Le Somptier, René

(November 12, 1884, Caen, Calvados, France - September 23, 1950, Paris, France)

   The son of antique dealers, he studied law before publishing articles in L'Action Française and L'Oeuvre (1906). A high school friend of his who had founded a film company (Cosmograph) allowed him to direct his first movie, Poum à la Chasse, in which starred his father. After the end of World War I, he also wrote a few plays.

 Filmography

1908 ◘ Poum à la Chasse (short; also screenwriter)

1912 ◘ Grand-Maman (also screenwriter)

        ◘ Le Temps des Cerises (also screenwriter)

1913 ◘ Fleur fânée . . . Cœur aimé . . . (short; also screenwriter)

        ◘ La Lettre (also screenwriter)

        ◘ Les Mains qui meurent (also screenwriter)

        ◘ La Poudre X (short; also screenwriter)

        ◘ Prix de Rome (also screenwriter)

        ◘ Un Drame de l'Air (short; also screenwriter)

1914 ◘ Au Fond du Cœur (short; also screenwriter)

        ◘ Le Monde renversé (also screenwriter)

        ◘ La Fille du Caissier (short; also screenwriter)

        ◘ Ginette (also screenwriter)

        ◘ Losette (short; also screenwriter)

        ◘ Au Temps des Cerises / Le Temps des Cerises (short; also screenwriter)

        ◘ La Gloire posthume (short; also screenwriter)

        ◘ Lintègre (short; also screenwriter)

        ◘ Le Bon Tuyau (short; also screenwriter)

        ◘ Chef d'Ecole (also screenwriter)

        ◘ Les Masques (short; also screenwriter)

        ◘ Le Pressentiment (also screenwriter)

        ◘ Le Raid aérien (short; also screenwriter, actor)

1915 ◘ Célibataire (also screenwriter)

        ◘ Les Epaves de l'Amour / Les Epaves (also screenwriter)

1916 ◘ L'Aubade à Sylvie (also screenwriter)

        ◘ Le Pont des Enfers (also screenwriter)

1919 ◘ La Croisade (also screenwriter)

        ◘ La Sultane de l'Amour (two parts; co-director with Charles Burguet; a version colored with a stencil key set was released in 1923)

1920 ◘ La Montée vers l'Acropole (also screenwriter)

1923 ◘ La Bête traquée / La Fille du Garde-Chasse (co-director with Michel Carré)

        ◘ La Dame de Monsoreau (a shortened version colored with a stencil key set was released in 1925)

        ◘ La Porteuse de Pain (four episodes: "Le Crime", "L'Evadée de Clermont", "Maman Lison", "Les Métamorphoses d'Ovide")

        ◘ Les Fils du Soleil (eight episodes: "Un Drame à Saint-Cyr", "Le Capitaine Youssouf", "Chré­tienne et Musumane", "Le Justice d'Abd-el-Kassem", "L'Evasion", "La Guerre sainte", "Sa­bre au Clair", "Le Triomphe de l'Honneur")

        ◘ Les Terres d'Or (documentary)

        ◘ La Forêt qui tue / Het Dodeljike Woud (also co-screenwriter; partially directed by René Le Somptier; Belgium)

        ◘ Le P'tt Parigot 1928 La Marche vers le Soleil / USA: The March To­ward the Sun (also screenwriter, actor)