Marcel Courmes
Marcel Courmes Aviator in 1916.
Born(1885-06-13)June 13, 1885
Marseille
DiedMay 5, 1950(1950-05-05) (aged 64)
Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Allegiance French Republic
Service/branchFrench Army Light Aviation
RankSquadron Leader
AwardsKnight of the Legion of Honour on July 6, 1929
RelationsFamille Courmes
Other workSound cinematographers

Marcel Louis Henry Joseph Léon Courmes born June 13, 1885, in Marseille and died May 5, 1950, in Neuilly-sur-Seine,[1] was a French officer and aviator during the World War I. He subsequently became one of the first French sound cinematographers.

Biography

Family origins

Direct descendant in agnatic line of Huguenot captain Luc Courmes (1580),[2][3] he is the son of Captain Arthur Louis Courmes (1849-1921), Knight of the Legion of Honor,[4] and Euphémie Segond.[5]

Coming from an old French bourgeoisie family,[6][7] he is the great-grandnephew of Claude-Marie Courmes, deputy of Var, mayor of Grasse and knight of the royal order of the Legion of Honour (1833).

On March 21, 1910, in Grez-sur-Loing, Courmes married Louise Read Chadwick,[8] daughter of the American painter Francis Brooks Chadwick and the Swedish painter Emma Löwstädt-Chadwick.

Courmes has two children - Lieutenant Christian Courmes (1913-1987) and Gilbert Courmes.[9] Christian was a prisoner in 1942 at the Colditz fortress, he was part of the escape attempt called "the metro" or "The French tunnel".[10] Gilberte was the wife of the Companions of Liberation Colonel Maurice Delage.[11]

In 1925 Courmes joined General Leclerc's Force "L" and created the 13th engineering battalion of the 2nd Armored Division, taking command of which he took part in the Operation Overlord and the Liberation of Paris.[12][13][14]

Officer and aviator

École de cavalerie de Saumur, France (1907-1909).

During his time as a student at the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr, he graduated 6th out of 277, and Major out of 60 at École de cavalerie, Saumur.[15]

Captain Marcel Courmes, pilot of the French 2nd Bombardment, Group GB 2, August 1915.

He was the classmate of Colonel de La Rocque and demonstrates his military loyalty to him by renewing at the bar of his trial all the esteem of his comrades from Saint-Cyr.[16] He was also close to the first Chinese Saint-Cyrien, General Prince Pao-Tchao Dan (1884-1958).[17]

Courmes Coat of Arms[18]

Second lieutenant in the 5th African Hunter Regiment (1907), then Lieutenant in the 2nd African Hunter Regiment (1907-1908), he served during the Moroccan Campaign in the 28th Dragoon Regiment (1910-1911) then in the 7th dragoon regiment (1913). He is described as a "Brilliant, but dreamy, excessively artistic cavalry officer who has a tendency towards too much benevolence in his command which can have serious disadvantages in times of war."[15]

In 1914 he was a special staff officer in the 4th Dragoon Regiment. He joined the aviation on August 1, 1915, in the French 2nd Bombardment Group then in Escadrille F 63. He is described as "an officer of perfect education, of an independent character who had great qualities of composure, courage and willpower, which make him an excellent pilot."[15]

Sound cinematographers

Marcel Courmes, actor and artistic director "La chienne" Jean Renoir 1931.

From 1931, Courmes was one of the first French sound cinematographers with Joseph de Bretagne, both of whom participated in the most famous films of the 1930s. They were debutants on the film by Jean Renoir, La Chienne, in 1931, of which Courmes was the artistic director and in which he played the role of the colonel. They are supported by technical advisors from Western Electric, Bell and Hotchckiss who explain to them how to use the equipment.[19]

This training by American experts is fundamental for the implementation of direct sound outdoors. Thanks to this help, the final sequence of La Chienne in a tracking shot with a dialogue between Michel Simon and Alexis Godart, captured in the middle of the street, works perfectly. The “sound trucks”, necessary for this sequence, were used by the novice technicians, with the help of experts from Western Electric.[19]

