Valéry Inkijinoff

Acting

Valéry Inkijinoff

Born 1895-03-25 · Bokhan, Irkutsk governorate, Russian Empire

Valéry Inkijinoff (Russian: Валерьян (Валерий) Иванович Инкижинов; 25 March 1895 – 26 September 1973) was a French actor of Russian-Buryat origin. His strong facial features made him a favourite villain of French cinema for exotic adventure films and crime movies. Inkijinoff was born to a Christian Buryat father and a Russian mother in Irkutsk gubernia. He studied at the Polytechnical Institute of Saint Petersburg and was for a time one of the resident actors of an imperial theater of this city. At the beginning of his career in Russia, he appeared first as stuntman in a few movies and then as director and as actor. His major lead role during the Russian part of his career is The Son in Storm Over Asia by Vsevolod Pudovkin in 1928, a major Soviet propaganda film about a fictional British consolidation of Mongolia. He was also an actor in the troop of Vsevolod Meyerhold and was then appointed as director of the movie and theater school of Kiev in Ukraine. In 1930, while in France on a European tour, he refused to return to the USSR. According to Boris Shumyatsky, after Stalin learned Inkijinoff had never returned in 1934, said: "Too bad that the man escaped. Now he, probably, is dying to come back but, alas, too late." He starred in 2 movies while living in the Soviet Union, and contrary to Stalin's assumption, Inkijinoff became immensely popular in Europe, arguably the most successful Soviet actor abroad, starring in a total of 44 French, British, German, and Italian films. In France he frequently played the part of Asian villains. His most active period was in the thirties, when he appeared in Les Bateliers de la Volga and the G. W. Pabst film Le drame de Shanghai. He played for Fritz Lang in 1959, in Der Tiger von Eschnapur and its sequel Das indische Grabmal, in which he played the role of the high priest Yama. In 1965, Philippe de Broca cast him as Monsieur Goh, the wise but scary Chinese who guarantees to the Jean-Paul Belmondo character a certain death in Les tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine. His last movie was with Brigitte Bardot and Claudia Cardinale, where he played the role of Indian chief Spitting Bull in Les pétroleuses. He was a great friend of Charles Dullin and Louis Jouvet, and had a long career in French theater, appearing for instance in Marie Galante by Jacques Deval. He died at his home in Brunoy, Essonne, France, aged 78. Source: Article "Valéry Inkijinoff" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Acting credits

The Indian Tomb poster
6.1

Seetha and Harold Berger are rescued from the desert by a caravan and brought to a small village. However, the greedy owner of the house where they are lodged betrays the law of hospitality and reveals their location to Prince Ramigani. The couple tries to escape but is hunted and captured by Ramigani and his men. Meanwhile Irene Rhode and her husband Walter Rhode suspect that Maharaja Chandra is not telling the truth about Harold's destiny. The conspirator Ramigani forces Seetha to accept to get married with Chandra to provoke the wrath of the priests and get the alliance of Prince Padhu and his army. In the meantime, Harold succeeds in escaping from the dungeon and seeks out Seetha to save her.

The Indian Tomb

1959

The Legend of Frenchie King poster
5.6

Outlaw sisters in the old West inherit a ranch and try to settle down and develop relationships with neighboring family of lots of brothers.

The Legend of Frenchie King

1971

Michael Strogoff poster
6.3

When Emir Feofar Khan, leader of the Tartar hordes, takes up arms and invades the steppes of Eastern Siberia, Czar Alexander II of Russia entrusts the brave officer Michael Strogoff with a dangerous mission.

Michael Strogoff

1956

The Last Adventure poster
6.9

Two adventurers and best friends, Roland and Manu, are the victims of a practical joke that costs Manu his pilot's license. With seeming contrition, the jokesters tell Roland and Manu about a crashed plane lying on the ocean floor off the coast of Congo stuffed with riches. The adventurers set off to find the loot.

The Last Adventure

1967

Up to His Ears poster
7.0

A millionaire realizes he really wants to live after he has hired an assassin to kill him.

Up to His Ears

1965

La bataille poster
NR

During the Russo-Japanese War, an English officer on the ship of the Japanese falls in love with the wife of the commander.

La bataille

1934

The Biggest Bundle of Them All poster
5.6

A kidnapped mobster persuades his captors to help him rob platinum ingots from a train.

The Biggest Bundle of Them All

1968

The Tiger of Eschnapur poster
6.3

In Eschnapur, a German architect saves the life of the Maharajah's favorite temple dancer and becomes Maharajah's friend but their friendship is tested when the architect and the dancer fall in-love, triggering the Maharajah's vengeful ire.

