CHRISTIAN MATRAS

GREAT CINEMATOGRAPHERS

#2: With Jacques Becker [looking through camera] - "Montparnasse 19" [1957]

CHRISTIAN MATRAS

Born: 29 December 1903, Valence [Drôme], France, as Jean Jacques Christian Matras.

Died: 4 May 1977, Paris, France.

Career: Entered the film industry in 1925, assisting his brother who was superv at a studio specializing in trick ph and efx work. Was newsreel ph for the weekly Éclair Journal from 1926-28.

At the beginning of his career, Christian Matras quickly established a reputation as a solid technician and an expert in creating decorative and psychological ambiences which testify to his range of taste. During his career, he adapted to developing techniques, as well as to the demands of varied directors.

Using his early training as a newsreel photographer, Matras successfully applied the technique of plain observation to feature films in the '30s. His documentary style was put to good use in Renoir's 'La grande illusion', a study of war. Renoir chose to tell his story of the dry rot of inaction, not on the battlefield, but behind the lines in a prison camp. It is a story of complex themes often revealed through camera movements.

This technique would typify Matras' work prior to World War II. During this period, it was careful, painstakingly detailed, and intelligent, almost to the point of coldness. After World War II, his documentary style gave way to dazzling, flowing camera movements. Matras adapted well to color filming; his 'Barbe-Bleue' was considered the first successful French film in color.

However, it is his work with Max Ophüls for which Matras is best known. Ophüls' films demanded complex camera work - long elaborate takes with flowing camera movements. Brilliant camera use became the director's trademark; without the fluid, impressionistic skill of Matras, Ophüls would not be as highly regarded as he is. In 'La ronde', Matras' first collaboration with Ophüls, Matras used sweeping camera work that would develop into the camera choreography used in 'Lola Montès'.

The filming of 'Lola Montès' is the epitome of Matras' craftsmanship and technique. For example, in the circus scenes, Ophüls was more interested in the audience than the main action. For this, Matras uses 360 degree camera shots. Some scenes were conceived and written to constitute dynamic walkthroughs, and the camera stays with the characters, persistent and unshakeable as it stalks and prowls with them. Matras' virtuoso camera movement makes the landscape and architecture seem to move.

'Madame de...' also contained fabulous photography. The story would be tedious if not for Matras' fluid camera, which juxtaposes intimate and dramatic shots to reveal theme and character. Ophüls relied on continuous flow as opposed to collisions between shots for his storytelling, and long tracks are used not only to convey action, but to convey shifts of mood, the evolution of time, and plot development. At the heart of the film is the ball scene. The couple dances round and round through one elegant ballroom after another, and the camera stays with them recording their changing feelings as the mood of frivolity recedes. A long continuous take follows the servant as he moves from light to light, extinguishing each until he finally blankets the scene in darkness when he covers the harp. [From article by Renee Ward on the filmreference.com website.]

