Christian-Jaque

(pseudonym of Christian Albert Francois Maudet). Born Sept. 4, 1904, in Paris. French film director.

Christian-Jaque graduated from the architecture department of the Academy of Arts. Beginning his film career in 1927 as a designer, he became a director in 1932; he directed short subjects, primarily comedies and farces, including a series of films with the famous comic actor Fernandel. His films dealing with the problems of raising children—for example, The Fugitives from St. Agil (1938) and Angels’Hell (1940)—brought him fame. Christian-Jaque’s films during World War II (1939–45) include La Symphonie fantastique (1942; about Berlioz) and The Hopeless Journey (1943). Such major films as The Charterhouse of Parma (1948, adapted from Stendahl), Fanfan la Tulipe (1952), and Race for Life (1955) belong to the postwar period. Christian-Jaque also produced commercial entertainment and period films—for example, Lucrezia Borgia (1953), Madame Du Barry (1954), Babette Goes to War (1959), and Weighty Evidence (1963).