Pierre Chenal

Directing·Dec 5, 1904·Bruxelles, Belgique

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Philippe Cohen, known as Pierre Chenal, is a French director, born December 5, 1904 in Brussels and died December 23, 1990 in La Garenne-Colombes. Chenal occupies an uncomfortable place in the history of French cinema: relatively unknown, he is cataloged as a filmmaker who left only a light body of work. His detailed filmography, however, tends to show the opposite. Made in the 1930s, his first short films were documentaries where the filmmaker used social realism. The Little Trades of Paris (1932) or A French City of Cinema had a didactic ambition which ranked him among the innovators at the time. Throughout his work, Pierre Chenal will maintain this taste for atmospheres tinged with truth where the social is shown. Hence his very marked penchant for adaptations of literary works by his contemporaries: he borrowed from Marcel Aymé the title of one of his first feature films, La rue sans nom (1933); summons Pirandello and The Man from Nowhere (1937); depicts The Mutineers of Elsinore by Jack London; and transforms James Cain's novel The Postman Always Rings Twice to give The Last Turn. Pierre Chenal loves actors and casts the biggest ones. Louis Jouvet, Robert Le Vigan, Michel Simon, Pierre Blanchar, Viviane Romance and Albert Préjean praise his talent. In 1940, the filmmaker's career took a new turn when he retreated, during the war, to Argentina and Chile. He made a few minor films there, then returned to France with comic intentions expressed in Clochemerle (1947). In 1948, Chenal returned to Argentina and adapted Sangre Negra by the American noir novelist Richard Wright. Then, he developed a passion for thrillers and experimented with the genre on several occasions. But Raid on the City (1958), The Beast on the Prowl (1959) and The Assassin Knows the Music (1963) are not considered to be his best films.

Film	Credit
Le hasard mène le Jeu1985 · Writer, Director	Writer, Director
Versatile Lovers1970 · Director	Director
L'assassin connaît la musique1963 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
The Night They Killed Rasputin1960 · Writer, Director	Writer, Director
Beast at Bay1959 · Director	Director
Dangerous Games1958 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
Sinners of Paris1958 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
Missing Persons Section1956 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
The Idol1952 · Screenplay, Director	Screenplay, Director
Native Son1951 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
Scandals of Clochemerle1948 · Director	Director
Devil and the Angel1946 · Director	Director
El viaje sin regreso1946 · Director	Director
Se abre el abismo1945 · Director	Director
The Corpse Breaks a Date1944 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
A Real Man1943 · Director	Director
The Last Turning1939 · Director	Director
Sirocco1938 · Director	Director
The Lafarge Case1938 · Director	Director
Alibi1937 · Director	Director
The Man from Nowhere1937 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
Les mutinés de l'Elseneur1936 · Screenplay, Director	Screenplay, Director
Crime and Punishment1935 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Les suites d'un premier lit1935 · Director	Director
Street Without a Name1934 · Writer, Director	Writer, Director
Fat Man's Worries1933 · Director	Director
Small Trades in Paris1932 · Director	Director
Bâtir1931 · Director, Writer, Producer	Director, Writer, Producer
L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui1930 · Writer, Director	Writer, Director
Paris Cinéma1929 · Self, Director	Self, Director