- Source: Marcel Courmes
Marcel Louis Henry Joseph Léon Courmes (13 June 1885 – 5 May 1950) was a French military officer and aviator during the First World War, and subsequently one of the first French sound cinematographers.
Biography
= Family and background
=The son of Euphémie Segond and Captain Arthur Louis Courmes (1849-1921) who was the Knight of Legion of Honour. Courmes was born on June 13, 1885, to Euphémie Segond and Captain Arthur Louis Courmes (1849–1921), a Knight of the Legion of Honour. His paternal lineage traces back to Luc Courmes, a Huguenot captain born in 1580 in Grasse. He was also the great-grandnephew of Claude-Marie Courmes, who served as deputy of Var, mayor of Grasse, and was a Knight of the Legion of Honour.
On March 21, 1910, Courmes married Louise Read Chadwick, the daughter of American painter Francis Brooks Chadwick and Swedish painter Emma Löwstädt-Chadwick, in Grez-sur-Loing.
Courmes had a son, Lieutenant Christian Courmes (1913–1987), and a daughter, Gilberte Courmes. Christian was imprisoned in 1942 at the Colditz fortress, where he participated in the escape attempts known as "The Metro" and "The French Tunnel". Gilberte married Colonel Maurice Delage, a Companions of Liberation, who served with General Leclerc's "Force L" and established the 13th Engineering Battalion of the 2nd Armored Division. He eventually took part in Operation Overlord and the Liberation of Paris.
= Military career
=Courmes graduated 6th out of 277 from his class at the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr, and Major out of 60 at École de cavalerie, Saumur.
He was a classmate of Colonel de La Rocque and demonstrated his military loyalty to him by testifying as a character witness at La Rocque's trial. He was also close to the first Chinese Saint-Cyrien, General Prince Pao-Tchao Dan (1884-1958).
He served as a second lieutenant in the 5th African Hunter Regiment (1907), then as lieutenant in the 2nd African Hunter Regiment (1907–1908). He served during the Moroccan Campaign in the 28th Dragoon Regiment (1910–1911) and in the 7th Dragoon Regiment (1913). He was described as a "brilliant but dreamy, excessively artistic cavalry officer who has a tendency towards too much benevolence in his command, which can have serious disadvantages in times of war."
In 1914, he was a special staff officer in the 4th Dragoon Regiment. He joined the French Air Force on August 1, 1915 in the French 2nd Bombardment Group, and then served in the Escadrille F 63. He was described as "an officer of perfect education, of an independent character who has great qualities of composure, courage and willpower, which make him an excellent pilot."
= Career in film
=Courmes was one of the first French sound cinematographers, along with Joseph de Bretagne, both of whom participated in many French films of the 1930s. In 1931, the pair featured in film La Chienne directed by Jean Renoir, for which Courmes was the artistic director and played the role of "The Colonel". They were supported by technical advisors from Western Electric, Bell and Hotchckiss whom assisted in direct capture of outdoor sound. The pair's contribution is most apparent in the film's final sequence, a tracking shot with dialogue between Michel Simon and Alexis Godart on a busy street. The "sound trucks" necessary for this sequence were used by the novice technicians, with the help of experts from Western Electric.
Courmes' is also credited in Braunberger and Richebé films such as Fantômas (with Bell in 1932) and The Agony of the Eagles (1933, with Bell). Courmes also recorded the street sounds of La Tête d'un homme for Julien Duvivier (1932, production Vandal et Delac) and those of Hôtel du Nord for Marcel Carné in 1938. He worked again with Bretagne for the Renoir film Madame Bovary (1933) and Le Voyage de M. Perrichon (1934).
Awards and honors
Courmes obtained the following distinctions:
Knight of the Legion of Honor (July 6, 1929)
Croix de Guerre (1914-1918), with Palm
Morocco commemorative medal (1909), Morocco Clasp, Algerian-Moroccan Borders (at war)
Citation to the Order of the Army, number 32489 (July 13, 1916) with mention: "Bold and skillful pilot carried out 10 bombings, including 9 at night; this is particularly distinguished by carrying out successfully on the night of the 17th on May 18, 1916 a particularly perilous expedition to an important station."
Filmography
Marcel Courmes was one of the first French sound cinematographers and was also the artistic director of Jean Renoir's film La Chienne. He participated in the following films
1931 : La Chienne by Jean Renoir
1931 : L'Amour à l'américaine by Paul Fejos
1932 : Fantômas by Paul Fejos
1932 : Criminel by Jack Forrester
1933 : L'agonie des aigles by Roger Richebé
1933 : La tête d'un homme by Julien Duvivier
1933 : L'Homme à l'Hispano by Jean Epstein
1933 : Madame Bovary by Jean Renoir
1933 : Quelqu'un a tué by Jack Forrester
1933 : Tire-au-flanc by Henry Wulschleger
1933 : Tour de chant by Alberto Cavalcanti
1934 : Cessez le feu by Jacques de Baroncelli
1934 : Les nuits moscovites by Alexis Granowsky
1934 : Le Voyage de monsieur Perrichon by Jean Tarride
1935 : Le comte Obligado by Léon Mathot
1935 : Le Billet de mille by Marc Didier
1935 : Quelle drôle de gosse by Léo Joannon
1935 : Golgotha by Julien Duvivier
1935 : Les yeux noirs by Victor Tourjanski
1935 : Le Roman d'un jeune homme pauvre by Abel Gance
1936 : Sous les yeux d'occident by Marc Allégret
1936 : Aventure à Paris by Marc Allégret
1936 : Partie de campagne by Jean Renoir
1936 : Les Hommes nouveaux by Marcel L'Herbier
1936 : Tarass Boulba by Alexis Granowsky
1936 : Opéra de Paris by Claude Lambert (short film)
1936 : Le grand refrain by Yves Mirande
1937 : Vous n'avez rien à déclarer? by Léo Joannon
1937 : Les Perles de la couronne by Sacha Guitry
1938 : Orage by Marc Allégret
1938 : Hôtel du Nord by Marcel Carné
1938 : Carrefour by Kurt Bernhardt
1938 : Durand bijoutier by Jean Stelli
1938 : Lumières de Paris by Richard Pottier
1938 : Le train pour Venise by André Berthomieu
1939 : La charrette fantôme by Julien Duvivier
1939 : La famille Duraton by Christian Stengel
1939 : Le déserteur by Léonide Moguy
1943 : L'Auberge de l'abîme by Willy Rozier
1943 : Les Deux timides by Yves Allégret
1943 : Le camion blanc by Léo Joannon
References
Bibliography
René Martel (1939). L'aviation française de bombardement, des origines au 11 novembre 1918 (in French). Paul Hartmann.
Kata Kunci Pencarian:
- Marcel Courmes
- World War I
- Courmes
- Aircraft pilot
- Courmes family
- Aviation in World War I
- Claude-Marie Courmes
- La Chienne
- Maurice Delage (soldier)
- Technology during World War I
