Marcel Carne

Port of Shadows (1938, Le Jour Se Leve 91939), the Devil's Envoys (1942) and Children of Paradise (1945) are films directed by Frenchman Marcel Carne. Born in August 1906, Carne started his creed as a film critic and quickly became the editor of Hebdo-Films. He also waked in silent film as a camera assistant. At 25, Carne directed his first film Nogent, Eldorado du dimanche in 1929.
From 1936 until 1948, Carne collaborated with screenwriter Jacques Prevert. They made many poetic realism films containing fatalistic tragic undertones. During WII, Carne worked against the Germans who attempted to control art French art. Under very difficult war conditions Carne directed Le Enfants du Paradis (1945). This film was released after WWII. In the 1990 Le Enfants was voted Best French Film of the Century. Carne's subsequent films, however, were failures at the box office.
Most of Carne's postwar films garnered negative criticisms from the press and members of the film industry. He entered his 1971 film Law Breakers into the 7th Moscow International Film Festival. He made his last film in 1976.
Carne was homosexual and most of later films refer to homosexuality or bisexuality. His partner Roland Lesaffre was the main actor in many of his films. Marcel Carne died October 31, 1996 at the age of 900. He is buried in Clamart, Hauts-de-Seine, France.