The Tiger of Eschnapur

1959

Amok poster
5.5

Dr. Holk leads an isolated and lonely existence in a small, Dutch colony in the tropics. Having fled from love and civilization, his only companions now are alcohol and his work, which takes him to villages ravaged by dirt, fever and a strange illness which turns innocent people into madmen: Amok. One day, he is called on by Helene Haviland, who asks him to abort her lover's child before her husband returns from abroad. Even though Holk is enchanted by her seductive beauty, he haughtily refuses her request. Rejected, the woman turns to a Chinese practitioner. When Holk tracks her down in a dirty dive, it's already too late for the two of them.

Amok

1934

Rail Pirates poster
6.3

Henri Pierson, the chief engineer of a railway line crossing Yunnan in China, must prevent the incessant attacks of a gang of looters.

Rail Pirates

1938

The Triumph of Michael Strogoff poster
6.8

In this adaptation of the Jules Verne novel, the Czarina asks an intrepid colonel to protect her nephew as he fights an invasion in 19th century Russia.

The Triumph of Michael Strogoff

1961

Mistress of the World - Part II poster
5.0

Karin is now continuing her father's research and is also caught in the cross hairs of the mysterious opponents. Johanson himself retreats to a Cambodian monastery in order to escape the gangsters' shots and recover. Meanwhile, the international criminals manage to steal Johanson's energy formula. Karin then goes after the thieves, supported by Lundstrom. But he also has his own goals. The hunt takes them around the world. It soon turns out that a certain Madame Latour is behind the sinister machinations. Eventually old Johanson falls into her hands. In Southeast Asia, a showdown ensues between the kidnappers and Lundstrom and Karin.

Mistress of the World - Part II

1960

O.S.S. 117: Mission to Tokyo poster
6.9

After an American Navy base is annihilated by a secret weapon, Agent OSS 117 is sent to Japan to investigate the organization that's claiming responsibility, and threatening the US with another attack, if they don't pay.

O.S.S. 117: Mission to Tokyo

1966

The Death Ray of Dr. Mabuse poster
6.2

The evil Dr. Mabuse develops a death ray with which he threatens the world.

The Death Ray of Dr. Mabuse

1964

The Doctor of Stalingrad poster
7.5

Dr. Fritz Böhler is a prisoner of war doctor in the Soviet POW camp 5110/47 near Stalingrad. Despite the harshest conditions, he tries to help his fellow prisoners with the simplest means. But when his assistant Dr. Schultheiss falls in love with the Russian doctor Alexandra Kasalinskaja, Schultheiss not only endangers his own life - because Alexandra is the lover of First Lieutenant Markow.

The Doctor of Stalingrad

1958

The Battle poster
4.3

In 1904, during the Russo-Japanese War, a Japanese naval officer allows his wife to be seduced by a British naval attaché in order to gain access to a secret report he has written, unaware her marital unhappiness has made her vulnerable to falling in love with him. Adapted from a novel by Claude Farrère, and also filmed in a French-language version, LA BATAILLE., q.v.

The Battle

1934

Matchless poster
4.3

A secret agent possesses a ring that makes him invisible for a short time, once every 10 hours. He is in pursuit of an evil criminal mastermind but, at the same time, must evade an enemy agent who also wants the ring.

Matchless

1967

Frisians in Peril poster
5.5

Soviet authorities are making life as difficult as possible for a village of Volga Germans, most of whose ancestors originated in the Frisian Islands, with taxes and other oppression.

Frisians in Peril

1935

Il faut que je tue monsieur Rumann poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Il faut que je tue monsieur Rumann

1966

Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World poster
6.3

Samson must rescue a beautiful Chinese princess from a marauding horde of warriors.

Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World

1961

Journey to the Lost City poster
6.6

An exotic dancing girl of India inflames the passions of a traveling draftsman.

Journey to the Lost City

1960

The Blonde from Peking poster
5.7

Spies from several countries try to find out what secrets are hidden in the mind of a young amnesiac girl who has appeared in Paris.

The Blonde from Peking

1967

Mata Hari's Daughter poster
7.0

In this espionage film, Mata Hari's daughter takes the mantle from her notorious mother and entangles her self in an Asian web of intrigue and war.

Mata Hari's Daughter

1954

License to Kill poster
7.0

Didier Formenter, the French scientist, has just put the final touch on an invention that will be able to destroy to destroy any sort of flying apparatus. An international crime gang is very interested in stealing this equipement to sell it to the higher bidder of lawless nations. Menaced, the scientist, who was friends with Nick Carter's father, calls Nick for help. At Nice airport, Nick Carter escapes death, but that night he is unable to stop Formenter's murder. He suspects Bruno, Formenter's adoptive son, and Tonio, the owner of a bar near Formentier's home. Bruno is actually after Formenter's heritage, and for that he tries to kill Catherine, Formentier's granddaughter. Therefore, Nick Carter finds himself against more than a gang, but he will uncover the plots, in time to break every gangster apart.

License to Kill

1964

Behind the camera