Alexander Arturovich Rou (; – 28 December 1973) was a Soviet film director. He directed a number of children's

fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually Magic (paranormal), magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The Film genre, genre is considered a form of speculative fic ...

s, based mostly on

Russian folklore The Russian folklore, i.e., the folklore of Russian people, takes its roots in the pagan beliefs of ancient Slavs and now is represented in the Russian fairy tales. Epic Russian bylinas are also an important part of Slavic paganism. The oldest ...

that were highly popular and often imitated in the Soviet Union. Rou received the title People's Artist of the RSFSR in 1968.

Biography

He was born to an Irish father Arthur Howard Rowe, (an engineer, who in 1905 came under contract to Russia to establish flour-milling) hence his unusual (for Russia) family name, and a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

mother, known as Julia Karageorgia. His father worked in Yuryevets and in 1914 returned to Ireland, leaving the family in unstable Russia. Starting in 1930, Alexander worked at

Mezhrabpomfilm Mezhrabpomfilm (), from the word ''film'', and the Russian acronym for Workers International Relief or Workers International Aid (, was a German-Russian film studio, formerly Mezhrabpom-Rus, from 1928-1936. Currently “ Gorky Film Studio” Hi ...

as an assistant director to

Yakov Protazanov Yakov Alexandrovich Protazanov (; 4 February (Old Style, O.S. 23 January ) 1881 – 8 August 1945) was a Russian and USSR, Soviet film director and screenwriter, and one of the founding fathers of cinema of Russia. He was an Honored Artist of the ...

on the films ''

Marionettes A marionette ( ; ) is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a marionettist. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed to an audience by ...

'' (1934) and '' Without a Dowry'' (1937), as well as with other directors. From 1937, he worked at the "Soyuzdetfilm" studio, later known as the

Gorky Film Studio Gorky Film Studio () is a municipally-owned film studio in Moscow, Russia. By the end of the Soviet Union, Gorky Film Studio had produced more than 1,000 films. Many film classics were filmed at the Gorky Film Studio throughout its history and ...

. He directed 15 fantasy films as well as a comedy and three short documentaries. Most of them were based on the Russian folklore or Russian fantasy books, such as by

Nikolai Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; ; (; () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright of Ukrainian origin. Gogol used the Grotesque#In literature, grotesque in his writings, for example, in his works "The Nose (Gogol short story), ...

, Petr Yershov, and Vitali Gubarev. They were a part of

folk revival The American folk music revival began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Early folk music performers include Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Pete Seeger, Ewan MacColl (UK), Richard Dyer-Bennet, Oscar Brand, Jean Ritchie ...

trend in the Soviet cinema, alongside films by

Aleksandr Ptushko Aleksandr Lukich Ptushko (, – 6 March 1973) was a Soviet animation and fantasy film director, and a People's Artist of the USSR (1969). Ptushko is frequently (and somewhat misleadingly) referred to as "the Soviet Walt Disney," because of his p ...

Ivan Ivanov-Vano Ivan Petrovich Ivanov-Vano (; – 25 March 1987), born Ivanov, was a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian animation director, animator, screenwriter, educator, professor at Gerasimov Institute of Cine ...

Lev Atamanov Lev Atamanov (), born Levon Konstantinovich Atamanyan (, ; – 12 February 1981), was a Soviet Armenians, Armenian animation director. Atamanov was one of the foremost History of Russian animation, Soviet animation film directors and one of ...

, and others. Rou's movies were immensely popular in the Soviet Union and set up a tradition of fantasy films that was followed by younger directors including Dmitry Dyachenko. Rou died in 1973 in a Moscow hospital while working on pre-production of his final movie '' Finist, the brave Falcon''. It was completed by Gennady Vasilyev after his death.

Selected filmography

* 1938 — '' Wish upon a Pike'' * 1939 — '' Vasilisa the Beautiful'' * 1941 — '' The Humpbacked Horse'' * 1944 — '' Kashchey the Immortal'' * 1952 — '' May Nights'' * 1954 — '' The Secret of Mountain Lake'' * 1958 — '' New Adventures of Puss in Boots'' * 1960 — '' The Magic Weaver'' * 1960 — ''

Cinderella "Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a Folklore, folk tale with thousands of variants that are told throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988. The protagonist is a you ...

'' * 1961 — ''

The Night Before Christmas "A Visit from St. Nicholas", routinely referred to as "The Night Before Christmas" and "Twas the Night Before Christmas" from its first line, is a poem first published anonymously under the title "Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas" in 1823. A ...

'' * 1963 — '' Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors'' * 1964 — ''

Jack Frost Jack Frost is a personification of frost, ice, snow, sleet, winter, and freezing cold. He is a variant of Old Man Winter who is held responsible for frosty weather, nipping the fingers and toes in such weather, coloring the foliage in autumn, a ...

'' * 1968 — '' Fire, Water, and Brass Pipes'' * 1969 — '' Barbara the Fair with the Silken Hair'' * 1973 — '' The Golden Horns (Baba Yaga)''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rou, Aleksandr Arthurovich 1906 births 1973 deaths People from Sergiyev Posad Russian people of Irish descent Russian people of Greek descent Soviet film directors Soviet people of Irish descent Soviet people of Greek descent Russian fantasy film directors Honored Artists of the RSFSR People's Artists of the RSFSR

Biography

Selected filmography

See also

References

External links