Grigori Aleksandrov

Directing

Grigori Aleksandrov

Born 1903-01-22 · Yekaterinburg, Russian Empire

Grigori Vasilyevich Aleksandrov or Alexandrov (original family name was Mormonenko; 23 January 1903 - 16 December 1983) was a prominent Soviet film director who was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1947 and a Hero of Socialist Labor in 1973. He was awarded the Stalin Prizes for 1941 and 1950. Initially associated with Sergei Eisenstein, with whom he worked as a co-director, screenwriter and actor, Aleksandrov became a major director in his own right in the 1930s, when he directed Jolly Fellows and a string of other musical comedies starring his wife Lyubov Orlova. Though Aleksandrov remained active until his death, his musicals, amongst the first made in the Soviet Union, remain his most popular films. They rival Ivan Pyryev's films as the most effective and light-hearted showcase ever designed for Stalin-era USSR. Description above from the Wikipedia article Grigori Aleksandrov, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

Battleship Potemkin poster
7.6

A dramatized account of a great Russian naval mutiny and a resultant public demonstration, showing support, which brought on a police massacre.

Battleship Potemkin

1925

Sergei Eisenstein: Mexican Fantasy poster
7.0

Eisenstein shot 50 hours of footage on location in Mexico in 1931 and 32 for what would have become ¡Que viva México!, but was not able to finish the film. Following two wildly different reconstruction attempts in 1939 (Marie Seton's 'Time in the Sun') and 1979 (Grigori Alexandrov's '¡Que viva México!') Kovalov has here compiled another hypothetical version of what Eisenstein's film might have been.

Sergei Eisenstein: Mexican Fantasy

1998

Strike poster
7.4

Workers in a factory in pre-revolutionary Russia go on strike and are met by violent suppression.

Strike

1925

No artwork available
3.3

Archive footage from Potemkin (1925), with English dialogue dubbed in by American actors, is combined with new footage to tie together the brave stand of Odessa Russian guerrilla bands of the 1940's against German forces with the similar situation of 1905 when Odessa citizens aided in the revolt against the Czar as depicted in Eisenstein's classic Potemkin (1925).

Seeds of Freedom

1943

I Don't Want to Be Filmed poster
4.0

A test film for black-and-white television, made by Mosfilm in 1967. A girl dreaming to be in movies got a call from Mosfilm, asking her to be filmed. She enters the dreamy bubble that is called filmmaking. The film was commissioned by the Research Film and Photo Institute. It features famous actors and directors, including Georgy Vitsin, Georgy Georgiu, Pavel Vinnik, Grigory Alexandrov and others. Some of them play themselves.

I Don't Want to Be Filmed

1967

¡Qué Viva México! poster
6.8

Having revolutionized film editing through such masterworks of montage as Potemkin and Strike, Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein emigrated West in hopes of testing the capabilities of the American film industry. Quickly ostracized from Hollywood, Eisenstein, Grigory Alexandrov, and photographer Eduard Tisse (at the urging of author Upton Sinclair) wandered south of the border, where they began filming a highly stylized documentary about the people and volatile social climate of Mexico. Unfortunately, a lack of funds prohibited the film's completion, and the famed director was unable to edit the film. In 1979, by referring to Eisenstein's extensive notes and sketches, Alexandrov assembled the most definitive version of the film; as close to Eisenstein's vision as one is ever likely to see.

¡Qué Viva México!

1979

Starling and Lyre poster
6.0

Soviet intelligence spouses — Lyudmila ("Lyre") and Fyodor ("Starling") Grekov at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War are tasked with settling in Germany. Personnel intelligence officers with vast experience are successfully introduced into German society and begin to work actively. At the end of the war, during the bombing of Berlin, fate separates them, but then they will meet in the new Germany and continue their work.

Starling and Lyre

1974

Glumov's Diary poster
5.1

Filmic insert to Eisenstein's modernized, free adaptation of Ostrovskiy's 19th-century Russian stage play, "The Wise Man" ("Na vsyakogo mudretsa dovolno prostoty"). The anti-hero Glumov tries to escape exposure in the midst of acrobatics, derring-do, and farcical clowning. Several members of Eisenstein's troupe at the legendary "Proletkult" stage theatre in Moscow briefly appear in this little film.

