Directed by Gaston Ravel

Gaston Ravel (1878–1958) was a French actor, screenwriter and film director. At Gaumont, he directed Musidora in various silent shorts. Later, he co-directed with Tony Lekain several films, including the historical film Le Collier de la reine / The Queen's Necklace. Ravel made over sixty films, in France, Italy and Germany.


French journal La Petite Illustration, no. 385, 9 June 1928. A special on the French silent film Madame Récamier (Gaston Ravel, Tony Lekain, 1928). Here are the two directors, photos by Maniezzi and G.L. Manuel.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 35. Maria Carmi as Isabella Inghirami in the Italian silent film Forse che sí, forse che no / Maybe Yes, Maybe No (Gaston Ravel, 1921), based on Gabriele d'Annunzio's eponymous novel (1910).


Italian postcard. Photo: Unione Cinematografica Italiana / Medusa Film. Carlo Gualandri in the Italian period piece Saracinesca (Gaston Ravel, 1921), based on the novel by Frances Marion Crawford. Caption: Don Giovanni Saracinesca.


Italian postcard. Photo: Medusa Film / Unione Cinematografica Italiana. Helena (Elena) Makowska and Guido Trento in the Italian silent film Idillio tragico (Gaston Ravel, 1922), based on a novel by Paul Bourget. Caption: Jealousy.


Picture from the French journal La Petite Illustration, no. 385, 9 June 1928. Special on the French silent film Madame Récamier (Gaston Ravel, Tony Lekain, 1928), starring Marie Bell as Juliette Récamier and Françoise Rosay as Madame de Staël.


French postcard by J.R.P.R., Paris, no. 301. Ernst Van Duren in the French silent film Figaro (Gaston Ravel, 1929), based on the play by Pierre Beaumarchais. Van Duren played the title role. Location shooting was done at the Château de Rochefort-sur-Yvelines.


French postcard by J.R.P.R., Paris, no. 309. Ernst Van Duren and Marie Bell in the French silent film Figaro (Gaston Ravel, 1929), based on the play by Pierre Beaumarchais.


Spanish postcard by Dümmatzen, no. 74. Diana Karenne and Marcelle Jefferson-Cohn (a.k.a. Marcelle Chantal) in Le Collier de la reine / The Queen's Necklace (Tony Lekain, Gaston Ravel, 1929). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Gaumont's collaborative team

Gaston Pierre Achille Ravel was born in 1878 in Paris, France. Ravel began his career as an actor at the turn of the century and turned to silent film on the eve of the First World War. One of his first films was Sainte-Odile (Gaston Ravel, 1914) with Musidora and Gabriel Signoret. He again directed Musidora in La petite réfugiée / The Little Refugee (Gaston Ravel, 1914) and La bouquetière des Catalans (Gaston Ravel, 1914), both with Claude Mérelle.

He joined the Gaumont filmmaking team after the construction of the Buttes Chaumont studios. This team often worked collaboratively, and Gaston Ravel co-directed numerous films. He quickly demonstrated his talent for directing. Jacques Feyder was his assistant director on Des pieds et des mains (1915) and Monsieur Pinson policier (1916) before directing his first feature, L'Atlantide.

Shortly after the war, he also filmed in Italy. He directed the divas Elena Lunda and Francesca Bertini in Il Nodo / The Knot (Gaston Ravel, 1921). Back in France, he directed the French serial Tao' (Gaston Ravel, 1923) starring Joë Hamman as an Asian villain. Achille Brunet at IMDb: "A French serial made in the direct aftermath of Louis Feuillade's celebrated movies. Just as Les Vampires or Tih-Minh, it's action-packed, full of twists, and if not perfect by any means, it ranks easily among the best serials of the time."

He directed the drama Ferragus (Gaston Ravel, 1923) starring René Navarre, Elmire Vautier and Stewart Rome. It is an adaptation of the 1833 novel of the same title by Honoré de Balzac. The film's sets were designed by the art director Tony Lekain, who also played a supporting part in the film. The two continued to work together. Then followed the dramas L'avocat / The Advocate (Gaston Ravel, 1925), based upon the play by Eugène Brieux and starring Rolla Norman, Mirales and Sylvio De Pedrelli, and Jocaste (Gaston Ravel, 1925), based on the novel by Anatole France and starring Thomy Bourdelle, Claude Mérelle and Sandra Milowanoff.

