Roussel, Henry

(Henri Rousselle / 1875, Bayonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France - 1946, Paris, France)

   While earning a living as an employee of a wine merchant, he spent all his evenings at the Théâtre de l'Odéon. He enrolled in the Paris Conservatory and started a stage career as a leading man. Hired by the French group of the Imperial St. Petersburg Theater, he befriended Czar Nicolas II. He returned to France in the early 1910s and made his first film appearance in 1912 (Jean la Poudre ou La Conquête de l'Algerie / La Con­quête de l'Algérie, Emile Chautard, Maurice Tourneur). By 1914, he turned a director. In 1928, he supervised Jean de Size's Une Java and Jean Milva's Le Perroquet vert. He also adapted an American picture (1921 The Soul of Bronze, Harry Houdini, USA) and wrote the screenplay of Violettes imperiales / Violetas imperials (Richard Pottier, France / Spain, 1952).

 Filmography

1914 ◘ Les Enfants du Capitaine Grant (co-director with Joseph Faivre, Victorin Jasset)

        ◘ La Femme blonde (also screenwriter, actor)

        ◘ Un Homme passa

        ◘ L'Âme du Bronze (two episodes: "La Paix", "La Guerre")

        ◘ La Faute d'Odette Maréchal (also screenwriter)

        ◘ Visages voilés, Âmes closes (also co-screenwriter)

        ◘ Les Opprimés (also screenwriter)

        ◘ La Vérité (also screenwriter)

        ◘ Violettes impériales (also screenwriter, producer)

        ◘ La Terre promise (also screenwriter, producer)

        ◘ Destinée (also screenwriter)

        ◘ L'Ile enchantée (also screenwriter)

        ◘ La Valse de l'Adieu / Frédéric Chopin / La Valse de l'Amour

        ◘ Paris-Girls

        ◘ La Nuit est à vous / UK: Night Is Ours / USA: The Night Belongs to Us (French version of Carl Froelich's Die Nacht gehôrt uns; also actor; Germany / France)

        ◘ Barcarolle d'Amour (French version of Carl Froelich's Brand in der Oper / Barcarole (Germany / France)

        ◘ Atout Cœur

        ◘ Violettes impériales

        ◘ La Fleur d'Oranger (also screenwriter, adapter, dialogist)

1934 ◘ Arlette et ses Papas (also screenwriter, adapter, dialogist)

1937 ◘ L'Amour veille (also screenwriter, adapter, dialogist)