Albert Valentin(1902-1968)

Today, Albert Valentin (1908-1968) is remembered as a screenwriter. However, three of his movies are on a par with the best of the French cinema of the era. "L'Entraineuse" (1938) compared favorably with "Waterloo bridge" as a model of melodrama.During the occupation days,he outdid himself and his two towering achievements should be considered classics today, in a league with these of Clouzot. "Marie-Martine " (1942) was constructed "in reverse", predating such works as "memento" by more than half a century. "La Vie De Plaisir'(1943) told a story from two points of view, seven years before "Rashomon" and this Bunuelian scene of a bishop blessing a pack of dogs remained memorable. Sadly, like Clouzot's "Le Corbeau", 'la vie De Plaisir", "deemed infamous, was banned at the liberation. His career as a director was virtually over after WW2, although his "Le Secret De Monte Cristo" (1948) was another unsung excellent effort he told the true story on which Alexandre Dumas based his famous novel. Valentin was the lost great director of the French forties indeed. As a screenwriter his work includes such classics as "Boudu Sauvé Des Eaux"(1932), "L'Etrange Monsieur Victor " (1941) and "Le Ciel Est A Vous" (1943).