Jean-Pierre Melville is an influential French film director particularly well known for his film noirs. Born
Jean-Pierre Grumbach of Jewish heritage on October 20, 1917, in Paris, he adopted the last name
Melville in tribute to his favorite American author,
Herman Melville. He served in World War II and, upon returning from the war, he sought a way into the French film industry. Unable to break into the industry as a director, he chose to forge his own way as an independent filmmaker.
Melville made his full-length film debut in 1949 with Le Silence de la Mer after releasing a short film, Vingt-quatre Heures de la Vie d'un Clown (1945), several years earlier. He was active as a filmmaker throughout the 1950s and '60s and proved influential not only on French New Wave filmmakers such as
Jean-Luc Godard but also subsequent generations of filmmakers including notables such as
John Woo,
Quentin Tarantino, and
Jim Jarmusch.
Melville's most influential films are a series of latter-day film noirs including Le Samouraï (1967), L'Armée des Ombres (1969), and Le Cercle Rouge (1970). Highlights of the soundtracks of these films and others of his were compiled for release on the best-of collection
Le Cercle Noir in 2008 by Universal Jazz France.
Melville died on August 2, 1973, in Paris. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide
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