Bernard Natan

Bernard Natan
Bernard Natan on trial (filmed against his wishes)
Born	Natan Tannenzaft or Natan Tanenzapf (1886-07-14)July 14, 1886 Iaşi, Romania
Died	October 1942 (aged 56) Auschwitz concentration camp, Poland
Cause of death	Execution?

Bernard Natan (born Natan Tannenzaft; July 14, 1886 – October 1942) was a Franco-Romanian film director and actor of the 1920s and 1930s. He was once said by historians to be one of the earliest (if not the earliest) pornographic film directors and porn stars, although there is now considerable doubt about this. Natan certainly worked in mainstream cinema from his youngest days, working his way up from projectionist and chemist to cinematographer and producer. He eventually acquired the giant French motion picture studio Pathé in 1929. Pathé collapsed in 1935, and Natan was convicted of fraud. However, he laid the foundation for the modern film industry in France and helped revolutionize film technology around the world.

Natan was born Natan Tannenzaft (possibly Tanenzapf) to Jewish parents in Iaşi,Romania in 1886. He moved to France in the early 1900s and, despite being a Romanian, volunteered to fight for France in World War I. In 1909 he married and subsequently had 2 children. In 1921 he became a French citizen, and at some point changed his name to "Bernard Natan." His younger brother Emile Natan also moved to France and became a film producer.

Natan worked as a projectionist, film lab chemist, titles designer, cinematographer and producer during his early years in Paris. He was as a publicity stringer for Paramount Pictures during the early 1920s. But by 1929, Natan's Rapid Film had become a major film producer and distributor. His reputation was such that in 1924 Natan became a member of the executive committee of the Cinematographic Employers' Federation. By 1926, his film laboratory was highly regarded, he had established a marketing firm, and he built two sound stages. Natan was also a film producer, helping finance and produce motion pictures at other studios. There is some evidence that he may have paid bribes for many years to those he worked with as well as to journalists to conceal his pornographic past.

In late February 1929, Bernard Natan acquired the production and exhibition businesses of Pathé, then the largest French motion picture company. He agreed to merge his own studio, Rapid Film (then worth 25 million francs), with Pathé in exchange for 50 million francs in shares. The remaining shares were purchased with funding from a consortium of banks, bonds (to be paid with income from Pathé), and a 10 percent ownership in Pathé by the banks. After the merger, Natan renamed the company Pathé-Natan (sometimes also credited as Pathé-Cinéma).