Directing

Abram Room

Born 1894-06-28 · Vilna, Russian Empire [now Vilnius, Lithuania]

Abram Matveyevich Room (Russian: Абрам Матвеевич Роом; real name Abram Mordkhelevich Rom, Russian: Абрам Мордхелевич Ром; 28 June 1894, Vilna – 26 July 1976, Moscow) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter. In 1914-1917 he studied at the St. Petersburg Bekhterev Psychoneurological Research Institute, between 1917 and 1922 at the medical faculty of Saratov State University. From 1917 he worked in Saratov in the arts department as professor and rector of the Higher theatrical art workshops. Since 1923 he was the director of Vsevolod Meyerhold’s Theatre of the Revolution in Moscow, director and teacher of the Higher Pedagogical School of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee in the Kremlin. Since 1924 he was the director at the studios Goskino, Sovkino, Soyuzkino. Since 1936 he was director at the studio Mosfilm. In 1925-1934 he taught at VGIK as a senior lecturer. Room's best known film is Bed and Sofa (1927) after a screenplay by Lev Kuleshov and Viktor Shklovsky. In the film, a woman who is married to a construction worker has an affair with their lodger. The film tracks the evolution of a housewife into a strong liberated woman, which was very unusual for its time. Another notable title is The Ghost That Never Returns (1929) The first movie he directed was The Vodka Chase in 1924. He directed the first talking picture in the Soviet Union, the 1930 documentary The Plan for Great Works. The other films he directed were Traitor (1926), Ruts (1928), Criminals (1933), Squadron No. 5 (1939), Invasion (1945), In the Mountains of Yugoslavia (1946), School for Scandal (1952), The Garnet Bracelet (1964), Late Flowers (1969), and A Man Before His Time (1971). Cited in the German book Texte zur Theorie des Films (Albersmeier 1998, p.304) [texts about theory of film]: "A. Room, declared opponent of the concept of Sergei Eisenstein, postulated in his essay Moi kinoubezhdeniya (My beliefs of film) in: Soviet screen, 1926, m. 8, p. 5: Prior importance in film must be the living human... [in german: Vorrangige Bedeutung kommt im Film dem lebendigen Menschen zu...], exactly that what Eisenstein declined."

Acting credits

5.2

Goga is a Russian man who has no luck with women. He has a chance meeting with Mary Pickford, and after she kisses him on the cheek, he becomes as irresistible as her.

A Kiss from Mary Pickford

1927

Behind the camera

5.5

A young sportsman Grisha Fokin falls in love with Masha, the wife of an outstanding scientist - Yuliyan Nikolayevich Stepanov.

A Severe Young Man

1935

6.2

A machinist on a Navy ship has two sons, both bolcheviks. When the revolution comes the Tsarist police captures the machinist to put pressure on his sons.

The Bay of Death

1926

6.5

Engineer Yakov Bogomolov is a workaholic who is carried away by his work it so much that he does not notice what is happening around him. Young wife Olga is cheating on him, friends betray, companions do not understand and deceive...

A Man Before His Time

1973

6.5

A Man Before His Time

1973

5.7

The rebel leader Jose Real is allowed to leave prison for one day to visit his family. But it is a ruse to make him reveal the whereabouts of his rebel gang. This existential drama disguised as a saga about the proletarian struggle presents a lonely and insecure individual who is challenged to act more heroically than he is prepared to, but who constantly questions his confidence and loyalties.

The Ghost That Never Returns

1930

5.6

Yugoslav farmer-turned-partisan Slavko Babić starts an uprising against the fascist Germans and their allies.

In the Mountains of Yugoslavia

1946

6.3

Life changes for a Moscow couple after they allow an old friend of the husband’s to move in.

Bed and Sofa

1927

6.3

Life changes for a Moscow couple after they allow an old friend of the husband’s to move in.

Bed and Sofa

1927

5.2

An agent working for the Tsar fools a group of Bolshevik sailors but is captured and punished after the revolution.

The Traitor

1926

10.0

Nowhere have they so deftly slandered and arranged intrigues, as in the salon of Lady Sniruel. Young lady Tizl quickly enters the taste of high life, taking the gentleman's wooing. She does not suspect that a serious test awaits her.

The School of Scandal

1952

A story about a life of a small village in Western Ukraine during 30-ies.

Wind from East

1940

7.7

The film takes place during the civil war. Tolya Dergach, having lost his parents, falls under the influence of bandits looking for hidden treasure in the ruins of the estate. The boy, of course, will understand his new friends — and together with old friends will help the security officers to neutralize criminals.

On the Count's Ruins

1958

No artwork available

Lost movie.

The Race for Moonshine

1924

No artwork available

5.0

Experimental collection. It began with a synchronized movie recording of a speech by Anatoly Lunacharsky, former People's Commissar of Education and Director of the Research Institute of Literature and Art, on the importance of sound cinema. Then came an hour-long movie "Five-Year Plan" - a documentary essay about the first five-year plan. Then - a small cartoon with newsreel elements "Tip-Top", the hero of which was making a round-the-world trip. By genre it was a political satire. Then there were recordings of Sergei Prokofiev's march from the play "Love for Three Oranges" and other musical numbers performed by a choir, solo singers, symphony and jazz orchestras, as well as actors from Sergei Obraztsov's puppet theater.

Sound Team Program No. 1

1930

5.4

An American scientist invents a new weapon of mass destruction - silver dust. Corporate war breaks out between two military industry giants to own the weapon. The scientist dies and his son makes the discovery public with more consequences.

Silvery Dust

1953

Lost movie.

Potholes

1928

Lost movie.

Potholes

1928

7.8

This documentary depicts the creation of collective farms for Jews in Crimea. It shows them building their houses, digging a well, and farming the land.

Jews on the Land

1927

7.8

This documentary depicts the creation of collective farms for Jews in Crimea. It shows them building their houses, digging a well, and farming the land.

Jews on the Land

1927

6.8

The story of a sublime unrequited love of a petty official for a young socialite.

The Garnet Bracelet

1965

6.8

The story of a sublime unrequited love of a petty official for a young socialite.

The Garnet Bracelet

1965

4.7

Princess Mariya fell in love with doctor Toporkov, who was treating her, in the recent past the serf of her family. Now he has become a celebrity and is only concerned about buying a new home profitably. He does not notice her love and marries a rich merchant. The princess in love comes to see Toporkov and opens to him. Her strong feeling touches Toporkov’s hardened heart, he leaves his wife and leaves the princess abroad.

Belated Flowers

1970

4.7

Belated Flowers

1970

7.5

The movie tells about the life of Soviet scientists. Professor Dobrotvorsky, together with his colleague Losev, is on his way to completing a scientific work of great importance in medicine. Professor Dobrotvorsky's friend Academician Vereisky learns from a foreign journal that important data about this work has fallen into the hands of American businessmen.

Court of Honor

1949