Jean-Pierre Melville

Director whose economical production methods were a major influence on the French New Wave. Forced to work outside France's studio system, Melville set up his own production company in 1946 and two years later turned out his first feature, "Le Silence de la mer", beginning his long-term association with cameraman Henri Decae. Melville's adaptation of Jean Cocteau's novel, "Les Enfants Terrible" (1950), is considered among the finest film renderings of a literary work; other notable films include "Bob le flambeur" (1955), a homage to American film noir, and "Leon Morin, Pretre" (1961), which