In 1926, Gaston Ravel accepted an offer to make three films in Germany. He worked for the small Berlin company Alga-Film with artists such as Eduard von Winterstein, Maly Delschaft, and Erna Morena. The first was the German-French coproduction Fräulein Josette - Meine Frau / Mademoiselle Josette ma femme / Mademoiselle Josette, My Woman (Gaston Ravel, 1926) starring Dolly Davis, Livio Pavanelli and Ágnes Eszterházy. It was shot at the Staaken Studios in Berlin and on location in Nice and at Lake Geneva. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Tony Lekain and Hermann Warm.


Italian postcard. Photo: Unione Cinematografica Italiana / Medusa Film. Carlo Gualandri (left) in the Italian period piece Saracinesca (Gaston Ravel, 1921), based on the novel by Frances Marion Crawford. Caption: The day he hears that the young Prince Saracinesca wants to marry Donna Tullia Mayer, the cardinal doesn't hide his disapproval.


Italian postcard. Photo: Unione Cinemagrafica Italiana / Medusa Film. Carlo Gualandri (here on the right) in the Italian period piece Saracinesca (Gaston Ravel, 1921), based on the novel by Frances Marion Crawford. Caption: Before the duel, Saracinesca gives his last will to his notary.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, unnumbered. Maria Carmi as Isabella Inghirami in the Italian silent film Forse che sí, forse che no (Gaston Ravel, 1921), based on Gabriele d'Annunzio's eponymous novel (1910).


Italian postcard by Ed. Vettori, Bologna, no. 2008. Maria Carmi and Ettore Piergiovanni in Forse che sì forse che no (Gaston Ravel, 1921), an adaptation of the novel by Gabriele D'Annunzio.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, unnumbered. Photo: Unione Cinematografica Italiana. Maria Carmi and Ettore Piergiovanni as Isabella Inghirami and Paolo Tarsis in the Italian silent film Forse che sí, forse che no (Gaston Ravel, 1921), based on Gabriele d'Annunzio's eponymous novel (1910). The maddened Isabella does not understand Paolo's pleas anymore.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano. Photo: Medusa Film / UCI. Helena/ Elena Makowska and possibly Guido Trento in the Italian silent film Rabagas (Gaston Ravel, 1922), based on a play by Victorien Sardou.


Italian postcard. Photo: Medusa Film / UCI. Dolly Morgan, Helena/ Elena Makowska and Guido Trento in the Italian silent film Idillio tragico (Gaston Ravel, 1922), based on a novel by Paul Bourget. Caption: Start of the idyll between Ely and Oliviero.


Italian postcard. Photo: Medusa Film / Unione Cinematografica Italiana. Guido Trento (right) in the Italian silent film Idillio tragico (Gaston Ravel, 1922), based on a novel by Paul Bourget. Caption: Pietro finds the dying Oliviero.

Co-directing with Tony Lekain

Back in France, Gaston Ravel co-directed with Tony Lekain the historical film Madame Récamier (1928) starring Marie Bell, Françoise Rosay, and Edmond Van Daële. The film portrays the life of Juliette Récamier, a French society figure of the Napoleonic Era.

In his later years, Gaston Ravel directed several sound films, often in collaboration with co-director Tony Lekain. The first was the synchronised sound French historical drama Le Collier de la reine / The Queen's Necklace (1929) starring Marcelle Chantal, Georges Lannes and Diana Karenne. While the film has no audible dialogue, it was released with a synchronised musical score with sound effects. The film is an adaptation of Alexandre Dumas's novel 'The Queen's Necklace', which portrays 'the Affair of the Diamond Necklace', which occurred before the French Revolution. Like many films from the early sound era, the film was shot as a silent film and then was synchronised with a musical score and sound effects soundtrack.

