Émile Couzinet
Directing
Biography
Émile Cousinet, dit Couzinet, né le 12 novembre 1896 à Bourg (Gironde) et mort le 24 octobre 1964 à Bordeaux, est un producteur de cinéma et réalisateur français. Fils d'un menuisier, Couzinet devient projectionniste ambulant puis directeur du Casino de Royan. Dans les années 1920, il décide d’investir dans l’exploitation de salles de cinéma, y compris d'art et d'essai. En 1930, à cause de la concurrence effrénée des barrières de Bordeaux, il acquiert ses propres studios, les Studios de la Côte de Beauté, un complexe cinématographique installé dans la station balnéaire de Royan. Après la destruction de la ville à l'issue de la seconde guerre mondiale, il récrée ses studios à Bordeaux, qui prennent alors le nom des Studios de la Côte d'Argent. Il produit lui-même des vaudevilles dont il est aussi le scénariste (à l'occasion sous le nom de Robert Eyquem) parfois au premier degré ou un peu grivois, souvent adaptés du théâtre de boulevard. Ainsi, Trois Jours de bringue à Paris est une adaptation de La Cagnotte d'Eugène Labiche alors que Le Don d'Adèle est inspiré d'une pièce de Pierre Barillet et de Jean-Pierre Grédy. Pilier représentatif du cinéma populaire – son slogan est « On y rit, on ira » –, il produit des films jubilatoires dont Le Club des fadas, Trois Vieilles Filles en folie, La Famille Cucuroux, Le Congrès des belles-mères, ou encore Mon curé champion du régiment. Si la comédie est son domaine de prédilection, Couzinet touche aussi à d'autres genres comme le film de cape et d'épée (Buridan, héros de la Tour de Nesle), l'adaptation littéraire (Colomba d'après Prosper Mérimée) ou le mélodrame familial (Quai des illusions, film pour lequel il emploie comme assistant un certain Sergio Leone). Il fait tourner de grands noms du cinéma de l'époque, comme Pierre Larquey, Jeanne Fusier-Gir ou Gaby Morlay. Mais il suscite également les débuts d'acteurs truculents tels Jean Carmet, qui apparait dans Mon curé champion du régiment et Robert Lamoureux, qui tient son propre rôle dans Le Don d'Adèle. L'empire Couzinet périclite progressivement à partir de la fin des années 1950 dans le contexte de concentration de l'industrie cinématographique.
Known For

The Baroness de Courtebise presides over an association of mothers-in-law with grievances against their sons-in-law. Armed with her prerogatives, she forbids the marriage of her daughter-in-law to the mayor's nephew, especially as an inheritance is in doubt. The ladies kidnap, the men kidnap, the election campaign turns sour and the Baroness must capitulate. She takes revenge by falling into the mayor's arms.
The Congress of Mother-in-Laws

Lise is bored with her parents and gets a job as a waitress. She meets a sailor, Fausto, who leaves her to escape from the police. Nevertheless, she gives birth to a baby who dies shortly afterwards. Distraught, she steals a parentless child from a maternity hospital. Arrested and tried, she is acquitted, only to find Fausto innocent.
Quai des illusions

A gentleman, falsely accused of an assassination, becomes a formidable bandit. Condemned by the king, he will be rehabilitated thanks to the intervention of a young girl whom he will marry.
Le brigand gentilhomme

Anatole, quivering nostrils and greedy lips, is the resourceful clerk of Mrs. Paufilat, a butcher. It takes a fancy to take on the identity of the Paufilat son, Paul. He must then undergo the assaults of the tumultuous Germaine, exhilarated by the money of Paul Paufilat.
This Rascal of Anatole

How a weak priest, armed up with love, a hat, an umbrella and a breviary became the regiment's champ.
My Priest, Champion of the Regiment

No description available.
Césarin joue les 'étroits' mousquetaires

The Marquise de Saint-Ange wants to marry her niece Nicole, but the young girl, put off by the chosen suitor, flees with her friend Jacques.
The Parish Priest of Saint-Amour

A man is killed smuggling contraband through the Pyrenees Alps. He leaves behind a pregnant woman who must go on.
Andorra or The Bronze Men

A marquis organizes a matrimonial contest with the aim of enriching three spinsters.
Trois vieilles filles en folie

Although Pierre is married, he is in love with his sister in law Marianne, while he is loved by his cousin Agnés, a spinster. Marianne loves him but she prefers to marry Rémy, and ultimately Agnés leaves Pierre to his wife and kids.
Hyménée

In Paris in 1314, the knight Jean Buridan is in love with Mirtille but the young woman is already coveted by the king's brother.
Buridan, hero of the tower of Nesle

A father falls in love with his son's mistress whom he has forced to emigrate to force him to break up. More carefree than a schoolboy, he ruins himself for the beauty who soon chases him away. The family will soon be reunited permanently.
L'intrigante

The film is set shortly after the 1815 Battle of Waterloo, around 1818, in which the hero Lieutanatn Orso fought for the French. In Marseille, returning to Corsica and his family estate, of which is now the head, Orso meets the Irish widower Colonel Sir Thomas Nevil and his beautiful daughter Lydia. The Colonel also fought for the British at Waterloo and they strike up a military-based friendship. They also share a passion for hunting. Orso convinces the colonel to come and hunt there. France ruled Corsica then, as they still do. Sadly, in his absence Orso's father has been assassinated by the influential Barracini family. Orso's sister Colomba is bent on him revenging the murder - in the Sicilian vendetta style. Orso doesn't agree with these old ways and the scene is set for a terrible conflict involving Corsican bandits and the French prefect. The book was made into an Italian one with the same title in 1948 and remade in 1950 in Hollywood under the name of "Vendetta".
Colomba

In a small village, an abbot tries to take lightly the jokes of three men, recalcitrant to religion.
Trois marins dans un couvent

The marchioness of Botarin secretly exchanges passionate letters with Jean, a young sailor. What Jean doesn't know is that the lady of his heart is twice as old as he thinks, for the photo she has sent her was one of her young niece Jacqueline, instead of her. Things get complicated when Jean turns up at the Botarin manor, escorted by two other sailors. The young man immediately falls under the spell of Jacqueline, which drives the marchioness crazy. The latter resorts to various subterfuges to separate the lovebirds, but to no avail. She will end up marrying a gendarme who has been her suitor for years while Jean weds his beloved Jacqueline.
Trois marins en bordée

A group of inhabitants from Ferté-sous-Jouarre decide to spend their jackpot on a three day trip to Paris.
Trois Jours de bringue à Paris

A viscount is ruined and wants to commit suicide. A young noceur pursued by his creditors is to inherit 60 million on condition that he marries a widow. The latter proposes to the former to do him the favor of marrying his mistress before committing suicide in order to fulfill the conditions of the will, while marrying the woman he likes. But once married, the viscount regains a taste for life. Everything will work out in everyone's best interests.
Quand te tues-tu ?
Desiring to give his compatriots a taste for laughter, a comic Marseilles founds a club with friends whose joke is the reason for living and tries to breathe new life into the sleeping city.
Le Club des fadas

André de Kerdec, a young lawyer buys an old parchment in an antique shop and discovers that a treasure is hidden in the bedroom of Artémise, an old maid who owns a manor. He manages to be hired as her chauffeur by Artémise and sets about looking for the treasure. During this time, he falls in love with Lucie, the old spinster's niece. But the trouble is that Artémise develops a crush on André...!
Un trou dans le mur

An aristocrat short of the readies, Gontran, is to marry a wealthy girl of common birth; but he has to get rid of his lover.