FILMS
NOTE: It is often difficult to figure out whether or not a cph notation is appropriate, particularly as regards pre-war French films. The on-screen typography [big letters plainly indicating the cinematographer, much smaller ones plainly meant to denote the operator and assistants] clears up the matter, but were we have had to rely on printed sources, which merely list a bunch of names, we may occasionally have strayed into error.
1926	De babord à tribord [Christian Matras] b&w; doc/?m; + ed/scrpl
1929	L'enseignement équestre à l'école de cavalerie de Saumur [Jean-Claude Bernard] b&w; doc/?m
1930	Au fil de l'eau [Christian Matras; prod/artistic dir: C.F. Tavano] b&w; short (reportage filmé)/?m
1931	Sous la terre [Christian Matras] b&w; short/?m
1931	Cent sous en ballade [Christian Matras & Emile Monniot] b&w; short/300 mtr
1931	Le cor [Jean Epstein] b&w; short (chanson filmée)/6m
1931	Le crédo du paysan [Charles-Félix Tavano] b&w; short (chanson filmée)/280 mtr
1931	Éperon d'or [Jean-Claude Bernard] b&w; doc/60m; shortened & sound version of 'L'enseignement équestre à l'école de cavalerie de Saumur'; see 1929
1932	Arrêtez-moi! [Charles-Félix Tavano & Christian Matras] b&w; short/?m
1932	Un beau mariage [Charles-Félix Tavano] b&w; short/?m; + scrpl
1932	L'or des mers [Jean Epstein] b&w; doc/73m
1932	Le billet de logement/Billeting Order [Charles-Félix Tavano] b&w; + co-scrpl
1933	Pirates du Rhône [(Jean) Aurenche & (Pierre) Charbonnier] b&w; doc/12m; as Matras
1933	La châtelaine du Liban [Jean Epstein & Christian Matras] b&w; cph: Armand Thirard
1933	Le paquebot Tenacity/S.S. Tenacity [Julien Duvivier] b&w; cph: Armand Thirard & Willy (Faktorovich/Gricha)
1934	L'affaire Coquelet [Jean Gourguet] b&w
1934	La maison dans la dune/The House On the Dune [Pierre Billon & Christian Matras] b&w; cph: Armand Thirard
1934	Maternité [Jean Choux] b&w
1934	Le scandale [Marcel L'Herbier] b&w; cph: Eugen Schüfftan; + asst dir
1934	Les hommes de la côte [André Pellenc] b&w
1935	La marmaille [Dominique Bernard-Deschamps] b&w
1936	L'argent [Pierre Billon] b&w
1936	Mais n'te promène donc pas toute nue [Léo Joannon] b&w; short/30m; + co-scrpl
1936	Les mutinés de l'Elseneur [Pierre Chenal] b&w; cph: Joseph-Louis Mindwiller (= Jean-Paul Mundviller) & André Bac
1936	Les réprouvés [Jacques Séverac] b&w; cph: André Bac

1937	La grande illusion/The Grand Illusion [Jean Renoir] b&w
1937	Le chanteur de minuit [Léo Joannon] b&w
1937	Prison sans barreaux [Léonide Moguy] b&w; cph: Claude Renoir
1937	Légions d'honneur [Maurice Gleize] b&w
1938	Café de Paris [Yves Mirande & Georges Lacombe] b&w
1938	Entrée des artistes/The Curtain Rises [Marc Allégret] b&w
1938	La fin du jour [Julien Duvivier] b&w; cph: Armand Thirard
1938	Je chante [Christian Stengel] b&w
1938	Paradis perdu/Paradise Lost/Four Flights to Love [Abel Gance] b&w
1938	La piste du sud [Pierre Billon] b&w
1939	Le dernier tournant/The Last Turn [Pierre Chenal] b&w
1939	Le duel [Pierre Fresnay] b&w
1939	Mahlia la métisse [Walter Kapps] b&w; prod started in 1939, but was interrupted by the war; finished in 1942
1940	Parade en sept nuits [Marc Allégret] b&w; prod started in April 1940, but was interrupted by the war; finished in March 1941
1940	La nuit merveilleuse [Jean-Paul Paulin] b&w
1941	La romance de Paris [Jean Boyer] b&w
1941	Le briseur de chaînes [Jacques Daniel-Norman] b&w
1941	La duchesse de Langeais/Wicked Duchess [Jacques de Baroncelli] b&w
1942	La loi du printemps [Jacques Daniel-Norman] b&w
1942	Pontcarral, colonel d'empire [Jean Delannoy] b&w
1943	Secrets [Pierre Blanchar] b&w
1943	Le secret de Madame Clapain [André Berthomieu] b&w; cph: Jean Bachelet
1943	L'escalier sans fin [Georges Lacombe] b&w
1943	Un seul amour [Pierre Blanchar] b&w
1943	Lucrèce [Léo Joannon] b&w
1943	Le voyageur sans bagages [Jean Anouilh] b&w
1944	Le bossu [Jean Delannoy] b&w
1945	Mademoiselle X [Pierre Billon] b&w
1945	Boule de suif/Angel and Sinner [Christian-Jaque] b&w
1945	L'idiot [Georges Lampin] b&w
1945	Seul dans la nuit [Christian Stengel] b&w
1945	La part de l'ombre/Blind Desire [Jean Delannoy] b&w; cph: Roger Hubert
1945	Tant que je vivrai/As Long As I Live [Jacques de Baroncelli] b&w
1946	Un revenant/A Lover's Return [Christian-Jaque] b&w; cph: Louis Page
1946	Il suffit d'une fois [Andrée Féix] b&w
1947	Le beau voyage [Louis Cuny] b&w
1947	Les jeux sont faits/The Chips Are Down [Jean Delannoy] b&w
1947	La révoltée/Stolen Affections [Marcel L'Herbier] b&w
1947	Éternel conflit [Georges Lampin] b&w
1947	L'aigle à deux têtes [Jean Cocteau] b&w
1948	D'homme à hommes/Man to Men [Christian-Jaque] b&w
1948	Tous les chemins mènent à Rome/All Roads Lead to Rome [Jean Boyer] b&w

