Pierre Chenal

Philippe Cohen known as Pierre Chenal is a French director born December 5 1904 in Brussels and died December 23 1990 in La GarenneColombes Chenal occupies an uncomfortable place in the history of French cinema relatively unknown he is cataloged as a filmmaker who left only a light body of work His detailed filmography however tends to show the opposite Made in the 1930s his first short films were documentaries where the filmmaker used social realism The Little Trades of Paris 1932 or A French City of Cinema had a didactic ambition which ranked him among the innovators at the time Throughout his work Pierre Chenal will maintain this taste for atmospheres tinged with truth where the social is shown Hence his very marked penchant for adaptations of literary works by his contemporaries he borrowed from Marcel Aymé the title of one of his first feature films La rue sans nom 1933 summons Pirandello and The Man from Nowhere 1937 depicts The Mutineers of Elsinore by Jack London and transforms James Cains novel The Postman Always Rings Twice to give The Last Turn Pierre Chenal loves actors and casts the biggest ones Louis Jouvet Robert Le Vigan Michel Simon Pierre Blanchar Viviane Romance and Albert Préjean praise his talent In 1940 the filmmakers career took a new turn when he retreated during the war to Argentina and Chile He made a few minor films there then returned to France with comic intentions expressed in Clochemerle 1947 In 1948 Chenal returned to Argentina and adapted Sangre Negra by the American noir novelist Richard Wright Then he developed a passion for thrillers and experimented with the genre on several occasions But Raid on the City 1958 The Beast on the Prowl 1959 and The Assassin Knows the Music 1963 are not considered to be his best films