Cavalcanti, Alberto

(Alberto De Almeida-Cavalcanti / February 6, l897, Rio de Janeiro, Bra­zil-August 23, l982, Paris, France)

   The son of a mathematician of Italian origin (one of his ancestors could have been the Florentine poet and Dante's friend Guido Cavalcanti), he studied law and architecture in Geneva, Switzerland. Then he went to France after World War II and frequented the artistic avant-garde. He entered films as costume designer (l921 El Dorado, Marcel L'Herbier) and art director (l923 Resurrection, also assistant director, Marcel L'Herbier, unfinished; 1924 L'Inhumaine / UK: The Inhuman Woman / USA: The New Enchantment, Marcel L'Herbier; L'Inondation, Louis Delluc; 1926 Feu Mathias Pascal / UK: The Late Mathias Pascal / USA: The Living Dead, Marcel L'Herbier; The Little People, George Pearson, UK). He was successively assistant director (l924 La Galerie des Monstres / La barraca de los monstruos, Jaque Catelain, France / Spain), editor (l927 Voyage au Congo, documentary, Marc Allé-gret; l931 Au Pays du Scalp, documentary, Robert de Wavrin), co-screenwriter, co-adapter (l928 Tire au Flanc, Jean Renoir; l934 Votre Sourire, Monty Banks, Pierre Caron), and supervisor (l928 Souvenirs de Paris / Paris Express, short, Marcel Duhamel, Pierre Prévert; 1934 Song of Ceylon, also sound supervisor, Basil Wright, UK). From l933 to l949, he worked in Great Britain first for the GPO film unit as sound designer (l934 Granton Trawler, documentary, John Grierson; Windmill in Barbados, documentary, Basil Wight, UK; l936 Night Mail, documentary, short, also technical adviser, Harry Watt, Basil Wight, UK) and then as producer (also for Ealing Studios since 1942) (1935 B.B.C. the Voice of Britain, documentary, Stuart Legg, UK; Big Money, short, Pat Jackson, UK; l936 Rainbow Dance, short, Len Lye, UK; l937 Book Bargain, documentary, Norman McLaren, UK, shot in l935; The Savings of Bill, Harry Watt, UK; l938 North Sea, documentary, short, also screenwriter, UK; Happy in the Morning, short, Pat Jackson, also screenwriter, UK; Forty Million People / Health for the Nation, documentary, short, John Monck, UK; Mony a Piddle, animated short, Norman McLaren, Richard Massingham, UK; N. or N.W. / North or Northwest, short, Len Lye, UK; The City, short, Ralph Elton; l939 Love on the Wing, animated short, Norman McLaren, UK / Canada; Men in Danger, Pat Jackson, UK; Oh Whiskers!, short, Brian Pickersgill, UK; Spare Time, documentary, short, Humphrey Jennings, UK; The First Days / A City Prepares, documentary, short, Pat Jackson, Humphrey Jennings, Harry Watt, UK; The H.P.O., short, Lotte Reiniger, UK; The Tocher, short, Lotte Reiniger, UK; l940 Spring Offensive (an Unre­corded Victory), short, Humphrey Jennings, UK; Men of the Lightship, documentary, short, David McDonald, UK; Kitten on the Quay, short, Henry St. John, UK; Squadron 992, documentary, short, Harry Watt, UK; The Big Blockade, Charles Frend, UK; l941 Merchant Seamen, short, J. B. Holmes, UK; l942 The Foreman Went to France, Charles Frend, UK; The Greek Testa­ment, documentary, medium-length, Charles Hasse, UK; l943 Find Fix and Strike, short, Compton Bennett, UK; 1946 Captive Heart, as associate producer, Basil Dearden, UK) and consultant art director (1941 The Ghost of St. Michaels, Marcel Varnel, UK; Turned Out Nice Again, Marcel Varnel, UK). He moved to Brazil for a series of lectures and was hired by the Véra Cruz Company as general producer (1950 Caiçara, also co-screenwriter, Adolfo Celi, Tom Payne, John Waterhouse, Brazil; 1951 Painel, documentary, short, Lima Barreto, Brazil; Angela, also co-screenwriter, Eros Martin Gonçalves, Tom Payne, Abilio Pereira de Almeida, Brazil; 1952 Terra è Sempre Terra, Tom Payne, Brazil; Santuario, documentary, short, Lima Barreto, Brazil). Having returned to Europe in 1955, he carried on his directing career, played in a feature film (1975 Lettres de Stalingrad, Gilles Katz, shot in 1968-1969), and appeared as himself in documen­taries shot for TV (1968 Cinéastes de notre Temps, episode "Le Cinéma de la première Vague", Noël Burch, Jean-André Fieschi; 1974 Le Cinéma français par ceux qui l'ont fait, Armand Panigel) and cinema (1973 Grierson, Roger Blais, Canada).

