Jean Dréville(1906-1997)
- Director
- Writer
- Editor
The great neglected independent film-maker Jean Dreville had no formal
education - he was educated privately at home. He showed an early
interest in photography and art and his first jobs were as
photographer, poster designer and draftsman. His break into films came
in 1928 when he made his first short films. In the 1930's, when films
about Russia were popular with supporters of the Popular Front, he got
on the bandwagon with 'Troika on the White Piste' (1938) and 'Sleepless
Nights of St Petersburg' (1938). After the Second World War he had a
big success with 'Heavy Water Battle' (1948), a spy thriller made in
documentary style set in Nazi-occupied Norway, about Allied attempts to
obliterate the factory producing heavy water to power V2 rockets. In
1960 he co-directed the fine French-Soviet aviation spectacular,
Normandie-Niemen. In his later career he turned increasingly to comedy.
