- Clément, René
- (March 18, 1913, Bordeaux, Gironde, France - March 17, 1996, Monte Carlo)After completing his secondary studies, he entered the Beaux-Arts, where he attended architecture courses. He directed his first short, a cartoon, at age twenty. Obliged to work after the death of his father, he gave up his studies. In 1934, he met the young Jacques Tati, with whom he made a comedy short two years later. Then he discovered Tunisia with Jean Lehérissey and shot a documentary, Au Seuil de l'Islam. In 1938, he went with the anthropologist Jules Barthou to Yemen, where he filmed three shorts with a hidden camera (they would be released as a single movie, L'Arabie interdite). After being demobilized in 1940, he moved to the "Zone Sud" (South Zone, the former unoccupied part of France) and directed two shorts with cinematographer Henri Alekan. In 1945, he shot his first feature film, La Bataille du Rail / USA: The Battle of the Rails, an evocation of the French railroad men's resistance to the Nazi occupying forces filmed as a documentary, which won the 1946 Cannes Film Festival International Jury Prize. He received the 1954 Cannes Film Festival Grand Prize for Monsieur Ripois. He had been an occasional assistant director (1934 On demande une Brute, short, Charles Barrois; 1945 La Boîte aux Rêves, Yves Allégret, Jean Choux, shot in 1943). Other credit (as technical adviser): 1946 La Belle et la Bête / UK and USA: Beauty and the Beast (Jean Cocteau).Filmography1933 ◘ César et les Gaulois (animated short)◘ Soigne ton Gauche (short; also cinematographer)◘ L'Arabie interdite (documentary; short)◘ Flèche d'Argent (short)◘ La Grande Chartreuse (documentary; short)◘ La Bièvre, Fille perdue (short)◘ Paris la Nuit (documentary; short)◘ Toulouse (documentary; short)◘ Le Triage (documentary; short)◘ Chefs de Demain / On demande des Hommes (medium-length; also screenwriter, dialogist, production designer)◘ Ceux du Rail (short)◘ La Grande Pastorale (documentary; short)1944 ◘ Paris sous la Batte (documentary)1946 ◘ La Bataille du Rail / USA: The Battle of the Rails (also co-screenwriter)◘ Le Père tranquille / USA: Mr. Orchid (co-director with Noël Noël)1947 ◘ Les Maudits / UK and USA: The Damned (also co-adapter)◘ Au-delà des Grilles / Trois Jours d'Amour / La mura di Malapaga / USA: The Walls of Malapaga (France / Italy)◘ Le Château de Verre / L'amante di una notte (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist; France / Italy)1952 ◘ Jeux interdits / UK: The Secret Game / USA: Forbidden Games (also co-adapter)1954 ◘ Monsieur Ripois / Knave of Hearts / USA: Lovers, Happy Lovers! / Lover Boy (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist; France / UK)1956 ◘ Gervaise (France / Italy)1958 ◘ Barrage contre le Pacifique / La diga sul Pacifico / This Angry Age / UK: The Sea Wall (France / Italy / USA)1960 ◘ Plein Soleil / Delitto in pieno sole / UK: Blazing Sun / UK and USA: Purple Noon / USA: Lust for Evil (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist; France / Italy)1961 ◘ Che gioia vivere / Quelle Joie de vivre! (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter; France / Italy)◘ Le Jour et l'Heure / Il giorno e l'ora / UK: Today We Live / USA: The Day and the Hour (also co-adapter; France / Italy)◘ Les Félins / UK: The Love Cage / USA:Joy House (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter)1966 ◘ Paris brûle-t-il? / Is Paris Burning? (France / USA)◘ Le Passager de la Pluie / L'uomo venuto dalla pi-oggia / USA: Rider on the Rain / US video: Rain (France / Italy)◘ La Maison sous les Arbres / Unico indizio: una sciarpa gialla / UK: Death Scream / The House Under the Trees / USA: The Deadly Trap (also co-screenwriter; France / Italy)◘ La Course du Lièvre à travers les Champs / La corsa della lepre attraverso i campi / USA: And Hope to Die (France / Italy)1975 ◘ La Baby-Sitter / Babysitter—Un maledetto pasticcio / Das grosse Ding / USA: The Raw Edge / LA. Babysitter / Wanted: Babysitter (also co-screenwriter; France / Italy / West Germany)
Encyclopedia of French film directors . Philippe Rège. 2011.