Glumov's Diary

1923

The Magic Beam poster
NR

“The Magic Beam” is a film essay woven together from newsreels and documentary material from different decades, fragments of hundreds of non-fiction and fiction Soviet films of the 1910s-1960s.

The Magic Beam

1963

Sergei Eisenstein poster
NR

Documentary made for the 60th anniversary of Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein.

Sergei Eisenstein

1958

Behind the camera

Battleship Potemkin poster
7.6

A dramatized account of a great Russian naval mutiny and a resultant public demonstration, showing support, which brought on a police massacre.

Battleship Potemkin

1925

The Girl from Distant River poster
4.5

No synopsis available yet.

The Girl from Distant River

1928

A Family poster
8.3

The film is about the Soviet People's patriotism and friendship.

A Family

1943

Lyubov Orlova poster
9.0

A documentary on the life of the famous actress, deceased wife of the director Grigoriy Aleksandrov.

Lyubov Orlova

1985

Lyubov Orlova poster
9.0

A documentary on the life of the famous actress, deceased wife of the director Grigoriy Aleksandrov.

Lyubov Orlova

1985

Moscow Skies poster
7.4

In September 1941, lieutenant Ilya Streltsov, who graduated from the flight school, was assigned to the fighter aviation regiment guarding the sky of Moscow. He meets in part the nurse Zoya, with whom he grew up in the same yard and with whom he has long been in love. During the first training flight on the "Seagull", lieutenant Streltsov shot down a German plane and received the nickname "Lucky." Streltsov is jealous of the squadron commander to nurse Zoya, believes that he is finding fault with him. For a whole month he is not allowed to fly sorties. In October 1941, lieutenant Streltsov made his first sortie, he shot down one plane and rams the second. For this battle, he is awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

Moscow Skies

1944

Jolly Fellows poster
6.4

Merry Fellows was the first Soviet musical comedy. Set in Odessa and Moscow in the 1930s. Shepherd Kostya Potekhin is mistaken for an international concert star. He falls in love with Anyuta and plays the "star" for her. In a cascade of comic musical numbers he becomes the leader of a Jazz-Band and gives a hilarious show at the Odessa Music Hall. Now he is destined to perform at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.

Jolly Fellows

1934

Jolly Fellows poster
6.4

Merry Fellows was the first Soviet musical comedy. Set in Odessa and Moscow in the 1930s. Shepherd Kostya Potekhin is mistaken for an international concert star. He falls in love with Anyuta and plays the "star" for her. In a cascade of comic musical numbers he becomes the leader of a Jazz-Band and gives a hilarious show at the Odessa Music Hall. Now he is destined to perform at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.

Jolly Fellows

1934

Twins poster
5.3

A funny comedy about a lost twins and a lot of good people who are involved in a search for twins' parents.

Twins

1945

Strike poster
7.4

Workers in a factory in pre-revolutionary Russia go on strike and are met by violent suppression.

Strike

1925

Misery and Fortune of Woman poster
6.5

This film shows contrasting views of women with problematic pregnancies and the outcomes resulting when they seek out a back-alley abortionist, a trained and licensed abortion provider in a clinic, or an obstetrician capable of performing a Caesarian Section. The full film appears to be lost, but shortened versions, including one with dialogue scenes added in Germany in 1935, can be found on the internet. Additionally, Eisenstein's role in making the picture remains unclear: did he direct some or all of it, just edit it, or merely leave it to Alexandrov and Tisse to make? Released in the USA 1930 in a 65 minute (5800 ft.) version with English intertitles and a music track under the title BIRTH.

Misery and Fortune of Woman

1930

October (Ten Days that Shook the World) poster
6.9

Sergei M. Eisenstein's docu-drama about the 1917 October Revolution in Russia. Made ten years after the events and edited in Eisenstein's 'Soviet Montage' style, it re-enacts in celebratory terms several key scenes from the revolution.

October (Ten Days that Shook the World)

1928

October (Ten Days that Shook the World) poster
6.9

Sergei M. Eisenstein's docu-drama about the 1917 October Revolution in Russia. Made ten years after the events and edited in Eisenstein's 'Soviet Montage' style, it re-enacts in celebratory terms several key scenes from the revolution.

October (Ten Days that Shook the World)

1928

Days and Nights poster
6.2

This literary adaptation was the first Soviet feature length dramatization, as opposed to documentary film, on the momentous Battle of Stalingrad.

