Vsevolod Pudovkin

Vsevolod Pudovkin (Всеволод Пудовкин)
Vsevolod Pudovkin
Born	Vsevolod Illarionovich Pudovkin 16 February 1893 Penza, Russian Empire
Died	30 June 1953 (aged 60) Jūrmala, Latvian SSR, Soviet Union
Occupation	Film director, screenwriter, actor
Years active	1919–1953

Vsevolod Illarionovich Pudovkin (Russian: Все́волод Илларио́нович Пудо́вкин) (16 February 1893 – 30 June 1953^[1][2]) was a Russian and Soviet film director, screenwriter and actor who developed influential theories of montage. Pudovkin's masterpieces are often contrasted with those of his contemporary Sergei Eisenstein, but whereas Eisenstein utilized montage to glorify the power of the masses, Pudovkin preferred to concentrate on the courage and resilience of individuals. He was granted the title of People's Artist of the USSR in 1948.

Biography

Vsevolod Pudovkin was born in Penza, Russian Empire into a Russian family, the third of six children. In four years his family moved to Moscow. His father Illarion Epifanovich Pudovkin came from peasants of the Penza Governorate. He worked in several companies as a manager and a door-to-door salesman. Vsevolod's mother Elizaveta Alexandrovna Pudovkina (née Shilkina) was a housewife.^[3]

A student of engineering at Moscow University, Pudovkin saw active duty during World War I, being captured by the Germans. After the war, he abandoned his professional activity and joined the world of cinema, first as a screenwriter, actor and art director, and then as an assistant director to Lev Kuleshov.

His first notable work was a comedy short Chess Fever (1925) co-directed with Nikolai Shpikovsky. José Raúl Capablanca played a small part in it, with a number of other cameos presented. In 1926 he directed which will be considered one of the masterpieces of silent movies: Mother, where he developed several montage theories that would make him famous. Both movies featured Pudovkin's wife Anna Nikolaevna Zemtsova in the main female parts (she left cinema shortly after).

His first feature was followed by The End of St. Petersburg (1927), and Storm Over Asia (also known as The Heir of Genghis Khan), titles which compose a trilogy at the service of the bolshevik revolutionary policy.

In 1928, with the advent of sound film, Pudovkin, Sergei Eisenstein and Grigori Aleksandrov signed the Manifest of Sound, in which the possibilities of sound are debated, and always understood as a complement to image. This idea would be brought to bear in his next pictures: A Simple Case (1932) and The Deserter (1933), works that do not match the quality of earlier work. In 1935 he was awarded the Order of Lenin.

After an interruption caused by health concerns, Pudovkin returned to movie making, this time with a number of historical epics: Victory (1938); Minin and Pozharsky (1939) and Suvorov (1941). The last two were often praised as some of the best movies based on Russian history, along with the works of Sergei Eisenstein. Pudovkin was awarded a Stalin Prize for both of them in 1941.

During the World War II he was evacuated to Kazakhstan where he directed several patriotic war movies. He also played a small part in the Ivan the Terrible movie (a God's fool). With the end of war he returned to Moscow and continued his work at the Mosfilm studio, making biographical and war movies. In 1947 he was awarded another Stalin Prize for his work on Admiral Nakhimov, and in 1950 — his second Order of Lenin and a third Stalin Prize for Zhukovsky. His last work was The Return of Vasili Bortnikov (1953).

Apart from directing, screenwriting and acting, Pudovkin was also an educator and a journalist, author of several books on film theory, professor at VGIK, president of the cinema section at VOKS (since 1944) and a member of the Soviet Peace Committee.

Vsevolod Pudovkin died on June 30, 1953 in Jūrmala, Latvian SSR (near Riga) after a heart attack. He was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery. One of the streets in Moscow is named after Pudovkin (see Pudovkin street).

Filmography

Year	Original Title	English Title	Notes
1920	В дни борьбы	In the Days of Struggle	actor
1921	Серп и молот	Sickle and Hammer	actor; screenwriter; assistant director
	Голод… голод… голод…	Hunger... Hunger... Hunger...	screenwriter; assistant director
1923	Слесарь и канцлер	Locksmith and Chancellor	screenwriter
1924	Необычайные приключения мистера Веста в стране большевиков	The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks	actor; art director
1925	Луч смерти	The Death Ray	actor; screenwriter; assistant director; art director
	Шахматная горячка	Chess Fever	director (with Nikolai Shpikovsky)
1926	Механика головного мозга	Mechanics of the Brain	director; screenwriter
	Мать	Mother	director; actor
1927	Конец Санкт-Петербурга	The End of St. Petersburg	director; actor
1928	Потомок Чингиз-Хана	Storm Over Asia	director
1929	Новый Вавилон	The New Babylon	actor
	Живой труп	The Living Corpse	actor
	Веселая канарейка	The Gay Canary	actor
1932	Простой случай	A Simple Case	director (with Mikhail Doller)
1933	Дезертир	The Deserter	director
1938	Победа	Victory	director (with Mikhail Doller)
1939	Минин и Пожарский	Minin and Pozharsky	director (with Mikhail Doller)
1941	Суворов	Suvorov	director (with Mikhail Doller)
	Пир в Жирмунке	Feast in Zhirmunka	director (with Mikhail Doller)
1942	Убийцы выходят на дорогу	The Murderers are Coming	director (with Yuri Tarich); screenwriter
1943	Во имя Родины	In the Name of the Fatherland	director (with Dmitri Vasilyev); screenwriter; actor
	Юный Фриц	The Young Fritz	actor
1944	Иван Грозный	Ivan the Terrible	actor
1947	Адмирал Нахимов	Admiral Nakhimov	director; actor
1948	Три встречи	Three Encounters	director (segment)
1950	Жуковский	Zhukovsky	director
1952	Возвращение Василия Бортникова	The Return of Vasili Bortnikov	director (with Dmitri Vasilyev)

Published works

• Film Technique and Film Acting Grove Press. 1958.

References

1. Schnitzer, Luda (1973). Cinema in Revolution. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0306802856.
2. Gillespie, David C. (2000). Early Soviet Cinema. Wallflower. ISBN 1903364043.
3. Vsevolod Pudovkin (1976). Collection of Works in Three Volumes. Volume 3. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 552 pages.

• Mother DVD extras, Las Orígenes del Cine, Suevia Films Spain.

External links

• Vsevolod Pudovkin at the Internet Movie Database
• Vsevolod Pudovkin on Find A Grave
• The silent revolutionary: Jonathan Jones on the work of Vsevolod Pudovkin, at Guardian Unlimited
• Islands. Vsevolof Pudovkin documentary by Russia-K, 2005 (in Russian)
• Vsevolod Pudovkin. Imprisoned by Time documentary by Russia-K, 2008 (in Russian)
• Legends of World Cinema documentary by Russia-K, 2014 (in Russian)