Duvivier, Julien

Born Oct. 8, 1896, in Lille; died Oct. 31, 1967; French motion picture director.

Duvivier directed his first film, Le Prix de Sang, in 1919. The most popular of Duvivier’s silent films was Poil de Carotte(1925, after J. Renard; sound version in 1932). In the 1930’s, he was one of the leading representatives of the French school of poetic realism. Characteristic of Duvivier’s films are their high technical standards, the drama and bitterness of the plot, a poetic atmosphere, and the psychologically sound acting of the cast. His best works are Marie Chap-delaine (l934), Pepe Le Moko (1936), La Belle Equipe (1936), Un Carnet de Bal (1937), and La Fin duJour (1939). In 1939, in Hollywood, he directed The Great Waltz. From 1940 to 1944 he worked in the USA (Tales of Manhattan). In 1948 he directed the film Anna Karenina (after L. N. Tolstoy) in Great Britain, with V. Leigh in the title role. In the 1950’s and 1960’s he produced the films Marie Octobre (1959), devoted to the Resistance, and The Devil and the Ten Commandments (1962).