Biography
Alberto de Almeida Cavalcanti was a Brazilian-born film director and producer. He was born in Rio de Janeiro, the son of a prominent mathematician. He was a precociously intelligent child, and by the age of 15 was studying law at university. Following an argument with a professor he was expelled. His father sent him to Geneva, Switzerland on condition that he did not study law or politics. Cavalcanti chose to study architecture instead. At 18 he moved to Paris to work for an architect, later switching to working on interior design. After a visit back to Brazil he took up a position at the Brazilian consulate in Liverpool, England.
Cavalcanti corresponded with Marcel L'Herbier, a leading light in France's avant-garde film movement. This led to a job offer from L'Herbier for Cavalcanti to work as a set designer. So, in 1920 he left his job at the Consulate and moved back to France to work for L'Herbier; he was to be involved in the making of numerous films, the most notable being L'Inhumaine.
He was soon making his own films, in 1926 directing his first, Rien Que les Heures (Nothing But Time) — a day in the life of Paris and its citizens. In 1927 he collaborated with Walter Ruttmann on a similar project set in Berlin, called Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Großstadt (Berlin: Symphony of a Big City).
Cavalcanti took a job with Paramount's French studios after the talkies came in, but he found himself making more commercial films which could not hold his interest and left Paramount in 1933. In the same year he returned to England to work for John Grierson's GPO Film Unit. He was involved in many capacities, from production to sound engineer. He was to spend seven years at the GPO Film Unit, working on many projects. Much of his work at the GPO was uncredited, he acted as a mentor to many new film makers, but in 1937 he was appointed acting head of the GPO Film Unit when Grierson left for Canada. When told that the only way the position could become permanent was to become a naturalized British citizen, he decided to leave the unit.
In 1940 Cavalcanti joined Ealing Studios, under the leadership of producer Michael Balcon. He worked as an art editor, producer and director. His most notable works of this period (many of them propaganda films) were Yellow Caesar (1941), Went the Day Well? (1942), Three Songs of Resistance (1943), Champagne Charlie (1944), Dead of Night (as co-director) (1945) and Nicholas Nickleby (1947). In 1946 Cavalcanti left Ealing over a dispute about money. He went on to direct three more films in the UK, before returning to Brazil in 1950.
In Brazil he worked as a producer for Companhia Cinematográfica Vera Cruz; the company eventually became insolvent. After being blacklisted as a communist in Brazil, he decided to move back to Europe in 1954. He eventually settled in France, where he continued his work in television. He died in Paris in 1982 at the age of 85.
Filmography
all 95
Movies 94
Director 56
Producer 20
self 4
Writer 2
Screenplay 1
TV Shows 1
Made In Ealing: The Story of Ealing Studios (1986)
He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life (1986)
Brasília, segundo roteiro de Alberto Cavalcanti (1982)
Le Voyageur du silence (1978)
Encyclopédie audiovisuelle du cinéma (1978)
Um Homem e o Cinema (1976)
La visite de la vieille dame (1971)
Alberto Cavalcanti (1970)
Lettres de Stalingrad (1969)
The Monster of Highgate Ponds (1961)
Herr Puntila and His Servant Matti (1960)
Venetian Honeymoon (1959)
The Wind Rose (1957)
Mulher de Verdade (1955)
Song of the Sea (1953)
Simão, o Caolho (1952)
Terra é Sempre Terra (1951)
Angela (1951)
Santuário (1951)
Painel (1951)
Caiçara (1950)
For Them That Trespass (1949)
The First Gentleman (1948)
They Made Me a Fugitive (1947)
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1947)
Dead of Night (1945)
Champagne Charlie (1944)
The Halfway House (1944)
Trois chansons de la résistance (1944)
The Sky’s the Limit (1943)
Greek Testament (1943)
Went the Day Well? (1942)
The Foreman Went to France (1942)
Alice in Switzerland (1942)
Film and Reality (1942)
Find, Fix and Strike (1942)
Yellow Caesar (1941)
Mastery of the Sea (1940)
Young Veteran (1940)
Sea Fort (1940)
Spring Offensive (1940)
French Communique (1940)
La Cause Commune (1940)
Men of the Lightship (1940)
Squadron 992 (1940)
Salvage with a Smile (1940)
A Midsummer Day's Work (1939)
Men of the Alps (1939)
The First Days (1939)
North Sea (1938)
N or NW (1938)
Speaking from America (1938)
Mony a Pickle (1938)
The HPO (1938)
Book Bargain (1937)
We Live in Two Worlds (1937)
The Line to Tschierva Hut (1937)
Message from Genova (1936)
BBC: The Voice of Britain (1935)
The King's Stamp (1935)
Coal Face (1935)
Votre sourire (1934)
Granton Trawler (1934)
The Glorious Sixth of June (1934)
Coralie and Company (1934)
Pett and Pott: A Fairy Story of the Suburbs (1934)
Montmartre qui tourne (1934)
New Rates (1934)
Le mari garçon (1933)
Plaisirs défendus (1933)
The Brazilian thing (1932)
The Amazon Head Hunters (1932)
Tour de chant (1932)
Halfway Up the Sky (1931)
The Devil's Holiday (1931)
In a lost island (1931)
All His Life (1930)
Little Red Riding Hood (1930)
A Canção do Berço (1930)
Paris Cinéma (1929)
Captain Fracasse (1929)
Train Without Eyes (1929)
Yvette (1927)
Sea Fever (1927)
La P’tite Lili (1927)
The Little People (1927)
La jalousie du barbouillé (1927)
Voyage au Congo (1927)
Nothing But Time (1926)
The Late Mathias Pascal (1925)
L'Inhumaine (1924)
The Gallery of Monsters (1924)
The Flood (1924)
Résurrection (1923)
El Dorado (1921)
Ratings
Information
Known ForDirecting
GenderMale
Birthday1897-02-06
Deathday1982-08-23 (85 years old)
Birth NameAlberto de Almeida Cavalcante
Birth PlaceRio de Janeiro, Brazil
CitizenshipsFrance, Brazil
Also Known AsАльберто Кавальканти, Cavalcanti
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