Parisian cinemas, Astor and Rio Opéra. While finishing Joe Caligula (1966) by José Bénazéraf and with Gérard Blain, a film that for a long time would remain forbidden by the French censure, Junie Astor died at the age of 55 years, because of a car accident in 1967 in Sainte-Magnance dans l’Yonne. She was buried at the cemetery of Bagneux.

Sources: Ciné-Artistes (French), Wikipedia (French), and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

French postcard in the series 'Les Vedettes de Cinéma' by A.N., Paris, no. 174. Suzanne Bianchetti in Les Aventures de Robert Macaire/The Adventures of Robert Macaire (Jean Epstein, 1925).

French film actress Suzanne Bianchetti (1889-1936) was one of France's most loved and respected actresses of her time. She played Marie Antoinette in Abel Gance's epic Napoléon (1927) and worked with many other great names of the silent cinema. After her death the Prix Suzanne Bianchetti was created in her memory, an annual French award to be given to the most promising young actress.

Watercolor on paper. Homage to Glenio Bianchetti

French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 442. Photo: Engberg. Georges Lannes as the Cardinal de Rohan in Le Collier de la reine/The Queen's Necklace (Tony Lekain, Gaston Ravel, 1929).

Georges Lannes (1895–1983) was a French film actor who appeared in more than a hundred films during his career (1920-1961). Lannes peaked with the serial Les Mystères de Paris (Charles Burguet, 1922) in which he had the lead as prince Rodolphe.

In 1920-1922 Georges Lannes acted in ten films by Charles Maudru, starting with Près des cimes (1920) and Le Droit de tuer (1920), and including the Zola adaptation L'Assommoir (1921), in which Lannes played Lantier, the young, lazy worker, who abandons his wife Gervaise (Louise Sforza) and their two children. His co-actors with Maudru were e.g. Gaston Jacquet and Suzanne Delvé. He peaked with the serial Les Mystères de Paris (Charles Burguet, 1922) in which he had the lead as prince Rodolphe. The serial, based on Eugène Sue's story, was in 12 episodes and had a cast with many familiar names such as Huguette Duflos, Andrée Lionel, Gilbert Dalleu, Camille Bardou, Suzanne Bianchetti, and in smaller parts Pierre Fresnay, Madeleine Guitty, Gaston Modot, Sarah Duhamel, Simone Vaudry and Régine Dumien. Prince Rodolphe takes care of a young street prostitute, Fleur-de-Marie (Duflos), but a jealous countess Sarah Mac Gregor (Lionel) manages to convince people from the low life to denounce Fleur-de-Marie, so she is sent to prison. In the end, after many adventures, the girl returns to Rodolphe while the countess, dying, confesses to Rodolphe Fleur-de-Marie is his lost daughter.

Georges Lannes also played important parts in e.g. L'Abbé Constantin (Julien Duvivier, 1925) starrinng Jean Coquelin and Claude France, André Cornélis (Jean Kemm, 1926) with Malcolm Tod in the title role and again Claude France, Le Collier de la reine (Gaston Ravel, Tony Lekain, 1929) with Marcelle Chantal and Diana Karenne, and L'Emigrante (Léo Joannon, 1939) with Edwige Feuillère. From the 1930s Lannes's parts became smaller but he still continued to act in film with a high frequency. Lannes also directed films such as Le Petit Jacques (with Georges Raulet, 1923), and played on stage in the 1940s, while one his last parts was that of Louis XIII in the French telefilm Les Trois mousquetaires (Claude Barma, 1959), starring Jean-Paul Belmondo.

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Even though the construction of the Pavesi Autogrill chain represented an economic and social phenomenon of noteworthy relevance in Italy, it should not go unnoticed that the history of contemporary architecture treated in a very marginal way the description of these works, in some instances, maybe in the post-modern revaluation of a generic Italian highway “landscape” observed at the most for its phenomenological implications rather than for the fact it belonged to the typology of city building through architecture.

It is a fact that these buildings were left out of the most authoritative research of the years of economic reprise after World War II. Immediately before, in the years of Reconstruction, the traditional masonry technique was progressively converted into a modern“Neo-Realistic” language for some aspects, especially evident in the first residential INA-Casa neighborhoods, according to specific Italian characteristics of interpretation of the Modernist Movements that became famous worldwide through the works of architects that had already been very unconventional experimenters in the cultural landscape of the years preceding the war: Albini, the BBPR ( and the writings of Ernesto Nathan Rogers), Quaroni, Samonà, Gardella, Ridolfi, that can be contextualized also in the works of a culturally engaged entrepreneur like Adriano Olivetti.

The buildings by Angelo Bianchetti for the Pavesi Autogrills designed like bridges crossing the highway are far from this cultural landscape, and were born in the context of those forms of entertainment and leisure time activities brought on by the economic prosperity and by the idea of progress linked to the euphoria of speed and of car travel.

Nonetheless these buildings deserve to be considered as works of art at least for two reasons. First of all, because the technological gradient follows the criteria of experimentation of shapes and structural frames in the exposure of beaming, in the projections of the shelves, in the wide, light, and transparent continuous windows, in the slim metal frames well designed to support the advertising billboards: a criteria embedded in the history of architecture whose roots are founded on a continuity of thought and on a modern “spirit of the times” that is daring and evokes emotions.

Secondly, we can catch a glimpse of a territorial projection of architecture that shows attraction for large scale dimensions (both geographical and commercial), and for a certain poetical spirit of of “megalithic structures” that in a short period of time became a rather recurrent composition theme especially in the important tenders for the contracts of the directional centers of Turin (1962) and for the Sacca del Tronchetto in Venice (1964), and that were reintroduced in the history of modern architecture by the famous book by Reiner Bahnam[1].

As a phenomenon, the bridge architecture of the Pavesi Autogrills is impressed in the collective memory of the Italian highway landscape even though their construction is circumscribed to about twelve such buildings in the course of about ten years, between 1959 and 1972, in the same period in which the Italian highway system developed.

Still today, going through these works of “advertising architecture” that nowadays show subdued colors with respect to the surrounding landscape thanks to a restyling, awakens the attention of hasty travelers that can see the Autogrills arising from a great distance or appearing all of a sudden between a sequence of bridges to disappear in a moment at one’s back, leaving an impression in the memory of crossing something extremely vital, like a fragment of a city. Unusual an beautiful perspectives vertiginously attracted by the dynamic perception of vehicles appeared in the eyes of those who stopped there and sat at the tables facing the highway lanes, especially of the countryside of the Po River Valley.

Because of this fascination with the landscape of a modern territory, the localization of bridged Autogrills did not follow the false ambition of aesthetics in the quest for a setting that could be compatible with the surrounding scenery or that could be particularly persuasive, but on the contrary, these bridges were located strategically on the territory according to a design that was very coherent with a market strategy that was starting to understand that rest areas for car travelers were a new large commercial sector and a channel for the diffusion of novelty food products.

This concept, genuinely based on the market and on novelty foods merchandising, followed a system of modern objects which were strictly connected to a new industrial culture that was developing in those times.

But the real innovation which came was to be that of typology, probably born around a planning table rather than at the design desk by the ideas of architect Bianchetti and entrepreneur Pavesi, and surely in a moment of conjunction between the innovative and open industrial culture ad an architectural culture that even before those times had developed interesting experiences and experimental works through the forms of the Modernist Movement, catching the attention of international culture.

Therfore the diffusion of the Pavesi Autogrills started with the intuition that Mario Pavesi had of a possible market for a chain of highway restoration points, and this became a solid reality with the first rest area in Novara along the stretch of the Turin-Milan highway. This industrial strategy, joined with the forms of advertising architectures by Angelo Bianchetti, made it possible to construct about one hundred restoration points in the span of about twenty years from 1959 to 1978, with about fifty of these being full size Autogrills.

During an initial phase of formal structuring that cannot be precisely indicated by temporal references, the first rest areas were located laterally with respect to the highway in Lainate (Milan, 1958), in Ronco Scrivia (Genoa, 1958), and in Varazze (Genoa, 1960), and featured large steel arches painted in white that supported the logotype and were placed on top of circular transparent structures containing a bar and shelves to sell products. These still followed the architectural matrix of pavilions made for fair exhibits, but with a substantial difference in the fact that their silhouette stood out against the Italian countryside landscape of the time creating a unique and surprising setting. The bridge typology was the evolution of this asymmetrical disposition of rest areas on one side of the highway with an underpass that made them reachable from the other lane. The first example of bridged rest areas for the Pavesi chain (and perhaps the first one in the world), was the rest area of Fiorenzuola d’Arda (Piacenza, December 21, 1959).

Therefore, it seems possible that he phenomenon of the birth and the diffusion of the highway rest areas, especially for what concerns the definition of the bridge typology and for a certain quality of the services offered, originated in Italy. Bianchetti himself attests this in an interesting report of a journey published by the magazine “Quattroruote” (four wheels) in 1960, describing the diffusion of auto-grills areas observed during his travel in the United States and in Germany and comparing it with the Italian situation. In this writing, there is a striking recognition of a contemporary trend in the making of similar structures: Bianchetti illustrates the project of a bridged rest area in Illinois by the Standard Motor Oil chain, and praises the high quality of the environment of the rest areas of the Howard Johnson chain.

«I learned that architects Rinford and Genther are building in Chicago an extremely new design, and I reached them by taking a flight. The two architects work for Pace Associates, a studio of Italian origins, and their first constructions are being completed at a few tens of kilometers from the metropolis: it is a series of five restaurants bars. In general, they look like the ones that will be built on our Autostrada del Sole.

I reached one of these areas that has already been completed at about fifty kilometers from Chicago by car. It is built like a bridge on the highway, with the use of prefabricated cement structures, and the rest area, when seen from a distance, looks like a massive overpass.

At night, with the light reflecting on the walls made of smoothed glass, it gives you the idea of a ship. Once again, prefect signposting and the agile game of “four leaf clover” exits facilitate the passage of clientele: the psychological tests confirm that the decision of stopping does not impose any conscious effort of will on the driver. To avoid the problem of stairs and elevators, the builders even provided to raise the entire area of parking lots and platforms. You can reach the level of the “restaurant floor” by car. But how much will one of these colossal structures cost, without considering the cost of parking lots, of lanes, signposting and many more indispensable accessory expenses?

The two architects informed me that the average expense is of about one billion Italian Lire. The surprising kitchen tools made of stainless steel that you can find in detailed description in a book of three hundred pages cost a little less of two hundred million Lire alone. It is a real treatise»[2].

Among the bridged Autogrills that followed shortly after this period, we find the Abraham Lincoln Oasis by David Haid on the Northern Illinois Highway of circa 1967, with its elegant and minimal geometries of steel beams and glass and with its use of the criteria of access ramps to parking lots to reach the restaurant level. In Italy, we must take note of some bridged rest areas of the Motta chain in Cantagallo by Melchiorre Bega, and in Limena by Pier Luigi Nervi.

In any case, the construction of bridged Autogrills increased the possibilities of access, but their limitations in the possible increase of utility ad renewal seemed perhaps too binding and costly in the massive increase in highway traffic of the 1980s, determining the actual exhaustion of possibilities for this extremely interesting typology, as Angelo Bianchetti himself at the time recalled in one of his short writings of 1979, underlining a paradoxical situation of inadequacy to the market in a climate of full economic recession and energetic crises.

«[…] the cost of a bridge with all of its accessories was clearly lower than that of two lateral Autogrills, without mentioning that noteworthy savings on operating costs, both for the installation and for the personnel. The visibility at a distance is much more immediate of that which a later Autogrill offers: let us not forget that a driver traveling at a speed of 120—140 kilometer per hour must decide in a few seconds whether to enter or not the ramp of deceleration.

In conclusion, the advertising image of a bridge is by itself more effective and of sure appeal. […]. Today the situation has changed. The huge increase of costs (fuels, cost of operating machines) has slowed down the flow of traffic and has reduced the user’s spending possibilities.

The cost of construction with respect to 1972 is almost fourfold, and it has increased terribly. All this imposes a revision of the investment policies; the tendency today is not to build new Autogrills but at the most new snack-bars connected to a nearby gas station. It not feasible anymore to build a bridge, unless in an extremely well established service area of large traffic that can guarantee the constant flow and support of travelers»[3].

The numerous formal variation of these bridge installation extended the possibilities for signposting through flagpoles dressed up with the Pavesi flags like ships on a dock, or through some functional increases, like the annexation of a motel. The one in Novara (1962), that replaced a previous service station and that was the largest one built, and the one in Osio (Bergamo 1972), the last to be built with bridge typology, were identical in lines and shapes and were perhaps the most successful ones, while the one in Montepulciano (Siena, 1967) features an extremely striking and apparently suspended beaming and a projection of Corten steel. Lastly; the one in Nocera (Salerno, 1971), presents an interesting combination with the function of motel, attempted as an enlargement project in the one in Novara as well, but then never built. The other bridged ones are in Sebino (Brescia, 1962), Feronia (Rome, 1964), Frascati (Rome, 1963), Soave (Verona, 1969), Rezzato Nord (Brescia, 1970).

Nonetheless some characteristics remained a constant, like a certain formal uniqueness and sense of completion of the construction that gave a full rounded perception of the buildings even in the headboards frequently crowned by a large cantilever staircase. This can be seen clearly in period photos and it is less noticeable nowadays because of the frequent addition of low lateral tourist market buildings and because of softer colors used. The chromatic treatment of the metal sun shading roofs (a bright red color) became the distinctive feature of Pavesi Autogrills and circumscribed the building itself in the whole, while the balanced collocation of the few billboards did not enter into conflict with the gasoline signposts but on the contrary seemed to match them, and at night these were lit by their own lights. Moreover some gasoline stations designed by Bianchetti like the one in Sabino for Esso, distinguished themselves for the essential nature and elegance of structures with tall and slender signs and prismatic elements for the buildings.

The inside was indeed surprising for the type of light that filtered as a reflection and for the continuous perception of the dimension of inner space as a whole due to a longitudinal disposition of the counters and to the a contined set up of the product shelving, evoking a perception of the Autogrill as a self standing unit animated by its own life in the multiplicity of people that entered there.

