Grigori Aleksandrov
Encyclopedia
Grigori Vasilyevich Aleksandrov or Alexandrov ( - original family name was Мормоненко or Mormonenko; 23 January 1903 - 16 December 1983) was a prominent Soviet film director
who was named a People's Artist of the USSR
in 1947 and a Hero of Socialist Labor
in 1973. He was awarded the Stalin Prizes for 1941 and 1950.
Initially associated with Sergei Eisenstein
, with whom he worked as a co-director, screenwriter
and actor
, Aleksandrov became a major director in his own right in the 1930s, when he directed Jolly Fellows
and a string of other musical comedies starring his wife Lyubov Orlova
.
Though Aleksandrov remained active until his death, his musicals, amongst the first made in the Soviet Union
, remain his most popular films. They rival Ivan Pyryev
's films as the most effective and light-hearted showcase ever designed for Stalin-era USSR.
. He also pursued a musical education, studying violin
at the Ekaterinburg Musical School, from which he graduated in 1917.
Aleksandrov came to Moscow
after studying directing and briefly managing a movie theater
. In 1921, while acting with the Proletcult Theatre
he met a then 23-year-old Sergei Eisenstein
. Eisenstein and Aleksandrov collaborated on several plays before Eisenstein made his first feature length film, Strike
, which Aleksandrov co-wrote with Eisenstein, Ilya Kravchunovsky, and Valeryan Pletnyov. Next came Eisenstein's landmark The Battleship Potemkin
, in which Aleksdanrov played Ippolit Giliarovsky
. Aleksandrov co-directed Eisenstein's next two features, October: Ten Days That Shook the World and The General Line
, which were also their last works in the silent era
.
Along with Eisenstein's other major collaborator, cinematographer
Eduard Tisse
, Aleksandrov joined the director when he came to Hollywood in the early 1930s. He also traveled with them to Mexico for the filming of Eisenstein's unrealized project about the country. An edited version of the footage, known as ¡Qué viva México!
, was put together by Aleksandrov in 1979.
, he embarked on making the first Soviet musical, Jolly Fellows, starring Leonid Utyosov
and Lyubov Orlova
, whom Aleksandrov would later marry. Orlova had been previoulsy married to an economist who had been arrested in 1930. She would go on to star in his most successful films: Circus
, Volga Volga, and Bright Path.
, Erast Garin
, and Faina Ranevskaya
.
Popular public figures in the Soviet Union, Aleksandrov and Orlova had a difficult relationship with Stalin, who admired their films (he reportedly gave a print of Volga Volga as a present to Franklin Delano Roosevelt) but frequently harassed the pair, imprisoning or executing several of their close friends. Paradoxically, Aleksandrov found it harder to work in the more politically relaxed atmosphere that followed Stalin's death. He taught directing at VGIK from 1951 to 1957 and made several films about the years leading up to the Russian Revolution, including several about Lenin.
His last narrative feature was Skvorets i Lira (Starling and Lyre) (1973), which starred Orlova in her last role and was not released. Orlova died in 1975. In 1983, he worked on a documentary about the career of his late wife. He died in December of that year of a kidney infection and was buried next to Orlova in Novodevichy Cemetery
in Moscow
.
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
who was named a People's Artist of the USSR
People's Artist of the USSR
People's Artist of the USSR, also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to citizens of the Soviet Union.- Nomenclature and significance :...
in 1947 and a Hero of Socialist Labor
Hero of Socialist Labor
Hero of Socialist Labour was an honorary title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries. It was the highest degree of distinction for exceptional achievements in national economy and culture...
in 1973. He was awarded the Stalin Prizes for 1941 and 1950.
Initially associated with Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein , né Eizenshtein, was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be the "Father of Montage"...
, with whom he worked as a co-director, screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
and actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, Aleksandrov became a major director in his own right in the 1930s, when he directed Jolly Fellows
Jolly Fellows (1934 film)
Jolly Fellows , also translated Happy-Go-Lucky Guys and Moscow Laughs, is a 1934 Soviet musical film, directed by Grigori Aleksandrov and starring his wife Lyubov Orlova, a gifted singer and the first recognized star of Soviet cinema....
and a string of other musical comedies starring his wife Lyubov Orlova
Lyubov Orlova
Lyubov Petrovna Orlova, was the first recognized star of Soviet cinema, famous theatre actress and a gifted singer.She was born to a middle class family in Zvenigorod near Moscow and grew up in Yaroslavl...
