"Noble Nest" - Russian silent film directed by Vladimir Gardin . The film was shot in 1914, but was released on February 9, 1915 [1] [2] . The film has not survived.
Noble Nest | |
---|---|
Genre | drama |
Producer | Vladimir Gardin |
In the main cast | Olga Preobrazhenskaya Mikhail Tamarov |
Film company | P. Timan and F. Reinhardt |
A country | Russian empire |
Tongue | Russian language |
Year | 1914 |
IMDb | ID 0005805 |
Content
Creation History
The film was filmed in an old estate near Moscow in the summer of 1914 [3] .
After an early breakfast morning shoots began. After lunch, the shooting continued. In the evening and on inclement days, there were rehearsals [4] .
The operator Levitsky during the filming "built a rotating platform on the nature, on which it was possible to build a part of the scenery, freely moving towards the sun or the necessary landscape." According to his recollections, “the decoration with a window in Kalitina’s house, the arrival of Panshin on horseback, the night scene of Liza at the window, an episode in the Lavretsky estate and some others” was shot on the turntable [5] . When shooting night scenes, “the site turned away from the sun, the windows were tightened with a black veil and the rays of light passing through it (from reflectors) created a complete illusion of moonlight and moon glare” [6] .
All actors, from morning to evening, at the insistence of the director, walked in the costume and makeup of their character [2] . Even in the intervals between filming, they tried to live in the image of these heroes. The actors were asked to forget their names for a while [5] .
“All this, taken together,” recalled A. Levitsky, “created a wonderful atmosphere of genuine artistic creativity” [5] . Thanks to the conditions of creative work that were unusual for the cinema of those years, which were introduced by director Gardin, “the filmmakers could feel the atmosphere of events and convey to the audience with amazing for that time authenticity the originality of Turgenev's characters” [7] .
In connection with the outbreak of war, the release of the film on the screen was postponed until early 1915 [8] .
Story
The film is a screen version of Ivan Turgenev 's classic Noble Nest .
Fyodor Lavretsky, breaking off relations with his wife, returns to the old manor in which he lived as a child. There he meets with his neighbors and falls in love with Lisa Kalitina. He reads in the newspaper a message about the death of his wife and decided to explain his feelings to Lisa. After a declaration of love, Lavretsky returns home and meets an unexpected wife who he thought was dead. For a loving Lavretsky Liza it is unacceptable to destroy a legal marriage, and she decides to go to a monastery.
Cast
- Olga Preobrazhenskaya - Liza
- Mikhail Tamarov - Lavretsky
- E. Uvarova - Barbara, his wife
- Lyudmila Sycheva - Marfa Timofeevna
- Vladimir Shaternikov - Lemme
- Boris Orlitsky - Panshin
Film crew
- Directed by: Vladimir Gardin
- Operators: Alexander Levitsky
- Artist: Cheslav Sabinsky
- Producer: Paul Timan
Movie ratings
The film received very positive reviews both in the year of its release on the screens and a decade later.
The Projector magazine (1915, No. 2, pp. 8–9) found the performance interesting and wrote that “it was possible to show this old noble nest” [9] [10] . The magazine " Blue-Fono " (1915, No. 8, pp. 39-40) wrote that the director and actors had found and embodied "the" intimate "that lies at the heart of the story and makes the secret of its charm, has always been akin to our soul " [11] [12] [13] .
“It immediately became clear that this is exactly what the“ noble nest ”should be, as V. R. Gardin showed it. Exactly this should be a cozy, old-fashioned furniture, just such a neglected garden and a quiet pond in it, and an old arbor ... And Lisa seemed exactly what O. I. Preobrazhenskaya depicted her: sadly thoughtful, with something monastic in her eyes and movements, as if anticipating their future fate ... And Lavretsky (M. Tamarov) was the same soft, gentle, good Russian “master,” “Slavic soul” ... And Varvara Pavlovna (E. Uvarova) - isn't it, with her captivating dimples on the cheeks, languid, mannered movements and a coquettish smile? " [11] [12] .
The cinema historian C. Ginzburg agreed with this assessment and additionally pointed out: “The reviewer, having correctly assessed the main thing that distinguished the film Noble Nest, one of the best films of the Russian Golden Series, produced at the time when it was creatively directed by Gardin and Protazanov , said far from all the merits of the picture. He did not mention the excellent play of the talented Russian film actor V. Shaternikov (Lemm), he did not say anything about V. Orlitsky’s luck in the role of Panshin. Finally, he did not at all notice the truly magnificent work of cameraman A. Levitsky, who largely determined the creative results, created the mood of lyricism and intimacy that permeated the entire film. ” [13]
According to S. Ginzburg, “probably, it was in this picture, where the role of the artist was very small, for the first time in Russian cinema the meaning of the operator as the author of the pictorial interpretation of the idea came to light” [13] . The film expert highly appreciated the work of the operator: “Levitsky, using his own means, subtle tonal transitions, very gently and psychologically truthfully fashioned portraits, lyrically interpreted landscapes, created an amazingly authentic atmosphere of action, deeply conveying the features of Turgenev's painting and absolutely complying with the filmmaking idea of the film. In this picture, Levitsky showed himself as a talented follower of the traditions of Russian visual art in the young art of photography ” [7] .
