Fridrikh Markovich Ermler (russian: Эрмлер, Фридрих Маркович; born Vladimir Markovich Breslav; 13 May 1898 in

Rēzekne Rēzekne (, ; German: ''Rositten'') is a state city in the Rēzekne River valley in Latgale region of eastern Latvia. It is called ''The Heart of Latgale'' (Latvian ''Latgales sirds'', Latgalian ''Latgolys sirds''). Built on seven hills, Rēz ...

– 12 July 1967 in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, ...

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), l ...

, and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

. He was a four-time recipient of the Stalin Prize (in 1941, twice in 1946, and in 1951). After studying pharmacology, he joined the

Czarist Tsarist autocracy (russian: царское самодержавие, transcr. ''tsarskoye samoderzhaviye''), also called Tsarism, was a form of autocracy (later absolute monarchy) specific to the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states ...

army in 1917 and soon took part in the

October revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...

on the side of the

Bolshevist The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

s. Captured and tortured by the

White army The White Army (russian: Белая армия, Belaya armiya) or White Guard (russian: Бѣлая гвардія/Белая гвардия, Belaya gvardiya, label=none), also referred to as the Whites or White Guardsmen (russian: Бѣлогв� ...

, he only became a full

party member A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or po ...

at the end of the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polic ...

. From 1923 to 1924 Ermler studied at the Cinema Academy. In 1932 he took part in creating one of the first Soviet

talkie A sound film is a motion picture with synchronization, synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decad ...

s – the movie ''Vstrechny'' (''The Counterplan''). He also was one of the founders of the Creative Association KEM (together with E. Ioganson). In 1929-1931 Ermler studied at the Communist Academy and wrote for the newspaper ''Kino''. He also became the chairman of the Russian Association of Revolutionary Filmmakers. In 1940 he became the director of the

Lenfilm Lenfilm (russian: link=no, Ленфильм) is a Russian production company with its own film studio located in Saint Petersburg (the city was called Leningrad from 1924 to 1991, thus the name). It is a corporation with its stakes shared betwe ...

studio. Between 1941 and 1944, he worked at the Central United Film Studio of Feature Films (TsOKS) in Alma-Ata (now Kazakhfilm Film Studio). He died on July 12, 1967 in

Komarovo Komarovo may refer to: *Komarovo, Saint Petersburg, a municipal settlement under jurisdiction of Saint Petersburg, Russia * Komarovo, Novgorod Oblast, a former urban-type settlement in Novgorod Oblast Novgorod Oblast (russian: Новгоро́ ...

. A memorial plaque was placed on the house in

where he lived from 1930 to 1962.

Filmography

* ''Scarlet Fever (Скарлатина)'' (1924); short * ''Children of the Storm (Дети бури)'' (1926); co-directed with Eduard Ioganson * ''Katka's Reinette Apples (Катька — Бумажный Ранет)'' (1926); co-directed with Eduard Ioganson * '' The Parisian Cobbler (Парижский сапожник)'' (1927) * '' The House in the Snow-Drifts (Дом в сугробах)'' (1928) * ''

Fragment of an Empire ''Fragment of an Empire'' (russian: Обломок империи, Oblomok imperii) is a 1929 Soviet silent drama film directed by Fridrikh Ermler. Plot A soldier called Filimonov lost his memory due to shell shock during the Russian Civi ...

(Обломок империи)'' (1929) * '' Counterplan (Встречный)'' (1932); co-directed with

Sergei Yutkevich Sergei Iosifovich Yutkevich (russian: Серге́й Ио́сифович Ютке́вич, 28 December 1904 – 23 April 1985) was a Soviet and Russian film director and screenwriter. He was a People's Artist of the USSR (1962) and a Hero o ...

* ''

Peasants A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasan ...

(Крестьяне)'' (1934) * '' The Great Citizen (Великий гражданин)'' (1939) * ''Balzac in Russia (Бальзак в России)'' (1940) * ''Autumn (Осень)'' (1940); short, co-directed with Isaak Menaker * '' She Defends the Motherland (Она защищает Родину), also released as No Greater Love'' (1943) * '' The Turning Point (Великий перелом)'' (1945) * ''The Great Force (Великая сила)'' (1949) * ''Dinner Time (Званый ужин)'' (1953) * ''

Unfinished Story , image =Unfinished Story.jpg , caption = , director = Fridrikh Ermler , producer =Tamara Samoznayeva , writer = Konstantin Isaev , starring = , music = Gavriil Popov , cinematography = Anatoli Nazarov , editing = , released = , r ...

'' (Неоконченная повесть)'' (1955) * ''The First Day'' (День первый)'' (1958) * ''From New York to Yasnaya Poliana (Из Нью-Йорка в Ясную Поляну)'' (1963); documentary * ''Facing the Judgment of History (Перед судом истории)'' (1965); documentary/interview with

Vasily Shulgin Vasily Vitalyevich Shulgin (russian: Васи́лий Вита́льевич Шульги́н; 13 January 1878 – 15 February 1976) was a Russian conservative monarchist, politician and member of the White movement. Young years Shulgin was b ...

References

External links

*
Encyclopedia of Russian Cinema

Peter Bagrov in KinoKultura
1898 births 1967 deaths People from Rēzekne People from Rezhitsky Uyezd Latvian Jews Jews from the Russian Empire Soviet Jews Bolsheviks Latvian people of World War I Russian military personnel of World War I Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War Soviet male film actors Soviet film directors Soviet screenwriters Male screenwriters Silent film directors People's Artists of the USSR Stalin Prize winners Directors of Palme d'Or winners Burials at Bogoslovskoe Cemetery {{Latvia-bio-stub