Henri Langlois (13 November 1914 – 13 January 1977) was a French film archivist and cinephile. A pioneer of film preservation, Langlois was an influential figure in the history of cinema. His film screenings in Paris in the 1950s are often credited with providing the ideas that led to the development of the auteur theory.Langlois was co-founder of the Cinémathèque Française with Georges Franju and Jean Mitry and also co-founder of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) in 1938. Through close collaboration with the Cinémathèque's longtime Chief Archivist, Lotte Eisner, he worked to preserve films and film history in the post-war era. An eccentric who was often at the center of controversy for his methods, he also served as a key influence on the generation of young cinephiles and critics who would become the French New Wave.In 1974, Langlois received an honorary Academy Award for "his devotion to the art of film, his massive contributions in preserving its past and his unswerving faith in its future".
I have never said this movie is good, this movie is bad; they discover by themselves. I have not helped, I have not taught. I have put food on the table, and they have taken the food and eaten.
2
[on Louise Brooks] There is no Greta Garbo! There is no Marlene Dietrich! There is only Louise Brooks.
3
Films are like Persian rugs: you keep them at their best by using them. Before you can show an old film, it has to exist -- that is, it has to have been conserved (in the archival sense). And in order to conserve it, first it has to have been "collected" (in the going-out-of-one's-way-to-rescue-and-save-what-others-discard sense). The cinema is a means towards the acquisition of knowledge in the manner of Saint Thomas: by touch. Read all you like about love, but if you haven't made love, your idea of it will be totally false.
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Fact
1
Langlois is credited with resurrecting and ultimately preserving the film legacies of Abel Gance, Louis Feuillade, Erich Von Stroheim, and Louise Brooks.
2
Langlois largely ignored a 1951 French law that outlawed possession of highly combustible nitrate prints.
3
When French Cultural Minister Malraux tried to remove Langlois from his directorship position at the Cinematheque because of his poor management of the bureaucracy, Langlois disciples like Claude Chabrol, Eric Rohmer, and Jean-Luc Godard caused a public uproar that saved their mentor's position.
4
Film historian John Nangle said in the February 1984 issue of "Films in Review," Like all true fanatics, Langlois lacked the personal charm and social graces sometimes necessary to accomplish the political ends he frequently desired. To Henri Langlois the only purpose in life was to preserve and exhibit films. Often he seemed to care more for films than people, and his enthusiasm didn't allow for romance, family life, or personal friendships that interfered with his great passion.
5
On August 3rd, 1980, his Paris Cinémathèque went up in smoke and thousands of film stock were destroyed. Since his death, in 1977, the Cinémathèque had been in dire financial crises and the lost stock had not been insured. France's Minister of Culture gave an emergency funding of some four million francs. This was to help fund a new building in Bois-d'Arcy.
6
He had a wish to make a 35mm color-film with painter Marc Chagall. Chagall came with the idea to portray his life by means of his paintings. Langlois started filming in 1952 and in 1954 he asked Joris Ivens to supervise and edit the already large amount of shot material. In 1958, when Ivens (with assistant Tinto Brass) edited most of it, and Langlois finished the last recordings, the film suddenly disappeared. It was never found again.
7
In early 1968, Langlois was effectively fired as head of the Cinematheque Francaise by French Minister of Culture Andre Malraux. Citing administrative incompetence, Malraux terminated the archive's subsidy and moved to appoint a new head. Malraux objected to Langlois running the Cinematheque, a Paris movie archive, as his own private fiefdom. He and Georges Franju had co-founded the archive in 1936 with 10 movie prints from Langlois' own private collection. Malraux was incensed that Langlois kept poor records and had refused entree to specialists, while allowing his own friends, or "phantoms," to have free run of the place. By 1968, Langlois had built the Cinematheque into the premier movie archive in the world, with over 60,000 prints. Langlois was one of the pioneers of film preservation, and while he had rescued many films from destruction, he was never one to respect the niceities of copyright law. Like most film collectors before the advent of commercially available videocassette recorders and home video tapes, he had engaged in black marketing, bootlegging, piracy and smuggling. The firing sparked protests from Parisian film students, from others among Paris' half-million strong student community who frequented the Cinematheque to view the films, and from such French film luminaries as Francois Truffaut and Jean Paul Belmondo. The French nouvelle vague directors had learned about the movies at the Cinematheque, and they vocally supported Langlois. French directors Chabrol, Demy, Godard, and Truffaut proudly proclaimed themselves as "children of the Cinémathèque." The turmoil helped trigger the student riots of May 1968. Malraux was forced to back down, and Langlois was reinstated.
8
Was the recipient of an Honorary Award from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences at the 46th Academy Awards ceremony held on April 2, 1974, for his work with the Cinematheque Francaise, the world's most prestiguous film archive. The Academy citation that accompanied the Oscar statuette praised Langlois for "his untiring devotion to the art of film, for his massive contributions towards preserving its historical past and for his unswerving faith in its future."
9
Co-founder of the French Cinematheque in 1936.
Producer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Les yeux de maman sont des étoiles
1971
producer - uncredited
Le Dagmaluakh
1968
producer - uncredited
Spatiodynamisme
1958
Short producer
Director
Title
Year
Status
Character
Le métro
1934
Documentary short
Miscellaneous
Title
Year
Status
Character
Paris 1900
1947
Documentary consultant
Thanks
Title
Year
Status
Character
Les voyages de L'Atalante
2001
Video documentary short thanks
L'honorable société
1978
dedicatee
Hitler, ein Film aus Deutschland
1977
dedicatee
Stolen Kisses
1968
dedicatee
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Grierson
1973
Documentary
Himself (Cinémathèque française)
75 Years of Cinema Museum
1972
Documentary
Himself
Spéciale Maurice Chevalier
1972
TV Movie
Himself
Samedi soir
1971
TV Series
Himself
Langlois
1970
Documentary
Himself
Louis Lumière
1968
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Carl Th. Dreyer
1966
Documentary short
Himself
La cinémathèque française
1964
Documentary short
Himself
Pariser Journal
1964
TV Series documentary
Himself
Cinéastes de notre temps
1964
TV Series documentary
Himself
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
Voyage à travers le cinéma français
2016
Documentary
Himself
Duels
2016
TV Series documentary
Himself
Cinéphiles de notre temps
2012
TV Series documentary
Himself
Nos salles obscures
2012
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Deux de la Vague
2010
Documentary
Himself
Le fantôme d'Henri Langlois
2004
Documentary
Himself
The Dreamers
2003
Himself (uncredited)
Cinema Sex Politics: Bertolucci Makes 'The Dreamers'
2003
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Citizen Langlois
1995
TV Movie documentary
Himself
He Stands in the Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life
1986
Himself
Notre Dame de la Croisette
1981
Documentary
Himself (uncredited)
Won Awards
Year
Award
Ceremony
Nomination
Movie
1977
Honorary César
César Awards, France
1974
Honorary Award
Academy Awards, USA
For his devotion to the art of film, his massive contributions in preserving its past and his ... More
Known for movies
Louis Lumière (1968) as Himself
Spéciale Maurice Chevalier (1972) as Himself
Grierson (1973) as Himself (Cinémathèque française)
$900,000
