Iosif Kheifits
|
6.5 A Big Family (1954) 6.5 The Rumyantsev Case (1955) | Links: |
|
Iosif Kheifits (1905)
Iosif Kheifits and his college friend Aleksandr Zarkhi collaborated on several films that
were emanations of Saint Petersburg's Proletkult movement, of Mikhail Sokolovsky's agit-prop Teatr RAbochey Molodyozhi (Theater of the Workers’ Youth) or TRAM, and of the local Komsomol "brigade",
starting with Pesn’ o Metalle/ The Song of Metal (1928)
and notably on
Veter v Litso/ Wind in the Face (1930), made by the brigade,
about the agricultural collectivization.
The brigade also created the inferior Polden/ Noon (1931) and
Moia Rodina/ My Homeland (1933), never released;
and the duo also ventured into more commercial territory with the
comedy Goriachie Denechki/ Hectic Days (1935) before making
Deputat Baltiki/ Baltic Deputy (1937), based on the life of
biologist Kliment Timiriazev,
a Soviet role model, and
Chlen Pravitelstva/ Member of the Government (1940), about a woman peasant who becomes a politician (starring Vera Maretskaia), an Soviet female role model.
They continued to collaborate on Ego Zovut Sukhe-Bator/ They Call Him Sukhe-Bator (1942), Malakhov Kurgan/ Malakhov Mound (1944), Vo Imia Zhizni/ In the Name of Life (1947), Dragotsennye Zerna/ Precious Grain (1948) and Ogni Baku/ The Lights of Baku (1950, released only in 1958). Iosif Kheifits later directed alone increasingly commercial films such as: Bolshaya Semya/ A Big Family (1954), adapted from Vsevolod Kochetov's novel "Zhurbiny", Delo Rumjanceva/ The Rumyantsev Case (1955), the films that made Aleksey Batalov a star, Dorogoi Moi Chelovek/ My Dear Man (1958), and Dama s Sobachkoi/ The Lady with a Lapdog (1959), from Chekhov, with a superb soundtrack by Nadezhda Simonyan and photographed by Andrei Moskvin. In the 1960s he directed Gorizont/ The Horizon (1962), Den Schastia/ A Day of Happiness (1964) and Saliut Mariia/ Bless you Maria (1970). V Gorode S/ In the Town of S (1967) and Plokhoi Khoroshii Chelovek/ A Bad Good Person (1973) were also Chekhov adaptations. Then came Edinstvennaia/ The Only One (1975), Asia (1978), adapted from Ivan Turgenev, Vpervye Zamuzhem/ Wife for the First Time (1979) Shurochka (1983), from Aleksand Kuprin, Podsudimyi/ The Accused (1986), Vy Che Stariche? To Whom do you Belong old Folks? (1988) and Brodiachii Avtobus/ The Nomad Bus (1989). Zarkhi opted instead for more old-fashioned didactic material: Vysota/ The Height (1957), photographed by Vladimir Monakhov and scored by Rodion Shchedrin, Liudi na Mostu/ People on the Bridge (1959) and Moi Mladshii Brat/ My Younger Brother (1962), adapted from Vasilii Aksenov’s novel "Zvezdnyi Bilet/ A Ticket to the Stars". He turned to literature with the adaptations Anna Karenina (1968), from Tolstoy, and Goroda i Gody/ Cities and Years (1973), from Konstantin Fedin, and with the biopic 26 Dnei iz Zhizni Dostoevskogo/ Twenty-six Days from the Life of Dostoevskii (1980), and ended his career with another patriotic movie, Chicherin (1986).
|
| 
| 
| 
| 
|