CAYATTE, ANDR

born Feb. 3, 1909, Carcassonne, France died Feb. 6, 1989, Paris in full Andr-Jean Cayatte motion-picture director best known for films on crime and justice. Cayatte abandoned a law practice to become a writer and in 1938 entered the motion-picture industry by selling a film script. Four years later he directed La Fausse Matresse (1942; The False Mistress). In a series of films in the early 1950s dealing with various aspects of the French judicial system, Cayatte denounced what he viewed as wrong. The picturesincluding Justice est faite (1950; Justice Is Done), Nous sommes tous des assasins (1952; We Are All Murderers), Avant le dluge (1954; Before the Flood), and Le Dossier noir (1955; The Black File)brought him international acclaim. On the lighter side Cayatte directed such romantic films as Les Amants de Vrones (1949; The Lovers of Verona), Pige pour Cendrillon (1965; A Trap for Cinderella), and L'Amour en question (1978; The Love in Question). Cayatte wrote or cowrote all of his films, several of which won major prizes at film festivals.