Bost, Pierre 1901–1976
Bost, Pierre 1901–1976
PERSONAL: Born September 5, 1901, in Lasalle France; died December 10, 1976, in Paris, France. Education: Educated at Lycée and Sorbonne.
CAREER: Staff member with Gazette de France, Nouvelle Revue Française, and Grasset Editions, 1924–27; Secretary of the Senate, 1927–33; Marianne, editor, 1933–35; editor of Marie-Claire.
WRITINGS:
BOOKS
Hercule et mademoiselle (stories), Nouvelle Revue Française (Paris, France), 1924.
Prétextat, Nouvelle Revue Française (Paris, France), 1925.
Homocide par imprudence, [Paris, France], 1925.
Les Vieillards, [Paris, France], 1925.
Crise de croissance, [Paris, France], 1926.
Faillite, Nouvelle Revue Française (Paris, France), 1928.
Anaïs, [Paris, France], 1930.
Le cirque et le music-hall, [Paris, France], 1931.
Le scandale, Nouvelle Revue Française (Paris, France), 1931, translated and published at The Offence, [London, England], 1932.
Porte-Malheur, Gallimard (Paris, France), 1932.
Un an dans un tiroir, Gallimard (Paris, France), 1945.
Monsieur l'admiral va bientôt mourir, Gallimard (Paris, France), 1945.
La Haute-Fourche, [London, England], 1946.
(With others) La puissance et la gloire (based on the novel by Graham Greene), [Paris, France], 1953, published as The Power and the Glory, [London, England], 1959.
(With C.A. Puget) Un nommé Judas, [Paris, France], 1954.
Traité de navigation côtière, Pierre Bost (Montrouge, France), 1984.
(Editor) Code du plaisancier en rivière: ouvrage de code à l'intention des candidats au permis rivière, Pierre Bost (Quimper, France), 1991.
Anna Boine, Greco & Greco (Milan, Italy), 1993.
SCREENPLAYS
L'héritier des Mondésir, 1940.
Croisières sidérales, 1942.
L'homme qui joue avec le feu, 1942.
Dernier atout, 1942.
Une étoile au soleil, 1943.
La chèvre d'or, 1943.
Madame et le mort, 1943.
La libération de Paris, 1944.
Patrie, 1945.
Les jeux sont faits, 1947.
Le château de verre, 1950.
Les sept péchés capitaux, 1952.
La voce del silenzio, 1952.
La conciencia acusa, 1953.
Destinées, 1954.
Une fille nommée Madeleine, 1954.
El amor de Don Juan, 1956.
Gervaise, 1956.
Oeiil pour oeil, 1957.
Le vent se Lève, 1958.
Ein gewisser Judas (televison), 1958.
Pantalaskas, 1959.
The Power and the Glory (produced for stage and television, 1959; revivied, 2001), Samuel French (New York, NY), 1959.
Che gioia vivere, 1960.
Umorismo negro, 1965.
François Malgorn, séminariste ou celui qui n'était pas appelé (television), 1972.
Le château perdu (television), 1973.
Molière pour rire et pour pleurer (television miniseries), 1973.
Lucien Leuwen (television miniseries), 1973.
Le juge et l'assassin, 1974.
Un dimanche à la campagne (based on a novel by Bost), 1984.
Der grüne Berg, 1990.
SCREENPLAY ADAPTATIONS; WITH JEAN AURENCHE
Douce, 1943.
La symphonie pastorale, 1946.
La septième Porte, 1946.
Le diable au corps (title means "Devil in the Flesh"), 1947.
Au-delà des grilles, 1949.
Occupe-toi d'Amélie, 1949.
Dieu a besoin des hommes, 1950.
L'auberge rouge, 1951.
Les jeux interdits, 1951.
Le blé en herbe, 1953.
Les orgueilleux, 1953.
Le rouge et le noir (title means "The Red and the Black"), 1954.
Chiens perdus sans collier, 1955.
Gervaise, 1955.
La traversée de Paris, 1956.
En cas de malheur, 1958.
Le joueur, 1958.
La jument verte, 1959.
Le chemin des écoliers (television), 1959.
Les régates de San Francisco, 1960.
Tu ne tueras point, 1961.
Le crime ne paie pas, 1962.
Le rendezvous, 1962.
Le meurtrier, 1963.
Le magot de Josefa, 1964.
Les amitiés particulières, 1964.
Paris brûle-t-il? (title means "Is Paris Burning?"), 1966.
Le Franciscain de Bourges, 1967.
L'horloger de Saint-Paul (also known as The Clockmaker; based on the novel by Georges Simenon), 1974.
ADAPTATIONS: Monsieur l'admiral va bientôt mourir was adapted for film by Bertrand Tavernier as A Sunday in the Country, 1984.
SIDELIGHTS: Pierre Bost was a French writer who contributed to a great many important films, particularly during the 1940s and 1950s. For many of these screenplays, including Douce, La symphonie pastorale, Le diable au corps, Le rouge et le noir, and Gervaise, he collaborated with Jean Aurenche. According to R.F. Cousins, writing in the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, "the two writers formed a unique partnership translating for the screen an impressive array of literary classics."
Director Bertrand Tavernier honored Bost after the writer's death with a film version of Bost's novel Monsieur l'admiral va bientôt mourir, which the director titled A Sunday in the Country. In the 1970s, Tavernier had hired Bost and Aurenche to write the screenplay for an adaptation of Georges Simenon's novel The Clockmaker, as well as for several other films.
Bost and Denis Cannan wrote a stage version of Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory in 1956. The play was revived in New York for the first time in 2003. The story is set in 1930s Mexico and is the story of the last Catholic priest to survive after the socialist government had banned the Church. In a review of the revival, Back Stage critic Victor Gluck noted that "the ordeals of this little-known episode of religious persecution mounted in power, with some later scenes riveting in their tension." Bost's impressive output, which includes many books, places him among the most prolific of French writers.
BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:
BOOKS
International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, Volume 4: Writers and Production Artists, 3rd edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1993.
PERIODICALS
Back Stage, March 7, 2003, Victor Gluck, review of The Power and the Glory, p. 64.
Los Angeles Times, January 27, 1985, Sheila Benson, "Deceptive Surface of a Tavernier 'Sunday'," Calendar section, p. 20.