V SEVOLOD I LLARIONOVICH P UDOVKIN

V SEVOLOD I LLARIONOVICH P UDOVKIN (16 F EBRUARY 1893 – 20 J UNE 1953) WAS A R USSIAN AND S OVIET FILM DIRECTOR, SCREENWRITER AND ACTOR WHO DEVELOPED INFLUENTIAL THEORIES OF MONTAGE.

P UDOVKIN ' S MASTERPIECES ARE OFTEN CONTRASTED WITH THOSE OF HIS CONTEMPORARY S ERGEI E ISENSTEIN, BUT WHEREAS E ISENSTEIN UTILIZED MONTAGE TO GLORIFY THE POWER OF THE MASSES, P UDOVKIN PREFERRED TO CONCENTRATE ON THE COURAGE AND RESILIENCE OF INDIVIDUALS.

A STUDENT OF ENGINEERING AT M OSCOW U NIVERSITY, P UDOVKIN SAW ACTIVE DUTY DURING W ORLD W AR I, BEING CAPTURED BY THE G ERMANS. A FTER 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 L EV K ULESHOV.

A FTER A FEW TRIES WITH ADVERTISING CINEMA, HE DIRECTED IN 1926 THAT WHICH WILL BE CONSIDERED ONE OF THE MASTERPIECES OF SILENT MOVIES : "M OTHER ", WHERE HE DEVELOPED SEVERAL MONTAGE THEORIES THAT WOULD MAKE HIM FAMOUS.

H IS FIRST FEATURE WAS FOLLOWED BY "T HE E ND OF S T. P ETERSBURG " (1927), AND "S TORM O VER A SIA " ( ALSO KNOWN AS "T HE H EIR OF G ENGHIS K HAN "), TITLES WHICH COMPOSE A TRILOGY AT THE SERVICE OF THE BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTIONARY POLICY.

I N 1928, WITH THE ADVENT OF SOUND FILM, P UDOVKIN, S ERGEI E ISENSTEIN AND G RIGORI A LEKSANDROV SIGNED THE M ANIFEST OF S OUND, IN WHICH THE POSSIBILITIES OF SOUND ARE DEBATED, AND ALWAYS UNDERSTOOD AS A COMPLEMENT TO IMAGE. T HIS IDEA WOULD BE BROUGHT TO BEAR IN HIS NEXT PICTURES :" A S IMPLE C ASE " (1932) AND "T HE D ESERTER " (1933), WORKS THAT DO NOT MATCH THE QUALITY OF EARLIER WORK.

W ITH AN INTERRUPTION DUE TO HEALTH CONCERNS, P UDOVKIN RETURNED TO THE MOVIES IN 1938, WITH A CYCLE OF HISTORIC PIECES THAT ARE NOT AS SUCCESSFUL AS EARLIER WORKS : "V ICTORY " (1938); "M ININ AND P OZHARSKY " (1939) AND "S UVOROV " (1941).

W ITH THE END OF W ORLD W AR II, UNDER P ARTY CRITICISM, HE RETURNED TO HIS EARLIER SUBJECTS. I N 1951, P UDOVKIN WAS AWARDED THE S TALIN P RIZE. H IS LAST WORK WAS "T HE R ETURN OF V ASILI B ORTNIKOV "(1953).

T HE P OWER P OINT WAS DONE BY B ABENKO O LESYA 11 B