That same year, Lekain and Ravel made the historical comedy Figaro (1929) starring Ernst Van Duren, Arlette Marchal and Marie Bell. It is an adaptation of the 1778 Pierre Beaumarchais play 'The Marriage of Figaro', with material also used from its two sequels. It was released in 1929 in the US as a silent film, then reissued there in 1932 with an added music track, under the title Il Barbiere di Siviglia.

In the French historical drama Fanatisme (Gaston Ravel, Tony Lekain, 1934), he directed Hollywood diva Pola Negri, who was visiting Paris. That same year, he and Lekain made Le rosaire / The Rosary (Tony Lekain, Gaston Ravel, 1934) starring Louisa de Mornand, André Luguet and Hélène Robert. It is based on the 1909 novel 'The Rosary' by British writer Florence L. Barclay and its stage adaptation by Alexandre Bisson.

These were his final films. Gaston Ravel died in 1958 in Cannes, France. He was 79.


French postcard by J.R.P.R., Paris, no. 81. Photo: Franco-Film. Marie Bell de la Comédie-Française in Madame Récamier (Gaston Ravel, Tony Lekain, 1928).


French postcard by J.R.P.R., Paris, no. 95. François Rozet as the Prince of Prussia in Madame Récamier (Tony Lekain, Gaston Ravel, 1928).


French postcard by J.R.P.R., Paris, no. 303. Marie Bell, sociétaire of the Comédie Française, as Suzanne in the French silent film Figaro (Gaston Ravel, 1929), based on the play by Pierre Beaumarchais.


French postcard by J.R.P.R., Paris, no. 307. Photo: Roger Forster. Ernst/ Edmond Van Duren, Arlette Marchal and Marie Bell in the French silent film Figaro (Gaston Ravel, 1929), based on the play by Pierre Beaumarchais.


French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 441. Photo: Engberg. Jean Weber as the Chevalier Marc Rétaux de Villette in Le Collier de la reine (Gaston Ravel, Tony Lekain, 1929).


French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, no. 722. Marcelle Chantal, aka Marcelle Jefferson-Cohn in Le Collier de la reine / The Queen's Necklace (Gaston Ravel, Tony Lekain, 1929), which was inspired by Alexandre Dumas's tale.


Spanish illustration by Films selectos, Supplemento Artistico. Photo: Films Artistica Barcelonesa. Diana Karenne in Le Collier de la reine / The Queen's Necklace (Tony Lekain, Gaston Ravel, 1929).


Picture from the Spanish magazine Films selectos, Supplemento Artistico. Photo: Films Artistica Barcelonesa. Photo: Diana Karenne in Le Collier de la reine / The Queen's Necklace (Tony Lekain, Gaston Ravel, 1929).

Sources: Wikipedia (English, French and German) and IMDb.

La Collectionneuse: Clara Kimball Young

A woman of character hid behind Clara Kimball Young’s screen image of a serene beauty. In her youth, she led an unconventional love life and was involved in several lawsuits. In the second half of the 1910s, she rebelled against being simply an actress and expressed the desire to be in charge of artistic and business decisions as far as her career was concerned. She was one of the major female film stars of the 1910s. In the 1920s, her career went into decline, mostly due to changing tastes, financial mismanagement and unfortunate professional choices. At the end of the 1930s, she was reduced to bit roles and supporting parts. But, despite all this, Clara Kimball Young never emerged as a vain, pathetic, bitter or ever-complaining figure. She remained cheerful, optimistic, engaging and emotionally healthy.


French postcard issued by the Paris subsidiary of The Vitagraph Co., no. 34. Photo: Stacy / Vitagraph. French postcard. Caption: Artist of the Vitagraph Co.


British postcard. Early Vitagraph portrait. Photo: Stacy.

A theatrical family

Clara Kimball Young was born on the 6th of September 1890 in Illinois, U.S.A.

The 1890 U.S. Census lists her first name as Clarisa.

Her parents, Edward Kimball and Pauline Garrett, were travelling stock actors. Later, they would occasionally appear in their daughter’s films. Edward Kimball claimed descent from legendary British actress Sara Siddons (née Kemble), but genealogy research doesn’t seem to confirm this.

