Le Capitan

Le Capitan/The Captain (1946, Robert Vernay) was one of the popular Sword and Dagger films (or Swashbucklers) made in France in the years after the Second World War. It was produced by the Compagnie Franco Coloniale Cinématographique (CFCC). To promote the film, a series of wonderful postcards was published by A.N. in Paris. The pictures for the cards are atmospheric portraits of the main actors in character, shot by the Parisian photographer and cinematographer Pierre Ancrenaz.


Pierre Renoir as the Duke of Angouleme in Le Capitan (1946).
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 1228. Photo: Ancrenaz / C.F.C.C.


Claude Génia as Gisèle d'Angoulême in Le Capitan (1946). French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 1225. Photo: Ancrenaz / C.F.C.C.

The Cast
Le Capitan/The Captain stars Pierre Renoir as the Duke of Angoulême, and Claude Génia as his daughter Gisèle d’Angoulême, and Jean Pâqui as Le Capitan. Co-stars are Sophie Desmarets as Marion Delorme, Huguette Duflos as Marie de Medici, Aimé Clairiond as Concino Concini, and Lise Delamare as his wife, Léonore Caligaï. Other cast members were Jean Tissier as Cogelin, Maurice Escande as Le prince de Condé, Alexandre Rignault as Rinaldo, and Serge Emrich as the young Louis XIII. The script for the film was written by director Robert Vernay himself and was based on a novel by Michel Zévaco.


Sophie Desmarets as Marion Delorme in Le Capitan (1946). French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 1239. Photo: Ancrenaz / C.F.C.C.


Huguette Duflos as Marie de Medici in Le Capitan (1946). French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 1223. Photo: Ancrenaz / C.F.C.C.

The plot
Le Capitan is the nickname of young Adhémar de Capestang (Jean Pâqui). In 1616 he arrives in Paris looking for fortune. He falls in love with beautiful Gisele d’Angouleme. Her father, though, is messed up in a conspiracy against the young king Louis XIII (Serge Emrich). Marshall Concino Concini (Aimé Clariond) wants to keep the power that his lover, queen-mother Marie de Médicis (Huguette Duflos), gave to him. The Captain fights the conspiracy, and defends the young king. At the end Concini is killed.


Aimé Clariond as Concini in Le Capitan (1946).
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 1228. Photo: Ancrenaz / C.F.C.C.


Alexandre Rignault as Renaldo in Le Capitan (1946).
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 1229. Photo: Ancrenaz / C.F.C.C.

The History
Concini and his wife, Leonora Dori Galigai, really existed. Galigai was a favourite of Maria de Medici. When Maria became queen consort of Henry IV, Leonora followed her to France. After the death of Henry IV in 1610, Maria became regent of France. Galigai managed to lift her husband Concino Concini (who may have had a say in Henry IV's murder) to the rank of Marshall of France and he supposedly became the Queen's lover. Because of her epilepsy, Galigai was believed to be possessed. The superstitious Queen hired her for exorcism and white magic, and paid her huge sums. Galigai earned extra by bribing anyone who wanted access to the Queen. Galigai and Concini practically ruled France, favoriting Tuscan nobility and weakening the power of French nobility. In 1617 the young king Louis XIII and his aids overthrew the rule of Maria de Medici, murdered Concini, while Leonora Galigai was accused of witchcraft. She was publicly beheaded and burned to the stake.


French postcard. A.N., Paris, no. 1227. Photo: Ancrenaz / C.F.C.C. Publicity still for Le Capitan (1946, Robert Vernay) with Jean Tissier as Cogolin.


Serge Emrich as king Louis XIII in Le capitan (1946). French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 1224. Photo: Ancrenaz / C.F.C.C.

The Remake
In 1960 a popular remake of the film would be made by André Hunebelle, also titled Le Capitan/The Captain. The film starred Jean Marais as Le Capitan, Bourvil as Cogolin and Elsa Martinelli as Gisèle. Lise Delamare was again in the cast, now as Marie de Médicis.


Lise Delmare as Léonore Caligaï in Le Capitan (1946). French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 1221. Photo: Ancrenaz / C.F.C.C.

Sources: IMDb.

Pierre Renoir

French character actor Pierre Renoir (1885 - 1952) was the oldest son of painter Auguste Renoir and the brother of film director Jean Renoir, in whose films he regularly played. His most famous film role was the peddler Jéricho in Marcel Carné's great romantic classic Les Enfants du Paradis/Children of Paradise (1942-1945). Renoir was a friend and close collaborator of actor/director Louis Jouvet. After Jouvet's death he took over as the director of the Théâtre de l'Athénée in Paris.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 39. Photo: Synops.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 39. Photo: Synops.

