Yakov Protazanov
Yakov Protazanov | |
---|---|
USSR | |
Resting place | Novodevichy Cemetery |
Occupation(s) | Film director, screenwriter |
Years active | 1907–1943 |
Notable work | The Queen of Spades (1916) Aelita (1924) St. Jorgen's Day (1930) |
Spouse | Frida Protazanova |
Yakov Alexandrovich Protazanov (
Biography
Born in the Vinokurov family estate to educated Russian parents, both of whom belonged to the
Yakov's mother Elizaveta Mikhailovna Protazanova (nee Vinokurova) was a native Muscovite. She finished the Elizabeth Institute for Noble Maidens. Her brother Mikhail Vinokurov was close friends with the Sadovsky theatrical family and made a great impact on young Protazanov.[3]
In 1900 Yakov graduated from the Moscow Commercial College and started working as a merchant, although he wasn't happy about his choice of profession. In 1904 he left Russia and spent several years in France and Italy, self-educating. After his return in 1906 Protazanov joined the Gloria film company in Moscow as a screenwriter and director's assistant. He also met his future wife there — Frida Vasilievna Kennike, who happened to be a sister of one of the Gloria's co-founders.
In 1910 Gloria became part of the cinema factory headed by Paul Thiemann and Friedrich Reinhardt. Protazanov was finally given a director's chair, although, according to his memories, he took part in basically every filming process, including cinematography, stage property and bookkeeping.[3] His most notable works of that period are The Song of the Prophet Oleg based on Alexander Pushkin's poem and Departure of a Grand Old Man about the last days of Leo Tolstoy. In 1914 he joined Joseph N. Ermolieff's film studio where he worked up till his emigration in 1920.
In the period between 1911 and 1920 Protazanov wrote and directed some 80 features, including
He emigrated to Europe in 1920 following the Russian Civil War along with Ermolieff's group where he worked at various French- and German-based film studios. He returned to Russia in 1923. The following year he produced Aelita based on Alexei Tolstoy's novel. It was one of the first science fiction movies to depict a space flight and an alien society.
His next film
In 1928 he directed
During the Great Patriotic War he was evacuated to Tashkent along with some other members of Mosfilm and Lenfilm. Around the same time his health started declining; on his way to Tashkent he suffered a heart-attack. He managed to produce only one more movie — Nasreddin in Bukhara (1943)[7] - itself set in Uzbekistan.
His only son Georgy was killed in one of the final battles, which also affected Protazanov. He spent his last days working on the adaptation of Alexander Ostrovsky's comedy play Wolves and Sheep. Among his other plans were film adaptations of War and Peace and Oliver Twist.
Protazanov died on 8 August 1945 and was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.[8] He was survived by his wife Frida and his elder sisters - Lidia Aristova, Valentina Protazanova and Nina Anjaparidze.
Tribute to Yakov Protazanov
In 2014, The Silent Film Festival in Pordenone, Italy - "RUSSIAN LAUGHS", the silent comedies of Yakov Protazanov, the exhibition curated by Peter Bagrov and Natalia Noussinova, the translation of the Italian-language film has been entrusted by Vladislav Shabalin.[1].[2].
Selected filmography
- Departure of a Grand Old Man (1912)
- The Queen of Spades (1916)
- Satan Triumphant (1917)
- Father Sergius(1918)
- The Pilgrimage of Love (1923)
- Aelita (1924)
- The Tailor from Torzhok (1925)
- His Call (1925)
- The Case of the Three Million(1926)
- Man from the Restaurant (1927)
- The Forty-first(1927)
- Don Diego and Pelagia (1928)
- The White Eagle (1928)
- Ranks and People (1929); co-directed with Mikhail Doller
- St. Jorgen's Day (1930)
- Tommy (1931)
- Marionettes(1934)
- About Oddities of Love (1936)
- Without Dowry(1937)
- Salavat Yulayev (1941)
- Nasreddin in Bukhara (1943)
References
- ISBN 978-0-8108-6072-8.
- ^ Cinema: Encyclopedic Dictionary // ed. Sergei Yutkevich. — Moscow: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1987, p. 337
- ^ a b c Mikhail Arlazorov. Protazanov. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1973, pp. 7—9
- ^ Dmitry Aglitsky. Family chronicles don't burn article from Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 23 September 2015 (in Russian)
- ^ Dmitry Aglitsy's Family Research Project (in Russian)
- ^ S. M. Shibaev article at the Discover Moscow website
- ^ Jay Leyda (1960). Kino: A History of the Russian and Soviet Film. George Allen & Unwin. p. 380.
- ^ Celebrity Tombs
External links
- Works by or about Yakov Protazanov at Internet Archive
- Yakov Protazanov at IMDb
- Yakov Protazanov at Find a Grave
- English biography - Ian Christie in KinoKultura
- Remembering Uncle Yasha interview in the Union of CinematographersNewspaper, 2011 (in Russian)