At age three, Clara made her stage debut and played child parts for some time. Thereafter, she spent several years at St. Francis Xavier Academy in Chicago to get formal schooling.

She then came back on stage and, at one point, married actor James Young.


American Octochrome postcard by Commercial Colortype Company, Chicago, no. M64. Photo: Vitagraph. Clara Kimball Young in My Official Wife (James Young, 1914).

One of Vitagraph’s most popular female stars

Clara Kimball Young and James Young soon showed interest in working in films and signed with Vitagraph. Several sources refer to their movie debut as early as 1909, but 1912 is a more plausible year. In his 1952 autobiography, Albert E. Smith, one of the owners of Vitagraph, wrote: "Clara Kimball Young was a natural for films and, before long, she was making $1000 a week".

She reminisced in 1922: "I began to see the motion picture industry with new eyes, and it dawned upon me that this was not a profession to use as a stop-gap until something on the legitimate stage loomed up, but was a tremendously important profession in itself".

Clara quickly became one of Vitagraph’s most popular female stars and showed great versatility by appearing in comedies as well as dramas. She was featured in numerous shorts such as Half a Hero (1912), The Picture Idol (1912), A Vitagraph Romance (1912), Lord Browning and Cinderella (1912), The Little Minister (1913), When Mary Grows Up (1913), Delayed Proposals (1913), The Wrath of Osaka (1913), The Hindoo Charm (1913), The Lonely Princess (1913), Cupid Versus Women’s Rights (1913), Goodness Gracious (1914), Her Husband (1914), The Violin of M’sieur (1914), … In several of these, she acted opposite her husband, who also successfully took the helm in directing.

Maybe inspired by rival Kalem studios’ trips to Ireland and the Middle East, Vitagraph sent her in December 1912, along with some other Vitagraph performers such as Maurice Costello, on a 6-month marathon expedition to countries such as Japan, China, Egypt, India, and Italy to star in pictures displaying exotic settings. At the time, it was rather innovative for an American movie company to film in multiple overseas locations. They came back in the very beginning of June 1913.

At Vitagraph, she probably had her greatest success in the feature My Official Wife (1914), as a Russian nihilist trying to assassinate the Czar. That same year, a poll conducted by Motion Picture Magazine named her the most popular film actress, just ahead of Mary Pickford.


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 943.


American promotional postcard for the screening of The Common Law (Albert Capellani, 1916) at the Stambaugh Opera House on the 9th and 10th of December 1916. Photo: Lewis J. Selznick Productions.

Lewis J. Selznick

Lewis J. Selznick, vice-president of World Film Company, soon showed great interest in Clara Kimball Young and signed her in 1914. They also became romantically involved.

Her first film for World was James Young’s Lola (1914), in which a gentle young girl who dies in a car accident is brought back to life by her scientist father and, in the process, unexpectedly transforms into a heartless adventuress. It was followed by The Deep Purple (1915), Hearts in Exile (1915), Marrying Money (1915), Trilby (1915), The Heart of the Blue Ridge (1915), Camille (1915), The Yellow Passport (1916), The Feast of Life (1916), The Dark Silence (1916) and The Heart of Susan (1916).

Of these eleven films, she made for World, five were directed by James Young. By early 1916, he sued Selznick for alienation of affection.

In 1916, Selznick was ousted from World by its board and left to create his own production company. He also took Clara with him.

He soon founded the Clara Kimball Young Film Corporation, with Clara as vice-president and famous filmmaker Albert Capellani as director general. So, she starred in four films, all distributed by Selznick’s company: The Foolish Virgin (1916), The Common Law (1916), The Price She Paid (1917) and The Easiest Way (1917).


British postcard in the Famous Cinema Stars series by Beagles, no. 104-A.

Craving for creative control

But things were going sour as Clara Kimball Young had found a new love interest, a Detroit exhibitor named Harry Garson, who soon took charge of her business affairs.

James Young, still obviously unhappy with Clara’s infidelities, attacked Garson with a penknife in February 1917. Clara boldly declared at the time: "I have no use for my husband". The Youngs’ divorce became final in 1919.