The setting implied a reduction of the strictly communicative aspects to the simple interior design of the space, with a playful sense in the disenchanted and free style collage of Baroque and modern elements like the large glass drops chandelier in Lainate that appeared on the pages of “Life” magazine, or the Vietri ceramic tiles flooring frequently utilized, or the woven wicker baskets used as displays for the Pavesi products, to the concise inner signs that retraced the highway signs and to the essential lines of the American style counters with stools. It was anything but a coordinated image, but in the end it was a greatly coherent setting with regard to expressiveness, and it was handled case by case solely through the architecture, without any apparent preoccupation with the integration of aesthetics except perhaps the idea of a vanguard collage that actually was a trend in the taste in advertising graphic art of those years (especially for Erberto Carboni) and that had its origin in the experiments in modern architecture made between the two wars, as we will shortly see.

Lastly, a third typology of construction contemporary with the bridged one was a design foreseeing a restaurant area lateral to the highway with a red sheet metal covering with four layers which was much more flexible in adapting to dimensions.

Alongside with the wide diffusion of Pavesi Autogrills (Alivar- Pavesi), Motta Autogrill and Alemagna Autobar (ex-Unidal) chains developed in Italy, and then were ex-corporate from their respective head companies on February 28, 1977 and regrouped in to the Autogrill spa society that today manages all of the restoration points along the highway.

The experimental tradition of “advertising architecture”

The experiences made by Angelo Bianchetti (born in 1911 and died in 1995) before World War II are extremely interesting and represent an very significant anterior fact to understand the reasons that brought to the long collaboration with Pavesi. A graduate in Architecture of the Milan Polytechnic in 1934, he traveled to study in Germany, worked in Berlin for the Mies van del Rohe studio and for the Luckard brothers studio, and met Gropius and Breuer.

In Italy, he worked with Giuseppe Pagano on a few projects in 1938 thus completing an itinerary that crossed the most significant episodes of modern architecture of our century, following a tradition of international exchanges that at the time was widely spread. As a project designer, often together with Cesare Pea, he worked on a number of architectural layouts for exhibits and advertising pavilions for fairs, and became one of the main protagonists of a theme of construction that back then was completely new – the theme of exhibit architecture, a culturally important and acknowledged theme in the landscape of modern international architecture.

This was a theme on which the most important architects, graphic designers and artists of the cultural Italian scene between the two wars had a lively debate, especially during the era of Fascism, that saw in it a real modernity of communication and a dose of inventive ruthlessness and cultural availability together with the ability to give the large industrial groups occasions to promote their modern and cosmopolitan image (though a dictatorial one) in Italy and abroad through important international expos.

Therefore, modern Italian architecture in those years was able to channel the needs of propaganda within the paths of a history of art and within those plastic and figurative values that were more attentive to moral issues. In this sense, the possibilities for formal experimentation that architecture made possible back then established a few solid principles of an Italian rationalistic poetical style that was intended as expression of a lyricism and that had no equal in later years.

The “Casabella -Costruzioni” magazine directed by Giuseppe Pagano, reported on numerous occasions the main exhibits made in the heroic period that goes from 1925 to 1940 in which Angelo Bianchetti took part as the author of beautiful set ups together with other important emerging names like Erberto Carboni, Marcello Nizzoli, Bruno Munari,t the Boggeri studio (that in the years following the war we will find working for Barilla, Olivetti, Agip, …).

Of these exhibit set ups, we must mention the pavilions by Edoardo Persico and Marcello Nizzoli for the Italian Aeronautical Expo of Milan in 1934; the Gio Ponti and Erberto Carboni pavilions for the Exhibit of Catholic Press at the Vatican in 1935; the set up of the Hall of Victory at the VI Triennial Expo of Milan of 1936 by Nizzoli, Palanti, Persico, Fontana (in those times already referred to as “a work of rare and highest poetry”); the Italian pavilions for the Paris Expo of 1937 with the intervention of the most important Italian architects; the pavilion by Bianchetti and Pea and the Boggeri Studio for the Isotta Fraschini company at the Fair of Milan in 1938; the luminous surface tensions by Nizzoli and Bianchetti at the National Textiles Exhibit in Rome in 1939; the Bianchetti and Pea pavilions for Raion and for Chatillon at the Milan Fair of 1939, formed by a lightweight frame with three orders and covered by light ad small vaults shaped like a transparent and lyrical honor tribune in the way that only Italian Rationalism was able to do.

These operations for temporary set ups connected the languages of abstraction and of the pure forms of international Realism with a Baroque vein expressed in the combination of graphic and sculptural elements, in the use of curtains and of narrative naturalistic elements (from the sculpture by Fontana for the Hall of Victory at the Triennial Expo of 1936 to the advertising signs of the textiles pavilion, according to a poetic and rather unique idea of collage that was very original in the landscape of modern architecture.

Very important in order to comprehend the pragmatic spirit of this theme for the architectural modern culture of those times is a writing by Angelo Bianchetti and Cesare Pea of 1941 on the theme of advertising architecture that establishes some characteristics that were undoubtedly reprised in the exhibit architecture of the years after the war and that created the premise for the Italian highway landscape of advertising architecture.

First of all, what is striking about this writing is the concept that these architectures can serve the function of contributing in a positive way to the definition of a new urban landscape already projected towards the torments of an undefined territory structured with fair headquarters and sport centers, theme parks, shopping centers and highway congestion points, starting from the occasion of an advertising set up intended in architectural terms.

Secondly, these constructions are not just inserted in a system of means of transportation to guarantee elevated accessibility, but also to accentuate the dynamic perception of the whole, and in this sense the relationship between bridged Autogrills and the highway exalts the aesthetics of kinematics.

In third place, it is striking that architecture partially renounced some building aspects to rediscover the values and new aesthetic concept of monument through a combination of signposting, graphic, and visual communication that penetrates indoors, in the furnishings, and recomposes a unity of applied arts.

«Le Corbusier and M. Breuer build their advertising architectures on the base of their artistic abilities more that to their architectural skills. An active pictorial imagination gives the project designer the possibility to renounce to give an entirely constructional and formally still aspect to his own pavilion. We think that this can be conceived in such a way to appear based on a single structure with the use of substantially different solutions. The ideal pavilion from the advertising point of view is one composed of fixed elements related to the laws of building statics that at the same time offer to the imagination different possibilities of a practical nature, that can be made also in successive phases. Therefore, not a facade defined architecturally, even though beautiful, but a system of elements and fields in which to express the imaginative spirit of the decorator. In such a way the abilities of a good architect and interior designer can fully develop: the study of the structure will bring him to intuitions of rational architectural order, while the expressive possibility will lead him to use these elements with the highest freedom and to create works of pure artistic design.

The appeal of the suggestive elements that advertising work must express will come from the fusion of these two possibilities. All which modern technique gives the artist as a support, the new materials, new systems of lighting, the cinematographic aspects, the mechanical devices, can concur to the perfection and complexity of the work that the artist conceived with his own imagination. But the use of these elements is part of the generic knowledge of an architect that are not the object of this study.

Instead, the problem that originates from the combination of various pavilions and advertising elements of a Fair or Exhibition forms a chapter of advertising urban planning whose direction would deserve an in depth study»[4].

Architecture and the design of new industrial products in Italy after World War II

The concept of industrial and market that arose in the years after WWII in Italy and throughout all of the 1950s and 1960s can be definitely found in the geographical area between Milan and Turin, the area of the initial development of the highway system, and of the modern democratic entrepreneurial cosmopolitan and culturally engaged world of Olivetti, and of Pavesi of Novara.

It is not a chane that the magazine “Comunità” (community) founded by Adriano Olivetti was engaged in those years in themes of architecture and urban planning and also with sociology in its different aspects of urban development, mass behavior, industrial production, and published studies on advertising and the unconscious mind on the organization of Shopping Centers in the United States, on the Italian highway landscape, or on food consumption in Italy[5].

These themes surfaced with full force in the concerns of the Italian entrepreneurs that frequented the most densely industrialized areas of the United States (especially the West Coast) and in a certain sense these were ideas that could be actualized in Italy as well at least in the smartest industrial sectors that were capable to invest in development.

This is certainly the economic context in which the construction of the Pavesi Autogrills was inserted. The idea of modern times and social well being that pervaded the aesthetics of Pavesi Autogrills was based on a completely new food product, the Pavesini cookies and the Crakers, produced on a large industrial scale as never before, and tied to lifestyles and psychologies of use that for the first time in those years surfaced and of which there was full awareness.

But because of the structure of Italian cities, in which the residential Ina-Casa neighborhoods typical of the intensive urban growth of the northern cities tended towards a landscape that was still close to that of a compact city, the shopping centers of the time were of a typology of sales too radical to be proposed, while the Autogrills located on the highways cold well enough be interpreted in this sense as a sales point for novelty industrial products diffused on the territory, in which the market strategies could be applied directly without intermediaries and a modern and cosmopolitan image could be promoted.

The relationship of entrepreneurship and architectural design between Mario Pavesi and Angelo Bianchetti, as well as the relationship with other intellectuals for other more literary and clearly marked graphic forms of communication should not be intended as a cultured construction of corporate identity, nowadays necessarily corresponding to a quote of production that each industrial activity must possess, but as something more complex and with roots going deep into a specific ability of the Italian industrial culture (that with the refined work of Adriano Olivetti reached its apex) to use as its own the tools of communication in the system of behaviors of producers and consumers.

Therefore here it is not solely a matter of refined design of of stylized image but rather of the fine tuning of tools strictly connected to the production and distribution of products, tools in which the aesthetically implications had a place of relevance. A rather significant parallelism involving architecture in the processes of industrial communication happened in the United States at the same time, in the 1950s and 1960s, as the top industries of the time like IBM or the TWA aerial transportation company, for example, asked innovative architects like Charles Eames (who mounted elaborate films and avant-garde multi-vision materials), or Eero Saarinen (who made phantasmagorical theaters for the international expo and to animate the horizons of airports with forms made of cement or crystal and evoking emotions)[6].

These companies entrusted them by delegating the task of building the company image according to a culture of conquest of the new that we still find nowadays, but acted in a different environment, more determined and structured in an entrepreneurial way and in which the need for aesthetics of the object of use was less of a priority, for example, even though often reached results of the highest quality.

But in Italy everything was different: for example, the design by Marcello Nizzoli for a calculator, or the one by Carlo Scarpa for an Olivetti store, or the one by Erberto Carboni for Barilla pasta, or the advertisement for Pavesi cookies written by Gianni Rodari as children literature, were necessary elements of a new concept of the object of use an the work of intellectuals in this context was instrumental to the comprehension of the new industrial products in a domestic and working landscape that was still formed in part by handcrafted objects (and still today attracted strongly by the components of originality and personality also in the aesthetic choice).

Who in Italy would have bought Pavesi, Barilla, and Olivetti products, for example, if a group of food intellectuals had not converted the packaging for food and machines into a new culture of merchandise?

Bibliography note

We thank for his patience and collaboration architect Jan Jacopo Bianchetti who keeps the archive of Angelo Bianchetti’s work and has given permission for the reproduction of the photographic material, the designs and the publications related to the Pavesi Autogrills.

Among the writings of Angelo Bianchetti we mention: Bianchetti, C. Pea, Architettura pubblicitaria (advertising architectures), in “Casabella-Costruzioni”, n.159-160, 1941, a mono-graphic issue dedicated to the architecture of expos with rich iconography documentation edited by Bianchetti and Pea themselves. ; A. Bianchetti, Le oasi dell’autostrada (highway oasis), in “Quattroruote”, n.1, January 1960; A. Bianchetti, I ponti non convengono più (bridges are not convenient anymore), in “Modo”, n.18, April 1979.

Furthermore, it is opportune to cite: Italian luxury for export and those at home, too “Life” 26 September 1960; R. WEST, Italy: the new lean Bread of Eurocrats, “The Sunday Times”, 26 August 1962; C. MUNARI, Lo stile Pavesi (thepavesi style), in “Linea Grafica”, n. 5, September-October 1966, pp. 240-252; A. Colbertaldo, Quando si mangiava sopra i ponti (when we had lunch on bridges), in “Modo”, n. 18, April 1979; M. BELLAVISTA, Uomo di marketing prima del marketing (a marketing man before the times of marketing), in “Il Direttore Commerciale”, n. 7, 1988, pp. 16-21; B. Lemoine, I ponti-autogrill (the auto-grilll bridges), in “Rassegna”, n.48, December 1991.

We mention two more accounts of the actual phenomenon of the development of highway landscapes: P. DESIDERI, La città di latta. Favelas di lusso, Autogrill, svincoli stradali e antenne paraboliche (The tin city. Luxury Favelas, Autogrills, highway exits and parabolic antennas), Genova, Costa e Nolan, 1997; P. CIORRA, Autogrill. Spazi e spiazzi per la società su gomma (Autogrills, spaces and platforms for a society n wheels) , in Attraversamenti. I nuovi territori dello spazio pubblico (Crossings. The new territories of public spaes), edited by P. DESIDERI e M. ILARDI, Genova, Costa e Nolan, 1997.

[1] R. Banham, Megastructure. Urban future of the recent past, Londra, Thames and Hudson, 1976, the text does not illustrate these highway buildings.

[2] A. BIANCHETTI, Le oasi dell’autostrada (the highway oasis), in “Quattroruote”, n. 1, January 1960.

[3] A. COLBERTALDO, Quando si mangiava sopra i ponti (when we had lunch on top of bridges), in “Modo” n.18, April 1979.

[4] A. BIANCHETTI, C. PEA, Architettura pubblicitaria (advertising architecture), in “Casabella-Costruzioni”, n. 159-160, 1941.

[5] A. CANONICI, Pubblicità ed inconscio (advertising and the unconscious mind) in “Comunità”, n.60, 1958; A. BAROLINI, L’organizzazione dei centri di vendita in America, (the organization of sales points in America) in “Comunità”, n.67, 1959; R. BONELLI, Le autostrade in Italia (highways in Italy), in “Comunità”, n.86, 1961; G. TIBALDI, I consumi alimentari in Italia (food consume in Italy), in “Comunità”, n.115, 1963.

