Volpone (1941)

Director:

Maurice Tourneur
(more)

Writers:

Ben Jonson (play)
Jules Romains (adaptation)
(more)

Release Date:

13 February 1950 (Sweden)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Volpone, an elderly Venetian, connives with his money-crazed servant to convince his greedy friends that he is dying...

Plot Keywords:

Theater | Foreign Language Adaptation | Based On Play

Cast

Harry Baur	...	Volpone
Louis Jouvet	...	Mosca
Charles Dullin	...	Corbaccio
Jean Témerson	...	Voltore (as Témerson)
Fernand Ledoux	...	Corvino
Jacqueline Delubac	...	Colomba Corvino
Marion Dorian	...	Canina
Alexandre Rignault	...	Le capitaine Leone Corbaccio
Louis Frémont	...	Le juge
Robert Seller	...	Le chef des sbires
Jean Lambert	...	Le chanteur
Pierre Gianotti	...	Le donneur de sérénade (as P. Gianotti)
Colette Régis	...	La marquise
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Alfred Baillou	...	Un mendiant (uncredited)
Roger Blin	...	Un vénitien (uncredited)
Henry Farty	...	Un vénitien (uncredited)
Édouard Francomme	...	Un vénitien (uncredited)
Rodolphe Marcilly	...	Un vénitien (uncredited)
Marcel Melrac	...	Un soldat (uncredited)
Pierre Moreno	...	Le greffier (uncredited)
Pierre Sabbagh	...	Un vénitien (uncredited)

Directed by
Maurice Tourneur
Jacques de Baroncelli		(some scenes) (uncredited)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Ben Jonson		play
Jules Romains		adaptation
Jules Romains		dialogue
Stefan Zweig		play (uncredited)

Produced by
Elisabeth Soutzo	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Marcel Delannoy

Cinematography by
Armand Thirard

Film Editing by
Marcel Cravenne		(as Marcel Cohen)

Production Design by
André Barsacq

Set Decoration by
Jacques Gut
Jean Perrier

Costume Design by
Boris Bilinsky

Makeup Department
Georges Klein	....	head makeup artist

Production Management
A. Hertz	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Edouard Lepage	....	assistant director
Jacques Tourneur	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Charles Guirlinger	....	sound engineer

Camera and Electrical Department
René Colas	....	camera operator
André Dumaître	....	assistant camera
Robert Taverne	....	assistant camera

Music Department
Roger Desormière	....	musical director

Other crew
Suzanne Bon	....	script girl
René Decrais	....	head costumier

Production Companies

• Île de France Film

Distributors

• A.Z. Distribution (1941) (France) (theatrical)
• Siritzky International Pictures Corporation (1947) (USA) (theatrical) (English subtitles)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Wide Range Recording)

Certification:

Sweden:15 | France:U (Visa #357)

Filming Locations:

Paris Studios Cinéma, Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France

Company:

Île de France Film

Trivia:

Begun in 1938 by Jacques de Baroncelli (with Jean Tissier), the production shut down because of financial difficulties. Maurice Tourneur took over and the shooting resumed on 23rd March 1940 (minus Jean Tissier). The scenes shot in 1938 were incorporated in the final print.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Le bourreau des coeurs (1983)

One of the best foreign adaptations of an English text ever filmed

Virtually none of Maurice Tourneur's work is generally available in the late twentieth English speaking world.This has been thus far posterity's loss. The present writer, after extensive efforts,has only been able to view three of his films scattered over a twenty-five year period.It is enough to state there is a treasure trove awaiting excavation out there.His son Jacques is justly admired for what he could do with often seemingly intractable material and actors of ordinarily limited interpretive ability.Obviously he learned most every trick in the book for his adroit father but rarely had as literate materials as the senior Tourneur.The son's massive fan following should be fighting to see more of the father's work. M.Tourneur worked many years in Hollywood silents. The two available to me(both literary adaptations)show an incredible awareness of the auditory riches the audience cannot share and the duty of the director to convey as much of this in another media as humanly possible.When he later chose to shoot "Volpone" for a French audience, he was somewhat equipped for a herculean task.The script is by the best Elizabethan writer,apart from Shakespeare(whoever he was);but iit is a play which is more admired than loved and rarely performed, even on the English stage. Tourneur romps through it. Two of the best acors of their time,Harry Baur and Louis Jouvet,perform as if the play were originally written for Frechmen.The costuming and the photography in glorious black-and-white is what the word style is all about.But why go on?Ignore author Ben Jonson's advice and look on the picture,not the book.Then demand a Maurice Tourneur festival from somebody out there.