In June 1917, Clara sued Selznick, considering that he dominated her namesake company and that she had no authority over it. He countersued. Later that year, Adolph Zukor bought a half share of the Selznick Pictures Company and renamed it Select Pictures, with Selznick remaining as head of the studio.

A new C.K.Y. Film Corporation was created: Clara would produce her movies under her company but would distribute them through Select. It was said that she selected her own stories and plays, her own directors and her own supporting company. She could now exercise the most creative control she ever had up to that time.

She starred in, for example, Magda (1917), Shirley Kay (1917), The Marionettes (1918), The House of Glass (1918), The Savage Woman (1918), Cheating Cheaters (1919), The Better Wife (1919), …


British postcard in the Famous Cinema Stars series by Beagles, no. 104-B.

The end of the C.K.Y. Film Corporation and the birth of Garson Productions

In January 1919, Clara Kimball Young announced that she had served notice upon the C.K.Y. Film Corporation for flagrant violations of the terms of the contract.

Nevertheless, Selznick pointed out that Select owned all the stock in the C.K.Y. Film Corporation and that her contract ran until mid-1921.

In April 1919, Selznick bought out Zukor’s half share in the Select Company.

An agreement was reached in June 1919: Clara was released from her contract but had to pay Selznick $25.000 for each of her next 10 pictures. She started to work under a new banner, Harry Garson Productions, named after her paramour, and her films would be distributed by Equity Pictures, which was run by Herbert K. Somborn, who was Gloria Swanson’s husband from 1919 to 1923.

It all began well: Eyes of Youth (1919) was released in November 1919 and was a hit. The sexual magnetism Rudolph Valentino displayed in this movie, in a small part as a seductive con-man hired to compromise Clara, allegedly brought him to the attention of screenwriter June Mathis, who campaigned to get him his breakthrough role in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921).


French postcard in the 'Collection des vedettes de la Select Pictures' series.

Decline

Unfortunately, Harry Garson decided to turn to directing.

He took the helm of Clara’s next eight pictures: The Forbidden Woman (1920), For the Love of Rafael (1920), Mid-Channel (1920), Hush (1921), Straight from Paris (1921), Charge It (1921), What No Man Knows (1921 and The Worldly Madonna (1922).

Garson was not the best of directors, but Clara was still in love and stood by him. However, for someone who had earlier worked with such experienced filmmakers as James Young, Maurice Tourneur, Albert Capellani, Emile Chautard, Robert G. Vignola and Allan Dwan, it didn’t bode well.

The suits were reactivated when, in November 1920, Selznick claimed that Clara and Harry Garson had not sent him $25,000 per picture per their agreement. The Judge ruled in his favour. That same year, a bank sued her to recover an overdue loan.

As the 1920s went by, Clara’s career went into decline. Her acting style gradually appeared old-fashioned. Her increasingly mature and matronly appearance didn’t help. Nor did Harry Garson’s uninspired handling of direction.


British postcard in the Famous Cinema Stars series by Beagles, no. 104-D. Photo: Walturdaw Pictures.

Her last silent films

In 1922, Clara Kimball Young signed with independent producer Samuel Zierler. She starred for him in five films, all distributed by Metro: The Hands on Nara (1922), which was her last one under Harry Garson’s direction, Enter Madame (1922), The Woman of Bronze (1923), Cordelia the Magnificent (1923) and A Wife’s Romance (1923).

Metro did its best to promote them, but it was probably too late.

1925 saw the release of her last silent movie, Ivan Films Productions’ Lying Wives (1925), in a villainous role opposite Madge Kennedy.

She then appeared for some time in Vaudeville.

At some point, she finally separated from Garson and married dentist Arthur Fauman in 1928. Her husband would pass away in 1937.


Spanish postcard in the Kursaal series. Photo: Witzel, L.A.

A comeback in talkies

In 1931, she came back to the screen in a Dorothy MacKaill vehicle, Kept Husbands (1931).

Then came offers from Poverty Row studios for leading roles in two movies: Mother and Son (1931) was distributed by Monogram, and Women Go on Forever (1931) by Tiffany. Those low-budget offerings didn’t relaunch her career. In 1932, she had to sell some of her belongings at an auction due to financial problems.