[6] Eero Saarinen, Charles Eames, Padiglione Ibm alla Fiera mondiale di New Yorkn(the Ibm pavilion at the worl expo of New York), 1964-65, well described by Kevin Roche, Charles Eames, in “Zodiac”, n.11, 1994. #30Glorieuses & Dynamisme @ les kilométres d' #archives cachées d #Mémoire2cité @ les #Constructions #Modernes #BANLIEUE @ l' #Urbanisme & l es #Chantiers d'#ApresGuerre ici #Mémoire2ville le #Logement Collectif* dans tous ses états..#Histoire & #Mémoire de l'#Habitat / Département territoire terroir region ville souvenirs du temps passé d une époque revolue #Archives ANRU / #Rétro #Banlieue / Renouvellement #Urbain / #Urbanisme / #HLM #postwar #postcard #cartepostale twitter.com/Memoire2cite Villes et rénovation urbaine..Tout savoir tout connaitre sur le sujet ici via le PDF de l'UNION SOCIALE POUR L HABITAT (l'USH)... des textes à savoir, à apprendre, des techniques de demolition jusqu a la securisation..& bien plus encore.. union-habitat.org/sites/default/files/articles/documents/...

www.dailymotion.com/video/xk6xui Quatre murs et un toit 1953 - Le Corbusier, l'architecte du bonheur 1957 conceptions architecturales le modulor, l'architecture de la ville radieuse, Chandigarh, Marseille, Nantes www.dailymotion.com/video/xw8prl Un documentaire consacré aux conceptions architecturales et urbanistiques de Le Corbusier.Exposées par l'architecte lui-même et étayées par des plans, dessins et images de ses réalisations en France et à l'étranger, ces théories témoignent d'une réflexion approfondie et originale sur la ville et sa nécessaire adaptation à la vie moderne, notamment Paris dont l'aménagement révolutionnaire rêvé par Le Corbusier est ici exposé. Un classique du documentaire.Les premiers projets de Le Corbusier resteront à l'état de maquette : le plan de modernisation de la ville d'Alger. Certains seront réalisés par d'autres architectes : ministère de l'éducation à Rio de Janeiro, Palais de l'ONU à New York. Dès l'après-guerre en moins de 10 ans, Le Corbusier réalise de grandes unités d'habitation à Marseille, Nantes une chapelle à Ronchamps, une usine à Saint-Dié, une ville Chandigarh en Inde. Par des schémas, l'architecte présente sa théorie de la "ville radieuse", le modulor clef mathématique de son œuvre ainsi que son projet de réorganisation de la campagne, des cités industrielles et urbaine en un regroupement autour d'un système coopératif. Le film expose les conceptions architecturales de Le Corbusier, dans la ligne des précurseurs de l'architecture moderne comme Claude-Nicolas Ledoux. Paris et le désert français 1957 réalisation : Roger Leenhardt et Sydney Jezequel, résoudre le déséquilibre démographique ville campagne www.dailymotion.com/video/x177lrp Film réalisé par Roger Leenhardt et Sydney Jezequel en 1957, d'après le livre de Jean-François Gravier. Document d'information général proposant les solutions de l'époque pour éviter la désertification des campagnes et la folie concentrationnaire des villes. Dès 1957, la désertification des campagnes prend des proportions tragiques. L'exemple est donné pour le village de Gourdon dans le Quercy.

Quelles évolutions proposer pour éviter l'exode rural et le développement anarchique, qui s'amorce, des villes champignons, construites en plein champ sans urbanisme et sans âme ? Le commentaire propose les solutions de l'époque : modernisation de l'agriculture, adaptation de l'artisanat, implantations d'industries dans les provinces. Gazoducs dans le sud-ouest, barrage en Haute-Savoie, polder en Bretagne semblaient à l'époque pouvoir résoudre le déséquilibre ville campagne. Visages de la France 1957 Production - réalisation Atlantic-Film Marcel de Hubsch www.dailymotion.com/video/x19g59p Le film commence avec des vues de villages et d'architecture traditionnelle du Pays Basque, des Landes, de la Touraine, de la Normandie, de la Bretagne, d'Alsace. La voix off s'interroge : faut il transformer la France en un musée de ses vieilles demeures ? et poursuit : pourquoi des maisons de 10 à 15 mètres de hauteur à Honfleur n'ont elles que 3 à 5 mètres de large ? Le commentaire se pose la question du nombre de maisons individuelles dans les villes qui entrainent l'étalement urbain. Lorsque les villes ont bâtit des immeubles, le commentaire se demande que cachent ces façades ? Des coures étroites que le soleil ne visite jamais, un enchevêtrement inouï de constructions hétéroclites. L'époque de grande prospérité de la troisième république n'a rien su construire de grand poursuit la voix off. Ce document nous propose ensuite une animation de maquette pour l'aménagement d'une friche. Dans un premier temps à la façon d'avant avec la maison individuelle. La voix off s'exclame : ce n'est pas autrement que d'affreuses banlieues naquirent que tant de villes furent à jamais enlaidies, essayons autre chose. L'animation se met à empiler les maisons individuelles et propose des bâtiments collectifs dans des jardins. Le commentaire poursuit : maintenant c'est l'heure de l'urbaniste à lui de répartir les constructions dans la cité. Plusieurs organisation de logements collectifs sont proposées en maquettes. La voix off pointe les défauts d'un urbanisme des grands ensemble trop ennuyeux. Puis une solution émerge de l'animation : pour que la cité vive il faut mettre au place d'honneur école, dispensaire, bibliothèque, salle de réunion, puis viennent les deux pièces maîtresse deux grands immeubles puis les rues se glissent dans la composition et enfin les pelouse et les jardins apparaissent et voila conclue le commentaire. Le film montre ensuite de réalisation de grands ensemble et on entre dans un immeuble au sein d'une famille : air et lumière sont au rendes-vous. On voit des enfants faire du patin à roulette dans le parc de l'immeuble la voix off annonce : finit l'individualisme renfrogné de l'échoppe d'antan : la cité tout entière est un jardin, les jeux d'enfants se mêlent aux fleurs. Le film se termine sur des vues de réalisation de grands ensemble sur toute la France (vue entre autre de la cité radieuse de Le Corbusier à Marseille). Production Films Caravelle MRU (ministère de la reconstruction et de l'urbanisme) Scenario et réalisation : Pierre JaLLAUD

Sur les routes de France les ponts renaissent 1945 reconstruction de la France après la Seconde Guerre mondiale www.dailymotion.com/video/xuxrii?playlist=x34ije , Quelques mois après la fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, un triste constat s'impose : 5 944 passages sont coupés, soit plus de 110 km de brèches ; de nombreuses villes se trouvent isolées. Les chantiers s'activent dans toute la France pour "gagner la bataille des communications routières". Mais outre la pénurie de main d’œuvre, il faut faire face au manque de matériaux (béton, métal) et donc déployer des trésors d'imagination pour reconstruire les ponts détruits. Si le savoir faire des tailleurs de pierre est exploité, le plus spectaculaire est le relevage des ponts, comme le pont de Galliéni à Lyon, où 7 à 800 tonnes d'acier sont sorti de l'eau avec des moyens de l'époque. En avril 1945, il reste 5 700 ponts à reconstruire soit 200 000 tonnes d'acier, 600 000 tonnes de ciment, 250 000 m3 de bois, 10 millions de journées d'ouvrier, prix de l'effort de reconstruction. Titre : Sur les routes de France les ponts renaissenT Année de réalisation : 1945 Auteurs / réalisateurs : images : G.Delaunay, A.Pol, son : C.Gauguier Production : Direction Technique des Services des Ponts et Chaussées / Ministère des Travaux Publics et des Transports

Thèmes principaux : infrastructures-ouvrages d'art Mot clés : chantier, pont, Reconstruction, restauration, béton précontraint, ministère des travaux publics et des transports

Lieux : Lyon, Tournon, Caen - Le Bosquel, un village renait 1947 l'album cinématographique de la reconstruction, réalisation Paul de Roubaix production ministère de la Reconstruction et de l'Urbanisme, village prototype, architecte Paul Dufournet, www.dailymotion.com/video/xx5tx8?playlist=x34ije - Demain Paris 1959 dessin animé présentant l'aménagement de la capitale dans les années 60, Animation, dessin animé à vocation pédagogique visant à promouvoir la politique d’aménagement suivie dans les années 60 à Paris.

Un raccourci historique sur l’extension de Paris du Moyen Âge au XIXe siècle (Lutèce, œuvres de Turgot, Napoléon, Haussmann), ce dessin animé retrace la naissance de la banlieue et de ses avatars au XXe siècle. Il annonce les grands principes d’aménagement des villes nouvelles et la restructuration du centre de Paris (référence implicite à la charte d’Athènes). Le texte est travaillé en rimes et vers. Une chanson du vieux Paris conclut poétiquement cette vision du futur. Thèmes principaux : Aménagement urbain / planification-aménagement régional Mots-clés : Banlieue, extension spatiale, histoire, quartier, ville, ville nouvelle Lieu géographique : Paris 75 Architectes ou personnalités : Eugène Haussmann, Napoléon, Turgot Réalisateurs : André Martin, Michel Boschet Production : les films Roger Leenhardt

www.dailymotion.com/video/xw6lak?playlist=x34ije -Rue neuve 1956 la reconstruction de la France dix ans après la fin de la seconde guerre mondiale, villes, villages, grands ensembles réalisation : Jack Pinoteau , Panorama de la reconstruction de la France dix ans après la fin de la seconde guerre mondiale, ce film de commande évoque les villes et villages français détruits puis reconstruits dans un style respectant la tradition : Saint-Malo, Gien, Thionville, Ammerschwihr, etc. ainsi que la reconstruction en rupture avec l'architecture traditionnelle à Châtenay-Malabry, Arles, Saint Étienne, Évreux, Chambéry, Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, Abbeville, Le Havre, Marseille, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Dunkerque. Le documentaire explique par exemple la manière dont a été réalisée la reconstruction de Saint-Malo à l'intérieur des rempart de la vieille ville : "c'est la fidélité à l'histoire et la force du souvenir qui a guidé l'architecte". Dans le même esprit à Gien, au trois quart détruite en 1940, seul le château construit en 1494 pour Anne de Beaujeu, fille aînée de Louis XI, fut épargné par les bombardements. La ville fut reconstruite dans le style des rares immeubles restant. Gien est relevé de ses ruines et le nouvel ensemble harmonieux est appelé « Joyau de la Reconstruction française ».

Dans un deuxième temps est abordé le chapitre de la construction des cités et des grands ensembles, de l’architecture du renouveau qualifiée de "grandiose incontestablement". S’il est précisé "on peut aimer ou de ne pas aimer ce style", l’emporte au final l’argument suivant : les grands ensembles, c'est la campagne à la ville, un urbanisme plus aéré, plus vert." les films caravelles 1956, Réalisateur : Jack Pinoteau (connu pour être le metteur en scène du film Le Triporteur 1957 qui fit découvrir Darry Cowl)

www.dailymotion.com/video/xuz3o8?playlist=x34ije ,

Film d'archive actualités de 1952 Reconstruction de la France sept ans après la fin de la seconde guerre mondiale état des lieux de la crise du logement , Actualités de 1952.

Sept ans après la fin de la seconde guerre Mondiale état des lieux de la reconstruction de la France et de la crise du logement à l’œuvre, pénurie de logement, logements insalubres. Les actualités montrent des images d'archives de la destruction de la France, les Chars de la division Leclerc qui défilent sur les Champs Elysees. Le commentaire dénonce la lenteur de la reconstruction et notamment des manifestations qui ont eu lieue à Royan afin d''accélérer la reconstruction de la ville détruite.Le film montre à Strasbourg, Mulhouse, des réalisation moderne de grands ensembles et des images d'archive de la reconstruction du Havre de Saint Nazaire.

