Mirande, Yves

(1875-1957)

   Actor, director, and screenwriter. One of the great screenwriters of French cinema, Yves Mirande had a career that began in the silent-film era and lasted until just before his death. Mirande actually began his career in the theater, writing popular plays in what the French term the théâtre du Boulevard. He got his start in cinema as a result of the demand to adapt his plays for the screen, and he went on to become a major screenwriter and occasional director.

   During the silent era, a number of films were based on Mirande's plays, including Léonce Perret's La Tournée des grands ducs (1909), André Hugon's Le Chignon d'or (1916), starring Harry Baur and Mistinguett, Roger Lion and Nicolas Rimsky's Le Chasseur de chez Maxim's (1927), Robert Péguy's Embrassez-moi (1928), and Robert Boudrioz's Trois jeunes filles nues (1929).

   The 1930s and 1940s were the peak of Mirande's screenwriting years, and it was during this period that he began working directly on screenplays rather than simply allowing his theatrical plays to be adapted for the screen. Mirande's work during the period was largely in popular films. He did not work in the more avant-garde tradition, or in the vein of Le Réalisme poétique or poetic realism, although he did work with both Julien Duvivier and Jacques Feyder. Among the films for which Mirande wrote the screenplays are Feyder's Si l'empereur savait ça (1930) and Oympia (1930), Robert Wyler's Papa sans le savoir (1931) and La Merveilleuse journée (1932), which Mirande codirected, René Guissart's La Chance (1931), Tu seras duchesse (1932), Ménilmontant (1936), and A nous deux, madame, la vie (1936), which Mirande codirected, Léon Mathot's sound remake of Embrassez-moi (1932), Pierre Colombier's Charlemagne (1933), Marc Didier's Le Billet de mille (1934), Léo Joannen's Quelle drôle de gosse (1935) and Le Train de plaisir (1936), Edmond T. Greville's Princesse Tam Tam (1935), Duvivier's Un carnet de bal (1937), Jean Boyer's Circonstances atténuantes (1939), Georges Lacombe's Derrière la façade (1939), which Mirande codirected, and Elles étaient douze femmes (1940), Hugon's Moulin Rouge (1940), Robert Vernay's La Femme que j'ai la plus aimée (1942), Jacques de Baroncelli's Soyez les bienvenus (1942), and René Le Henaff's Des jeunes filles dans la nuit (1943).

   In addition to codirecting, Mirande directed and wrote several films, including Baccara (1935), Sept hommes, une femme (1936), Messieurs les ronds de cuir (1936), Café de Paris (1938), Paris-New York (1940), and Moulin Rouge (1941). He also made a satirical film titled L'An 40 in 1941, but that film was banned by the government after only one screening. Mirande also tried his hand at acting with a few small roles in Karl Anton's Le Chasseur de chez Maxim's (1933), Lacombe's Derrière la façade (1939), and Raymond Leboursier's Les Petits riens (1942). Mirande's material was still being produced in the cinema long after his death. The most recent example of a film using his work was Claude Vital's remake of La Merveilleuse journée (1980).