LACOMBE, GEORGES

(1902-1990)

Director. Georges Lacombe began his career in film in 1924 as an assistant toRené Clair. He worked with Clair on films such asLes Deux timides(1929) andSous les toits de Paris(1930), and during the same period, he directed one film of his own, the avant-garde documentaryLa Zone(1928), about garment workers in Paris.

Lacombe began directing on his own in 1930. The following year he made his first feature-length film,Un coup de téléphone(1931), starring Colette Darfeuil and Paulette Dubost. From 1931 until 1958, Lacombe worked consistently, directing more than twenty films of various genres.While he is not remembered particularly as one of the great directors or one of the great innovators, he was a solid and fairly popular director whose work was consistent, if rather varied.

Among the films that Lacombe directed areCe Cochon de Morin(1932), adapted from the story by Honoré de Balzac,La Femme invisible(1933),Jeunesse(1934),Derrière la façade(1939), which he codirected withYves Mirande,Elles étaient douze femmes(1940),Le Dernier des six(1941), which launched the career of directorHenri-Georges Clouzot, who wrote the screenplay,Montmartre-sur-seine(1941), which stars Edith Piaf,Le Journal tombe à cinq heures(1942),L'Escalier sans fin(1943),Le Pays sans étoiles(1946),Martin Roumagnac(1946),La Nuit est mon royaume(1951),La Lumière d'en face(1955), andCargaison blanche(1958).

If Lacombe was not a great director, he was able to draw many of the greatest stars of the day. He worked frequently withPierre Fresnay, for example. Other actors who appear in his films includeMichèle Morgan,Michel Simon,Jules Berry,Pierre Brasseur, Pierre Renoir,Brigitte Bardot, andJean Gabin. Although critics would probably not note their appearances in Lacombe's films as those that defined the careers of these actors, Lacombe was consistently able to give meaningful roles in solid film, and the performances are, therefore, equally solid.

Lacombe retired from cinema in 1958. He made a number of television films in the 1960s and early 1970s. He gave up directing altogether after 1973.