Profession: film director

As a film-director, Grémillon is highly rated by many in the know, and appears ripe for wider recognition. Prévert scripted two of his films; Renaud (who appeared in several) was his favourite among female actors he worked with.

Resnais engaged in deep collaborations with a number of writers, most notably Duras, Robbe-Grillet and Cayrol — all personal friends. He met the 16-year-old Truffaut (whose first film Resnais edited) at a film-club run by Bazin. Eisler (whom he didn’t dare to expect a contribution from) travelled to Paris to work on the music for ‘Nuit et Brouillard.’ Resnais married Malraux’s daughter — Malraux claimed ‘Hiroshima Mon Amour’ to be the most beautiful film he’d ever seen. Resnais edited for Varda, co-directed with his friend Marker, and made a film about polystyrene with Queneau.

Griffith was Gance’s hero, met him when Gance travelled to America to show his anti-war film ‘J’accuse’, and offered him facilities to work there. Honegger composed music for ‘Napoléon’, and Artaud acted the part of Marat in it. Cendrars worked as his assistant for a while. Eisenstein and Pudovkin visited him in France and thanked him for teaching them editing (Gance did Russian-style editing before the Russians).