Thereafter, she played bit parts and supporting roles until 1941. She notably was Bela Lugosi’s sister in The Return of Chandu (1934), supported the Three Stooges in the short Ants in the Pantry (1936) and appeared opposite William Boyd in three Westerns from the Hopalong Cassidy series, Three on the Trail (1936), Hills of Old Wyoming (1937) and The Frontiersmen (1938). She was even a brothel madam in the cheaply made exploitation film The Wages of Sin (1938).

However, she didn’t complain and remained objective and philosophical about her plight. In 1934, she said: "Fame is fleeting, particularly so in the movies, and actresses must accept what Fate gives them. I had my share of glory".

She retired after Mr. Celebrity (1941), in which she played herself, opposite another old-timer, Francis X. Bushman. One critic said: "Many persons will be touched at seeing again the old favourites, Francis X. Bushman and Clara Kimball Young, who appear throughout the picture". About stopping working in films, she declared: "I think I deserve the chance to quit and just enjoy life".


British postcard in the Pictures Portrait Gallery series, no. A 21.

I’m living today. I’m in the rocket ship era

In the 1950s, Clara Kimball Young began to make the rounds of early film conventions. On such an event in Westhampton in 1956, publicist and author John Springer noticed: "Miss Young was tireless - the first to arrive, the saltiest conversationalist, and the last to leave".

Clara was never nostalgic. In 1955, she had declared: "I’m living today, I’m in the rocket ship era".

In 1956, she signed on as a Hollywood correspondent with Johnny Carson’s TV show on CBS. An enthusiastic and cheerful Clara stated, "I hope my reporting does more than entertain. Nobody has to be old at sixty, and I think senior citizens will get the idea when they see how full of pep I am. You have to keep your mind trained on the present and your eyes to the future if you want to stay young. I’ve seen my ups and downs, and I haven’t regretted a minute. I’ll be working with current stars and newcomers, so I don’t have to worry about getting old".

In 1960, she entered the Motion Picture Country Home. Among the other residents was Gareth Hughes, who had played her younger brother in Eyes of Youth (1919). Under the religious name of 'Brother David', he had become a Christian missionary to the Paiute Indians in 1946.

Clara Kimball Young died of a stroke on the 15th of October 1960, and Gareth Hughes co-officiated at the rites upon her funeral.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 828/1, 1925-1926. Photo: Bafag (British-American Films A.G.).


Postcard probably produced for the Cuban market, stamped on the back 'Photo Cinema Star Co. Habana'. Photo: Witzel.

Text and postcards: Marlene Pilaete.

Jean Murat

French actor Jean Murat (1888-1968) became a star as a handsome young soldier in silent films of the 1920s. Later, he appeared in such classic French films as La Kermesse Heroique (1935) and L'Eternel retour (1943).


French postcard by EC, no. 648. Photo: publicity still for Vénus / Venus (Louis Mercanton, 1929). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


French postcard by Viny, no. 48. Photo: C.F.C.


French postcard, no. 56. Photo: Studio Rudolph.


French postcard by Edition Ross, no. 3643. Photo: Ufa.


French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 923. Photo: Marcel Vandal et Charles Delac. Jean Murat in La châtelaine du Liban / The Lady of Lebanon (Jean Epstein, 1934).


French postcard by SERP, Paris, no. 20. Photo: Studio Harcourt.

Handsome and honourable young man

Jean Murat was born in Périgueux in the Dordogne in 1888. He studied in Périgueux and Rennes, and also in Indochina. Murat started his career as a correspondent in Berlin for a French newspaper. After serving in the First World War as a news correspondent, he began an acting career.

He made his first, uncredited film appearance in Mothers of Men (Edward José, 1921). His first major role was in Souvent Femme Varie / Forsaking All Others (Jean Legrand, 1923) opposite Claude France. He played supporting parts in the epic silent version of Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen (Jacques Feyder, 1926) starring Raquel Meller, the drama La proie du vent / The Prey of the Wind (René Clair, 1927) with Charles Vanel, and the last (silent) film of Hollywood star Constance Talmadge, the society comedy Vénus (Louis Mercanton, 1929).

