Yves Allégret

(1907–87), b. Paris

Yves Allégret  was the younger brother of Marc Allégret, Yves worked his way into directing quite slowly. He assisted his brother on Mam’zelle Nitouche (which he remade in 1953 with Fernandel in the Raimu part) and Le Lac-aux-Dames. Yves also worked with Renoir on La Chienne but spent most of the 1930s directing shorts or working as an art director. It was during the war that he began directing features, quickly establishing a Carné-like blend of naturalism and black poetry.

The films were mannered, good looking, and well acted, especially those starring his wife, Simone Signoret—La Boîte aux Rêves, Dédée d’Anvers, and Manèges—but nothing prepares one for the achievement of Une Si Jolie Petite Plage, an indelible image of hell on earth, set in a wretched seaside town in winter, marvelously photographed by Henri Alekan and arguably Gérard Philipe’s finest study of romantic despair. The last scenes of that film are more chilling than any of Carné’s effects and immeasurably graver than the rest of Allégret.

1936: Vous N’Avez Rien à Déclarer? (codirected with Leo Joannon).

1941: Jeunes Timides; Tobie Est un Ange (not released).

1942: La Roue Tourne (uncompleted).

1943: La Boîte aux Rêves.

1945: Les Démons de l’Aube.

1948: Dédée d’Anvers; Une Si Jolie Petite Plage.

1949: Manèges.

1950: Les Miracles N’Ont Lieu Qu’une Fois.

1951: Nez de Cuir; “La Luxure,” an episode from Les Sept Péchés Capitaux.

1952: La Jeune Folle.

1953: Mam’zelle Nitouche; Les Orgueilleux.

1954: Oasis. 1955: La Meilleure Part.

1957: Méfiez-Vous Fillettes; Quand la Femme S’en Mêle.

1958: La Fille de Hambourg; L’Ambitieuse.

1960: Le Chien de Pique. 1962: Konga Yo.

1963: Germinal.

1967: Johnny Banco.

1970: L’Invasion.

1975: Orzowei.

1976: Mords Pas On T’Aime.