With dir Christian-Jaque [left] - "Singoalla"

1949	Singoalla/The Mask and the Sword/The Wind Is My Lover/Gypsy Fury [Christian-Jaque] b&w; 95m & 107m; also ph Swedish- (104m) and English-language (101m) versions
1949	La valse de Paris/Paris Waltz [Marcel Achard] b&w
1950	La ronde/Roundabout [Max Ophüls] b&w
1950	Souvenirs perdus [Christian-Jaque] b&w
1950	Olivia/The Pitt of Loneliness [Jacqueline Audry] b&w
1951	Barbe-Bleue [Christian-Jaque] c
1951	Blaubart [Christian-Jaque] c; German-language version of 'Barbe-Bleue'
1951	Le plaisir/House of Pleasure [seg #1 'Le masque' & #2 'La maison Tellier' dir by Max Ophüls] b&w; seg #3 'Le modèle' ph by Philippe Agostini
1951	Fanfan la Tulipe/Soldier of Love [Christian-Jaque] b&w
1952	Adorables créatures [Christian-Jaque] b&w
1952	Violettes impériales/Violetas imperiales [Richard Pottier] c; cph: César Fraile
1952	Lucrèce Borgia/Sins of the Borgias [Christian-Jaque] c
1953	Madame de.../The Earrings of Madame de... [Max Ophüls] b&w
1953	Destinées/Daughters of Destiny/Love, Soldiers and Women [seg 'Lysistrata' dir by Christian-Jaque] b&w; cph: Raffaele Masciocchi; other ph: Mario Craveri & Robert Lefebvre
1953	Secrets d'alcove/Il letto/The Bed [seg 'Le billet de logement' dir by Henri Decoin & 'Le lit de la Pompadour' dir by Jean Delannoy] b&w; 4 seg; other ph: Léonce-Henri Burel, Michel Kelber & Enzo Serafin
1954	Madame du Barry [Christian-Jaque] c
1954	Nana [Christian-Jaque] c
1954	Rendez-vous avec Maurice Chevalier [Maurice Régamey] b&w; comp of 6 musical shorts (#1 ?, #2 'C'est ci bon', #3 ?, #4 'Paris', #5 'Une Américaine à Paris' & #6 'Soirs de Paris'); ph #?; other ph: Willy (Faktorovich/Gricha) (#2) & Jean Lehérissey (#2); filmed 1954-55; released 1957
1955	Lola Montès/Lola Montez [Max Ophüls] cs/c; also ph German- and English-language versions
1955	Les carnets de Major Thompson/The Diary of Major Thompson/The French, They Are a Funny Race [Preston Sturges] b&w; ph Martine Carol seq; ph: Maurice Barry & Jean Lallier; 2nd cinematographer: André Domage
1955	Rencontre à Paris [Georges Lampin] b&w
1956	Les aventures de Till l'Espiègle/Die Abenteuer des Till Ulenspiegel/Bold Adventure [Gérard Philipe & Joris Ivens] c
1956	Oeil pour oeil/An Eye for an Eye [André Cayatte] vv/c
1957	Les espions [Henri-Georges Clouzot] b&w
1957	Une manche et la belle/The Evil That Is Eve/What Price Murder? [Henri Verneuil] b&w
1957	Montparnasse 19/Les amants de Montparnasse/Modigliani of Montparnasse [Jacques Becker] b&w
1958	Le miroir à deux faces/The Mirror Has Two Faces [André Cayatte] b&w
1958	Maxime [Henri Verneuil] b&w
1958	Christine [Pierre Gaspard-Huit] c
1958	Pourquoi viens-tu si tard?/Too Late to Love [Henri Decoin] b&w
1959	La bête à l'affût [Pierre Chenal] b&w
1959	Le chemin des écoliers/Way of Youth [Michel Boisrond] b&w
1959	Die schöne Lügnerin/Sissi/La belle et l'empereur [Axel von Ambesser] c
1959	Vers l'extase [René Wheeler] b&w
1960	Les magiciennes/Double Deception [Serge Friedman] b&w
1960	Le coeur battant/The French Game [Jacques Doniol-Valcroze] b&w
1961	Les lions sont lâchés/The Lions Are Loose [Henri Verneuil] ds/b&w