Le film se termine à Marseille sur les réalisation nouvelles autour du vieux port puis on assiste à l'inauguration de la Cité Radieuse par le ministre de la Reconstruction et de l'Urbanisme Eugène Claudius-Petit en présence de son architecte Le Corbusier à qui le ministre remet la cravate de commandeur de la légion d'honneur. www.dailymotion.com/video/xk1g5j?playlist=x34ije Brigitte Gros - Urbanisme - Filmer les grands ensembles 2016 - par Camille Canteux chercheuse au CHS -Centre d'Histoire Sociale - Jeanne Menjoulet - Ce film du CHS daté de 2014 www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDUBwVPNh0s … L'UNION SOCIALE POUR L'HABITAT le Musée des H.L.M. musee-hlm.fr/ / - www.union-habitat.org/ / - www.institutfrancais.com/sites/default/files/dp_expositio... archives-histoire.centraliens.net/pdfs/revues/rev625.pdf tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00554230/document Quatre murs et un toit 1953 - Le Corbusier, l'architecte du bonheur 1957 conceptions architecturales le modulor, l'architecture de la ville radieuse, Chandigarh, Marseille, Nantes www.dailymotion.com/video/xw8prl Un documentaire consacré aux conceptions architecturales et urbanistiques de Le Corbusier.Exposées par l'architecte lui-même et étayées par des plans, dessins et images de ses réalisations en France et à l'étranger, ces théories témoignent d'une réflexion approfondie et originale sur la ville et sa nécessaire adaptation à la vie moderne, notamment Paris dont l'aménagement révolutionnaire rêvé par Le Corbusier est ici exposé. Un classique du documentaire.Les premiers projets de Le Corbusier resteront à l'état de maquette : le plan de modernisation de la ville d'Alger. Certains seront réalisés par d'autres architectes : ministère de l'éducation à Rio de Janeiro, Palais de l'ONU à New York. Dès l'après-guerre en moins de 10 ans, Le Corbusier réalise de grandes unités d'habitation à Marseille, Nantes une chapelle à Ronchamps, une usine à Saint-Dié, une ville Chandigarh en Inde. Par des schémas, l'architecte présente sa théorie de la "ville radieuse", le modulor clef mathématique de son œuvre ainsi que son projet de réorganisation de la campagne, des cités industrielles et urbaine en un regroupement autour d'un système coopératif. Le film expose les conceptions architecturales de Le Corbusier, dans la ligne des précurseurs de l'architecture moderne comme Claude-Nicolas Ledoux. Paris et le désert français 1957 réalisation : Roger Leenhardt et Sydney Jezequel, résoudre le déséquilibre démographique ville campagne www.dailymotion.com/video/x177lrp Film réalisé par Roger Leenhardt et Sydney Jezequel en 1957, d'après le livre de Jean-François Gravier. Document d'information général proposant les solutions de l'époque pour éviter la désertification des campagnes et la folie concentrationnaire des villes. Dès 1957, la désertification des campagnes prend des proportions tragiques. L'exemple est donné pour le village de Gourdon dans le Quercy.Quelles évolutions proposer pour éviter l'exode rural et le développement anarchique, qui s'amorce, des villes champignons, construites en plein champ sans urbanisme et sans âme ? Le commentaire propose les solutions de l'époque : modernisation de l'agriculture, adaptation de l'artisanat, implantations d'industries dans les provinces. Gazoducs dans le sud-ouest, barrage en Haute-Savoie, polder en Bretagne semblaient à l'époque pouvoir résoudre le déséquilibre ville campagne. Visages de la France 1957 Production - réalisation Atlantic-Film Marcel de Hubsch www.dailymotion.com/video/x19g59p Le film commence avec des vues de villages et d'architecture traditionnelle du Pays Basque, des Landes, de la Touraine, de la Normandie, de la Bretagne, d'Alsace. La voix off s'interroge : faut il transformer la France en un musée de ses vieilles demeures ? et poursuit : pourquoi des maisons de 10 à 15 mètres de hauteur à Honfleur n'ont elles que 3 à 5 mètres de large ? Le commentaire se pose la question du nombre de maisons individuelles dans les villes qui entrainent l'étalement urbain. Lorsque les villes ont bâtit des immeubles, le commentaire se demande que cachent ces façades ? Des coures étroites que le soleil ne visite jamais, un enchevêtrement inouï de constructions hétéroclites. L'époque de grande prospérité de la troisième république n'a rien su construire de grand poursuit la voix off. Ce document nous propose ensuite une animation de maquette pour l'aménagement d'une friche. Dans un premier temps à la façon d'avant avec la maison individuelle. La voix off s'exclame : ce n'est pas autrement que d'affreuses banlieues naquirent que tant de villes furent à jamais enlaidies, essayons autre chose. L'animation se met à empiler les maisons individuelles et propose des bâtiments collectifs dans des jardins. Le commentaire poursuit : maintenant c'est l'heure de l'urbaniste à lui de répartir les constructions dans la cité. Plusieurs organisation de logements collectifs sont proposées en maquettes. La voix off pointe les défauts d'un urbanisme des grands ensemble trop ennuyeux. Puis une solution émerge de l'animation : pour que la cité vive il faut mettre au place d'honneur école, dispensaire, bibliothèque, salle de réunion, puis viennent les deux pièces maîtresse deux grands immeubles puis les rues se glissent dans la composition et enfin les pelouse et les jardins apparaissent et voila conclue le commentaire. Le film montre ensuite de réalisation de grands ensemble et on entre dans un immeuble au sein d'une famille : air et lumière sont au rendes-vous. On voit des enfants faire du patin à roulette dans le parc de l'immeuble la voix off annonce : finit l'individualisme renfrogné de l'échoppe d'antan : la cité tout entière est un jardin, les jeux d'enfants se mêlent aux fleurs. Le film se termine sur des vues de réalisation de grands ensemble sur toute la France (vue entre autre de la cité radieuse de Le Corbusier à Marseille). Production Films Caravelle MRU (ministère de la reconstruction et de l'urbanisme) Scenario et réalisation : Pierre JaLLAUD

Sur les routes de France les ponts renaissent 1945 reconstruction de la France après la Seconde Guerre mondiale www.dailymotion.com/video/xuxrii?playlist=x34ije , Quelques mois après la fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, un triste constat s'impose : 5 944 passages sont coupés, soit plus de 110 km de brèches ; de nombreuses villes se trouvent isolées. Les chantiers s'activent dans toute la France pour "gagner la bataille des communications routières". Mais outre la pénurie de main d’œuvre, il faut faire face au manque de matériaux (béton, métal) et donc déployer des trésors d'imagination pour reconstruire les ponts détruits. Si le savoir faire des tailleurs de pierre est exploité, le plus spectaculaire est le relevage des ponts, comme le pont de Galliéni à Lyon, où 7 à 800 tonnes d'acier sont sorti de l'eau avec des moyens de l'époque. En avril 1945, il reste 5 700 ponts à reconstruire soit 200 000 tonnes d'acier, 600 000 tonnes de ciment, 250 000 m3 de bois, 10 millions de journées d'ouvrier, prix de l'effort de reconstruction. Titre : Sur les routes de France les ponts renaissenT Année de réalisation : 1945 Auteurs / réalisateurs : images : G.Delaunay, A.Pol, son : C.Gauguier Production : Direction Technique des Services des Ponts et Chaussées / Ministère des Travaux Publics et des Transport

Lieux : Lyon, Tournon, Caen - Le Bosquel, un village renait 1947 l'album cinématographique de la reconstruction, réalisation Paul de Roubaix production ministère de la Reconstruction et de l'Urbanisme, village prototype, architecte Paul Dufournet, www.dailymotion.com/video/xx5tx8?playlist=x34ije - Demain Paris 1959 dessin animé présentant l'aménagement de la capitale dans les années 60, Animation, dessin animé à vocation pédagogique visant à promouvoir la politique d’aménagement suivie dans les années 60 à Paris.

Un raccourci historique sur l’extension de Paris du Moyen Âge au XIXe siècle (Lutèce, œuvres de Turgot, Napoléon, Haussmann), ce dessin animé retrace la naissance de la banlieue et de ses avatars au XXe siècle. Il annonce les grands principes d’aménagement des villes nouvelles et la restructuration du centre de Paris (référence implicite à la charte d’Athènes). Le texte est travaillé en rimes et vers. Une chanson du vieux Paris conclut poétiquement cette vision du futur. Thèmes principaux : Aménagement urbain / planification-aménagement régional Mots-clés : Banlieue, extension spatiale, histoire, quartier, ville, ville nouvelle Lieu géographique : Paris 75 Architectes ou personnalités : Eugène Haussmann, Napoléon, Turgot Réalisateurs : André Martin, Michel Boschet Production : les films Roger Leenhardt

www.dailymotion.com/video/xw6lak?playlist=x34ije -Rue neuve 1956 la reconstruction de la France dix ans après la fin de la seconde guerre mondiale, villes, villages, grands ensembles réalisation : Jack Pinoteau , Panorama de la reconstruction de la France dix ans après la fin de la seconde guerre mondiale, ce film de commande évoque les villes et villages français détruits puis reconstruits dans un style respectant la tradition : Saint-Malo, Gien, Thionville, Ammerschwihr, etc. ainsi que la reconstruction en rupture avec l'architecture traditionnelle à Châtenay-Malabry, Arles, Saint Étienne, Évreux, Chambéry, Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, Abbeville, Le Havre, Marseille, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Dunkerque. Le documentaire explique par exemple la manière dont a été réalisée la reconstruction de Saint-Malo à l'intérieur des rempart de la vieille ville : "c'est la fidélité à l'histoire et la force du souvenir qui a guidé l'architecte". Dans le même esprit à Gien, au trois quart détruite en 1940, seul le château construit en 1494 pour Anne de Beaujeu, fille aînée de Louis XI, fut épargné par les bombardements. La ville fut reconstruite dans le style des rares immeubles restant. Gien est relevé de ses ruines et le nouvel ensemble harmonieux est appelé « Joyau de la Reconstruction française ».

Dans un deuxième temps est abordé le chapitre de la construction des cités et des grands ensembles, de l’architecture du renouveau qualifiée de "grandiose incontestablement". S’il est précisé "on peut aimer ou de ne pas aimer ce style", l’emporte au final l’argument suivant : les grands ensembles, c'est la campagne à la ville, un urbanisme plus aéré, plus vert." les films caravelles 1956, Réalisateur : Jack Pinoteau (connu pour être le metteur en scène du film Le Triporteur 1957 qui fit découvrir Darry Cowl)

www.dailymotion.com/video/xuz3o8?playlist=x34ije ,

Film d'archive actualités de 1952 Reconstruction de la France sept ans après la fin de la seconde guerre mondiale état des lieux de la crise du logement , Actualités de 1952.

Sept ans après la fin de la seconde guerre Mondiale état des lieux de la reconstruction de la France et de la crise du logement à l’œuvre, pénurie de logement, logements insalubres. Les actualités montrent des images d'archives de la destruction de la France, les Chars de la division Leclerc qui défilent sur les Champs Elysees. Le commentaire dénonce la lenteur de la reconstruction et notamment des manifestations qui ont eu lieue à Royan afin d''accélérer la reconstruction de la ville détruite.Le film montre à Strasbourg, Mulhouse, des réalisation moderne de grands ensembles et des images d'archive de la reconstruction du Havre de Saint Nazaire.

Le film se termine à Marseille sur les réalisation nouvelles autour du vieux port puis on assiste à l'inauguration de la Cité Radieuse par le ministre de la Reconstruction et de l'Urbanisme Eugène Claudius-Petit en présence de son architecte Le Corbusier à qui le ministre remet la cravate de commandeur de la légion d'honneur. www.dailymotion.com/video/xk1g5j?playlist=x34ije Brigitte Gros - Urbanisme - Filmer les grands ensembles 2016 - par Camille Canteux chercheuse au CHS -Centre d'Histoire Sociale - Jeanne Menjoulet - Ce film du CHS daté de 2014 www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDUBwVPNh0s … L'UNION SOCIALE POUR L'HABITAT le Musée des H.L.M. musee-hlm.fr/ / - www.union-habitat.org/ / - www.institutfrancais.com/sites/default/files/dp_expositio... archives-histoire.centraliens.net/pdfs/revues/rev625.pdf tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00554230/document .le Logement Collectif* 50,60,70's, dans tous ses états..Histoire & Mémoire d'H.L.M. de Copropriété Renouvellement Urbain-Réha-NPNRU., twitter.com/Memoire2cite tout içi sig.ville.gouv.fr/atlas/ZUS/ - media/InaEdu01827/la-creatio" rel="noreferrer nofollow">fresques.ina.fr/jalons/fiche-media/InaEdu01827/la-creatio Bâtir mieux plus vite et moins cher 1975 l'industrialisation du bâtiment et ses innovations : www.dailymotion.com/video/xyjudq?playlist=x34ije la préfabrication en usine www.dailymotion.com/video/xx6ob5?playlist=x34ije , le coffrage glissant www.dailymotion.com/video/x19lwab?playlist=x34ije ... De nouvelles perspectives sont nées dans l'industrie du bâtiment avec les principes de bases de l'industrialisation du bâtiment www.dailymotion.com/video/x1a98iz?playlist=x34ije ,

www.dailymotion.com/video/xk6xui?playlist=x34ije , www.dailymotion.com/video/xk1dh2?playlist=x34ije : mécanisation, rationalisation et élaboration industrielle de la production. Des exemples concrets sont présentés afin d'illustrer l'utilisation des différentes innovations : les coffrages outils, coffrage glissant, le tunnel, des procédés pour accélérer le durcissement du béton. Le procédé dit de coffrage glissant est illustré sur le chantier des tours Pablo Picasso à Nanterre. Le principe est de s'affranchir des échafaudages : le coffrage épouse le contour du bâtiment, il s'élève avec la construction et permet de réaliser simultanément l'ensemble des murs verticaux. Au centre du plancher de travail, une grue distribue en continu le ferraillage et le béton. Sur un tel chantier les ouvriers se relaient 24h / 24 , www.dailymotion.com/video/xwytke?playlist=x34ije , www.dailymotion.com/video/x1bci6m?playlist=x34ije

Le reportage se penche ensuite sur la préfabrication en usine. Ces procédés de préfabrication en usine selon le commentaire sont bien adaptés aux pays en voie de développement, cela est illustré dans le reportage par une réalisation en Libye à Benghazi. Dans la course à l'allégement des matériaux un procédé l'isola béton est présenté. Un chapitre sur la construction métallique explique les avantage de ce procédé. La fabrication de composants ouvre de nouvelles perspectives à l'industrie du bâtiment.