Apart from the handsome and honourable young man roles he also played unsympathetic roles in films like La galerie des monstres / The Gallery of Monsters (Jaque Catelain, 1924) with Lois Moran. He also appeared in several German productions such as Valencia (Jaap Speyer, 1927) with María Dalbaicín and Oscar Marion, Heimweh / Homesick (Gennaro Righelli, 1927) starring Mady Christians, and Flucht aus der Hölle / Escape from Hell (Georg Asagaroff, 1928) with Fritz Alberti.

A success was his role in the early talkie La Nuit est à Nous / The Night is Ours (Roger Lion, Henry Roussel, 1928) with Marie Bell. This Ufa production was an alternate-language version of Die Nacht gehört uns / The Night is Ours (Carl Froelich, Henry Roussel, 1929), starring Charlotte Ander and Hans Albers. The sound film allowed audiences to hear his beautiful, deep voice.

Another success was the Paramount production Un Trou dans le Muir / The Hole In the Wall (René Barberis, 1930) with Dolly Davis, based on a play by Yves Mirande. He also appeared opposite the Italian diva Francesca Bertini in La femme d'une nuit / Woman of One Night (Marcel L'Herbier, 1930).


French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, Paris, no. 187.


French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, Paris, no. 524.


French postcard by Cinémagazine-Sélection, Paris, no. 647.


French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, Paris, no. 1018. Photo: Studio Rudolph.


French postcard by A.N., Paris, nr. 819. Photo: Studio Lorelle / Film Pathé-Natan.


French postcard. Photo: Studio Lorelle, Paris.


French postcard by J.R.P.R., Paris. Photo: G.L. Manuel Frères.


French postcard in the Les Grandes Vedettes series by Radiogravure A. Breger Frères, Paris. Photo: Pathé-Natan.

Eternal return

Even in his forties, Jean Murat retained the youthful leading man looks that had vaulted him to stardom. In 1931, he married the gorgeous actress Annabella. Together they starred in films like Paris-Méditerranée / Companion Wanted (Joe May, 1932), Mademoiselle Josette, ma femme / Miss Josette, My Wife (André Berthomieu, 1933) and L'équipage / Flight into Darkness (Anatole Litvak, 1935).

The pair divorced in 1938. Among Murat’s most famous roles were the Duke in La Kermesse Heroique / Carnival in Flanders (Jacques Feyder, 1935) and Marc in L'Éternel retour / Eternal Return (Jean Delannoy, 1943) starring Jean Marais.

La Kermesse Heroique is set during the war between the Dutch and Spanish. A tiny village in Flanders is invaded by Spanish troops. The townsfolk have heard of Spanish cruelties in other towns and decide to deflect the vanquishers with a lavish carnival. The award-winning film was banned in Germany. Josef Goebbels caught on that director Jacques Feyder and scenarists Bernard Zimmer and Charles Spaak were drawing deliberate parallels between the Spanish and the then-burgeoning Nazis.

At French Films, James Travers writes: “This enduring classic of French cinema is often cited as director Jacques Feyder’s finest film, and it certainly earned him great acclaim on its release in 1935.”

L'Éternel retour is a translation of the Tristan and Isolde legend into contemporary terms. According to Hal Erickson at AllMovie, “the dream-like quality of Eternal Return is due more to the input of screenwriter Jean Cocteau than director Delannoy. The film, with its mystical trappings and ethereal performances, can now be viewed as a precursor to Cocteau's own Beauty and the Beast.” James Travers at French Films notes: “The result is an intensely moving film about love, jealousy and malice, captivating in its lyrical charm, yet haunting in its assessment of the worst in human nature.”


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3950/1, 1928-1929. Photo: United Artists.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7131/2, 1932-1933. Photo: Ufa. Jean Murat and Käthe von Nagy in Le Vainqueur / The Victor (Hans Hinrich, Paul Martin, 1932).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8059/1, 1933-1934. Photo: Willinger, Wien (Vienna).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8894/1, 1933-1934 Photo: Ufa.