 Filmography

        ◘ Rien que les Heures / UK: Nothing but Time / USA: Nothing but the Hours (also screenwriter, adapter, editor)

        ◘ La P'tite Lili (also short, editor)

        ◘ Yvette (also screenwriter, adapter, editor)

        ◘ En Rade / UK and USA: Sea Fever (also co-screenwriter, editor, composer)

        ◘ La Jalousie du Barbouillé (also screenwriter, adapter, co-production designer; shot in 1927)

        ◘ Le Train sans Yeux (also screenwriter, adapter, editor; shot in 1926)

        ◘ Le Capitaine Fracasse / US video: Captain Fra­casse (co-director with Henry Wulschleger; also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, editor)

1930 ◘ Vous verrez la Semaine prochaine (documentary; medium-length; also screenwriter, editor)

        ◘ Le Petit Chaperon rouge / USA: Little Red Riding Hood (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, pro­duction designer, editor)

        ◘ Dans une Île perdue (French-language version of William A. Wellman's Dangerous Paradise, USA)

        ◘ Toute sa Vie / L'Appel du Coeur (French-language version of Dorothy Arzner's Sarah and Son; also Portuguese-language version: A Cançâo do berço, USA)

1931 ◘ Les Vacances du Diable (also adapter; French-language version of Edmund Goulding's The

        ◘ Devil's Holiday, USA)

        ◘ A mi-Chemin du Ciel (also adapter; French-language version of George Abbott's Half-Way to Heaven, USA)

1932 ◘ Le Truc du Brésilien (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter)

        ◘ En lisant le Journal (short)

        ◘ Le Jour du Frotteur (short; also screenwriter)

        ◘ Montmartre qui tourne / Nous ne ferons jamais de Cinéma / Revue montmartroise (short; also screenwriter, adapter)

        ◘ Plaisirs défendus (short; also screenwriter)

1933 ◘ Le Mari Garçon.

        ◘ Coralie et Cie (also screenwriter, adapter, dialogist)

        ◘ Lour un Piano (also screenwriter; unfinished)

        ◘ Tour de Chant (short; also screenwriter)

1934 ◘ New Rates (documentary; short; UK)

        ◘ Lett and Pott:A Fairy Story of the Suburbs (short; also uncredited co-screenwriter, co-dialogist, actor, editor, sound designer; UK)

        ◘ Coal Face (documentary; short; also co-screenwriter, sound engineer; UK)

        ◘ Message from Geneva (documentary; short; also screenwriter; UK)

        ◘ Who Writes to Switzerland (documentary; short; also screenwriter; UK)

        ◘ We Live in Two Worlds, a Film Talk by J. B. Priestley (documentary; short; UK)

        ◘ The Line to Tschierva Hut (documentary; also screenwriter, editor; UK)

        ◘ Four Barriers (documentary; short; also screenwriter; UK)

        ◘ A Midsummer Day's Work (documentary; short; also screenwriter, editor; UK)

        ◘ Men of the Alps (documentary; short; UK)

        ◘ Factory Front (also producer; UK)

        ◘ Yellow Caesar (documentary; short; UK)

        ◘ Film and Reality (compilation documentary; also author of commentary; UK)

        ◘ Alice in Switzerland (documentary; UK)

        ◘ Went the Day Well? / USA: 48 Hours (UK)

1943 ◘ Waterlight (documentary; also screenwriter; UK)

1944 ◘ The Halfway House / USA: Halfway House (uncredited director with Basil Dearden; also associate producer; UK)

        ◘ Champagne Charlie (UK)

1945 ◘ Dead of Night (co-director with Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, Robert Hamer; seg­ments "Christmas Party", "The Ventriloquist's Dummy"; UK)

1947 ◘ Nicholas Nickleby / The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (UK)

        ◘ They Made Me a Fugitive / USA: I Became a Criminal (UK)

1948 ◘ The First Gentleman / USA: Affairs of a Rogue (UK)

1949 ◘ For Them That Trespass (UK)

1952 ◘ Simao, o caolho / USA: Simon the One-Eyed (also co-screenwriter, co-dialogist, producer; Brazil)

        ◘ O canto do mar / USA: Song of the Sea (also co-screenwriter, co-dialogist, producer; Brazil)

1954 ◘ Mulher de Verdade / UK: Woman of Truth / USA: A Real Woman (also co-screenwriter, co-dialogist, producer; Brazil)

1957 ◘ Die Windrose / A Rosa-dos-Ventos (Russian segment; East Germany / Brazil / USSR; also screenwriter, art director)

        ◘ Le Château des Capathes (unfinished)

1959 ◘ Les Noces vénitiennes / La prima notte (France / Italy)

        ◘ Herr Puntilla und sein Knecht Matti (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter; West Germany / Austria; shot in 1956)

        ◘ The Monster of Highgate Ponds (UK)

        ◘ Yerma (documentary; medium-length; also screenwriter, adapter)

        ◘ Ainsi parlait Theodor Herzl (documentary)

        ◘ Story of Israel (documentary; medium-length; Israel)

1977 ◘ Um Homem e o Cinema (documentary; also actor; Brazil)

 Television Filmography

1969 ◘ Les Empaillés

1971 ◘ La Visite de la vieille Dame