1961	Paris Blues [Martin Ritt] b&w
1961	Le jeu de la vérité/The Game of Truth [Robert Hossein] ds/b&w
1961	Cartouche/Swords of Blood [Philippe de Broca] ds/c
1962	Le crime ne paie pas/Crime Does Not Pay/Gentle Art of Murder [Gérard Oury] ds/b&w; 4 seg
1962	Thérèse Desqueyroux [Georges Franju] b&w
1962	Virginie [Jean Boyer] b&w
1962	Shéhérazade [Pierre Gaspard-Huit] scope (+ 70bu)/c; cph: André Domage
1963	Casablanca, nid d'espions [Henri Decoin] c
1963	Coup de bambou [Jean Boyer] b&w
1963	Journal d'un fou/Diary of a Madman [Roger Coggio] c
1964	Les amitiés particulières/This Special Friendship [Jean Delannoy] b&w
1964	Samba [Rafael Gil] c; cph: Gábor Pogány
1964	Le majordome [Jean Delannoy] b&w
1965	Los pistoleros de Arizona/El rancho de los implacables/5.000 dollari sul lasso/Die Gejagten der Sierra Nevada [Alfonso Balcázar] ts/c; cph: Carlo Carlini & Roberto Reale
1965	La dama de Beirut/Aventure à Beyrouth/The Woman from Beirut [Ladislao Vajda] c
1965	Les fêtes galantes/The Lace Wars [René Clair] c
1965	Lettre à Carla/Beatrice [Jean-José Richer] b&w; 70m
1966	La mujer perdida/Quel nostro grande amore [Tulio Demicheli] c
1967	Women Times Seven/Sept fois femme [Vittorio De Sica] c
1967	Les risques du métier/Risky Business [André Cayatte] c
1967	Más allá de las montañas/Flucht aus der Taiga/La fuga di Marek/The Desperate Ones [Alexander Ramati] c
1967	Les oiseaux vont mourir au Pérou/Birds in Peru [Romain Gary] fs/c
1968	La voie lactée/The Milky Way [Luis Buñuel] c
1969	Esa mujer [Mario Camus] c
1969	Las leandras [Eugenio Martin] c
1969	Le bal du comte d'Orgel [Marc Allégret] c

1971	Variétés [J. A. Bardem] c
1972	Pas folle la guêpe/Not Dumb, the Bird [Jean Delannoy] c

FILMS AS CAMERA ASSISTANT
1927	Maldone/Misdeal [Jean Grémillon] ph: Georges Périnal

FILMS AS DIRECTOR
1926	De babord à tribord [+ scrpl/ph/ed] see Films
1930	Au fil de l'eau [+ ph] see Films
1931	Sous la terre [+ ph] see Films
1931	Cent sous en ballade [co-d; + ph] see Films
1932	Arrêtez-moi! [co-dir: Charles-Félix Tavano; + ph] see Films
1933	La châtelaine du Liban [co-d: Jean Epstein; + cph] see Films
1934	La maison dans la dune/The House On the Dune [co-d: Pierre Billon; + cph] see Films