Joannon, Léo

(1904-1969)

   Actor, director, and screenwriter. Born Léon Joannen in Aix-en-Provence, Léo Joannon began his career as a screenwriter and film-crew assistant at the end of the silent-film era. He quickly turned his hand to directing, although he continued to write, working on the screenplays for most of his own films. His first film was Adieu les copains (1930) and was quickly followed by others, including Sur la voie du bonheur (1931), 600 000 francs par mois (1933), Bibi la purée (1934), Quelle drôle de gosse (1935), Train de plaisir (1936), Quand minuit sonnera (1936), Vous n'avez rien à déclarer (1937), Alerte en méditerannée (1938), which won the Grand Prix du cinéma français, and L'Emigrante (1939), starring Edwige Feuillière.

   The 1930s were really the peak years of Joannon's career. During the 1940s and particularly during the Occupation, he made only a handful of films, no doubt because of his decidedly pacifist politics, which were evident in some of his films. Films from this period include Caprices (1942), starring Danielle Darrieux and Albert Préjean, Le Camion blanc (1943), starring Jules Berry, Lucrèce (1943), which again starred Feuillière, Le Carrefour des enfants perdus (1944), and Documents secrets (1945).

   Joannon had a bit of a renaissance in the 1950s, during which time he made the Laurel and Hardy feature Atoll K (1951) and a number of religious or morally oriented dramas including Le Défroqué (1954), which starred Pierre Fresnay, Le Secret de soeur Angèle (1956), L'Homme aux clefs d'or (1956), which again starred Fresnay, and Le Désert de Pigalle (1958). In the 1960s, he made a variety of different kinds of film, including the crime films L'Assassin est dans l'annuaire (1962), which featured Fernandel, and Les Arnaud (1967), the war drama Fort-du-fou (1963), and the comedy Trois enfants . . . dans le désordre (1966).

   In addition to writing and directing, Joannon also appeared in a number of films, including his own Le Défroqué, L'Homme aux clefs d'or, Le Désert de Pigalle, and L'Assassin est dans l'annuaire, as well as Pierre Kast's Un amour de poche (1957). He also tried his hand at producing, producing his two films Vous n'avez rien à declarer (1937) and Drôle de noce (1952).