Joop M. Landré

Biography

Joop M. Landré was a journalist, the press officer at Philips, director of the Central Office of Information (Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst; RVD) and the chairman of Polygoon-Profilti. In 1960 he began to produce films. He produced two films for Fons Rademakers for the Nederlandse Filmproduktie Maatschappij: Makkers, staakt uw wild geraas and Het mes. Both films were received well and the first film even won a Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. Audiences, however, passed both films over, and Landré decided from that point on to make only popular films. Inspired by the French police film Du rififi chez les hommes (Jules Dassin, 1955), Landré shifted the setting to the Netherlands and made the crime film Rififi in Amsterdam. The film did draw more of an audience than Rademakers' films, but it never became a box-office hit. The national press accused him of being a lazy sell-out because Landré had hired famous Dutch people who were not actors such as Anton Geesink and Willy Alberti to play in the film. Landré made one more attempt with 10.32, starring the Dutch Hollywood actress Linda Christian. In 1964, Joop Landré established the public broadcasting company TROS, where he was the director.