.
Though Aleksandrov remained active until his death, his musicals, amongst the first made in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, remain his most popular films. They rival Ivan Pyryev
Ivan Pyryev
Ivan Aleksandrovich Pyryev , served as Director of the Mosfilm studios and was, for a time, the most influential man in the Soviet motion picture industry.Pyryev was born in Kamen-na-Obi, now Altai Krai, Russia...
's films as the most effective and light-hearted showcase ever designed for Stalin-era USSR.
Early life and collaboration with Eisenstein
Aleksandrov was born Grigori Vasilyevich Mormonenko in Ekaterinburg, Russia in 1903. Starting at age nine, Aleksandrov worked odd jobs at the Ekaterinburg Opera Theater, eventually making his way to assistant directorAssistant director
The role of an Assistant director include tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, maintaining order on the set. They also have to take care of health and safety of the crew...
. He also pursued a musical education, studying violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
at the Ekaterinburg Musical School, from which he graduated in 1917.
Aleksandrov came to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
after studying directing and briefly managing a movie theater
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
. In 1921, while acting with the Proletcult Theatre
Proletcult Theatre
Proletcult Theatre was the theatrical branch of the Soviet cultural movement Proletcult. It was concerned with the powerful expression of ideological content as political propaganda in the years following the revolution of 1917...
he met a then 23-year-old Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein , né Eizenshtein, was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be the "Father of Montage"...
. Eisenstein and Aleksandrov collaborated on several plays before Eisenstein made his first feature length film, Strike
Strike (film)
Strike is a 1925 silent film made in the Soviet Union by Sergei Eisenstein. It was Eisenstein's first full-length feature film, and he would go on to make The Battleship Potemkin later that year. It was acted by the Proletcult Theatre, and composed of six parts...
, which Aleksandrov co-wrote with Eisenstein, Ilya Kravchunovsky, and Valeryan Pletnyov. Next came Eisenstein's landmark The Battleship Potemkin
The Battleship Potemkin
The Battleship Potemkin , sometimes rendered as The Battleship Potyomkin, is a 1925 silent film directed by Sergei Eisenstein and produced by Mosfilm...
, in which Aleksdanrov played Ippolit Giliarovsky
Russian battleship Potemkin
The Potemkin was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the Imperial Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet. The ship was made famous by the Battleship Potemkin uprising, a rebellion of the crew against their oppressive officers in June 1905...
. Aleksandrov co-directed Eisenstein's next two features, October: Ten Days That Shook the World and The General Line
The General Line
The General Line aka Old and New is a 1929 Soviet film directed by Sergei Eisenstein.The General Line was begun in 1927 as a celebration of the collectivization of agriculture, as championed by old-line Bolshevik Leon Trotsky. Hoping to reach a wide audience, the director forsook his usual...
, which were also their last works in the silent era
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
.
Along with Eisenstein's other major collaborator, cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
Eduard Tisse
Eduard Tisse
Eduard Kazimirovich Tisse April 1897 - 18 November 1961) was a Soviet cinematographer born to a Swedish father and Russian mother in Liepāja, Courland. He grew up in Liepāja and started his career as a newsreel cameraman during the Russian Civil War...
, Aleksandrov joined the director when he came to Hollywood in the early 1930s. He also traveled with them to Mexico for the filming of Eisenstein's unrealized project about the country. An edited version of the footage, known as ¡Qué viva México!
¡Qué viva México!
¡Qué viva México! is a film project begun in 1930 by the Russian avant-garde director Sergei Eisenstein . It would have been an episodic portrayal of Mexican culture and politics from pre-Conquest civilization to the Mexican revolution. Production was beset by difficulties and was eventually...
, was put together by Aleksandrov in 1979.
