Jacques Feyder


Director

About

Also Known As
Jacques Frederix
Birth Place
Belgium
Born
July 21, 1885
Died
May 25, 1948

Biography

In films as an actor from 1913 and director from 1916. Feyder's lyrical handling of realistic subject-matter created some of the finest French films of the 1920s, including "Crainquebille" (1923), "Visage d'enfants" (1924) and the celebrated Zola adaptation, "Therese Raquin" (1928). After a brief sojourn in Hollywood he assured his place as a key figure of "poetic realism" with a series ...

Family & Companions

Francoise Rosay
Wife
Actor. Married 1917.

Notes

When he announced he wanted to become an actor in 1907, father forbade him to use family name so he adopted pseudonym "Feyder"

Biography

In films as an actor from 1913 and director from 1916. Feyder's lyrical handling of realistic subject-matter created some of the finest French films of the 1920s, including "Crainquebille" (1923), "Visage d'enfants" (1924) and the celebrated Zola adaptation, "Therese Raquin" (1928). After a brief sojourn in Hollywood he assured his place as a key figure of "poetic realism" with a series of films starring his wife Francoise Rosay and co-written by Charles Spaak. Feyder's assistant during this period was future director Marcel Carne.

Filmography

 

Director (Feature Film)

Knight Without Armor (1937)
Director
Carnival in Flanders (1935)
Director
Pension Mimosas (1934)
Director
Son of India (1931)
Director
Daybreak (1931)
Director
Le spectre vert (1930)
Director
Si l'empereur savait ça! (1930)
Réalisation de [Dir]
Olympia (1930)
Regie [Dir]
The Kiss (1929)
Director
Therese Raquin (1928)
Director
Nouveaux messieurs, Les (1928)
Director
Carmen (1926)
Director
Gribiche (1925)
Director
La Faute d'orthographe (1919)
Director
La Trouvaille de Buchu (1917)
Director
Vieilles femmes de l'hospice, Les (1917)
Director
Abregeons les formalites! (1917)
Director
Le Pardessus de demi-saison (1917)
Director
Le Ravin sans fond (1917)
Director
Le Billard casse (1917)
Director
Le Frere de lait (1916)
Director
Tiens, vous etes a Poitiers? (1916)
Director
Tetes de femmes, femmes de tete (1916)
Director
Le Pied qui etreint (1916)
Director
L' Homme de compagnie (1916)
Director
L' Instinct est maitre (1916)
Director
Un Conseil d'ami (1916)
Director

Assistant Direction (Feature Film)

Monsieur Pinson, policier (1916)
Assistant Director

Cast (Feature Film)

Jacques Feyder et son chef d'oeuvre (1974)
Himself
Monsieur Pinson, policier (1916)
Vampires, Les (1915)
Autour d'une bague (1914)
Quand minuit sonna (1914)
Protea (1913)

Writer (Feature Film)

Le Grand Jeu (1954)
From Story
Carnival in Flanders (1935)
Screenplay
Pension Mimosas (1934)
Screenwriter
Gardiens de phare (1929)
Screenwriter
Therese Raquin (1928)
Screenplay
Therese Raquin (1928)
Writer (Adaptation)
Carmen (1926)
Screenplay
Gribiche (1925)
Screenwriter
La Faute d'orthographe (1919)
Screenwriter
Le Pardessus de demi-saison (1917)
Screenwriter
Vieilles femmes de l'hospice, Les (1917)
Adaptation
Le Ravin sans fond (1917)
Adaptation
La Trouvaille de Buchu (1917)
Screenwriter
Abregeons les formalites! (1917)
Screenwriter
Le Billard casse (1917)
Screenwriter
L' Homme de compagnie (1916)
Adaptation
Tetes de femmes, femmes de tete (1916)
Screenwriter
Tiens, vous etes a Poitiers? (1916)
Screenwriter
Le Frere de lait (1916)
Screenwriter
Un Conseil d'ami (1916)
Screenwriter
L' Instinct est maitre (1916)
Screenwriter
Le Pied qui etreint (1916)
Screenwriter

Editing (Feature Film)

Carmen (1926)
Editor

Title Design (Feature Film)

Therese Raquin (1928)
Titles

Misc. Crew (Feature Film)

Jacques Feyder et son chef d'oeuvre (1974)
Other

Life Events

1906

Worked in family's cannon foundry

1911

Moved to Paris

1911

Stage acting debut

1912

Film acting debut in a Georges Melies fantasy

1915

Film debut as co-director, "Monsieur Pinson, policier"