Mixing Modern and Classic Theatre
Pierre Renoir was born in Paris in 1885. He was the eldest son of the famous Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir and his wife Aline Victorine Charigot, and the godson of the painter Gustave Caillebotte, a close friend of his father. Pierre was fascinated by the stage at an early age. He entered the Conservatoire national d'art dramatique in Paris, and graduated in 1907 winning the prix de tragédie (theatre award for tragedy). He then acted in boulevard theatre. Even if little interested in the cinema, from 1911 on he played in some silent films, such as La digue/The dam (1911, Abel Gance) and the romantic drama Marion de Lorme (1918, Henry Krauss), based on a novel by Victor Hugo. He often played opposite tragedy actress Véra Sergine. He married her and in 1913 their son Claude Renoir was born, who would become a director of photography. Badly hurt during the First World War, Renoir lost the use of his right forearm. In the early 1920's, Pierre Renoir returned to the stage and acted at the Théâtre de Paris in plays by a.o. Henry Kistemakers. In 1926 he moved over to Louis Jouvet’s prestigious theatre company at the Comédie des Champs-Elysées. There he acted in various plays written by Jean Giraudoux and directed by Jouvet, such as Siegfried (1928), Amphitryon 38 (1929 and again in 1934), and Intermezzo (1933). In November 1935 he played Ulysses in Giraudoux’ play La guerre de Troie n'aura pas lieu, while Jouvet played Hector. In 1934 Jouvet moved to the Théâtre de l’Athenée, and Renoir joined him there. Until his death in 1951, Jouvet would run this theatre, mixing modern theatre with the classics.


French postcard by Compagnie française de Cinématographie, no. 580. Photo: Erpé.


French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 1228. Photo: Ancrenaz, Paris. Pierre Renoir as the Duke of Angouleme in Le capitan (1946, Robert Vernay).

Commissaire Maigret
When sound film set in, Jean Renoir convinced his brother to start working in sound films. Pierre Renoir had already played a small part in his brother's silent film La Fille de l’eau (1924, Jean Renoir) featuring Catherine Hessling. Now, he had his first big part in his brother's adaptation of Georges Simenon's La Nuit du carrefour/Night at the Crossroads (1932, Jean Renoir), in which Pierre personified Commissaire Maigret. Jean also directed him in Madame Bovary (1934, Jean Renoir), in which Pierre played Charles Bovary opposite Valentine Tessier as Emma, and in La Marseillaise/The Marseillaise (1938, Jean Renoir). In the latter he played king Louis XVI, opposite Lise Delamare as Marie-Antoinette. After the death of Véra Sergine, Pierre Renoir married another stage actress, Marie-Louise Iribe. The couple created the film production company Les Artistes réunis. After their divorce, he married another actress, Elisa/Lisa Ruis, who had played the Princess de Lamballe in La Marseilaise (1938). One his most renowned film parts was that of captain Weller in Julien Duvivier’s La Bandera (1935). Renoir often played army officers on screen such as in L’agonie des aigles/The Death Agony of the Eagles (1933, Roger Richebé), Veilles d’armes/Sacrifice of Honor (1934, Marcel L’Herbier) with Annabella, and La route imperiale/The Imperial Road (1935, Marcel L’Herbier) starring Käthe von Nagy. With his imposing physique, he gave charisma to these roles. Other memorable films with him were Tovaritch (1935, Jacques Deval, Germain Fried), L’affaire Lafarge/The Lafarge Case (1938, Pierre Chenal) in which Renoir played the title role, Le Patriote/The Mad Emperor (1938, Maurice Tourneur) a remake of the Ernst Lubitsch film, and Pièges/Personal Column (1939, Robert Siodmak), starring Maurice Chevalier and Erich von Stroheim. One of Renoir's most well-known parts of the 1940's is the peddler Jéricho in Les Enfants du Paradis/Children of Paradise (1942-1945, Marcel Carné). Another one is the Duke of Angouleme in the adventure film Le Capitan/The Captain (1946, Robert Vernay) with Claude Génia. In 1951 he acted for the last time opposite his old friend Louis Jouvet in Knock/Dr. Knock (1951, Guy Lefranc). Jouvet’s piece de resistance on stage was already adapted for the screen in 1933 by Jouvet, and now it was remade by Guy Lefranc. J.B. du Monteil writes at IMDb: "This is Louis Jouvet's triumph. The director could be anyone, he does not exist here. All you've got to do is enjoy Louis Jouvet's fabulous intonations, subtle funny faces and extraordinary presence." When Jouvet died in 1951 Renoir took over the direction of the Théâtre de l'Athénée, until his own death a year after. In 1952, Pierre Renoir died in Paris at the age of 66. He was buried next to his father, mother and two brothers at the cemetery of Essoyes (Aube), the birth place of his mother. Renoir acted in 65 films.