Lieux géographiques : la Grande Borne 91, le Vaudreuil 27, Avoriaz, Avenue de Flandres à Paris, tours Picasso à Nanterre, vues de la défense, Benghazi Libye

www.dailymotion.com/playlist/x34ije_territoiresgouv_cinem... - mémoire2cité - le monde de l'Architecture locative collective et bien plus encore - mémoire2cité - Bâtir mieux plus vite et moins cher 1975 l'industrialisation du bâtiment et ses innovations : www.dailymotion.com/video/xyjudq?playlist=x34ije la préfabrication en usine www.dailymotion.com/video/xx6ob5?playlist=x34ije , le coffrage glissant www.dailymotion.com/video/x19lwab?playlist=x34ije ... De nouvelles perspectives sont nées dans l'industrie du bâtiment avec les principes de bases de l'industrialisation du bâtiment www.dailymotion.com/video/x1a98iz?playlist=x34ije ,

Le Joli Mai (Restauré) - Les grands ensembles BOBIGNY l Abreuvoir www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUY9XzjvWHE … et la www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK26k72xIkU … www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCKF0HEsWWo …

Genève Le Grand Saconnex & la Bulle Pirate - architecte Marçel Lachat -

Un film de Julien Donada içi www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=4E723uQcpnU … … .Genève en 1970. pic.twitter.com/1dbtkAooLM è St-Etienne - La muraille de Chine, en 1973 ce grand immeuble du quartier de Montchovet, existait encore photos la Tribune/Progres.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJAylpe8G48 …, - la tour 80 HLM située au 1 rue Proudhon à Valentigney dans le quartier des Buis Cette tour emblématique du quartier avec ces 15 étages a été abattu par FERRARI DEMOLITION (68). VALENTIGNEY (25700) 1961 - Ville nouvelle-les Buis 3,11 mn www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_GvwSpQUMY … - Au nord-Est de St-Etienne, aux confins de la ville, se dresse une colline Montreynaud la ZUP de Raymond Martin l'architecte & Alexandre Chemetoff pour les paysages de St-Saens.. la vidéo içi * Réalisation : Dominique Bauguil www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqfb27hXMDo … … - www.dailymotion.com/video/xk6xui?playlist=x34ije , www.dailymotion.com/video/xk1dh2?playlist=x34ije : mécanisation, rationalisation et élaboration industrielle de la production. Des exemples concrets sont présentés afin d'illustrer l'utilisation des différentes innovations : les coffrages outils, coffrage glissant, le tunnel, des procédés pour accélérer le durcissement du béton. Le procédé dit de coffrage glissant est illustré sur le chantier des tours Pablo Picasso à Nanterre. Le principe est de s'affranchir des échafaudages : le coffrage épouse le contour du bâtiment, il s'élève avec

It is believed that citrus fruits arrived in Capri in the tenth century, and they have characterized the colours and perfume of the island ever since.The lemon, originally used as an ornamental plant, was subsequently used for its superb juice and the essential oils extracted from its peel. Famous throughout the world, the lemon liqueur "Limoncello", is best served chilled.The lemon of Capri, known as "femminiello", has a long elliptical form and medium dimensions. The first fruitrification occurs in October, producing the juiciest fruits of the year. In March the light yellow lemons, called "bianchetti" ripen, and in June the green "Verdelli" are ready to be picked.This type of lemon has been awarded Protected Geographical Indication (P.G.I) status and can be cultivated, using rigorously organic farming methods, exclusively on the island of Capri

German postcard by Verlag Herm. Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 3232. Photo: Toni Engelschaft.

Handsome and dashing Hans Brausewetter (1899 – 1945) was a supporting actor of the silent German cinema. From 1922 on, he appeared in 135 films. In one of the last days of the war, Brausewetter was killed by the blast of a bomb in Berlin.

Hans Brausewetter was born Málaga, Spain in 1899. He was the son of a doctor, and brother of actress Renate Brausewetter. The family went to Germany in 1914. Hans went to school at the Realgymnasium in Stralsund, but had to leave school early to serve as a cadet at the western front. Dismissed in 1918 from the Army, he studied for a short time philology before he took acting lessons. Actor Theodor Loos introduced him for this by Hubert Heinrich. He earned his money as an extra in theaters. In 1920 he made his stage debut at the Deutsches Volkstheater in Vienna. Later he played for long periods at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin. His film debut was a small role in the silent Der Marquis von Bolibar/ The Marquis de Bolibar (1921, Friedrich Porges). He had his first major film role in the costume drama Ein Glas Wasser/ One Glass of Water (1923, Ludwig Berger) opposite Mady Christians. That year he also appeared in the silent Shakespeare adaptation Der Kaufmann von Venedig/ The Merchant of Venice (1923, Peter Paul Felner) featuring Werner Krauss, and Der Schatz/ The Treasure (1923, Georg Wilhelm Pabst), starring Albert Steinrück. It was Pabst's debut film as a director. Hal Erickson at AllMovie: “On the surface a straightforward tale of the search for a buried treasure, the film is a textbook example of German expressionism, with the passions of the protagonists conveyed as much through symbolism as action. Werner Krauss steals the first scene as a retarded assistant bellmaker who skulks through the proceedings as if weighed down by a multitude of horrible secrets. In fact, only the character played by Hans Brausewetter, that of a ‘journeyman artisan,’ is in any way likeable. Evidently Pabst got all of his expressionistic tendencies out of his system with The Treasure, opting for gritty realism in his subsequent efforts.” Brausewetter had another supporting part in Tragödie im Hause Habsburg/ Tragedy in the House of Habsburg (1924, Alexander Korda). Star of this costume drama was Maria Corda. The film recounts the events of the 1889 Mayerling Incident in which the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire committed suicide. Studio filming was done in Berlin with location shooting in Vienna. The film cost more than € 60,000 ($80,000) to make, but only earned back around half of this at the box office. More successful was Ein Walzertraum/ A Waltz-Dream (1925, Ludwig Berger) starring Willy Fritsch. Brausewetter also appeared as a young painter in the drama Svengali (1927, Gennaro Righelli). This is an adaptation of the novel Trilby by the British writer George Du Maurier about an artist's model (Anita Dorris) who falls under the spell of a mysticist (Paul Wegener) who turns her into a leading opera singer. In these films he often played the sympathetic boy next door, who had no luck with women. In 1928 he was the only German actor in the cast of Léon Poirier’s monumental anti-war film Verdun, Visions D'Histoire/ Verdun with Suzanne Bianchetti.

Hans Brausewetter easily made the transition to sound cinema with a leading role in the musical Ein Burschenlied aus Heidelberg/ A Student Song from Heidelberg (1930, Karl Hartl). Critic Mordaunt Hall reviewed the film at The New York Times: “There has come to the Ufa-Cosmopolitan an unusally enjoyable German-language picture, with enticing music and a very pretty actress among its assets. It is known as ‘Ein Burschenlied Aus Heidelberg.’ Its slender but none the less captivating romance is one of the German university, many of the scenes possessing the distinct advantage of having been photographed in Heidelberg. Betty Bird, who, notwithstanding her English name, is a Teutonic player, gives a most ingratiating performance as Elinor Miller, Willi Forst is excellent as Robert Dahlberg, the student who wins Elinor's love, and Hans Brausewetter does splendidly as Dahlberg's rival, Werner Bornemann.” During the early 1930’s, Brausewetter appeared in such popular films as Das Flötenkonzert von Sans-souci/ The Flute Concert of Sans-Souci (1930, Gustav Ucicky) featuring Otto Gebühr as Friedrich II, and another historical film, Die elf Schillschen Offiziere/ The Eleven Schill Officers (1932, Rudolf Meinert). The latter was a remake of a 1926 silent film of the same name which had also been directed by Meinert. The film depicts the failed 1809 uprising of Prussian soldiers led by Ferdinand von Schill (Carl de Vogt) against the occupying French. It focuses in particular on eleven of Schill's officers who were executed by the French at Wesel. The film was a Prussian film, part of a wider trend of German historical films made during the Weimar Era and set in the Napoleonic Era. In the courtroom drama Voruntersuchung/ Inquest (1931, Robert Siodmak), he could break for once with the stereotype of the sympathetic guy-next-door by playing a murder suspect. But because of his boyish appearance and chubby face, he kept playing the friendly youth till the end of his career. A successful example was the young farmer in the comedy Onkel Bräsig/ Uncle Bräsig (1936, Erich Waschneck) featuring Otto Wernicke. He had a late highlight in his career when he co-starred with Heinz Rühmann and Josef Sieber in Paradies der Junggesellen/ Bachelor's Paradise (1939, Kurt Hoffmann). In this very funny comedy they sang the hit song Das kann doch einen Seemann nicht erschüttern (That can’t shake a sailor). A year later the trio sang the song again in the propaganda film Wunschkonzert/ Request Concert (1940, Eduard von Borsody). However, Brausewetter was anti-Hitler and openly outed his disapproval of the Nazi regime. As a result he was transferred to a concentration camp, which he could leave after a short time thanks to an intervention by actress Käthe Haack with Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. In 1941 he was among the few courageous colleagues who attended the funeral of film star Joachim Gottschalk and his Jewish wife and son. The family had committed suicide to avoid transportation to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. During the war years Brausewetter appeared in several films including the lavishly produced fantasy comedy Münchhausen (1943, Josef von Báky) with Hans Albers as the Baron. This wonderful spectacle was the third feature film made in Germany using the new Agfacolor negative-positive material. Goebbels wished to compete with Hollywood and their Technicolor pictures such as The Wizard of Oz (1939, Victor Fleming) and Münchhausen also celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Ufa film studio. After an artillery bombardment on Berlin, Hans Brausewetter was deadly injured through a hand grenade. It happened on one of the last days of the war in 1945. Brausewetter was the uncle of actor Rudolf Wagner and marine researcher Hans Hass.

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Hans-Michael Bock (Filmportal.de) (German), Thomas Staederli (Cyranos), Mordaunt Hall (The New York Times), Wikipedia (German and English) and IMDb.

French postcard by Edition des Studios-Rahma, Paris. Photo: Rhama. Publicity still for Les Mystères de Paris/The Mysteries of Paris (Charles Burguet, 1922) with Charles Lamy as M. Pipelet.

The French silent film serial Les Mystères de Paris/The Mysteries of Paris (Charles Burguet, 1922) is based on one of the most famous French novels in the 19th century. This serial novel by Eugène Sue was published in a French newspaper in 90 parts from 1842 to 1843. Novel and film elve in the seediest parts of Paris and have a sinister-looking gallery of unforgettable characters, including Monsieur Pipelet, La Chouette, Le Maître d'école (the Schoolmaster) and Le Chourineur.

The hero of the novel and the film is the mysterious and distinguished Rodolphe, disguised as a Parisian worker but in fact the Grand Duke of Gerolstein, a fictional kingdom of Germany. Rodolphe can speak in argot, is extremely strong and a good fighter. Yet he also shows great compassion for the lower classes, good judgment, and a brilliant mind. He can navigate all layers of society in order to understand their problems, and to understand how the different social classes are linked. Rodolphe is accompanied by his friends Sir Walter Murph, an Englishman, and David, a gifted black doctor, formerly a slave. The first figures they meet are Le Chourineur and La Goualeuse. Rodolphe saves La Goualeuse from Le Chourineur's brutality, and saves Le Chourineur from himself, knowing that the man still has some good in him. La Goualeuse is a prostitute, and Le Chourineur is a former butcher who has served 15 years in prison for murder. Both characters are grateful for Rodolphe's assistance, as are many other characters in the novel. At the end, Rodolphe goes back to Gerolstein to take on the role to which he was destined by birth.

The original novel was very long, in some editions over 1000 pages. But Les Mystères de Paris was an instant success, and singlehandedly increased the circulation of the newspaper Journal des débats. Sue was the first author to bring together so many characters from different levels of society within one novel, and thus his book was popular with readers from all classes. He showed how vice was not the only cause of suffering, but also caused by inhumane social conditions. The novel is melodramatic depicting a world where good and evil are clearly distinct. The novel was partly inspired by the Memoirs (1828) of the French criminal and criminalist Eugène François Vidocq, and by the works of James Fenimore Cooper: Sue took the plot structure of the Natty Bumppo novels and moved them to the city where buildings replaced trees and underworld gangs replaced Indians. Les Mystères de Paris paved the way for Victor Hugo's Les misérables and founded the ‘City mysteries’ genre,

that explored the ‘mysteries and miseries’ of cities, like Les Mystères de Marseille by Émile Zola, Les Mystères de Londres by Paul Féval, and Les Nouveaux Mystères de Paris (featuring Nestor Burma) by Léo Malet. In America, Ned Buntline wrote The Mysteries and Miseries of New York in 1848. In 1988, Michael Chabon paid tribute to the genre with The Mysteries of Pittsburgh.

Les Mystères de Paris has been adapted several times for the stage and for the cinema. The first film adaptation, Les mystères de Paris (1909) was a short silent film by Victorin-Hippolyte Jasset for Éclair. Camille Bardou, who would return in the 1922 version, was in the cast. The next adaptation, Les mystères de Paris/Mysteries of Paris (1912), was made by Albert Cappellani for Pathé Frères. His brother Paul Capellani starred as Rodolphe. In Italy, Gustavo Serena directed and starred in a four-part serial, Parigi misteriosa (1917) for Caesar Film. The same year, another Italian film company, Megale Film, produced a competitive version, Il ventre di Parigi (Ubaldo Maria Del Colle, 1917). In 1920 followed a little known American version, The Mysteries of Paris (1920), directed by Ed Cornell for the Hub Cinemagraph Company of Boston. Two years later came another American version, Secrets of Paris (Kenneth S. Webb, 1922), with Lew Cody as King Rudolph and Montagu Love as the Schoolmaster. That same year the film serial Les mystères de Paris (Charles Burguet, 1922) was produced in France. The 12 episodes were written by André-Paul Antoine and Burguet. This serial had a stellar cast. Georges Lannes starred as Rodolphe. He was surrounded by such well known stars as Huguette Duflos as Fleur-de-Marie, Suzanne Bianchetti as Marquise d'Harville, Gaston Modot, Charles Lamy and the young Pierre Fresnay. Then, Henri Rollan played Rodolphe in the first sound version, Les mystères de Paris (Félix Gandéra, 1935). In Jacques de Baroncelli's version of 1943 Marcel Herrand played Rodolphe. In 1957 followed an Italian-French coproduction, I misteri di Parigi (Fernando Cerchio, 1957) with Frank Villard as Rodolpho. There were also TV versions, such as Les mystères de Paris (Marcel Cravenne, 1961) with Jacques Dacqmine. The best known sound film version is the French-Italian Swashbuckler Les Mystères de Paris/The Mysteries of Paris (André Hunebelle, 1962), starring Jean Marais. Hunebelle 's treatment keeps from Eugène Sue nothing but the proper nouns. Db du monteil writes at IMDb that the film has “ a muddled screenplay, even more far-fetched than Sue's mammoth work.” The most recent adaptation was the six-episode miniseries Les mystères de Paris (André Michel, 1980), a French-German coproduction starring Db du Monteil: “Although its running time is six hours and it's got a fine score, this made-for-TV work does not really succeed in recreating Sue's world. It's too clean, much too clean, the seediest parts of Paris are anything but Dantesque. A good thing was to use a German actor to play Rodolphe but it's not enough. I'm still waiting for the director who will do Sue's extravaganza justice.”

Sources: db du Monteil (IMDb), AllMovie, Wikipedia and IMDb.

French postcard in the Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 179. Photo: Comoedia.