Musical comedies
Aleksandrov returned to the Soviet Union in 1932 under direct orders from Stalin. He directed a pro-Stalin film, International (Интернационал), the following year and after a meeting with Stalin and Maxim GorkyMaxim Gorky
Alexei Maximovich Peshkov , primarily known as Maxim Gorky , was a Russian and Soviet author, a founder of the Socialist Realism literary method and a political activist.-Early years:...
, he embarked on making the first Soviet musical, Jolly Fellows, starring Leonid Utyosov
Leonid Utyosov
Leonid Osipovich Utyosov or Utesov ; real name Lazar Vaysbeyn or Weissbein , was a famous Soviet jazz singer and comic actor of jewish origin, who became the first pop singer to be awarded the prestigious title of People's Artist of the USSR .-Biography:Leonid Utyosov was brought up in Odessa...
and Lyubov Orlova
Lyubov Orlova
Lyubov Petrovna Orlova, was the first recognized star of Soviet cinema, famous theatre actress and a gifted singer.She was born to a middle class family in Zvenigorod near Moscow and grew up in Yaroslavl...
, whom Aleksandrov would later marry. Orlova had been previoulsy married to an economist who had been arrested in 1930. She would go on to star in his most successful films: Circus
Circus (1936 film)
Circus is a 1936 Soviet melodramatic comedy musical film. It was directed by Grigori Aleksandrov at the Mosfilm studios. In his own words, it was conceived as "an eccentric comedy...a real side splitter."...
, Volga Volga, and Bright Path.
After World War II
Aleksdandrov's first postwar film was Spring, another musical comedy starring Lyubov Orlova, as well as several other top-notch actors, including Nikolai CherkasovNikolai Cherkasov
Nikolay Konstantinovich Cherkasov , was a Soviet actor and a People's Artist of the Soviet Union.-Career:He was born in Saint Petersburg . From 1919 he was a mime artist in Petrograd's Maryinsky Theatre, the Bolshoi Theatre, and elsewhere...
, Erast Garin
Erast Garin
Erast Pavlovich Garin was, together with Igor Ilyinsky and Sergey Martinson, one of the leading comic actors of Vsevolod Meyerhold's company and of the Soviet cinema. He was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1977....
, and Faina Ranevskaya
Faina Ranevskaya
Faina Georgievna Ranevskaya is recognized as one of the greatest Soviet Russian actors in both tragedy and comedy. She was also famous for her aphorisms....
.
Popular public figures in the Soviet Union, Aleksandrov and Orlova had a difficult relationship with Stalin, who admired their films (he reportedly gave a print of Volga Volga as a present to Franklin Delano Roosevelt) but frequently harassed the pair, imprisoning or executing several of their close friends. Paradoxically, Aleksandrov found it harder to work in the more politically relaxed atmosphere that followed Stalin's death. He taught directing at VGIK from 1951 to 1957 and made several films about the years leading up to the Russian Revolution, including several about Lenin.
His last narrative feature was Skvorets i Lira (Starling and Lyre) (1973), which starred Orlova in her last role and was not released. Orlova died in 1975. In 1983, he worked on a documentary about the career of his late wife. He died in December of that year of a kidney infection and was buried next to Orlova in Novodevichy Cemetery
Novodevichy Cemetery
Novodevichy Cemetery is the most famous cemetery in Moscow, Russia. It is next to the 16th-century Novodevichy Convent, which is the city's third most popular tourist site. It should not be confused with the Novodevichy Cemetery in Saint Petersburg....
in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
.
Honours and awards
- Order of the Red StarOrder of the Red StarEstablished on 6 April 1930, the Order of the Red Star was an order of the Soviet Union, given to Red Army and Soviet Navy personnel for "exceptional service in the cause of the defense of the Soviet Union in both war and peace". It was established by Resolution of the Presidium of the CEC of the...
(January 11, 1935) - Stalin Prizes:
- first class (1941) - for the film "Circus" (1936) and "Volga-Volga" (1938)
- first class (1950) - for the film "Meeting on the Elbe" (1949)
- People's Artist of the USSRPeople's Artist of the USSRPeople's Artist of the USSR, also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to citizens of the Soviet Union.- Nomenclature and significance :...
