Henri Verneuil (1920–2002) – cinéaste de première classe

Abstract

ABSTRACT Albeit a director scornfully dismissed by the Cahiers du cinéma’s ‘Young Turks’, writing in the 1950s, as part and parcel of the derided ‘cinéma de papa’, Henri Verneuil was, as this essay will show – through a discussion of two films from his early period, Des gens sans importance/People of No Importance (1956) and L’Affaire d’une nuit/It Happened All Night (1960) – part of the ‘quality’ cinema of the 1950s. He successfully combined his cinematic skills with consummate storytelling which made him both a traditionalist (through his training) and a modern filmmaker (through his ability to accurately address contemporary issues).