Mercanton, Louis

(1879-1932)

   Director. Born in Switzerland, Louis Mercanton came to France to work in the theater and then the cinema. He began his career with Éclair studios as a director and screenwriter, where he worked on the screenplay to Henri Desfontaines's Shylock (1910), starring Harry Baur, and Les Amours de la reine Elisabeth (1912), starring Sarah Bernhardt, and he also codirected L'Assassinat d'Henri III (1911), Anne de Boleyn (1913), and Adrienne Lecouvreur (1913), all with Desfontaines. In addition to his collaboration with Desfontaines, Mercanton directed Le Spectre du passé (1913), Vendetta (1914), Jeanne Doré (1915), Le Tournant (1916),Manuella (1916), Le Tablier blanc (1917), La P'tite du sixième (1917), Oh! Ce baiser! (1917), Midinettes (1917), Mères françaises (1917), Le Torrent (1917), Un roman d'amour et d'aventures (1918), Bouclette (1918), Aux jardins deMurcie (1923), and Sarati, le terrible (1923), all with René Hervil.

   In 1919, Mercanton began directing and producing independently. His first independent film, L'Appel du sang (1919), was a hit, and he went on, during the silent era, to direct such films as Miarka, fille à l'ours (1920), L'Homme merveilleux (1922), Phrose (1922), Les Deux gosses (1924), La Petite bonne du palace (1926), Monte Carlo (1926), Cinders (1926), Croquette (1927), and Venus (1929), and also produced both Miarka, la fille à l'ours (1920) and Venus (1929). He also codirected La Voyante (1924) with Léon Abrams.

   Mercanton's career extended only a few years into the sound era. Nonetheless, he managed to direct more than thirteen films in a period of three years. His sound films include the English-language films The Nipper (1930), These Charming People (1931), and A Man of Mayfair (1931), as well as the French films La Lettre (1930), based on the play by Somerset Maugham and starring Paul Capellani, Le Mystère de la villa rose (1930), again, codirected with Hervil and a classic of early sound cinema, Chérie (1930), codirected with actress Mona Goya who also starred in the film,Marions-nous (1931), Il est charmant (1932), and Cognasse (1932), his final film.