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Philippe
de Dieuleveult disappeared in tragic circumstances in Zaïre
during August 1985. However he remains present in all our memories
as "La Chasse aux Trésors" ("Treasure
Hunting") TV game program presenter.
There
is one TV game that has stood out of the others among the numerous
such programs that were produced. It was the only-one that combined
exotism, culture, history, adventure, suspense and ... helicopters.
We are speaking of "La Chasse au Trésor"
or "Treasure Hunting" that was devised by Jacques
Antoine. The principle of the game was very simple : two players
in a Paris located studio ordered by radio link a detective-reporter
who could be everywhere in the World in order to solve a riddle
and find a treasure that was hidden by the producers. This program
would certainly not have got the success that it earned without
the spontaneity, dynamism and kindness of the detective-reporter,
Philippe de Dieuleveult. However all attempts to resurrect a
similar program later failed (even with the pretty Nathalie
Simon on French Channel TF1) with the exception, maybe, of "La
Carte aux Trésors" ("The Map to Treasures")
presented first by Sylvain Augier, who is by the way a helicopter
pilot, and, then, by Marc Bessou. The Treasure Hunting became
very soon indissociable of the all red dressed Philippe de Dieuleveult's
figure.
Philippe
de Dieuleveult on board an Alouette III.
Photo
: Jean-Jacques FAUQUETTE's Collection.
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The
principle of the Treasure Hunting was simple on the technical
matter due to the limitations imposed by the video equipment
at the time. The players were in radio link with Philippe de
Dieuleveult. An aircraft was used as radio relay and was permanently
holding above the hunting location. So, it was a full-duplex
direct as for the sound. Radio engineer was often Jean-Paul
Le Fur who died tragically in a helicopter crash that also
reclaimed the lives of notably Thierry Sabine and Daniel Balavoine
during a dark "Paris-Dakar" rally. As for the picture,
shooting and recording equipment at that time was not so compact
as today's cameras. U-Matic was the current professional video
standard during the early eighties and that system required
a heavy recorder that was not part of the camera. Video team
was then made of a cameraman and an assistant who was in charge
to run behind the cameraman and carry the recorder. They were
linked together by means of a cable. Pictures were simultaneously
recorded in the Paris' studio and on the hunting area. If there
were several cameras in the studio, on the hunting field there
was just one. The cameraman was then responsible to wholly cover
the event in a single shooting scene of more than 55 minutes,
which was the duration of the game. Then, definitive mixing
could take place in post-production once the videocassette was
back in France after the shooting. Pictures taken in the studio
were mixed with those taken on the hunting place at this stage.
So was the program ready to be broadcasted on the various French
language channels.
Philippe
de Dieuleveult had the opportunity to fly different kind of
helicopters during the four years that the Hunting lasted. Some
of them were very rare such as this Fairchild-Hiller FH-1100
in Quebec, Canada, or a Mil Mi-8 of the Cuban Revolutionary
Forces in Havana. Of course, he also jumped in a lot of Alouettes
and Lamas.
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