Days and Nights

1945

Man of Music poster
4.7

The young composer Mikhail Glinka performs his new work at a soiree at earl Vielgorsky's house. However, the public is accustomed to Western music, and reacts coldly to the creation of the composer. This makes him very sad, but soon he decides to go learn the art of music in Italy. After returning from Italy, he is full of desire to write national Russian opera. Vasily Zhukovsky proposes a subject: a feat of Ivan Susanin. Tsar Nicholas I change the name of the opera to A Life for the Tsar and assigns a librettist - Baron Rosen. Acquaintance with the future co-author shocked Glinka: Rosen speaks Russian with a noticeable German accent. The premiere was successful, but Glinka was still not entirely happy with the libretto: "False words were written by Rosen". When Nicholas I learned that Ruslan and Lyudmila was written on Pushkin's subject, he sees it as sedition. The bitter experience of the composer brighten his supporters.

Man of Music

1952

Man of Music poster
4.7

The young composer Mikhail Glinka performs his new work at a soiree at earl Vielgorsky's house. However, the public is accustomed to Western music, and reacts coldly to the creation of the composer. This makes him very sad, but soon he decides to go learn the art of music in Italy. After returning from Italy, he is full of desire to write national Russian opera. Vasily Zhukovsky proposes a subject: a feat of Ivan Susanin. Tsar Nicholas I change the name of the opera to A Life for the Tsar and assigns a librettist - Baron Rosen. Acquaintance with the future co-author shocked Glinka: Rosen speaks Russian with a noticeable German accent. The premiere was successful, but Glinka was still not entirely happy with the libretto: "False words were written by Rosen". When Nicholas I learned that Ruslan and Lyudmila was written on Pushkin's subject, he sees it as sedition. The bitter experience of the composer brighten his supporters.

Man of Music

1952

Circus poster
6.3

An American circus performer finds herself the victim of racism after it is revealed that she's the mother of a mixed-race child. In the midst of the public scandal, she finds happiness, love, and refuge in the USSR.

Circus

1936

Circus poster
6.3

An American circus performer finds herself the victim of racism after it is revealed that she's the mother of a mixed-race child. In the midst of the public scandal, she finds happiness, love, and refuge in the USSR.

Circus

1936

Six O'Clock in the Evening After the War poster
4.2

Designed as a successor to "They Met In Moscow", with the same director, star and composer, "Six P. M." (1946 American release title) has two artillery officers meeting an attractive girl in Moscow between battles. One falls in love with her and they vow to meet in Moscow on a bridge at Six P.M. when the war ends. The war puts them on diverse trails, but the pledge is fulfilled against a setting of Moscow's famous fireworks displays.

Six O'Clock in the Evening After the War

1944

Ivan Nikulin: Russian Sailor poster
6.3

The story takes place in Summer 1942, when a small force of Black Sea Fleet sailors was surrounded by German troops but broke out the encirclement.

Ivan Nikulin: Russian Sailor

1944

Spring poster
6.3

A drab woman scientist, working on machine to harness solar energy, and a pert concert singer look-alike being courted to play her in a movie swap identities and find personal growth, professional success, love, and happiness.

Spring

1947

Spring poster
6.3

A drab woman scientist, working on machine to harness solar energy, and a pert concert singer look-alike being courted to play her in a movie swap identities and find personal growth, professional success, love, and happiness.

Spring

1947

No artwork available
NR

Story of the conflict between old art forms such as ballet and the revolution and the need for creating new, proletarian forms of art. First feature by Sergey and Georgiy Vasiliyev, partially lost.

Sleeping Beauty

1930

¡Qué Viva México! poster
6.8

Having revolutionized film editing through such masterworks of montage as Potemkin and Strike, Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein emigrated West in hopes of testing the capabilities of the American film industry. Quickly ostracized from Hollywood, Eisenstein, Grigory Alexandrov, and photographer Eduard Tisse (at the urging of author Upton Sinclair) wandered south of the border, where they began filming a highly stylized documentary about the people and volatile social climate of Mexico. Unfortunately, a lack of funds prohibited the film's completion, and the famed director was unable to edit the film. In 1979, by referring to Eisenstein's extensive notes and sketches, Alexandrov assembled the most definitive version of the film; as close to Eisenstein's vision as one is ever likely to see.

¡Qué Viva México!

1979