French postcard by Edition Ross, no. 2423. Photo: Ufa.


French postcard by Editions P-C, Paris, no. 17. Photo: Ufa. Jean Murat sang the march 'Les Gars de la marine' in Le Capitaine Craddock / Monte Carlo Madness (Hanns Schwarz, Max de Vaucorbeil, 1931). Text by Jean Boyer and music by Werner R. Heymann. Copyright: Ufaton Verlag, Berlin / Editions Salabert, Paris, in 1931. Sent by mail in 1932.


French postcard by Editions P-C, Paris, no. 29. Photo: Ufa (A.C.E.). Käthe von Nagy and Jean Murat sang the waltz 'Le route du bonheur' in Le Vainqueur / The Victor (Hans Hinrich, Paul Martin, 1932), an alternate-language version of Der Sieger (Hans Hinrich, Paul Martin, 1932) with Hans Albers in the role of Murat. 'Le route du bonheur' was a French version of the song 'Es führt kein andrer Weg zur Seligkeit'. Text by Jean Boyer and music by Werner R. Heymann. Copyright: Ufaton Verlag, Berlin / Editions Salabert, Paris, 1932.


French postcard by Editions P-C, Paris, no. 33. Photo: Ufa (ACE). Jean Murat and Käthe von Nagy sang the march-foxtrot 'Voilà l'travail' in Le Vainqueur / The Victor (Hans Hinrich, Paul Martin, 1932), the alternate-language version of Der Sieger (Hans Hinrich, Paul Martin, 1932). Text: Jean Boyer, and music by W.R. Heymann. Copyright: Ufaton Verlag, Berlin / Ed. Salabert, Paris, 1932.

Lady Chatterley’s lover

From the 1940s on, Jean Murat became a bit old for the roles of handsome leading man, and he interpreted mainly supporting roles in such films as Bethsabée (Léonide Moguy, 1947) with Danielle Darrieux and Georges Marchal.

Murat's handful of English-language appearances includes On the Riviera (Walter Lang, 1951) with Danny Kaye and the MGM musical Rich, Young and Pretty (Norman Taurog, 1951) starring Jane Powell. Hal Erickson noted that “neither of which was worthy of his talents”.

Among his better-known French films were Si Versailles m’était conté / Royal Affairs in Versailles (Sacha Guitry, 1954), the Jean-Paul Sartre adaptation Huis Clos / No Exit (Jacqueline Audry, 1954) with Arletty, and L'Amant de Lady Chatterley / Lady Chatterley’s Lover (Marc Allégret, 1955) starring Danielle Darrieux and based on the famously forbidden novel by D.H. Lawrence.

Successful were also Les Grandes Familles / The Great Families (Denys de la Patelliere, 1958), and Les Misérables (Jean-Paul Le Chanois, 1958), both starring Jean Gabin. James Travers describes Les Grandes Familles as “a pretty run-of-the-mill drama concerned with a deadly feud between two cousins of a notoriously successful family dynasty.”

Among his last films were the episode L’ Envie / Envy by Edouard Molinaro in the portmanteau Les Sept Péchés Capitaux / The Seven Mortal Sins (1962), and the Jayne Mansfield vehicle It Happened in Athens (Andrew Marton, 1962). Jean Murat died in 1968 from coronary thrombosis in Aix-en-Provence, France. He was 79. He and Annabella had a daughter.


French postcard by Erpé, no. 690. Jean Murat in L'équipage / Flight Into Darkness (Anatole Litvak, 1935).


French postcard by EDUG, no. 1044. Photo: R. Solof, Paris.


French postcard by EC (Editions Chantal), no. 88. Photo: Studio Piaz.


French postcard, no. 781.


French postcard by Editions O.P., Paris, no. 17. Photo: Star.


French postcard by Edit. Chantal, Rueil (S.-O.), no. 87. Photo: U.F.P.C.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 115. Photo: Star.


Scenes from L'Eternel Retour / Eternal Return (1943). Source: Jean-Claude Deroudilhe (YouTube).

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie - Page now defunct), James Travers (French Films), Wikipedia (French), and IMDb.