Michel-Antoine Carré


Michel-Antoine Carré or Michel Carré was a French actor, stage and film director, and writer of opera librettos, stage plays and film scripts.

Career

He was the son of the librettist Michel Carré and cousin of the theatre director Albert Carré. His libretto for André Messager's 1894 opera Mirette was never performed in France but was performed in an English adaptation in London at the Savoy Theatre.
He directed or co-directed some fifty silent films from c1907 to the mid 1920s. Many of these were shorts, including Ordre du roy. His longer notable films included L'Enfant prodigue, the first European-made full-length feature film, based on his own stage pantomime of the same name; and The Miracle, the world's first full-colour narrative feature film.
He was one of the main directors at the Société cinématographique des auteurs et gens de lettres, created to protect the rights of authors whose works were used in screenplays.
He was created chevalier of the French Legion of Honour in 1927

Works

YearTitleComposerCollaboratorNotes
Friquette et BlaisotAlbert MilletCharles NarreyOpera
HildaAlbert MilletCharles NarreyOpera
Le bouton d'orGabriel Pierné'Fantaisie lyrique' in four acts
MiretteAndré MessagerComic opera. Never performed in French. Translated twice for English productions at the Savoy Theatre: dialogue translated by Harry Greenbank, and a new libretto by Fred. E. Weatherly; and later revised with new lyrics by Adrian Ross
DinahPaul de Choudens
L'hôteEdmond Missa
MuguetteEdmond MissaGeorges Hartmann
Le fakir de Bénarès
Le garçon de chez PrunierJoseph SzulcAndré BardeThree-act operetta

YearTitleCollaboratorNotes
L'enfant prodigueMusic by André WormserSilent drama with music, filmed twice by Carré in 1907 & 1916
Nos bons chasseursPaul Bilhaud, music by Charles LecocqFrench vaudeville in three acts, fp. Nouveau-Théâtre, Paris, 10 April 1894
Ma Bru ! Paul Bilhaudfp at the Théâtre de l'Odéon, Paris, in 1898, and at the Lyceum Theatre, Manhattan, on 26 February 1900
1907L’Âme des hérosPaul Bilhaudone-act play in verses, created at the Comédie-Française, 6 June 1907
La Courtisane de CorinthePaul Bilhaud, music by Charles-Gaston LevadéProduced in 1908 by Sarah Bernhardt, at the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt

Selected filmography