Alberto Cavalcanti

Biography

Alberto de Almeida Cavalcanti was a Brazilian-born film director and producer. He was born in Rio de Janeiro, the son of a prominent mathematician. He was a precociously intelligent child, and by the age of 15 was studying law at university. Following an argument with a professor he was expelled. His father sent him to Geneva, Switzerland on condition that he did not study law or politics. Cavalcanti chose to study architecture instead. At 18 he moved to Paris to work for an architect, later switching to working on interior design. After a visit back to Brazil he took up a position at the Brazilian consulate in Liverpool, England. Cavalcanti corresponded with Marcel L'Herbier, a leading light in France's avant-garde film movement. This led to a job offer from L'Herbier for Cavalcanti to work as a set designer. So, in 1920 he left his job at the Consulate and moved back to France to work for L'Herbier; he was to be involved in the making of numerous films, the most notable being L'Inhumaine. He was soon making his own films, in 1926 directing his first, Rien Que les Heures (Nothing But Time) — a day in the life of Paris and its citizens. In 1927 he collaborated with Walter Ruttma…

Directed

1. Dead of Night (1945) — Director
2. Went the Day Well? (1942) — Director
3. They Made Me a Fugitive (1947) — Director
4. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1947) — Director
5. Nothing But Time (1926) — Director
6. Coal Face (1935) — Director
7. La P’tite Lili (1927) — Director
8. For Them That Trespass (1949) — Director
9. Champagne Charlie (1944) — Director
10. Song of the Sea (1953) — Director
11. Yellow Caesar (1941) — Director
12. Captain Fracasse (1929) — Director
13. Pett and Pott: A Fairy Story of the Suburbs (1934) — Director
14. Sea Fever (1927) — Director
15. The First Gentleman (1948) — Director
16. Mony a Pickle (1938) — Director
17. The Monster of Highgate Ponds (1961) — Director
18. The Wind Rose (1957) — Director
19. A Real Woman (1955) — Director
20. Simão, o Caolho (1952) — Director
21. Venetian Honeymoon (1959) — Director
22. Plaisirs défendus (1933) — Director
23. Alice in Switzerland (1942) — Director
24. Tour of Song (1932) — Director
25. New Rates (1934) — Director
26. Herr Puntila and His Servant Matti (1960) — Director
27. Little Red Riding Hood (1930) — Director
28. Line to the Tschierva Hut (1937) — Director
29. A Midsummer Day's Work (1939) — Director
30. Film and Reality (1942) — Director
31. Um Homem e o Cinema (1976) — Director
32. A Canção do Berço (1930) — Director
33. Yvette (1927) — Director
34. Montmartre qui tourne (1934) — Director
35. The Brazilian thing (1932) — Director
36. In a lost island (1931) — Director
37. Halfway Up the Sky (1931) — Director
38. The Devil's Holiday (1931) — Director
39. Toute sa vie (1930) — Director
40. Coralie and Company (1934) — Director

Also appeared in

1. Pett and Pott: A Fairy Story of the Suburbs (1934) — J. Leviticus (uncredited)
2. Grierson (1973) — Self
3. Lettres de Stalingrad (1969) — Astronomer
4. Um Homem e o Cinema (1976) — Self
5. Paris Cinéma (1929) — Self
6. Encyclopédie audiovisuelle du cinéma (1978) — Self (archive footage)
7. Alberto Cavalcanti (1970) — Self
8. Cavalcanti (2026) — Self (archive footage)