Soviet director Boris Barnet: biography

Boris Barnett is an actor, director, screenwriter, stuntman. Most of his films today are little known. Many of Barnet's works of art were sustained in the spirit of socialist realism and, in the opinion of contemporary critics, are "ordered" and "primitive" films. Some of the pictures were shot from the big screen back in Soviet times.

early years

Barnet Boris Vasilievich was born in 1902 (June 18) in Moscow. His ancestors were entirely artisans. Barnet owned a small printing house, which was transferred from grandfather to father, from father to son. However, Boris Barnet did not enter the family business. Not only because he decided to connect his life with art, but also because in 1917 the Bolsheviks came to power and the printing house was nationalized.

In 1920, Boris Barnet volunteered for the Red Army. He came to the South-Eastern Front, served in hospitals as a medic. Two years later, after being wounded, he was sent to Moscow for treatment.

Film-making

The future actor and director graduated from the Military School of Physical Education, after which he was enrolled in the staff of the school as a teacher in boxing. He also performed in the ring. At one of the matches Boris Barnet drew the attention of the director Lev Kuleshov and invited to the role of one of the heroes in his film.

This film work was for Boris Barnet, whose photo is presented in the article, debut and played a significant role in his fate. After filming in the film Kuleshov, the hero of this article decided to become a professional actor. He graduated from the State College of Cinematography, and then wrote the script and took it to the department of "Mezhrabpomfilm." Money was not paid to a budding writer, but he liked the script. A few months later, Boris Barnet wrote a script for the film "Miss Mend."

Career director

In the twenties Boris Barnet made several films. At the same time he did not leave the profession of an actor. He created the film "Girl with a Box", which conveyed the atmosphere of the NEP times. In the picture there is irony, lyrics and eccentric buffoonery. In the early thirties, several documentaries were created by the Soviet director. Among them: "Piano", "Living things", "Production of musical instruments". All these are pictures about which only cinema experts know today.

In 1933, Boris Barnet shot the film "Outskirts", which tells of the First World War. The film shows the life of the provincial city in the last years of the Russian Empire. The director used innovative methods of erection at that time, he presented a military theme with a completely unexpected for the audience of those days. In his picture, lyrical and epic motifs were intertwined. In 1934 the Barnet film received the Mussolini Cup - the main award at the Venice Festival (until 1942).

During the war

A year before the WWII, Boris Barnet shot the film "The Old Rider" in the script of Nikolai Erdman and Mikhail Volpin. The picture tells of a jockey fleeing from failures in a professional field to his native village. The premiere of the film took place in early 1941. Critics spoke of the film Barnet positively, calling it the first real sound comedy in the USSR. On the big screens this film came out only in 1959.

During the war, Boris Barnet, like other directors, worked on the creation of films designed to raise the heroic spirit of Soviet citizens. At this time, the picture "One Night" was created, which hardly anyone today remembers. In 1942, Barnet made the comedy "The Glorious Small." And only two years after the end of the war he created "Scout exploit", which enjoyed popularity among Soviet viewers for many years. It was this film that laid the foundation for the traditions of heroic adventure films in the USSR.

Film of the 50-ies

The films that Barnet created in the fifties were not so highly rated by critics. In 1959 he directed the drama "Annushka". This film - one of the few that enjoyed the audience's success. In 1957, the painting "The Wrestler and the Clown" was created. Jean Luc Godard spoke about this work of the Soviet director is very commendable. The last rise of Boris Barnet, whose filmography includes more than forty works, fell at the beginning of the sixties. It was then that the comedy "Alenka" was released on the screen of Sergei Antonov's novel.

Last years

In the 60s Boris Barnet worked a little. He often moved from city to city. In 1963 he applied for dismissal from Mosfilm. And after a while the director was invited to the Riga Film Studio, where the work on the film "Conspiracy of Ambassadors" began.

Boris Barnet died tragically during the preparatory period for the filming of this film. The Soviet director committed suicide on January 8, 1965. In a dying letter he wrote about fatigue, about old age and about the fact that he lost faith in himself, without which it is impossible to work or live. Boris Barnet is buried in Riga in the Forest Cemetery.

The Soviet director and screenwriter was married three times. From his last marriage he had a daughter Olga Barnet - an actress, known for the films "Solaris", "Poirot's failure."