- Henri Diamant-Berger
Henri Diamant-Berger (
June 9 ,1895 -May 7 ,1972 ) was a Frenchscreenwriter ,film director and producer.Born in
Paris, France to aJew ish family, he studied to be alawyer but was drawn to themotion picture business. He began his career in the cinema in 1916 as asilent film screenwriter but within a few years was behind the camera, directing. In addition to writing screenplays, during the period of 1916 to 1919 he also published and edited a film magazine and books about the movies. Hired byPathé , in 1918 he was sent toFort Lee, New Jersey to help set up the company's film laboratory. Returning home, Pathé had him set up a laboratory inVincennes as well as organize a film studio inBoulogne-Billancourt .In 1921, Henri Diamant-Berger directed the first ever film version of "
The Three Musketeers " novel byAlexandre Dumas, père . By the end of the decade he had successfully made the transition totalkies and among his notable sound films was a remake of "The Three Musketeers" in 1933, this time creating a six-hour epic for which he wrote the screen adaptation.For a short time in the mid-1920s, Henri Diamant-Berger made pictures in the United States including the 1925 drama "Fifty-Fifty" starring
Lionel Barrymore . Through the Barrymore connection he acquired the screen rights for his 1932French-language film "Claire de lune" that was a 1921 Broadway play written by John Barrymore's ex-wife,Blanche Oelrichs . Among his other directorial efforts is the 1927 silent film, "Éducation de Prince ", and twoArsène Lupin detective films in 1937. However, after directing "Tourbillon de Paris" in 1939, he lost eight full years toWorld War II . In 1951 he directed the acclaimed drama "Monsieur Fabre " starringPierre Fresnay .During the 1960s, Diamant-Berger devoted himself exclusively to producing, making several successful films including "La Belle Américaine" in 1961, "Un drôle de paroissien" in 1963 and "Allez France! " in 1966.
In a career that lasted sixty years, Henri Diamant-Berger was part of more than one hundred films as a director, producer or screenwriter. He died in Paris in 1972.
External links
*imdb name|id= 0224543|name= Henri Diamant-Berger
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.