ROUDÈS, GASTON

(1878-?)

Director. Gaston Roudès was a director who made films during the silent era and at the early part of the sound era. He made his directing debut at Éclipse Studios working withJoë Hammanon theArizona Billseries ofCamargue Westernsmade between 1911 and 1913. Episodes in the series includeLe Pouce(1911),La Piste argentée(1911), andLa Consience de Cheval-Rouge(1912). All of these have been lost. Roudès went on to make more than forty other silent films includingLa Rose du radjah(1913),Le Scarabée d'or(1913),La Légende d'Œdipe(1914),Papillon et le roi nègre(1914),Les Gaz(1918),La Doute(1920),La Dette(1920),La Voix de l'océan(1922),Le Lac d'argent(1922),Le Petit moineau de Paris(1923),Le Crime des hommes(1923),L'Éveil(1924),La Douleur(1925),La Maternelle(1925),Le Prince Zilah(1926),Cousine de France(1927),La Maison au soleil(1928), andL'Ame de Pierre(1928).He also directed a number of films with Marcel Dumont, includingAu-délà les lois humaines(1920),Les Élus de la mer(1921),Les Petits(1925), andLa Dédale(1927).

Roudès made several films during the sound era. These includeUn coup de mistral(1931),Le Carillon de la liberté(1931),Le Gamin de Paris(1932),Roger la honte(1933),L'Assomoir(1933),La Maison du mystère(1933),Flofloche(1934),Le Petit Jacques(1934),Le Chant de l'amour(1935),Enfants de Paris(1936),La Joueuse d'orgue(1936),Un coup de rouge(1937),La Tour de Nesle(1937), andUne main à frappé(1939). Most of Roudès's films, whether sound or silent, were melodramas, although he worked in other genres. His historical filmLa Tour de Nelsewas one of his better films, as was hisRoger la honte. Both films were later remade, the first byAbel Gancein 1955 and the second by André Cayatte in 1946. Many of Roudès's films feature the actressFrance Dhélia. Roudès stopped working in 1939 and may have died that year, although what precisely happened to him is not known. He has been largely overlooked by film historians, and many of his films are presumed lost, although several have been saved and archived by the Cinémathèque Suisse.