Le Chanois, Jean-Paul

(pseudonym of J.-P. Dreyfus). Born Oct. 25,1909, in Paris. French motion-picture director and screenwriter.

Le Chanois studied medicine but in 1930 began working in film as an actor, assistant director, and director. He was a member of Cinéliberté, a group of progressive cinema workers, and participated in the Popular Front Movement (1935–38). Le Chanois’s first film was the publicistic feature film Cherry Time (1938), financed with the help of the French Communist Party and the trade unions. His other motion pictures include L’Ecole Buissonière (1949), Address Unknown (1950), Papa, Mama, the Maid, and I (1955), Papa, Mama, My Wife, and I (1955), The Fugitives (1955), Les Misérables (1958, based on the Hugo novel), Monsieur (1964), and Le Jardinier d’Argenteuil (1966).