History Creator / JacquesTourneur

!! Selected Filmography:

* ''Film/RomanceOfRadium'' (1937)(documentary short)

Tourneur was the son of Maurice Tourneur, the famous French silent film-maker (and a major director in his own right). As a young man, he worked on the sets of his father's films and grew up observing the process of film-making in detail. When his father moved to America, his son accompanied him, and Tourneur worked as a technician on a variety of shorts and feature films. It was during the production of the 1935 film adaptation of ''Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities'' that Tourneur first met Val Lewton, then an assistant to producer David O. Selznick. By the end of the decade, Tourneur made his feature debut, ''They All Come Out'', and when Lewton was placed in charge of a production unit for Creator/RKOPictures, he called his old friend to jump on-board.

Tourneur was the son of Maurice Tourneur, the famous French silent film-maker (and a major director in his own right). As a young man he worked on the sets of his father's films and grew up with observing the process of film-making in detail. When his father moved to America, his son accompanied him, and Tourneur worked as a technician on a variety of shorts and feature films. It was during the production of the 1935 film adaptation of ''Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities'' that Tourneur first met Val Lewton, then an assistant to producer David O. Selznick. By the end of the decade, Tourneur made his feature debut, ''They All Come Out'', and when Lewton was placed in charge of a production unit for Creator/RKOPictures, he called his old friend to jump on-board.

The result was films like ''Cat People'', ''I Walked With a Zombie'', and ''The Leopard Man'', horror films made on a very low-budget but which impressed many audiences in its time and decades onwards for its visual invention, its evocative use of black-and-white, and it's particular approach to fantasy, where much is suggested rather than shown, and a lot of the horror stems from fear that human subjectivity prevents us from truly seeing the world. Tourneur also made films in other genres in the same decade including the classic FilmNoir ''Out of the Past'' (starring Creator/RobertMitchum and Jane Greer), the well-regarded western ''Canyon Passage''.

Tourneur described his biggest mistake to be taking a pay cut for the production of ''Stars in My Crown'', a personal project starring a cowboy preacher (played by one of his favourite actors, and good friends, Joel [=McRea=]). The result was a film that decades onwards he would consider his masterpiece but in its time, it made him unemployable, and for the rest of his career, Tourneur remained the "low-budget" director, making a series of highly regarded films and romances including unusual works like ''Way of a Gaucho'' (an Argentine Western shot on location in the Pampas) but he never quite made it to the big leagues. Later films of note include ''Wichita'' (A Cinemascope Western about Wyatt Earp), ''Nightfall'' (a Noir starring Aldo Ray and a very young Anne Bancroft) and his return to the horror genre, and most highly regarded later film ''Night of the Demon''. But he continued making middling films retiring in 1965.

!! Selected Filmography.

-> ''People need magic. We all seek it. Inside us, we still carry our childhood, stories of another time, told to us by our aunt and uncle. That stays with us, whether we like it or not.''

The result was films like ''Cat People'', 'I' Walked With a Zombie'', and ''The Leopard Man'', horror films made on a very low-budget but which impressed many audiences in its time and decades onwards for its visual invention, its evocative use of black-and-white, and it's particular approach to fantasy, where much is suggested rather than shown, and a lot of the horror stems from fear that human subjectivity prevents us from truly seeing the world. Tourneur also made films in other genres in the same decade including the classic FilmNoir ''Out of the Past'' (starring Creator/RobertMitchum and Jane Greer), the well-regarded western ''Canyon Passage''.

The result was films like ''Cat People, I Walked With A Zombie'' and ''The Leopard Man'', horror films made on a very low-budget but which impressed many audiences in its time and decades onwards for its visual invention, its evocative use of black-and-white, and it's particular approach to fantasy, where much is suggested rather than shown, and a lot of the horror stems from fear that human subjectivity prevents us from truly seeing the world. Tourneur also made films in other genres in the same decade including the classic FilmNoir ''Out of the Past'' (starring Creator/RobertMitchum and Jane Greer), the well-regarded western ''Canyon Passage''.

Jacques Tourneur (November 12, 1904 – December 19, 1977) is a French-born Hollywood filmmaker, best known for his collaboration with producer Creator/ValLewton.

Tourneur is the son of Maurice Tourneur, the famous French silent film-maker (and a major director in his own right). As a young man he worked on the sets of his father's films and grew up with observing the process of film-making in detail. When his father moved to America, his son accompanied him, and Tourneur worked as a technician on a variety of shorts and feature films. It was during the production of the 1935 film adaptation of ''Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities'' that Tourneur first met Val Lewton, then an assistant to producer David O. Selznick. By the end of the decade, Tourneur made his feature debut, ''They All Come Out'', and when Lewton was placed in charge of a production unit for Creator/RKOPictures, he called his old friend to jump on-board.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mv5byjzmm2u2owitmmmxny00yzvhlthjnmutndvkmdhkogiwodnlxkeyxkfqcgdeqxvymjuxode0mdy_v1_sy1000_sx1000_al.jpg]]

Jacques Tourneur (November 12, 1904 – December 19, 1977) is a French-born Hollywood film-maker, best known for his collaboration with producer Creator/ValLewton.

Jacques Tourneur