1928

Moved to Hollywood; signed contract with MGM (terminated 1933)

1942

Left France and lived in Switzerland for duration of WWII

1945

Returned to France and began producing

Videos

Movie Clip

Carnival In Flanders (1935) -- (Movie Clip) You Can't Reason With Women The men in the Flemish town having decided to flee or hide, upon learning that one of their ruling Spanish dukes is coming to town, the mayor's wife (Francoise Rosay) rallies the women to a different strategy, in Jacques Feyder's Carnival In Flanders, 1935.
Knight Without Armor (1937) -- (Movie Clip) Countess Alexandra Moscow, 1913, the Countess Alexandra (Marlene Dietrich), just returned from a visit to England, is presented to the Czar, whose compliment she then passes along to her betrothed Col. Adraxine (Austin Trevor) in Knight Without Armor, 1937, from a James Hilton novel.
Knight Without Armor (1937) -- (Movie Clip) But She's Only A Woman! 1917, widowed Russian Czarist Countess Alexandra (Marlene Dietrich) awakens to find the servants gone and the estate deserted, and is quick to realize the proletariat has arrived in Alexander Korda's Knight Without Armor, 1937.
Knight Without Armor (1937) -- (Movie Clip) But I Want To Be Shot! The band barely under the command of Russian revolutionary commissar Axelstein (Basil Gill) has no idea his assistant (Robert Donat) is a deep-cover British agent, and he dares not tell the Czarist countess (Marlene Dietrich) whose estate they've seized, in Alexander Korda's Knight Without Armor, 1937.
Knight Without Armor (1937) -- (Movie Clip) British Secret Service Having been given the boot by the Czarist cops in Moscow, British writer Fothergill (Robert Donat) commiserates with friend Stanfield (Frederick Culley), who has an idea, then meets Col. Forrester (Lawrence Hanray), in Alexander Korda's production of Knight Without Armor, 1937.
Knight Without Armor (1937) -- (Movie Clip) Opening, Ascot 1913 Opening title sequence to Alexander Korda's production of Knight Without Armor, 1937, leads to the principals, Countess Alexandra (Marlene Dietrich) and Fothergill (Robert Donat) not meeting at the races at Ascot.
Carnival In Flanders (1935) -- (Movie Clip) Let Us Sit And Look Dignified Amid carnival preparations, the pompous councilmen of a Flemish town panic when a representative of one of their Spanish rulers arrives, their leader the Burgomeister (Andre Alerme) in turn being dominated by his wife (Francoise Rosay), in Jacques Feyder's Carnival In Flanders, 1935.
Carnival In Flanders (1935) -- (Movie Clip) He Won't Bite Siska (Micheline Cheirel), daughter of the Burgomeister (Andre Alerme) cajoles her preferred suitor Breughel (Bernard Lancret, who does not represent any particular member of the Flemish family of painters) to make his proposal, not knowing she's just been promised to the butcher (Alfred Adam), in Carnival In Flanders, 1935.
Gribiche (1925) -- (Movie Clip) Trois Quartiers Director Jacques Feyder with a brisk opening, introducing the nicknamed title character (Jean Forest), his wife Francoise Rosay as the American Madame Maranet, and sampling the Paris location shooting for which he was famous, in Gribiche, 1925.
Gribiche (1925) -- (Movie Clip) It Was A Saturday Complex piece in which the young title character (Jean Forest) reconstructs for an audience including his mother (Cecile Guyon) and boyfriend (Rolla Norman) events we've already seen, featuring his benefactor-to-be Madame Maranet (Francoise Rosay), in director Jacques Feyder's Gribiche, 1925.
Gribiche (1925) -- (Movie Clip) From That Day Forward The young French title character (Jean Forest) here has just been adopted by a well-meaning very progressive American philanthropist lady, finding out what he's in-for, in this 2009 restoration of director Jacques Feyder's Gribiche, 1925.
Kiss, The (1929) -- (Movie Clip) Striving To Forget Lonely after her lover has left town, Irene (Greta Garbo) stews, her husband (Anders Randolf) hires a detective (Holmes Herbert) who follows her to a dog show where she meets young Pierre (Lew Ayres, his first credited role), in MGM's last silent, The Kiss, 1929.

Family

Marc Frederix
Son
Set decorator.
Paul Feyder
Son
Director.
Bernard Farrel
Son
Actor.

Companions

Francoise Rosay
Wife
Actor. Married 1917.

Bibliography

Notes

When he announced he wanted to become an actor in 1907, father forbade him to use family name so he adopted pseudonym "Feyder"