André Allard (1874-1939) was a French opera and operetta singer. He studied singing at the Conservatoire de Paris and made his debut in 1897 at the Opéra National de Bordeaux. He entered the Parisian Opéra Comique in 1900, and was one of its stars between 1900 and 1910. In the early 1910s he starred at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, while during WWI and the early 1920s he returned to the Opéra-Comique. Allard only performed randomly in cinema: in 1920 he had the lead opposite Suzanne Bianchetti and André Nox in La Marseillaise (Henri Desfontaines), and in 1930 he had a supporting part in the French early sound film Le Requin by Henri Chomette.

French postcard by Edition des Studios-Rahma, Paris. Photo: Rhama. Publicity still for Les Mystères de Paris/The Mysteries of Paris (Charles Burguet, 1922) with Gilbert Dalleu as Le Maître d'école (the School Teacher).

The French silent film serial Les Mystères de Paris/The Mysteries of Paris (Charles Burguet, 1922) is based on one of the most famous French novels in the 19th century. This serial novel by Eugène Sue was published in a French newspaper in 90 parts from 1842 to 1843. Novel and film elve in the seediest parts of Paris and have a sinister-looking gallery of unforgettable characters, including Monsieur Pipelet, La Chouette, Le Maître d'école (the Schoolmaster) and Le Chourineur.

The hero of the novel and the film is the mysterious and distinguished Rodolphe, disguised as a Parisian worker but in fact the Grand Duke of Gerolstein, a fictional kingdom of Germany. Rodolphe can speak in argot, is extremely strong and a good fighter. Yet he also shows great compassion for the lower classes, good judgment, and a brilliant mind. He can navigate all layers of society in order to understand their problems, and to understand how the different social classes are linked. Rodolphe is accompanied by his friends Sir Walter Murph, an Englishman, and David, a gifted black doctor, formerly a slave. The first figures they meet are Le Chourineur and La Goualeuse. Rodolphe saves La Goualeuse from Le Chourineur's brutality, and saves Le Chourineur from himself, knowing that the man still has some good in him. La Goualeuse is a prostitute, and Le Chourineur is a former butcher who has served 15 years in prison for murder. Both characters are grateful for Rodolphe's assistance, as are many other characters in the novel. At the end, Rodolphe goes back to Gerolstein to take on the role to which he was destined by birth.

The original novel was very long, in some editions over 1000 pages. But Les Mystères de Paris was an instant success, and singlehandedly increased the circulation of the newspaper Journal des débats. Sue was the first author to bring together so many characters from different levels of society within one novel, and thus his book was popular with readers from all classes. He showed how vice was not the only cause of suffering, but also caused by inhumane social conditions. The novel is melodramatic depicting a world where good and evil are clearly distinct. The novel was partly inspired by the Memoirs (1828) of the French criminal and criminalist Eugène François Vidocq, and by the works of James Fenimore Cooper: Sue took the plot structure of the Natty Bumppo novels and moved them to the city where buildings replaced trees and underworld gangs replaced Indians. Les Mystères de Paris paved the way for Victor Hugo's Les misérables and founded the ‘City mysteries’ genre, that explored the ‘mysteries and miseries’ of cities, like Les Mystères de Marseille by Émile Zola, Les Mystères de Londres by Paul Féval, and Les Nouveaux Mystères de Paris (featuring Nestor Burma) by Léo Malet. In America, Ned Buntline wrote The Mysteries and Miseries of New York in 1848. In 1988, Michael Chabon paid tribute to the genre with The Mysteries of Pittsburgh.

Les Mystères de Paris has been adapted several times for the stage and for the cinema. The first film adaptation, Les mystères de Paris (1909) was a short silent film by Victorin-Hippolyte Jasset for Éclair. Camille Bardou, who would return in the 1922 version, was in the cast. The next adaptation, Les mystères de Paris/Mysteries of Paris (1912), was made by Albert Cappellani for Pathé Frères. His brother Paul Capellani starred as Rodolphe. In Italy, Gustavo Serena directed and starred in a four-part serial, Parigi misteriosa (1917) for Caesar Film. The same year, another Italian film company, Megale Film, produced a competitive version, Il ventre di Parigi (Ubaldo Maria Del Colle, 1917). In 1920 followed a little known American version, The Mysteries of Paris (1920), directed by Ed Cornell for the Hub Cinemagraph Company of Boston. Two years later came another American version, Secrets of Paris (Kenneth S. Webb, 1922), with Lew Cody as King Rudolph and Montagu Love as the Schoolmaster. That same year the film serial Les mystères de Paris (Charles Burguet, 1922) was produced in France. The 12 episodes were written by André-Paul Antoine and Burguet. This serial had a stellar cast. Georges Lannes starred as Rodolphe. He was surrounded by such well known stars as Huguette Duflos as Fleur-de-Marie, Suzanne Bianchetti as Marquise d'Harville, Gaston Modot, Charles Lamy and the young Pierre Fresnay. Then, Henri Rollan played Rodolphe in the first sound version, Les mystères de Paris (Félix Gandéra, 1935). In Jacques de Baroncelli's version of 1943 Marcel Herrand played Rodolphe. In 1957 followed an Italian-French coproduction, I misteri di Parigi (Fernando Cerchio, 1957) with Frank Villard as Rodolpho. There were also TV versions, such as Les mystères de Paris (Marcel Cravenne, 1961) with Jacques Dacqmine. The best known sound film version is the French-Italian Swashbuckler Les Mystères de Paris/The Mysteries of Paris (André Hunebelle, 1962), starring Jean Marais. Hunebelle 's treatment keeps from Eugène Sue nothing but the proper nouns. Db du monteil writes at IMDb that the film has “ a muddled screenplay, even more far-fetched than Sue's mammoth work.” The most recent adaptation was the six-episode miniseries Les mystères de Paris (André Michel, 1980), a French-German coproduction starring Db du Monteil: “Although its running time is six hours and it's got a fine score, this made-for-TV work does not really succeed in recreating Sue's world. It's too clean, much too clean, the seediest parts of Paris are anything but Dantesque. A good thing was to use a German actor to play Rodolphe but it's not enough. I'm still waiting for the director who will do Sue's extravaganza justice.”

Sources: db du Monteil (IMDb), AllMovie, Wikipedia and IMDb.

Watercolor on paper

French postcard by St. Anne, Marseille. Photo: Sam Lévin.

Sensual and talented actress Annie Girardot (1931) appeared in more than 150 French and Italian film and television productions. She had her breakthrough in 1960 as the tragic prostitute Nadia in Visconti’s classic Rocco e i suoi fratelli, and during the 1970’s she was one of the most popular stars of the French cinema.

Annie Suzanne Girardot was born in 1931, in Paris, France. In 1954 she graduated with honours from the Conservatoire de la rue Blanche (the Paris conservatory). That year she made her professional debut with the distinguished Comedie-Francaise. Her performance in Jean Cocteau’s La Machine à écrire in 1956, opposite Robert Hirsch, was admired by the author who called her “The finest dramatic temperament of the postwar period”. She remained with the Comedie-Francaise troupe through 1957, occasionally taking time off to perform in films, on radio, television and in Parisian cabarets and revues. Her inability to contain her need to take risks and experiment within the rigid dictates of the Comédie propelled Girardot toward the cinema. She had made an inauspicious film debut in the comedy Treize à table/Thirteen at the Table (1955, André Hunebelle). The following year she won the Prix Suzanne Bianchetti for her role as a blackmailing vamp opposite Pierre Fresnay in L'homme aux clés d'or/The Man With the Golden Keys (1956, Léo Joannon). In her early film roles, Girardot was typically cast as a doomed woman of dubious morals in dark films like Le rouge est mis/The red Light is On (1957, Gilles Grangier) and Maigret tend un piège/Maigret Lays a Trap (1957, Jean Delannoy), both starring Jean Gabin. On stage she worked with famous director Luchino Visconti in Deux sur la balançoire/Two for the Seesaw, at the side of Jean Marais. In the cinema she finally had her breakthrough when she played Nadia the prostitute in Visconti's epic family drama Rocco e i suoi fratelli/Rocco and His Brothers (1960, Luchino Visconti). Nadia's beauty drives a wedge between Rocco (Alain Delon) and his brother Simone (Renato Salvatori), who eventually rapes her and stabs her thirteen times. Her depiction of the reformed prostitute suffering in her humiliation was both poignant and compelling. During filming Girardot and Salvatori became romantically linked and they married in 1962. The couple later separated, but never divorced. In 1988 Salvatori died. Their daughter is Giulia Salvatori (1962).

Through the early 1960’s, Annie Girardot never worked with the young directors of the Nouvelle Vague, by whom she was seen as the actress of the Cinema de Papa. And indeed she worked regularly with older directors like Christian-Jaque (La Française et l'Amour/Love and the Frenchwoman, 1960; Guerre secrète/The Dirty Game, 1965) and Marcel Carné (Trois chambres à Manhattan/Three Rooms in Manhattan, 1965). For her role in the latter film as the neurotic Kay discovering love, she won the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival. She also played leads in Italian pictures directed by Marco Ferreri (La donna scimmia/The Ape Woman, 1963; Il seme dell'uomo/The Seed of Man, 1969, Dillinger è morto/Dillinger Is Dead, 1969), Mario Monicelli (I compagni/The Organizer, 1963), Duccio Tessari (Una voglia da morire, 1964) and Luchino Visconti (the anthology Le streghe/The Witches, 1966). She became a box office magnet in France with Vivre pour vivre/Live for Life (1967, Claude Lelouch). She gave a reserved, dignified performance as the deceived but forgiving wife of Yves Montand. Another big hit was the sentimental melodrama Un homme qui me plaît/A Man I Like (1969, Claude Lelouch) in which she was the vivacious Françoise destined to finish unhappily with Jean-Paul Belmondo. In the 1970’s Annie Girardot was one of the most popular film actresses of the French cinema, associated with the directors Lelouch, Philippe de Broca, and André Cayatte, and with actor Philippe Noiret. Her biggest international hit was the fact-based tale Mourir d'aimer/Death of Love (1971, André Cayatte) about the Gabrielle Russier affair. Very convincly she played the middle-aged literature teacher who was accused of corrupting a minor, one of her students with whom she had an affair, and out of despair, committed suicide in jail. In the late 1960’s the affair had become a much debated subject, even president Georges Pompidou referred to it. The film was nominated for a Golden Globe. Each new film of ‘La Girardot’ was eagerly awaited for. Girardot typically played strong-willed, independent, hard-working, and often lonely women, imbuing her characters with an earthiness and reality that endeared her with women undergoing similar daily struggles. Girardot became thus one of the symbols of the early-'70s feminist movement in France - though in personal life Girardot was not terribly involved with feminists.

Annie Girardot started to play mother roles of young stars like Claude Jade in Les feux de la Chandeleur/Hearth Fires (1972, Serge Korber) or Isabelle Adjani in La gifle/The Slap (1974, Claude Pinoteau). She played Isabelle Huppert's mother in two films: Docteur Françoise Gailland/No Time for Breakfast (1975, Jean-Louis Bertucelli) and La pianiste/The Piano Teacher (2001, Michael Haneke). For portraying the title character in Docteur Françoise Gailland she won the César, the French Oscar, for Best Actress in 1977. Though she gave solid performances in many dramas, Girardot proved herself also an adept comedienne in such films as La vielle fille/The Old Maid (1972, Jean-Pierre Blanc), Tendre Poulet/Dear Inspector (1977, Philippe de Broca), La zizanie/The Spat (1978, Claude Zidi) and L'ingorgo - Una storia impossibile/Traffic Jam (1979, Luigi Comencini). Her success as the female detective Lise Tanquerelle, comically caught between personal and professional roles, in Tendre Poulet led to the sequel On a volé la cuisse de Jupiter/Jupiter's Thigh (1980, Philippe de Broca). She also helped young film directors making their first films. On stage she had a triumph in 1974 with Madame Marguerite, which became her signature role, which she reprised many times till 2002. That year she was awarded the Molière award for her role. By the 1980’s, her film career was in sharp decline and her film appearances became sporadic. She published her autobiography Vivre d'aimer in 1989, followed by Ma vie contre la tienne in 1993. However, in 1995 she made a come-back playing a peasant wife in Les Misérables (1995, Claude Lelouch). The role won her a Cesar for Best Supporting Actress. Upon accepting the award, a joyous and tearful Girardot expressed her happiness that she had not been forgotten. She also offered her heartfelt thanks to her many film industry colleagues. In 2002, she was again awarded this prize for her role as the nightmarish mother in La pianiste/The Piano Player (2002, Michael Haneke). She collaborated with Austrian director Haneke again, in Caché/Hidden (2005, Michael Haneke) starring Juliette Binoche. In 2006 Annie Girardot revealed in magazine Paris Match that she was suffering since 2003 from Alzheimer's disease. The following year Giulia Salvatori published, with journalist Jean-Michel Caradec'h, the biography La Mémoire de ma mère about her mother. Since 2008, Annie Giradot lives in a sanatorium in Paris. That year she appeared for the last time in the tv documentary Annie Girardot, ainsi va la vie/Annie Girardot, as life goes (2008).

Sources: Sandra Brennan (All Movie Guide), R. F. Cousins and Kelly Otter (Filmreference.com), Sol (IMDb), Ephraim Katz (The Film Encylopedia), Wikipedia, and IMDb

German postcard by ISV, no. D 6. Photo: Farabola.

Delicately beautiful French actress Odile Versois (1930-1980) appeared in some 50 European film and television productions between 1948 and 1980.

