Henri Diamant-Berger

Who was Henri Diamant-Berger?

Henri Diamant-Berger was a French director, producer and screenwriter. In a career that lasted more than 50 years, he directed 48 films between 1913 and 1959, produced 17 between 1925 and 1967 and wrote 21 screenplays between 1916 and 1971.

Born in Paris, to a Jewish family, he studied to be a lawyer but was drawn to the motion picture business. He began his career when he co-directed the 1913 silent film short De film... en aiguilles with André Heuzé. In addition to writing screenplays, during the period from 1916 to 1919, Diamant-Berger also published and edited a film magazine and books about the movies. In 1918, he was hired by Pathé and sent to the United States to help set up the company's film laboratory at Fort Lee, New Jersey. Upon his return to France, Pathé had him set up a laboratory in Vincennes, as well as organize a film studio in Boulogne-Billancourt.

In 1921, Diamant-Berger directed the short Les Trois Mousquetaires, one of two film versions of Alexandre Dumas, père's novel The Three Musketeers released in 1921 . For a short time in the mid-1920s, he made pictures in the U.S., including the drama Fifty-Fifty starring Lionel Barrymore.