Years active 1913—49 | ||
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Born August 25, 1884 Paris, France Occupation Film director, screenwriter Died 27 June 1968, Urval, France Movies Verdun, Vision of History, The Call, The Call of Life, A Gentleman of the Ring Similar Thomy Bourdelle, Suzanne Bianchetti, Jean Yonnel, Pierre de Guingand, Alexandre Mihalesco | ||
Verdun von de l on poirier 1928 deutsch fran ais
Léon Poirier (August 25, 1884 – June 27, 1968) was a French film director, screenwriter and film producer best known for his silent films from 1913 onwards. He directed some 25 films between 1913 and 1949 .His most famous film today is Verdun: Visions of History, a drama-documentary depicting the World War I Battle of Verdun. His later films adopted a form of poetic realism influenced by pictorialist photography.
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Verdun vision d histoire 1928 l on poirier
Life
Poirier was the nephew of Berthe Morisot. He began his career in the theatre, as secretary of the Théâtre du Gymnase. Following a serious accident, he withdrew from theatrical productions and accepted a contract from Gaumont to make a film. In 1914 with the outbreak of war, he joined the army and became a lieutenant in the artillery, even though his accident exempted him from duty.
At the end of the conflict he returned to filmmaking, creating a large number of films in the silent era, but reducing his output after the advent of sound. Most of these works adopted a form of pictorialist naturalism.
In 1928 Poirier completed Verdun: Visions of History, a dramatized documentary about the battle. The film was shot on site of the carnage. Poirier utilised, ten years after the conflict, the battlefield and the ruins of the forts of Vaux and Douaumont. The performers were French and German veterans and a few professional actors.
He directed his last film in 1947 and retired to Urval where he died in 1968.