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As a son of a horn player and a singer Rossini was taught instruments early in his life. When he was older he went to the conservatory of Bologna for lessons. His first opera was such a big success that a lot of people wanted him to write more pieces. But nevertheless in 1816 his masterpiece "The Barber of Seville" failed although later it received the attention it deserved. In 1823 Rossini became the director of the Italian Opera in Paris, but when he stopped working he left for Italy only to return in 1853 and stay in Paris until his death in 1868.- Writer
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For many decades, no French director was held in greater contempt than Jean-Paul Le Chanois (1909-1985). He was the perfect target of criticism by the New Wave filmmakers of the late 1950s and 1960s. However, unlike other targets of the Young Turks, Chanois was never restored to favor. Nevertheless, a small number of his films deserve recognition.
A member of the Communist Party and a union man, Chanois collaborated (as Jean-Paul Dreyfus, his real name) with famed director Jean Renoir and others on "La vie est à nous" (1936). A propaganda film for the French Communist Party, "La vie est à nous" has not aged well and failed to capture the Front Populaire zeitgeist like Duvivier's "La Belle Equipe" did.
Chanois' next film "The Time of the Cherries" (1938) borrowed its title from the eponymous revolutionary song of the Paris Commune and was an overtly socialist movie: It told the story of two families, a wealthy one and a working-class one, but a muddled screenplay undermined its overall quality.
After serving as a resistance fighter during World War II, Chanois resumed his film career in 1946 with "Messieurs Ludovic" which featured endearing characters and an overt populism which reflected his deep political convictions. Next came "Au Coeur De L'Orage" (1948), a patriotic documentary about the French Resistance which compared favorably to René Clément's "La Bataille Du Rail." At the time, the French public tolerated only heroic depictions of France's wartime events. It would take Marcel Ophüls' "The Sorrow and the Pity" (1971) to show the dark side of the mirror. But, as a resistance fighter himself, Chanois knew what he was talking about, and the sincerity of his documentary cannot be called into question.
Then came arguably Chanois' finest work: "L'Ecole Buissonnière" (1949), based on the life of teacher Celestin Freinet. In the film, a war hero becomes a teacher in a small village. He rejects the old methods of instruction: Gone is the iron discipline; gone is the lesson you learned by heart even if you did not understand a single word of it; gone is the dunce shamefully hidden in the back of the classroom. Although tarnished by its association with Chanois' later works, the film is one of the best postwar movies and is still relevant today.
"Sans Laisser D'Adresse" and "Agence Matrimoniale" resumed Chanois' populist theme and added a heartfelt humanism. In these films, all his directorial trademarks were in evidence; in particular, his sympathy for lonely people and for the character who must face a hostile world.
At the time, Chanois' career was progressing in a good direction, but it didn't seem that way after both "Papa, Mama, the Maid and I" and "Papa, Mama, My Wife and Me." The films gave a false picture of the average French family of the nineteen-fifties - a biology teacher, a former actress, and a lawyer aren't exactly typical representations of working people.
Chanois' later film "Les Miserables" (1958) is perhaps his most well-known work. Although a massive hit in France and the second most widely seen film of 1958, contemporary critics vocally preferred Raymond Bernard's classic 1930s version. They deemed Chanois' film to be a disappointing adaptation of Victor Hugo's mammoth novel; various members of the French press ridiculed the casting of singer Bourvil as Thénardier.
Chanois' other filmography is unremarkable except for "The Fugitives" (1955). The film's action occurs in a train boxcar. The screenplay was based on a true story with one of the actors portraying himself during the war. Another notable film is "The Case of Dr. Laurent," a heartfelt plea for painless childbirth.- María Dalbaicín was born on 23 December 1902 in Madrid. She was an actress, known for L'espionne aux yeux noirs (1926), Valencia (1927) and El embrujo de Sevilla (1931). She was married to Aimé Simon-Girard. She died on 11 August 1931 in Passy, Haute-Savoie, France.
- Georges Grey, sometimes credited as George Grey, was born as Jean-Joseph-Georges Gacon in Lyon, France in 1911. He made his film debut in a bit part as a young Hungarian in Sacha Guitry's Les perles de la couronne/The Pearls of the Crown (1937). The following year, Grey played a much larger role as a charming Hollywood matinee idol in Paris in Guitry's Quadrille/ 2 x 2 = 4 (1938, Sacha Guitry), in which he gained additional attention in a non full-frontal nude scene. Guitry cast him again as a prince in Remontons les Champs-Élysées/Let us go back to the Champs Elysees (1938, Sacha Guitry) and in another supporting part in Ils étaient neuf célibataires/Nine Bachelors (1939, Sacha Guitry).
Although Grey was obviousl;y a favorite of Guitry's, he also worked as well as with several other directors. He appeared in Narcisse (1940, Ayres d'Aguiar) featuring Rellys, Monsieur Hector/Mr. Hector (1940, Maurice Cammage) starring Fernandel, and La fille du puisatier/The Well-Digger's Daughter (1940, Marcel Pagnol) with Raimu. About the latter, James Travers writes at Films de France: "La Fille du puisatier may not be Marcel Pagnol's greatest film - indeed a less generous reviewer would write it off as a bland rehash of the director's previous Angèle (1934) - but it does assume some historical significance by dint of the fact that it documents France's capitulation to Nazi Germany more or less as it was happening. Work on the film began in May 1940 but was suspended in June at the height of the debacle. Filming resumed in August after France's surrender and the establishment of the Vichy government."
Grey then played a gypsy in Cartacalha, reine des gitans/Cartacalha, Queen of the Gypsies (1942, Léon Mathot) starring Viviane Romance. He reunited with Guitry for Le destin fabuleux de Désirée Clary/Mlle. Desiree (1942, Sacha Guitry) featuring Gaby Morlay as a girlfriend of Napoleon. The following year, he played the second lead in the comedy Adémaï bandit d'honneur/Adémaï Bandit of Honor (1943) starring Noël-Noël. The film was produced by Les Prisonniers Associés, a company created by recently released prisoners of war; he was not seen on screen again until 1946 in another supporting part in Monsieur Grégoire s'évade/Mr. Gregoire Runs Away (1946, Jacques Daniel-Norman) with Bernard Blier. He finally had his first leading role in the comedy Tierce à coeur/Third at heart (1947, Jacques de Casembroot), but it was not a success. He reunited with Guitry again for a supporting part in Le comédien/The Private Life of an Actor (1948, Sacha Guitry). This was a lovingly told biography of Guitry's father, stage comedian and silent film actor Lucien Guitry. It was followed by another part for Guitry in the historical extravaganza Le diable boiteux/The Lame Devil (1948, Sacha Guitry). Grey's final film was the drama La ferme des sept péchés/The Farm of Seven Sins (1949, Jean-Devaivre) with Jacques Dumesnil. Five years later, he died in a sanatorium in Passy, France in 1954. Georges Grey was only 43.
