PERRET, LÉONCE

(1880-1935)

Actor, director, film pioneer, and screenwriter. Born in Poitou-Charentes, Léonce Perret aspired to become an actor from a young age. He began his career on the stage in the popular theater, but as the cinema emerged Perret became more interested in that medium. He was hired on atGaumontin 1909, as an actor, director, and screenwriter, and he went on to become one of the most prolific directors at the studio. Over the course of his career, Perret directed nearly three hundred films, acted in nearly one hundred, and wrote the screenplays for more than thirty. He was one of the early innovators of the cinema, and he worked in a wide range of genres, from burlesque to drama, to tableaux films, to war films, to romantic comedy.

From 1909 until 1916 Perret acted and directed. He is known for his penchant for alluring actresses, and he either launched or established the careers of several, including Yvette Andreyor,Renée Carl, Fabienne Fabrèges, Jeanne Marie-Laurent, Suzanne Le Bret, and Suzanne Grandais. Andreyor appears in such films asDans la vie(1911),La Paix du vieil ermite(1911),L'Amour qui tue(1911), andLes Blouses blanches(1912). Carl appears in such films asLa Fille de Jephté(1910),Le Gardien de la Camargue(1910),Dans la vie(1911), andLe Fils de la Sunamite(1911). Fabrèges appears in such films asLe Portrait de Mireille(1910),Mimosa(1910),Le Rendez-vous(1910),Le Lys brisé(1911),Tu t'en iras jeunesse(1911),Les Blouses blanches(1912), as well as a number of propagandistic, nationalist war films made during World War I, includingL'Angélus de la victoire(1916) andMarraines de France(1916). Le Bret had roles inLéonce et les écrevisses(1913),Léonce à la campagne(1913),Les Fiancés de l'air(1913), andL'Ange de la maison(1913).Grandais appears in such films asLe Moïse du moulin(1911),Le Chrysanthème rouge(1912),Les Blouses blanches(1912),Graziella la gitane(1912),La Lumière et l'amour(1912),L'Apollon de roches noires(1913), andL'Esclave de Phidias(1917). Marie-Laurent appears inLe Cheveau blanc(1910),La Fille de Jephté(1910),Petite mère(1910), andNoël de grand-mère(1910). Perret's wife, Valentine Petit, also appears in a number of his films from the period, includingMonsieur Prud'homme s'émancipe(1910),La Petite Béarnaise(1911),Titine et Totor(1911),L'Express matrimonial(1912),Un coq en pâte(1912), andSur les rails(1912).

Perret promoted actors as well as actresses. Among his preferred were Paul Manson, who appears in such films asL'Heure du rêve(1915),L 'Xnoir(1916),La Fiancée du diable(1916), andLes Poilus de la revanche(1916). Another favorite was Émile Keppens, who appeared inSur les rails(1912),Les Mystères des roches de Kador(1912),Au fond du gouffre(1913), andLes Épingles(1913). Louis Leubas also appeared frequently in films such asMain de fer contre la bande aux gants blancs(1912),La Force de l'argent(1913),L'Enfant de Paris(1913), andLa Voix de la patrie(1914). Of course, Perret appeared in many of the films he directed, includingLe Rendez-vous(1910),Jour d'échéance(1910),Monsieur Prud'homme s'émancipe(1910),Dans la vie(1911),La Paix du vieil hermite(1911),Les Béquilles(1911), and the films in the Léonce series, which ran from 1912 until 1916.

In addition to acting in his own films, Perret appeared in several films directed byLouis Feuillade, with whom he sometimes collaborated as director. Feuillade films in which Perret appears includeJudith et Holopherne(1909),Esther(1910),Le Festin de Baltazar(1910), andAndré Chenier(1912). Perret also frequently cast actors most often associated with Feuillade, includingRené Navarre,René Cresté, and Edmond Bréon.

After 1916, Perret no longer acted and focused entirely on directing and screenwriting. That year he made several pronationalist war films, includingL'Angélus de la victoire(1916) andMarraines de France(1916), as well as a number of other films, including the mystery filmsL'X noir(1916) andLe Mystère de l'ombre(1916), the romantic comediesLes Bobines d'or(1916) andLe Printemps du coeur(1916), the comediesLes Armes de la femme(1916) andLe Roi de la montagne(1916), and the dramasL'Empreinte du passé(1916) andLe Retour du passé(1916). The snapshot of films made in just one year gives some idea of the diversity of the types Perret made during his career.

In 1917, Perret left Gaumont and went to Hollywood, where he remained and worked for a number of years. His diverse filmmaking interests did not change, and he filmed in a number of different genres as he had done in France. Among the films he made while in the United States were the crime filmsThe Silent Master(1917) andThe Empire of Diamonds(1920), the dramasThe Mad Lover(1917) andThe Money Maniac(1921), the comediesThe Accidental Honeymoon(1918) andThe Million Dollar Dollies(1918), the mysteryThe Thirteenth Chair(1919), the adaptationKoenigsmark(1923), which was his most successful Hollywood film, and the classic historical dramaMadame Sans-Gêne(1924), which was a cross-cultural coproduction. He also made a war film while in Hollywood,Lest We Forget(1918), and it had the same air of propaganda as his previous war films. Perret produced several of his American films, adding producer to his resume.

Perret returned to France in 1925 and resumed making films there. His later films include the late silent filmsLa Femme nue(1926),Le Printemps de l'amour(1927),Morgane la sirène(1928), andLa Danseuse d'orchidée(1928). He also made several sound films, includingQuand nous étions deux(1930),Après l'amour(1931),Enlevez-moi(1932),Il était une fois(1933), andLes Deux couverts(1935), written bySacha Guitry.Les Deux couvertswas Perret's final film, as he died the year it was released. Several of these later films starred another female star,Gaby Morlay. Like many early silent directors, Perret was ignored until fairly recently, when interest in his work and his role in the evolution of cinema has emerged. He was one of the most prolific directors of the silent period, and some of his early sound films are also quite interesting. Although he is not known specifically for innovating a particular genre, the mere range of his films is sufficient to establish his centrality to the evolution of early cinema. Many of his films still exist and in recent years a number of them have been restored, which suggests that interest in his diverse body of work will likely continue.