Delluc, Louis

(October 14, 1890, Cadouin, Dordogne, France - March 22, 1924, Paris, France)

   He settled in Paris at age fifteen to complete his secondary studies but dropped out of high school to become a journalist in 1909. In 1910, he published his first dramatic review in Comoedia illustré. He wrote poems and plays. Thanks to actress Eve Francis (1886-1980), he watched Cecil B. DeMille's The Cheat and fell in love with cinema. In 1917, Henri Diamant-Berger published his first film review in Film and hired him as chief editor. In January 1919, he married Eve Francis, who starred in the movies he directed and the one he wrote (1920 La Fête espagnole, Germaine Dulac). He never stopped writing in film magazines (1918 Paris Midi; 1923-1924 Bonsoir). In 1920, he co-founded Le Journal du Ciné-Club and then, in 1921, Cinéa. He was a pioneer of cine-clubs. His novel Le Train sans Yeux was brought to the screen by Alberto Cavalcanti in 1926, two years after his death from tuberculosis. Other credit (as actor): 1921 Prométhée . . . Banquier (Marcel L'Herbier). Books: 1919 Cinéma et Cie (Grasset); 1920 Photogénie (De Brunhoff); 1921 Charlot (De Brunhoff; English edition: 1922 Charlie Chaplin, John Lane, London; American edition: 1922 Charlie Chaplin, The Bodley Head Ltd., New York).

 Filmography

1920 ◘ Le Silence (short)

        ◘ Lumée noire (co-director with René Coiffard; also screenwriter)

1921 ◘ Le Tonnerre (short; also screenwriter)

        ◘ Le Chemin d'Ernoa / L'Américain ou Le Chemin d'Ernoa / L'Américain / USA: Ernoa's Way (co-director with René Coiffard; also screenwriter)

        ◘ Pièvre / La Boue (also screenwriter; the movie was banned and then cut)

1922 ◘ La Femme de nulle Part (also screenwriter)

1924 ◘ L'Inondation (also screenwriter, adapter)