Odile Versois was born Etiennette (according to some sources Tatiana or Katiana) De Poliakoff-Baidarov in Paris in 1930. Her father was Russian-born opera singer Vladimir de Poliakoff and her mother ballerina Militza Evgueïevna de Poliakoff née Envold. She was the second of four Poliakoff sisters, all of whom became renown actresses in their own right: Marina Vlady, Hélène Vallier and Olga Baïdar-Poliakoff. Like her siblings, she started acting at a young age, but she began her career as a ‘petit rat’ (child ballerina) with the Corps de Ballet of the Opéra de Paris under the name of Tania Baydarova. At the age of 18, she subsequently turned to film acting. She proved a natural with a major debut in Les dernières vacances/The Last Vacation (1948, Roger Leenhardt). Set in the sunny south of France, this devilish drama chronicles the romantic entanglements between two vacationing families. For her role she was awarded with the Prix Suzanne-Bianchetti for the best young actress She then did an audition for An American in Paris (1951, Vincente Minnelli), but her longtime friend Leslie Caron obtained the role. During a vacation in England Versois was hired to play a role in the British film Into the Blue (1951, Herbert Wilcox) opposite Michael Wilding. In the following decade the serene, light-haired Versois continued to provide charm to such British films as Into the Blue (1951, Herbert Wilcox) opposite Michael Wilding, A Day to Remember (1953, Ralph Thomas), Chance Meeting/ Young Lovers (1954, Anthony Asquith) , the comedy To Paris with Love (1955, Robert Hamer) with Alec Guinness, Checkpoint (1956, Richard Thomas), and the dark action thriller Room 43/Passport to Shame (1958, Alvin Rakoff) starring Eddie Constantine, Diana Dors and Herbert Lom. But she also undertook leading lady parts in several Italian, German and French films. Hal Erickson at AllMovie mentions her role as 13th century Francesca de Rimini in Paolo e Francesca/Paolo and Francesca (1953, Raffaello Matarazzo) as “one of her more flamboyant assignments”. At IMDb, Gary Brumburgh writes that “she moved audiences most with her portrayals of fragile, often tragic heroines in romantic dramas” such as Bel amour/Beautiful Love (1951, Francois Campaux), Domenica (1952, Maurice Cloche) , Grand gala (1952, Francois Campaux) and Herscher ohne Krone/King in Shadow (1958, Harald Braun) starring Horst Buchholz. In the successful suspense melodrama Toi, le venin/Nude in a White Car (1958, Robert Hossein), she co-starred with director-writer Hossein and her sister Marina Vlady - known for her sultry roles.

In the 1960’s Odile Versois matured in crime dramas and lively costume films, notably in the murder mystery Le rendez-vous (1961, Jean Delannoy ) starring George Sanders, the swashbuckler Cartouche/Swords of Blood (1962, Philippe de Broca) starring Jean-Paul Belmondo as a 18th century French bandit chief, and the erotic period piece Benjamin (1968, Michel Deville) featuring Pierre Clémenti. She also worked on the French, Belgian, Swiss and North African stages. Dogged by ill health, she was seen less frequently into the 1970’s. On television, she lend some touching performances, particularly in the British mini-series A Place in the Sun (1972), the family drama Églantine (1972, Jean-Claude Brialy ) and Le confessional des pénitents noirs (1977, Alain Boudet). Her last film was Le Crabe-Tambour/The Crab Drum (1977, Pierre Schoendoerffer) starring Jacques Perrin. This portrait of an eccentric but courageous warrior involved in the Indochinese and Algerian wars , won several French film industry awards. French magazine Première called her performance “une ultime et émouvante apparition” (an ultimate and moving appearance). Versois was married and divorced twice. First to actor Jacques Dacqmine, and in 1953 to Count François Pozzo di Borgo, with whom she had four children: Barbara (1954), Charles-André (1955), Alexandre (1957) and Vanina (1964). Her last role was in an episode of the French TV series Julien Fontanes, magistrate (1980, Guy-André Lefranc) starring Jacques Morel. In 1980, Odile Versois passed away of cancer in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a week after her 50th birthday. Gary Brumburgh ends his bio at IMDb thus: “a gentle, beautiful soul [had] gone before her time”.

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Gary Brumburgh (IMDb),CinéMémorial, Premiere.fr, Wikipedia and IMDb.

French postcard, 1920s. Photo Comoedia. Nos artistes dans leur loge, No. 185.

Gabriel Signoret aka Signoret (1878-1937) was a French actor and director who played in some 85 films, mostly silent ones.

Gabriel Augustin Marius Signoret was born in Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône) on 15 November 1878. Between 1909 and 1938 Signoret acted in some 85 French films, mostly short silent films at the start of his career, while his last film was released post-mortem. Signoret had an extremely rich career on the French stage, mostly as actor, but occasionally also as director. Between 1900 and 1906 Signoret was highly active at the Théâtre Antoine, mostly in plays directed by André Antoine himself, such as the Naturalist plays La Terre (1902) by Emile Zola and The Good Hope (1902) by Herman Heijermans, but also classics like Shakespeare’s King Lear (1904). In 1907 Signoret moved to the Théâtre Réjane where he stayed until 1909. After that he switched from one theatre to another, such as the Théâtre du Gymnase and Théâtre Femina, acting in plays by a.o. Bernstein, Feydeau and Tristan Bernard, as well as revue and opéra-bouffe. After a gap in 1919-1922, Signoret continued his stage career in the 1920s and 1930s, but less intense as before. He directed two plays: Les Marchands de gloire (1925) by Marcel Pagnol and Paul Nivoix, at Théâtre de la Madeleine, and Trois pour 100 (1933) by Roger Ferdinand, at the Théâtre Antoine.

His film career Gabriel Signoret started in 1909 at Pathé Frères with the so-called film d’art films, often based on famous stage plays and involving actors from the French stage. Under direction of André Calmettes, he acted in Rival de son père (1909), L’aigle et l’aiglon (1910) and L’Usurpateur (1911, co-directed by Henri Pouctal). Between 1911 and 1914 Signoret played at Pathé in some twenty short films, most directed by René Leprince (some in co-direction with Ferdinand Zecca), some by Camille De Morlhon. While he also acted in some films at Gaumont in 1914-1915, directed by Louis Feuillade, Signoret’s main output as film actor in the First World War years remained at Pathé, with films directed by Leprince & Zecca and De Morlhon. In 1916 he also started to act at Eclipse in the films by René Hervil and Louis Mercanton, such as the war propaganda film Mères françaises (1917), starring Sarah Bernhardt, Le Torrent (1917) with Louise Lagrange and Jaque Catelain, and Bouclette (1918), starring Gaby Deslys. For the latter two Marcel L’Herbier had written the scripts. In 1916 Signoret played in Noël cambrioleur, his first part in a film by director Jacques de Baroncelli. It would be the start of an intense collaboration in the late 1910s and early 1920s, with Signoret starring in De Baroncelli’s films Le Delai (1918) with Denise Lorys, Flipotte (1920) with Suzanne Bianchetti, Le Secret du Lone Star (1920) with Fanny Ward, La Rafale (1920) with Yvette Andreyor, Le Rêve (1921) with Andrée Brabant, Le Père Goriot (1921) with Claude France, and Roger la Honte (1922) with Rita Jolivet. Signoret also acted in films by the Impressionist avant-garde such as La Cigarette (1919) by Germaine Dulac and Le Silence (1920) by Louis Delluc. This intensity explains why Signoret was away from the stage in the early 1920s. Until the mid-1920s Signoret had a steady career in French silent cinema, with memorable titles like La Porteuse de pain (René Le Somptier 1923) with Suzanne Desprès, L’Ornière (Edouard Chimot 1924) with Ginette Maddie, L’Enfant des Halles (Leprince 1924) with Bianchetti, Les Deux gosses (Mercanton 1924) with Yvette Guilbert, and Jocaste (Gaston Ravel 1924) with Sandra Milowanoff.

In the early 1930s, when sound cinema had set in, Signoret returned to acting in French cinema. He had important parts in films by Marcel L’Herbier, mostly as high placed men: he was an admiral in Veille d’armes (1935) with Annabella and Victor Francen, with Francen being court-martialled for making mistakes in ship manoeuvres. In Les Hommes nouveaux (1936) with Harry Baur and Nathalie Paley, Signoret played marshal Lyautey in a drama about a simple worker (Baur) making his fortune in Morocco during Lyautey’s governorship. In Nuits de feu (1937) with Gaby Morlay and Francen, Signoret is an evil substitute prosecutor, who accuses a young lawyer and the wife (Morlay) of the disappeared prosecutor to have killed the husband (Francen). Other remarkable titles were Trois pour cent (Jean Dréville 1933) – the adaptation of the play which Signoret had directed himself, Ménilmontant (René Guissart 1936) in which Signoret paired with Pierre Larquey as two old men, and Arsène Lupin, détective (Henri Diamant-Berger 1937) starring Jules Berry. Signoret was the brother of actor Jean Signoret (1886-1923), but he is unrelated to actress Simone Signoret. Gabriel Signoret died in Paris on 16 March 1937.

Sources: IMDB, French Wikipedia, Ciné-Artistes, www.cinema-francais.fr, www.cineressources.bifi.fr

French postcard by S.E.R.P., no. 48. Photo: Studio Harcourt.

During the 1930’s, French torch singer and actress Damia (1889 – 1978) was la tragédienne de la chanson, with her unflinching demeanor, upward gaze, and black sheath. Her subjects in songs like Tu ne sais pas aimer were dark, earthbound, and working-class. Damia also appeared in such classic films as Abel Gance’s six-hour epic Napoléon (1927).

Damia or Maryse Damia was born Marie-Louise Damien in Alsace-Lorraine, France, in 1889. Her father was a policeman. At 15, she run away from home and started to work as an extra at the Théâtre de Châtelet in Paris. Three years later she met the singer/songwriter Robert Hollard who gave her lessons that led to her professional debut. At the time, Hollard was married to the singer Fréhel but the marriage was a difficult one and soon ended. After leaving his wife, Hollard began an affair with his protégé. From 1908 on, she performed in such café-concerts as La Pépinière-Opéra, Le Petit Casino and L'Alhambra. After being seen by Félix Mayol, one of the leading male singing stars at the time, he hired her to perform at his concerts. Despite this, her career evolved slowly, taking second billing for a number of years. American dancer Loie Fuller helped her in her stage presentation, and Sacha Guitry advised her the black sheath and designed her silhouette. Eventually she became a singing star with a realistic style, that later was taken over by singers as Édith Piaf and Juliette Greco. At the beginning of World War I she opened Le Concert Damia, in Montmartre, where she became the first star ever to have a single spotlight trained on her face, bare arms and hands. From this point in her career she became the most important exponent of the chanson réaliste genre until Édith Piaf came along in 1936. Her nickname was ‘la tragédienne de la chanson’, and amongst her big hits were Les goélands, Johnny Palmer, and C'est mon gigolo. Her song Tu ne sais pas aimer later became a theme for French sufferers of AIDS. Luc Sante writes at the blog HiLoBrow about her remarkable voice: “The nasality inherent in French was turned by Damia into a principle of style, a kind of mournful continuo she would accentuate with slides and slurs not unlike Billie Holiday in her darkest register. She sang about prostitution and shipwrecks and murderers and drowned sailors and the guillotine. What made her special, though, was the way she could make a rising inflection transcend all the bitterness and sorrow and squalor, as if she could see over the horizon into some better world.”

In 1927, Damia made her film debut as the incarnation of La Marseillaise in the classic biopic Napoléon/Napoleon, directed by Abel Gance. This massive six-hour epic about the French Field Marshal's youth and early military career featured Albert Dieudonné and other silent film stars as Antonin Artaud, Gina Manès, and Suzanne Bianchetti. Michael Brooke at IMDb: “The film's legendary reputation is due to the astonishing range of techniques that Gance uses to tell his story, culminating in the final twenty-minute triptych sequence, which alternates widescreen panoramas with complex multiple- image montages projected simultaneously on three screens.”Three years later Damia had her first leading role opposite Colette Darfeuil in the early sound film Tu m'oublieras/You'll forget me (1930, Henri Diamant-Berger). During the 1930’s followed other film successes as Sola (1931, Henri Diamant-Berger) with Henri Rollan, and the Georges Simenon adaptation La tête d'un homme/The head of a man (1933, Julien Duvivier) starring Harry Baur. In 1935 a re-edited sound version of Napoléon was released in the cinemas as Napoléon Bonaparte (1935, Abel Gance). Sound effects had been added, dialogue post-dubbed by the original actors, and new scenes filmed with additional new cast members. Donelan-1 at IMDb: “The lip synch is perfect, because Gance made the actors in the silent version speak their lines (perhaps anticipating the advent of sound). While we can hope that the 1927 version eventually makes it to DVD, the 1934 film stands on its own as one of the greatest historical films ever made.”

Although her popularity diminished after the 1930’s, Damia had enduring appeal that stretched to audiences as far away as Japan where she toured in 1953. A few years later she did a farewell tour, ending her more than forty year career in a double bill with Marie Dubasin in front of a full house at the Paris Olympia. In 1956 she also appeared in two more films. In the romantic drama Goubbiah, mon amour/Kiss of Fire (1956, Robert Darène), she played the mother of Goubbiah (Jean Marais). Her final film role was as a beggar in Notre-Dame de Paris/The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1956, Jean Delannoy), a French-Italian film version of the famous novel by Victor Hugo starring Anthony Quinn and Gina Lollobrigida. Her actual swansong, however, was singing Les Croix on La joie de vivre d'Edith Piaf, in 1956. When asked in 1974 by the Anglo-French biographer David Bret to divulge the secret of her long life and fabulous voice, Damia replied, "Three packs of Gitanes a day!" In 1978 Damia died at La Celle-Saint-Cloud, a western suburb of Paris, as the result of an accidental fall in the subway. She was interred in the Cimetière de Pantin. Today, she is ranked Number Three in the Chanson Réaliste after Edith Piaf and Barbara. Her songs can heard on the soundtracks of films by such modern directors as Aki Kaurismäki in La vie de bohème/The Bohemian Life (1992), Claude Chabrol in La fleur du mal/The Flower of Evil (2003) and Robert Guédiguian in L'armée du crime/Army of Crime (2009).

Sources: Luc Sante (HiLoBrow), Wikipedia (French and English) and IMDb.

Dutch postcard, no. 3140. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Presle's stage name in Hollywood was Micheline Prelle.

