POUCTAL, HENRI

(1856-1922)

Actor, director, film pioneer, and screenwriter. Like many film pioneers, Henri Pouctal began his career in the theater. He worked as an actor principally before being hired on atStudio Film d'artin 1908. In the beginning, Pouctal worked as both an actor and director. He acted in such films asAndré CalmettesandHenri Desfontaines'sRésurrection(1910) andJésus de Nazareth(1911) and Calmettes'sL'Écharpe(1910),Le Chevalier d'Essex(1911), andLa Dame aux Camélias(1912). Pouctal codirected the two later films.

Pouctal began directing in 1910, and by 1912 had devoted himself entirely to directing.He went on to make more than seventy films over a period of approximately ten years. Among films he directed areVitellius(1911),Werther(1911),Madame Sans-Gêne(1911),Camille Desmoulins(1911), andLes Trois mousquetaires(1912), the last two codirected with Calmettes,Le Saltimbanque(1912),Blanchette(1912),Le Trait d'union(1913), which starsJacques Feyder,Frères ennemis(1913),Colette(1913),La Rose rouge(1914),Le Légionnaire(1914),L'Heure tragique(1914),Pêcheur d'islande(1915),L'Homme masqué(1916),Chantecoq(1916),Debout les morts! (1916),Le Roman d'un spahi(1917), the eight-part serialLe Comte de Monte-Cristo(1918),Travail(1920), andGigolette(1921). As may be expected from hisfilm d'artconnections, Pouctal worked predominantly with literary adaptation, although he did other types of film. Pouctal worked with actors such asLéon Mathotand Camille Bert and was once hailed as one of the great directors of silent film byLouis Delluc.