Marc Allégret
Marc Allégret was a French director and photographer, born on December 23, 1900 in Basel and died on November 3, 1973 in Paris.
In addition to film directing, he had a passion for discovering new talent. With an expert eye, he helped start the careers of future stars including Brigitte Bardot, Simone Simon and Jeanne Moreau.
From the age of seventeen, Marc Allégret was fascinated by the writer André Gide, who became his lover for a decade. Thanks to Gide, Allégret met the artists and writers of France, such as Paul Valéry, Picasso, Man Ray, Jean Cocteau, Erik Satie, and later Saint-Exupéry.
Gide and Allégret went to the Congo together, with Allégret as Gide's official "secretary". He took advantage of this to develop his talents as a photographer and filmmaker. In 1928, Marc Allégret's first film was released: the famous Voyage au Congo (produced by Pierre Braunberger), which remains an exceptional document on Africa at that time.
From 1930, Marc Allégret, helped by his friend the producer Pierre Braunberger, became a great director. In 1932, he directed Marcel Pagnol's Fanny, with the scriptwriter Françoise Giroud at his side. His films were essentially based on a charming romanticism to the glory of youth and from 1930 to 1960, he directed two or even three feature films a year.
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Julietta
Directed by Marc Allégret • Drama • With Jean Marais, Dany Robin, Jeanne Moreau • 1953 • 97 minutes
JULIETTA is a romantic comedy with the whimsical energy of a hummingbird. Dany Robin stars as the eponymous demoiselle, a flighty, impulsive pixie in white gloves who is engaged to an older prince...
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Lady Chatterley's Lover
Directed by Marc Allégret • Drama • With Danielle Darrieux, Leo Genn, Erno Crisa, Jean Murat • 1955 • 100 minutes
This is the first film of D.H. Lawrence’s controversial novel, which premiered in 1955, five years before the uncensored novel even appeared in print in the UK. Danielle Darrieux (in...
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School for Love
Directed by Marc Allégret • Drama • With Jean Marais, Brigitte Bardot, Isabelle Pia, Yves Robert • 1955 • 96 minutes
Brigitte Bardot was only 20 when she starred in this adaptation of a 1920 Vicki Baum novel. She’s Sophie, one of a platoon of young music conservatory students in postwar Vienna, ...
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Travels in the Congo (Voyage au Congo)
Directed by Marc Allégret • Documentary • 1927 • 117 minutes
In 1925, Marc Allégret accompanied André Gide on a journey to French Equatorial Africa, the Congo, as his secretary, and novice filmmaker. Filming throughout their 11-month travels, and only three years after Nanook of the North, Allég...
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With André Gide
Directed by Marc Allégret • Documentary • 1951 • 92 minutes
Nobel-prize-winning author, social justice crusader, anti-colonialist, adventure traveler, musician, and one-time Communist: André Gide was a larger-than-life character who dominated French letters from the turn of the 20th century to h...
