Lev Kuleshov

Directing

Lev Kuleshov

Born 1899-01-13 · Tambov, Russian Empire [now Russia]

Lev Vladimirovich Kuleshov was a Russian and Soviet filmmaker and film theorist, one of the founders of the world's first film school, the Moscow Film School. People's Artist of the RSFSR (1969). Lev Kuleshov was born in 1899 into an intellectual Russian family. At the time he was born, the family became financially broke, lost their estate and moved to Tambov, living a modest life. In 1911 his father died; three years later Lev and his mother moved to Moscow where his elder brother was studying and working as an engineer. Lev Kuleshov decided to follow the steps of his father and entered the Moscow School of Painting, although he didn't finish it. In 1916 he applied to work at the film company led by Aleksandr Khanzhonkov. He produced scenery several pictures but with time he became more interested in film theory. He co-directed his first movie Twilight in 1917. His next film was released under the Soviet patronage. During the 1918-1920 he covered the Russian Civil War with a documentary crew. In 1919 he headed the first Soviet film courses at the National Film School. Kuleshov may well be the very first film theorist as he was a leader in the Soviet montage theory — developing his theories of editing before those of Sergei Eisenstein (briefly a student of Kuleshov). For Kuleshov, the essence of the cinema was editing, the juxtaposition of one shot with another. To illustrate this principle, he created what has come to be known as the Kuleshov Effect. In this now-famous editing exercise, shots of an actor were intercut with various meaningful images (a casket, a bowl of soup, etc.) in order to show how editing changes viewers' interpretations of images. In addition to his theoretical and teaching work, Kuleshov also directed a number of feature-length films. Among his most notable works is an action-comedy The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks (1924), a psychological drama By the Law (1926) adapted from the short story by Jack London and a biographical drama The Great Consoler (1933) based on O. Henry's life and works. After directing his last film in 1943, Kuleshov served as an artistic director and an academic rector at VGIK where he worked for the next 25 years. Lev Kuleshov died in Moscow in 1970. He was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery. He was survived by his wife Aleksandra Khokhlova (1897—1985) — an actress, film director and educator and her son from the first marriage.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Forty Hearts poster
6.4

The new power stations are beating like hearts to the pulse of modernisation. At gigantic expense and effort, the Soviet Union is rapidly industrialised. The state plan foresees the construction of forty power-generation centres across the country. However, the people must first be enlightened about the nature and use of electrical current. Horses and tractors, households and industry, nature and the world of work, neon signs and the construction of power stations all depend on this miraculous new source of energy. The famous Soviet director Lev Kuleshov masterfully realises this project with documentary shots, acted scenes, and lots of creative trick sequences.

Forty Hearts

1931

Horizon poster
7.0

A young Lyova travels with the hope of ascent from Czarist Russia to New York. Disappointed, he returns to the young Soviet Union and is glad to have found a simple work.

Horizon

1932

Horizon poster
7.0

A young Lyova travels with the hope of ascent from Czarist Russia to New York. Disappointed, he returns to the young Soviet Union and is glad to have found a simple work.

Horizon

1932

The Death Ray poster
5.2

In a capitalist country, workers are heavily repressed but manage to get a Death Ray to fight back. Partially lost movie.

The Death Ray

1925

Sasha poster
10.0

A Russian woman tells the tragic story of her life.

Sasha

1930

By the Law poster
6.6

After a man kills two members of his Yukon gold prospecting team, the other two surviving members struggle to keep him subdued for the next several months until they can turn him over to the law.

By the Law

1926

By the Law poster
6.6

After a man kills two members of his Yukon gold prospecting team, the other two surviving members struggle to keep him subdued for the next several months until they can turn him over to the law.

By the Law

1926

Incident on a Volcano poster
6.3

Andrei Latonin had jumped with a parachute many times before, but on the day of the holiday he got scared and stayed in the cockpit of the plane. Deeply upset by his failure, Latonin decides to leave his homeland forever and joins a steamship as a sailor. On the way, Andrei meets an expedition group heading for the crater of an active volcano and joins the scientists.

Incident on a Volcano

1941

No artwork available
9.0

Locomotive S-1000

Locomotive No. 1006

1926

Two-Buldi-Two poster
7.8

A father and son, both clowns, are to perform together for the first time, but the civil war separates them, and the elder Buldy, tempted for a moment to acquiesce to the White forces, casts his lot with the revolution.

Two-Buldi-Two

1929

The Great Consoler poster
5.2

The Great Consoler is Lev Kuleshov’s most personal film reflecting both the facts of his life and his thoughts about the place of the artist in contemporary reality. It was the only film in the Soviet cinema of those years that raised the question of what role a creative person played in society.

The Great Consoler

1933

The Great Consoler poster
5.2

The Great Consoler is Lev Kuleshov’s most personal film reflecting both the facts of his life and his thoughts about the place of the artist in contemporary reality. It was the only film in the Soviet cinema of those years that raised the question of what role a creative person played in society.

The Great Consoler

1933

The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks poster
5.9

An ignorant and prejudiced American’s visit of Soviet Russia goes off the rails after his luggage is stolen and he is separated from his bodyguard.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks

1924

We from the Urals poster
6.5

A story about two teenagers and their life during WWII in Urals district of Russia.

We from the Urals

1943

Your Friend poster
6.2

Khokhlova, a girl-reporter on a Moscow newpaper, falls in love with factory manager Petrovsky. To her he's the epitome of manliness--virile, decisive, strong-minded. Conversely, she rejects the sensitive, diffident editor Vasilchikov, who's in love with her, as unmanly. Her infatuation affects her work, and she is fired.

Your Friend

1927

Siberians poster
7.0

Two six-graders are trying to find the Stalin's pipe and return it to the owner.

Siberians

1940

Unfinished Love Song poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Unfinished Love Song

1918

Young Partisans poster
NR

This is a two-in-one flashback film in which the flashback ends up teaching a group of kids a heroic lesson that they take to heart when war comes to their doorstep.

Young Partisans

1942

Engineer Prite's Project poster
5.4

A man is caught between his friendship with a young engineer wishing to open his peat-powered electric plant and his love for a young woman, whose father owns an oil company.

Engineer Prite's Project

1918

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

At the Red Front

1920

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

At the Red Front

1920

Kuleshov Effect poster
6.3

An experiment in editing. This entry refers to both the initial, likely lost 1919 experiment, created using footage of Ivan Mosjoukine, and the later surviving recreation featuring two unknown actors.

Kuleshov Effect

1919

No artwork available
NR

One Kuleshov film that might be of great interest to scholars is The Breakthrough (Proryv, 1930). It was made in 48 hours. Naturally, such an unusual work did not stay in cinemas for a long time.

The Backlog!

1930

Timur's Oath poster
8.3

The continuation of a story about a young boy Timur and his team who are living in a small Moscow suburb during the years before WWII - now during the war.

Timur's Oath

1942