(1948) - Hero of Socialist Labour (1973)
- Three Orders of Lenin
- Order of the Red Banner of LabourOrder of the Red Banner of LabourThe Order of the Red Banner of Labour was an order of the Soviet Union for accomplishments in labour and civil service. It is the labour counterpart of the military Order of the Red Banner. A few institutions and factories, being the pride of Soviet Union, also received the order.-History:The Red...
, three times - Order of the Friendship of Peoples (January 21, 1983)
- People's Artist of the USSR
Filmography
- October: Ten Days That Shook the World (Октябрь); 1928, co-directed with Sergei EisensteinSergei EisensteinSergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein , né Eizenshtein, was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be the "Father of Montage"...
- The General LineThe General LineThe General Line aka Old and New is a 1929 Soviet film directed by Sergei Eisenstein.The General Line was begun in 1927 as a celebration of the collectivization of agriculture, as championed by old-line Bolshevik Leon Trotsky. Hoping to reach a wide audience, the director forsook his usual...
(Старое и новое); 1929, co-directed with Sergei EisensteinSergei EisensteinSergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein , né Eizenshtein, was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be the "Father of Montage"... - Sentimental Romance (Сентиментальный романс); 1931, documentary
- Five-year Plan (Пятилетний план); 1932, documentary
- ¡Que viva México!¡Qué viva México!¡Qué viva México! is a film project begun in 1930 by the Russian avant-garde director Sergei Eisenstein . It would have been an episodic portrayal of Mexican culture and politics from pre-Conquest civilization to the Mexican revolution. Production was beset by difficulties and was eventually...
(Да здравствует Мексика!); 1932, co-directed with Sergei EisensteinSergei EisensteinSergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein , né Eizenshtein, was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be the "Father of Montage"... - Internationale (Интернационал); 1933, short documentary
- Jolly Fellows (Веселые ребята); 1934
- CircusCircus (1936 film)Circus is a 1936 Soviet melodramatic comedy musical film. It was directed by Grigori Aleksandrov at the Mosfilm studios. In his own words, it was conceived as "an eccentric comedy...a real side splitter."...
(Цирк); 1936 - Sports Parade (Физкультурный парад); 1938
- Volga-VolgaVolga-VolgaVolga-Volga is a Soviet comedy directed by Grigori Aleksandrov, released on April 24, 1938. It centres around a group of amateur performers on their way to Moscow to perform in a talent contest called the Moscow Musical Olympiad. Most of the action takes place on a steamboat travelling on the...
(Волга-Волга); 1938 - The Shining Path (Светлый путь); 1940
- A Family (Одна семья); 1943
- Men of the Caspian (Каспийцы); 1944, documentary
- Spring (Весна); 1947
- Encounter at the ElbeEncounter at the ElbeEncounter at the Elbe is a Soviet movie released in 1949 from Mosfilm, describing the conflict, spying and collaboration between the Soviet Army advancing from the East and the American Army advancing from the West, that met each other for the first time on the River Elbe, at the closing time of...
(Встреча на Эльбе); 1949 - Glinka (Композитор Глинка); 1952
- Great Mourning (Великое прощание); 1953
- From Man to Man (Человек человеку); 1958
- Russian Souvenir (Русский сувенир); 1960
- Lenin in Poland (Ленин в Польше); 1961
- Before October (Перед Октябрём); 1965
- Lenin in Switzerland (Ленин в Швейцарии); 1965, co-directed with Dmitri VasilyevDmitri Vasilyev (director)Dmitri Ivanovich Vasilyev was a Soviet film director. He directed in 9 films between 1931 and 1960.-Selected filmography:* Iron Brigade ; co-directed with Mikhail Verner* Lenin in October ; co-directed with Mikhail Romm...
- On the Eve (Накануне); 1966, co-directed with Dmitri VasilyevDmitri Vasilyev (director)Dmitri Ivanovich Vasilyev was a Soviet film director. He directed in 9 films between 1931 and 1960.-Selected filmography:* Iron Brigade ; co-directed with Mikhail Verner* Lenin in October ; co-directed with Mikhail Romm...
- Starling and Lyre (Скворец и Лира); 1974