French postcard by Editions Chantal, Paris, no. 46. Photo: Pathé Consortium.


French postcard by S.E.R.P., Paris, no. 50. Photo: Studio Harcourt.


French postcard by S.E.R.P., Paris, no. 189. Photo: Studio Harcourt.

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Films de France, Wikipedia (French, German and English), and IMDb.

Alexandre Rignault

Alexandre Rignault (1901 - 1985) was a French stage, film and television actor, often seen in supporting roles. He acted in some 150 films.


French postcard by C.F.C.C. A.N., Paris no. 1229. Photo: Ancrenaz. Alexandre Rignault as Renaldo in Le Capitan (1946, Robert Vernay).

Louis Jouvet
Alexandre Paul Rignault was born in Paris, France in 1901. In 1926, he started acting with the stage company of Louis Jouvet, at the Comédie des Champs-Elysées. Here he played in pieces by Merimée, Gogol but in particular Jean Giraudoux and Jules Romains. Jouvet's troupe included Pierre Renoir, with whom Rignault would play together in various films as well. Rignault expanded his career with film acting as of 1931, when he played the art critic Langelard in La Chienne/The Bitch (1931, Jean Renoir) starring Michel Simon. It was followed by a part in the comedy Knock, ou le triomphe de la medicine/Dr. Knock (1933, Roger Goupillières, Louis Jouvet). Jouvet had played this adaptation of Jules Romain's novel hundreds of times on stage and now directed it for the cinema, playing the title role himself. Rignault had bigger parts in the Guy de Maupassant adaptation L'Ordonnance/The Orderly (1933, Viktor Tourjansky) with a young Fernandel, and in L'Aventurier/The Adventurer (1934, Marcel L'Herbier) starring Victor Francen.


French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 1228. Photo: Ancrenaz, Paris. Pierre Renoir as the Duke of Angouleme in Le capitan (1946).


Claude Génia. French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 1225. Photo: Ancrenaz/C.F.C.C. Claude Génia played Gisèle d'Angoulême in Le Capitan (1946).

Major Film Parts
From the mid-1930's on, Alexandre Rignault had an enormous career in the French sound cinema. He played in some 150 films. Rignault had major parts in La Terre qui meurt/The Land That Dies (1936, Jean Vallée), the war film Les Réprouvés/The Forsaken (1936, Jacques Séverac) with Jean Servais, the adventure comedy Les Mystères de Paris/Mysteries of Paris (1943, Jacques de Baroncelli), Le Comte de Monte Christo/The Count of Monte Christo (1943, Ferruccio Cerio, Robert Vernay) starring Pierre Richard-Willm, Dernier métro/The Last Metro (1945, Maurice de Canonge), the drama Raboliot (1946, Jacques Daroy), and La Nuit sans fin/Night Without End (1947, Jacques Séverac). He played commisioner Juve in the mystery Fantômas (1947, Jean Sacha), and the sequel Fantômas contre Fantômas/Fantomas Against Fantomas (1949, Robert Vernay) in which Marcel Herrand played Fantomas. He worked several times with director Robert Vernay, including on the adventure film Le Capitan/The Captain (1946) starring Pierre Renoir, Claude Génia and Aimé Clariond. Rignault played supporting parts in films of such famous directors as Julien Duvivier (Maria Chapdelaine (1934), La Charrette fantôme/The Phantom Cart (1939), the comedy La Fête à Henriette/Holiday for Henrietta (1952) featuring Dany Robin, Le retour de Don Camillo/The Return of Don Camillo (1953)), in Maurice Tourneur's Volpone (1941), in Fritz Lang's Liliom (1934), in Anatole Litvak's L'Equipage/The Crew (1935), and in Friedrich Feher's classic The Robber's Symphony (1936). With Marcel L'Herbier he worked on La Citadelle du silence/The Citadel of Silence (1937), and La Tragédie impériale/Rasputin (1938) with Harry Baur as the Siberian monk. He also appeared in such classics as L'Eternel retour/Love Eternal (1943, Jean Delannoy) starring Jean Marais, the historical drama Les Sorcières de Salem/The Crucible (1957, Raymond Rouleau) with Simone Signoret, and the horror mystery Les Yeux sans visage/Eyes Without a Face (1960, Georges Franju) with Pierre Brasseur. One of his later film roles was in Alain Resnais' Mon oncle d'Amérique/My American Uncle (1980). His final film was Partenaires/Partners (1984, Claude d'Anna). Between 1961 and 1985 he also often played on television. Alexandre Rignault died in Saint-Mandé, France in 1985. He was 84.


French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 1229. Photo: Ancrenaz/C.F.C.C. Aimé Clariond as Concini in Le Capitan (1946).

Sources: Dvdtoile.com, Wikipedia (French), and IMDb.