Film expert Veniamin Vishnevsky also noted that the picture is “interesting for camera work” [1] . The filmmaker Yuri Zhelyabuzhsky highly appreciated the work of A. Levitsky in this film: “In the process of shooting the film“ The Noble Nest ”(1914, director V. Gardin) he managed to achieve serious achievements” [14] .
Y. Zhelyabuzhsky wrote that “the whole film was shot with great artistic skill”, “Levitsky gives a perfect spatial and compositional solution, plasticity and subtle nuances of half-tones”. He concluded his analysis with the following assessment: “The film’s entire artistic solution perfectly conveys the style and atmosphere of the Turgenev novel. A successful survey of the “Noble Nest” was not the accidental success of Levitsky, but a natural way of developing Russian camera art ” [14] .
The film and film critic Romil Sobolev [15] called the film a major creative success for the cameraman Levitsky. According to R. Sobolev, “the operator A. Levitsky very accurately conveyed the slowness of the narrative, the peculiar rhythm of the Turgenev story, helped by shooting the correctly found landscapes to show the spiritual state of the characters”. The press, he said, also noted the true "light gamut" of the film [15] .
Romil Sobolev indicated that "Gardin staged his best, in the opinion of many, pre-revolutionary film." He wrote: “An old nobleman’s estate, its surrounding landscapes, precise details, the fusion of the film’s characters with nature created a truly Turgenev atmosphere in the film” [15] . “For actors,” he noted, “participation in this film was in some cases the unsurpassed peak of their work in the cinema.” [16]
Soviet film expert Nikolai Lebedev wrote in "Essays on the history of the cinema of the USSR" (1947, reprinted in 1965) that the critics attributed The Noble Nest to the number of such adaptations, "the authors of which sought to overcome the usual fragmentary film-drama and give a complete plot work that reproduced not only the plot and the main images of the novel, but also the artistic style of Turgenev ” [17] [18] . He highly appreciated the work of the whole creative group:
“The actress O. Preobrazhenskaya created the charming, imbued with Turgenev's poetry image of Lisa. Gardin and cameraman Levitsky found the “Turgenev” nature and reproduced the home environment corresponding to the one described in the novel. And together with the correct play of M. Tamarov, who played the role of Lavretsky, and other actors, all this conveyed to the viewer the mood and the imaginative structure of the Turgenev novel ” [17] [19] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Vishnevsky, 1945 , p. 38
- ↑ 1 2 Short, 2009 , p. 114
- ↑ Gardin, 1949 , p. 71
- ↑ Gardin, 1949 , p. 72.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Levitsky, 1964 , p. 51.
- ↑ Sobolev, 1961 , p. 67.
- ↑ 1 2 Ginsburg, 1963 , p. 287.
- ↑ Gardin, 1949 , p. 74.
- Проект Projector, 1915, No. 2, p. 8-9.
- ↑ The Great Kinemo, 2002 , p. 265.
- ↑ 1 2 Blue-Fono, 1915, No. 8, p. 39-40.
- ↑ 1 2 Gardin, 1949 , p. 75
- ↑ 1 2 3 Ginsburg, 1963 , p. 286.
- ↑ 1 2 Zhelyabuzhsky, 2004 , p. 252.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Sobolev, 1961 , p. 114
- ↑ Sobolev, 1961 , p. 114-115.
- ↑ 1 2 N.A. Lebedev Essays on the history of cinema of the USSR. Silent movies: 1918-1934 . The appeal date is January 12, 2019. Archived on April 5, 2014.
- ↑ A Brief History of Soviet Cinema, 1969 , p. 57.
- ↑ Lebedev, 1965 , p. 54.
Literature
- Vishnevsky V.E. Feature films of pre-revolutionary Russia. - M .: Goskinoizdat, 1945. - p. 38. - 194 p.
- Gardin V.R. Memories. 1912-1921. - M .: Goskinoizdat, 1949. - T. 1. - p. 71-75. - 229 s.
- Sobolev P.P. People and films of pre-revolutionary Russian cinema. - M .: Art, 1961. - P. 67-68, 111-112. - 177 s.
- Ginzburg S.S. Cinematography of pre-revolutionary Russia. - M .: Art, 1963. - p. 285-287. - 456 s.
- Levitsky A.A. Stories about the cinema. - M .: Art, 1964. - p. 50-53. - 246 s.
- Lebedev N.A. Essays on the history of cinema of the USSR. Silent movies: 1918-1934. - 2nd recycled. - M .: Art, 1965. - p. 54. - 373 p.
- A brief history of Soviet cinema: 1917-1967 / Ed. V. Zhdana. - M .: Art, 1969. - p. 57. - 615 p.
- The Great Kinemo: A catalog of surviving feature films of Russia (1908-1919) / Comp.: V. Ivanova, V. Mylnikova, S. Skovorodnikova, Yu. Tsivyan, R. Yangirov. - M .: New Literary Review, 2002. - p. 265. - 568 p.
- Zhelyabuzhsky Yu. Skill of the Soviet operators. A brief sketch of the development // Cinema Studies. - 2004. - № 69 . - p . 246-273 .
- Korotky V.M. Operators and directors of Russian feature films. 1897-1921. - Moscow : Scientific Research Institute of Cinema, 2009. - P. 114. - 430 p.
Links
- "Noble Nest" on the site "Encyclopedia of the national cinema"