On 21 February, French actress Micheline Presle (1922-2024) passed away at 101. In the 1940s and 1950s, she formed the queen trio of French cinema with Michèle Morgan and Danielle Darrieux. The chic and elegant star gained worldwide attention for Le diable au corps/Devil in the Flesh (Claude Autant-Lara, 1947). The success of this film also earned Presle three roles in a Hollywood production, under the name Micheline Prelle. Over nine decades, La Presle made more than one hundred and fifty films.

Micheline Presle (sometimes Presles or Prelle) was born Micheline Nicole Julia Émilienne Chassagne in Paris in 1922. She was the daughter of a businessman and took acting classes as a teen. Her film debut was La Fessée/The Buttock (Pierre Caron, 1937) with Albert Préjean. In 1938 she was awarded the Prix Suzanne Bianchetti for the most promising actress. She took the name of Presle after her character's name Jacqueline Presle in Jeune fille en détresse/Girls in Distress (Georg Wilhelm Pabst, 1939). In the 1930s and the war years, Presle often played the lively young and naïve girl. Examples are La nuit fantastique/Fantastic Night (Marcel L'Herbier, 1942) and Falbalas/Paris Frills (Jacques Becker, 1944) with Raymond Rouleau. Presle became a 'vedette' of French cinema. After the war she played more serious roles as the streetwise young woman, such as the prostitute in Boule de suif/Angel and Sinner (Christian-Jaque, 1946), the adulteress in Le diable au corps/Devil in the Flesh (Claude Autant-Lara, 1947), and the ethereal woman coming back from the dead in Les jeux sont faits/Second Chance (Jean Delannoy, 1947). At the same time, she also played the female lead of Helene/Jone in the major Franco-Italian epic Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei/Sins of Pompeii (1950) by Paolo Moffa and Marcel L'Herbier, in whose films she was often performing during the 1940s. At the summit of her French career, Presle went to the US. She was offered a contract by 20th Century Fox and she worked in Hollywood under the name Prelle. She was first cast in Under My Skin (Jean Negulesco, 1950) with John Garfield, and then in American Guerrilla in the Philippines (Fritz Lang, 1950) with Tyrone Power. She was married to actor-turned-producer William Marshall (1950-54), who directed her in The Adventures of Captain Fabian (William Marshall, 1951), opposite Errol Flynn. The film flopped, Presle disliked Hollywood, divorced Marshall, and returned to France.

Back in France, Micheline Presle played in many films, such as Si Versailles m'était conté/Royal Affairs in Versailles (Sacha Guitry, 1953), Napoléon (Sacha Guitry, 1955), La mariée est trop belle/Her Bridal Night (Pierre Gaspard-Huit, 1956) opposite young Brigitte Bardot, and Christine (Pierre Gaspard-Huit, 1958) with Alain Delon and Romy Schneider. Presle also performed in Italy in Casa Ricordi/House Ricordi (Carmine Gallone, 1954), Beatrice Cenci/Castle of the Banned Lovers (Riccardo Freda, 1956) and she had a smaller part in Villa Borghese/It Happened in the Park (Gianni Franciolini, Vittorio de Sica, 1953). In 1959 she played opposite Hardy Kruger in Blind Date (Joseph Losey, 1959) and in 1962 Presle returned to Hollywood to play in the Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee vehicle If a Man Answers (Henry Levin, 1962), and subsequently in The Prize (Mark Robson, 1963) with Paul Newman. During the 1960s, she played in such popular films as Philippe de Broca's Le roi de coeur/The King of Hearts (1965), but also in the art films L'Assassino/The Assassin (Elio Petri, 1961), La Religieuse/The Nun (Jacques Rivette, 1965), Peau d'ane (Jacques Demy, 1970), and Mignon è partita/Mignon Has Come to Stay (Francesca Archibugi, 1989). From the early 1960s on, Presle also played in several French TV series, such as the long-running comedy Les saintes chéries (1965-1970). She has appeared frequently on the stage as well. Presle was nominated for a César as best supporting actress in I Want to Go Home (Alain Resnais, 1989). Since then, Presle performed regularly in film again. She was very visible in the films of her daughter, Tonie Marshall, such as in Pas très catholique/Something Fishy (Tonie Marshall, 1994) and France boutique (Tonie Marshall, 2003). In 2004, she received a special César for her entire oeuvre. At a very high age, Micheline Presle appeared in Thelma, Louise et Chantal (Benoît Pétré, 2010) starring Jane Birkin, and in the short family drama Je montrerai mes seins/I Show My Tits (Eduardo Sosa Soria, 2013). Her last cameo was in the film Tu veux... ou tu veux pas? (Tonie Marshall, 2014).Micheline Presle died of natural causes in 2024 in Nogent-sur-Marne (Val-de-Marne). She was 101. Her daughter Tonie Marshall passed away four years earlier.

Sources: Hans Beerekamp (Het Schimmenrijk - Ducth), Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), Allociné, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

French postcard by Edition des Studios-Rahma, Paris. Photo: Rhama. Publicity still for Les Mystères de Paris/The Mysteries of Paris (Charles Burguet, 1922) with Yvonne Sergyl as Louise Morel.

The French silent film serial Les Mystères de Paris/The Mysteries of Paris (Charles Burguet, 1922) is based on one of the most famous French novels in the 19th century. This serial novel by Eugène Sue was published in a French newspaper in 90 parts from 1842 to 1843. Novel and film elve in the seediest parts of Paris and have a sinister-looking gallery of unforgettable characters, including Monsieur Pipelet, La Chouette, Le Maître d'école (the Schoolmaster) and Le Chourineur.

The hero of the novel and the film is the mysterious and distinguished Rodolphe, disguised as a Parisian worker but in fact the Grand Duke of Gerolstein, a fictional kingdom of Germany. Rodolphe can speak in argot, is extremely strong and a good fighter. Yet he also shows great compassion for the lower classes, good judgment, and a brilliant mind. He can navigate all layers of society in order to understand their problems, and to understand how the different social classes are linked. Rodolphe is accompanied by his friends Sir Walter Murph, an Englishman, and David, a gifted black doctor, formerly a slave. The first figures they meet are Le Chourineur and La Goualeuse. Rodolphe saves La Goualeuse from Le Chourineur's brutality, and saves Le Chourineur from himself, knowing that the man still has some good in him. La Goualeuse is a prostitute, and Le Chourineur is a former butcher who has served 15 years in prison for murder. Both characters are grateful for Rodolphe's assistance, as are many other characters in the novel. At the end, Rodolphe goes back to Gerolstein to take on the role to which he was destined by birth.

The original novel was very long, in some editions over 1000 pages. But Les Mystères de Paris was an instant success, and singlehandedly increased the circulation of the newspaper Journal des débats. Sue was the first author to bring together so many characters from different levels of society within one novel, and thus his book was popular with readers from all classes. He showed how vice was not the only cause of suffering, but also caused by inhumane social conditions. The novel is melodramatic depicting a world where good and evil are clearly distinct. The novel was partly inspired by the Memoirs (1828) of the French criminal and criminalist Eugène François Vidocq, and by the works of James Fenimore Cooper: Sue took the plot structure of the Natty Bumppo novels and moved them to the city where buildings replaced trees and underworld gangs replaced Indians. Les Mystères de Paris paved the way for Victor Hugo's Les misérables and founded the ‘City mysteries’ genre, that explored the ‘mysteries and miseries’ of cities, like Les Mystères de Marseille by Émile Zola, Les Mystères de Londres by Paul Féval, and Les Nouveaux Mystères de Paris (featuring Nestor Burma) by Léo Malet. In America, Ned Buntline wrote The Mysteries and Miseries of New York in 1848. In 1988, Michael Chabon paid tribute to the genre with The Mysteries of Pittsburgh.

Les Mystères de Paris has been adapted several times for the stage and for the cinema. The first film adaptation, Les mystères de Paris (1909) was a short silent film by Victorin-Hippolyte Jasset for Éclair. Camille Bardou, who would return in the 1922 version, was in the cast. The next adaptation, Les mystères de Paris/Mysteries of Paris (1912), was made by Albert Cappellani for Pathé Frères. His brother Paul Capellani starred as Rodolphe. In Italy, Gustavo Serena directed and starred in a four-part serial, Parigi misteriosa (1917) for Caesar Film. The same year, another Italian film company, Megale Film, produced a competitive version, Il ventre di Parigi (Ubaldo Maria Del Colle, 1917). In 1920 followed a little known American version, The Mysteries of Paris (1920), directed by Ed Cornell for the Hub Cinemagraph Company of Boston. Two years later came another American version, Secrets of Paris (Kenneth S. Webb, 1922), with Lew Cody as King Rudolph and Montagu Love as the Schoolmaster. That same year the film serial Les mystères de Paris (Charles Burguet, 1922) was produced in France. The 12 episodes were written by André-Paul Antoine and Burguet. This serial had a stellar cast. Georges Lannes starred as Rodolphe. He was surrounded by such well known stars as Huguette Duflos as Fleur-de-Marie, Suzanne Bianchetti as Marquise d'Harville, Gaston Modot, Charles Lamy and the young Pierre Fresnay. Then, Henri Rollan played Rodolphe in the first sound version, Les mystères de Paris (Félix Gandéra, 1935). In Jacques de Baroncelli's version of 1943 Marcel Herrand played Rodolphe. In 1957 followed an Italian-French coproduction, I misteri di Parigi (Fernando Cerchio, 1957) with Frank Villard as Rodolpho. There were also TV versions, such as Les mystères de Paris (Marcel Cravenne, 1961) with Jacques Dacqmine. The best known sound film version is the French-Italian Swashbuckler Les Mystères de Paris/The Mysteries of Paris (André Hunebelle, 1962), starring Jean Marais. Hunebelle 's treatment keeps from Eugène Sue nothing but the proper nouns. Db du monteil writes at IMDb that the film has “ a muddled screenplay, even more far-fetched than Sue's mammoth work.” The most recent adaptation was the six-episode miniseries Les mystères de Paris (André Michel, 1980), a French-German coproduction starring Db du Monteil: “Although its running time is six hours and it's got a fine score, this made-for-TV work does not really succeed in recreating Sue's world. It's too clean, much too clean, the seediest parts of Paris are anything but Dantesque. A good thing was to use a German actor to play Rodolphe but it's not enough. I'm still waiting for the director who will do Sue's extravaganza justice.”

Sources: db du Monteil (IMDb), AllMovie, Wikipedia and IMDb.

French postcard by Editions du Globe (E.D.U.G.), Paris, no. 358. Photo: Sam Lévin.

The film career of French actress Etchika Choureau (1929) started very promising with three films and an award in 1953. During the 1950s, the beauty with the green eyes and long blond hair graced films in France, Germany, Italy and Hollywood. After a long affair with the Crown prince of Morocco, she tried to make a come-back but failed and retired.

Etchika Choureau was born Jeannine Paulette Verret in Paris in 1929 (some sources says 1923, others 1933). In 1948 the beautiful 19-year-old girl met Max Choureau, four years her senior whose parents are beekeepers in the Gâtinais. They fell in love and were married. After various jobs she enrolled in the Paris Conservatory of Arts to study drama. At her graduation she won the first prize in a contest with film diva Edwige Feuillère heading the jury. Actor Alain Cuny discovered her and pushed her to accept a beautiful role in the Italian film I vinti/The Vanquished (1953), an early work of legendary director Michelangelo Antonioni. This anthology film contains three stories of well-off youths in the post-war years who commit murders, one taking place in Paris, another in Rome, and another in London. In the French episode Sans Amour (Without Love), Choureay plays a young temptress in a gang of aimless youth from working-class families. They cold-bloodedly plan and carry out the murder of a boastful bourgeois classmate (Jean-Pierre Mocky), just out of envy. Antonioni had huge problems when he tried to find funding for such ambitious, resolutely downbeat material. The result was banned in France for a long time. In 1953 Choureau also divorced, but kept the name of her ex-husband as a pseudonym. That same year she starred in two more remarkable films. She played a mortally ill village girl in L'envers du paradis/The Other Side of Pardise (Edmond T. Gréville, 1953) starring Erich von Stroheim. The third film was Les enfants de l'amour/Children of Love (Léonide Moguy, 1953), a drama about unwed mothers in which she played a double role. It earned her that year le prix Suzanne-Bianchetti (the Suzanne Bianchetti award) for the Most Promising Actress. After this jump start, she made nine more films in France, Italy and Germany during the following years. Although she co-starred in these films with stars like Jean Marais, Michel Simon and Isa Miranda, none of these productions was memorable.

In 1957 Etchika Choureau tried to conquer Hollywood. She played the female leads in two American war films made by Warner Bros. In Darby's Rangers (William A. Wellman, 1958) she was the love interest of James Garner, and in Lafayette Escadrille (William A. Wellman, 1958) of Tab Hunter. According to the fan magazines Hunter was deeply in love with her, but his studio wouldn’t allow him to fly to Paris to visit her... She had a real love affair with Moulay Hassan II, the Crown Prince of Morocco. She retired from the screen. In 1961 their relationship suddenly ended when Hassan was proclaimed King of Morocco following the death of His Majesty Mohammed V. After an absence of four years, Choureau tried to revive her cinema career with three new roles. First she played the lead in the drama La prostitution/Prostitution (Maurice Boutel, 1963). The following year she had a small part in the romantic adventure film Angélique, marquise des anges/Angélique (Bernard Borderie, 1964), the first part of the romantic Angélique cycle, set in Mid-17th century France. This huge box office hit meant the breakthrough for lead actress Michèle Mercier, but did nothing for the career of Choureau. She played in only one more film, Paris au mois d'août/Paris in August (Pierre Granier-Deferre, 1966) as the wife of Charles Aznavour. Then she retired permanently. Three years later, she married auctioneer Philippe Rheims. Etchika Choureau had appeared in only seventeen films.

Sources: Yves Foucart (Les gens du Cinema), Michael Hastings (AllMovie), Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen, Wikipedia (French) and IMDb.

Frittelle di bianchetti

シラスのフリッテッレ

#ThisWeekAtARTLAB - ARTLAB's Senior students busy at work with Marianna Bianchetti, developing ideas to be submitted for The #YouthStartup Multimedia Program's call for 2015-2016 subgrant. We wish them all the luck.