Subsequently, Courmes continued to do the sound for Braunberger and Richebé films, such as Fantômas (with Bell, in 1932), or The Agony of the Eagles (1933, with Bell). Courmes also recorded the magnificent street sounds of La Tête d'un homme for Julien Duvivier (1932, production Vandal et Delac) and those of Hôtel du Nord for Marcel Carné in 1938. He also re-teamed with Bretagne for another Renoir, Madame Bovary (1933), then on Le Voyage de M. Perrichon (1934).[20]

Awards and honors

Marcel Courmes obtains the following distinctions:[21]

Citation to the order of the army, number 32489 dated July 13, 1916, with the mention: "Bold and skillful pilot carried out 10 bombings including 9 at night, this is particularly distinguished by carrying out successfully on the night of the 17th on May 18, 1916 a particularly perilous expedition to an important station."

Filmography

Marcel Courmes is one of the first French sound cinematographers and he is also artistic director on Jean Renoir's film "La chienne".
He participates in the following films[22]

References

  1. ↑ "1E_NUM_NEU_D1950 - 1950 - 01/01/1950 - 29/12/1950 Démo". Archives départementales des Hauts-de-Seine (in French). Retrieved 2023-12-10.
  2. ↑ Christian Gabert "Histoire des familles" available at the Historical Library of Grasse
  3. ↑ Christelle Accary et 16 autres auteurs, "Entre terre, mer et ciel. Les cimetières des Alpes-Maritim (XIIe - XXIe siècles" editing Département des Alpes-Maritime snook. 2020.
  4. ↑ Service record of Captain Arthur Courmes : SHD - GR 5YE 86783
  5. ↑ Extract from the Civil Status Registers of Marseille deposited at the registry of the Court of First Instance of the said city, 1889 volume 6 number 19.
  6. ↑ Hervé de Fontmichel, Le Pays de Grasse, editing Grasset, 1963, p.30.
  7. ↑ Gilette Gauthier-Ziegler, Histoire de Grasse au Moyen Âge de 1155 à 1482, editing Picard, 1935, p. 137.
  8. ↑ Frederick Delius, Delius, a Life in Letters: 1862-1908, Harvard University Press, 1983, p. xx (lire en ligne).
  9. ↑ État de services du lieutenant Christian Courmes : SHD - GR 2000-2-202-02818
  10. ↑ Leonce Petitcolin, Les fortes têtes, 1940-1944, La forteresse de Colditz. editing France-Empire 1985. page 20 et suite.
  11. ↑ Civil status, extract from the register of birth certificates for the year 1906. Maurice Delage married in second marriage Douala, Cameroon, on August 7, 1946, to Gilberte Louise Courmes
  12. ↑ "Biographie - Ordre National de la Libération".
  13. ↑ Jean-Christophe Notin, 1061 compagnons : Histoire des Compagnons de la Libération, editing Perrin, 2000 (ISBN 2-262-01606-2)
  14. ↑ Vladimir Trouplin, Dictionnaire des Compagnons de la Libération, editing Elytis, 2010 (ISBN 2-356-39033-2)
  15. 1 2 3 État de services du chef d'escadrons Marcel Courmes : SHD - GR 8YE 3139.
  16. ↑ Colonel de La Rocque, Pourquoi je suis républicain, édition du Seuil, 2014, p. 141 et p. 215.
  17. ↑ Général Jean Boÿ, Historique de la 90e promotion (1905-07) (pdf lire en ligne).
  18. ↑ Charles d'Hozier, Armorial général de France. Provence, Grasse, vol. 29,(lire en ligne).
  19. 1 2 Martin Barnier, Les premiers ingénieurs du son français, The first French sound engineers, 1895, revue de l'Association française de recherche sur l'histoire du cinéma (lire en ligne). Sur le site : paragraphe 23, dans le livre p. 212.
  20. ↑ Martin Barnier, The first sound engineers French, The first French sound engineers, 1895, review of the French Association for Research on the History of Cinema (read online). On the site: paragraph 23, in the book p. 213.
  21. ↑ extracts from the service records of squadron leader Marcel Courmes : SHD - GR 8YE 3139. : Citation to the Order of the Army num. 3428D du 13 juillet 1916 et liste des décorations.
  22. ↑ Ciné-ressources.net recherche : Marcel Courmes.

Bibliography

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