DESFONTAINES, HENRI

(1876-1931)

Actor, director, and screen-writer. Henri Desfontaines began his career in the theater. He was a noted stage actor who worked withSarah Bernhardtand the greatAndré Antoineat the Théâtre de l'Odéon. It may have been Antoine who introduced Desfontaines to the screen, and he was one of those actors whose presence in a film served as a draw for film audiences. He appeared in variousfilm d'artproductions for bothPathéandStudio Film d'artat the beginning of his career, and he was strongly associated with the more artistic vein of filmmaking, particularly literary adaptation, throughout his life.

Desfontaines's acting career extended from the early silent era into the 1930s.Films in which Desfontaines starred includedAlbert Capellani'sDon Juan(1908),L'Arlésienne(1908), andLa Peau de chagrin(1909),Abel Gance'sRoman d'une jeune fille pauvre(1909),André CalmettesandHenri Pouctal'sCamille Desmoulins(1911) andLa Dame aux camélias(1912),Jacques de Baroncelli'sSoupçon tragique(1916),Jean Kemm'sL'Obstacle(1918),Henri Fescourt'sLa Maison de la flèche(1930), and Viktor Tourjansky'sL'Aiglon(1931).

Desfontaines also directed films. His first film may have beenLa Résurrection(1909), which he codirected with Calmettes. His directing activities gained momentum in 1910 or so, when he took over the direction of thefilm d'artdivision of Éclipse Studios. Over the course of his career, Desfontaines directed a number of important films, most of them literary adaptations in the film d'art tradition. These includeLes Puits et le pendule(1909), an early adaptation of the Edgar Allen Poe story;Shylock(1910), an adaptation of Shakespeare that starredHarry Baur;Cromwell(1911),L'Assassinat d'Henri III(1911),Les Amours de la reine Elisabeth(1912),Anne de Boleyn(1913), andAdrienne Lecouvreur(1913), all of which he codirected withLouis Mercanton;Jésus de Nazareth(1911) andMadame Sans-Gêne(1911), both codirected with Calmettes;Le Secret de Polichinelle(1913);La Reine Margot(1914);Les Bleus de l'amour(1918);La Marseilleise(1920);Les Trois lys(1921);La Fille des chiffonniers(1922); andLe Capitaine Rascasse(1926).

Desfontaines also directed two series,L'Espionne aux yeux noirs(1925) andBelphégor(1927), the infamous series of a mysterious phantom who haunts the Louvre, and which starredRené Navarre.Belphégor, like Desfontaines's early film,Les Puits et la pendule, was also an experiment in the horror genre. In many of his films, Desfontaines also starred and, therefore, directed himself.