Georges Franju

'Georges Franju' (qv) is a figure of immense importance in the history of French cinema, not primarily for his films (exceptional though many of these are) but for being the co-founder, with 'Henri Langlois' (qv), of the Cinematheque Française in 1937--France's most famous and important film archive.He worked primarily as a film archivist until 1949, when he made his solo directorial debut with the shocking yet lyrical slaughterhouse documentary _Blood of the Beasts (1949)_ (qv). More documentary shorts followed before his feature debut, _Head Against the Wall (1959)_ (qv) in 1958, which established his uniquely poetic and visually striking style (his films were generally characterized by unforgettable images that owed a great deal to early cinema in general and German Expressionism in particular). His reputation was strengthened with the bizarre plastic surgery horror film _Eyes Without a Face (1960)_ (qv); _Judex (1963)_ (qv), a tribute to French film serial pioneer 'Louis Feuillade' (qv) in 1963; and the 'Jean Cocteau' (qv) adaptation _Thomas, der Betrüger (1965)_ (qv), though in the last 15 years of his life he was sadly neglected.::Michael Brooke <[email protected]> (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous)