René Clair

Biography

René Clair was a French filmmaker and writer. He first established his reputation in the 1920s as a director of silent films in which comedy was often mingled with fantasy. He went on to make some of the most innovative early sound films in France, before going abroad to work in the UK and USA for more than a decade. Returning to France after World War II, he continued to make films that were characterised by their elegance and wit, often presenting a nostalgic view of French life in earlier years. He was elected to the Académie française in 1960. Clair's best known films include The Italian Straw Hat (1928), Under the Roofs of Paris (1930), Le Million (1931), À nous la liberté (1931), I Married a Witch (1942), and And Then There Were None (1945). In 1924, while Clair was working on Ciné-sketch for the theatre with France Picabia, he first met a young actress, Bronja Perlmutter, who subsequently appeared in his film Le Voyage imaginaire (1926) premiered at the newly opened Studio des Ursulines. They married in 1926, and their son, Jean-François, was born in 1927. René Clair died at home on 15 March 1981, and he was buried privately at Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois. Clair's reputati…

Directed

1. And Then There Were None (1945) — Director
2. I Married a Witch (1942) — Director
3. Entr'acte (1924) — Director
4. À Nous la Liberté (1931) — Director
5. Le Million (1931) — Director
6. The Crazy Ray (1925) — Director
7. It Happened Tomorrow (1944) — Director
8. Under the Roofs of Paris (1930) — Director
9. The Beauty of the Devil (1950) — Director
10. The Grand Manoeuvre (1955) — Director
11. The Ghost Goes West (1935) — Director
12. The Gates of Paris (1957) — Director
13. Beauties of the Night (1952) — Director
14. The Flame of New Orleans (1941) — Director
15. The Italian Straw Hat (1928) — Director
16. All the Gold in the World (1961) — Director
17. Silence Is Golden (1947) — Director
18. July 14 (1933) — Director
19. The Imaginary Voyage (1926) — Director
20. Love and the Frenchwoman (1960) — Director
21. The Four Truths (1962) — Director
22. Forever and a Day (1943) — Director
23. La Tour (1928) — Director
24. The Last Billionaire (1934) — Director
25. The Phantom of the Moulin-Rouge (1925) — Director
26. Two Timid Souls (1928) — Director
27. The Prey of the Wind (1927) — Director
28. The Lace Wars (1965) — Director
29. Break the News (1938) — Director

Also appeared in

1. Laugh with Max Linder (1963) — Narrateur (voice)
2. Les Trésors de Marcel Pagnol (2019) — Self (archive footage)
3. Le Grand Échiquier (1972) — Self
4. Cinépanorama (1956) — Self
5. Lily of Life (1920)
6. Cinéastes de notre temps : Erich von Stroheim (2012) — Self
7. Parisette (1921)
8. Midi trente (1972) — Self
9. Encyclopédie audiovisuelle du cinéma (1978) — Self (archive footage)
10. René Clair, tout entre nous n'était qu'un jeu (2021) — Lui-même
11. À la recherche de Jean Grémillon (1969) — Self
12. Civilisation: L'homme et les images (1967) — Self