Pyotr Ivanovich Chardynin (russian: Пётр Иванович Чардынин) ( – 14 August 1934) was a Russian and Soviet film director, screenwriter and actor.
One of the pioneers of the film industry in the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...
, Chardynin directed over a hundred
silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...
s during his career.
Biography
Chardynin was born Pyotr Ivanovich Krasavtsev on 10 February 1873 in
Simbirsk
Ulyanovsk, known until 1924 as Simbirsk, is a city and the administrative center of Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Volga River east of Moscow. Population:
The city, founded as Simbirsk (), was the birthplace of Vladimir Lenin (born ...
,
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...
(now
Ulyanovsk
Ulyanovsk, known until 1924 as Simbirsk, is a city and the administrative center of Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Volga River east of Moscow. Population:
The city, founded as Simbirsk (), was the birthplace of Vladimir Lenin (bor ...
, Russia). In 1890, he was admitted to the Drama School of Moscow Philharmonic Society, where he studied under
Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko
Vladimir Ivanovich Nemirovich-Danchenko (russian: Владимир Иванович Немирович-Данченко; , Ozurgeti – 25 April 1943, Moscow), was a Soviet and Russian theatre director, writer, pedagogue, playwright, producer a ...
from 1891. After graduating, he adopted stage name of Chardynin and started both acting and directing career in provincial Russian theatres in
Belgorod
Belgorod ( rus, Белгород, p=ˈbʲeɫɡərət) is a city and the administrative center of Belgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the Seversky Donets River north of the border with Ukraine. Population: Demographics
The population of B ...
,
Orekhovo-Zuevo
Orekhovo-Zuyevo (russian: Оре́хово-Зу́ево, ) is an industrial city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located east of Moscow in a forested area on the Klyazma River (a tributary of the Oka). Orekhovo (russian: Оре́хово), often prono ...
,
Uralsk
Uralsk (russian: Уральск) is the name of several rural localities in Russia:
*Uralsk, Republic of Bashkortostan, a '' selo'' in Uralsky Selsoviet of Uchalinsky District of the Republic of Bashkortostan
* Uralsk, Orenburg Oblast, a ''selo'' ...
and
Vologda
Vologda ( rus, Вологда, p=ˈvoləɡdə) is a city and the administrative center of Vologda Oblast, Russia, located on the river Vologda within the watershed of the Northern Dvina. Population:
The city serves as a major transport hub of ...
.
He first began experimenting with short films in 1907. In 1908, Chardynin joined the troupe at Vvedensky Narodny Dom in Moscow and, as a part of it, started his film acting career in ''A 16th Century Russian Wedding'' and ''
Song About the Merchant Kalashnikov
''Song About the Merchant Kalashnikov'' (russian: Песнь про купца Калашникова, translit. Pesn pro kuptsa Kalashnikova) is a 1909 Russian silent film directed by Vasily Goncharov. The film is believed to be lost.
Plot ...
''. In 1909, Chardynin debuted as a director with ''The Power of Darkness'' and soon become the principal director for
Aleksandr Khanzhonkov
Aleksandr Alekseevich Khanzhonkov ( rus, Александр Алексеевич Ханжонков, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ xənˈʐonkəf; — 26 September 1945) was a pioneering Russian''Peter Rollberg (2016)''Historical Di ...
's film company. In 1916, however, facing the serious competition from
Yevgeni Bauer, he left the Khanzhonkov and, together with
Vera Kholodnaya
Vera Vasilyevna Kholodnaya ( Levchenko; russian: link=no, Вера Васильевна Холодная; uk, link=no, Віра Василівна Холодна; 5 August 1893 – 16 February 1919) was an actress of Russian Empire cinema. She w ...
and several other leading actors, joined Dmitriy Kharitonov's studio in Odessa. There, Chardynin made several successful films including ''
Be Silent, My Sorrow, Be Silent
''Be Silent, My Sorrow, Be Silent'' or ''Still, Sadness, Still'' (russian: links=no, italics=yes, Молчи, грусть, молчи, Molchi, grust, molchi) is a 1918 Soviet film directed by Pyotr Chardynin, and starring Vera Kholodnaya, Ossip ...
''. Being one of the most productive Russian filmmakers, he directed about 120 or 200 films by 1918, mainly specializing on literary adaptations.
From 1920 to 1923, Chardynin lived and worked in Italy, France, Germany and Latvia. In 1923, he returned to the
USSR
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 nation ...
to work at
Odessa Film Studio
Odesa Film Studio ( uk, Одеська кіностудія художніх фільмів) is the Ukrainian, formerly Soviet film studio in Odesa, one of the first in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. It is partially owned by a governmen ...
, where he directed several costume dramas and epics about the history of Ukraine. During the early 1930s, Chardynin was banned from directing by Soviet authorities and died in 1934 from
liver cancer
Liver cancer (also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy) is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary (starts in liver) or secondary (meaning cancer which has spread from elsewhere to th ...
.
Personal life
One of Chardynin’s several marriages was to director
Margarita Barskaia
Margarita Aleksandrovna Barskaya (Маргари́та Алекса́ндровна Ба́рская; 19 June 1903 – 23 July 19) was a Soviet actress, filmmaker, and screenwriter. She wrote the screenplays for and directed three films. She was ma ...
(Chardynina), who worked as an assistant director on eleven of his films in the 1920s.
Filmography

* ''
The Power of Darkness'' (short), 1909
* ''
Dead Souls
''Dead Souls'' (russian: «Мёртвые души», ''Mjórtvyje dúshi'') is a novel by Nikolai Gogol, first published in 1842, and widely regarded as an exemplar of 19th-century Russian literature. The novel chronicles the travels and advent ...
'' (short), 1909
* ''Charodeyka'' (''The Enchantress'') (short), 1909
* ''
Boyarin Orsha
''Boyarin Orsha'' (russian: Боярин Орша) is a poem by Mikhail Lermontov, written in 1835-1836 and first published by Andrey Krayevsky in the No.7, 1842, issue of '' Otechestvennye Zapiski''.Commentaries to Boyarin Orsha. The Works of M.Y ...
'' (short), 1910
* ''
Idiot'' (short), 1910
* ''
The Queen of Spades'' (short), 1910
* ''
Vadim
Vadim (Cyrillic: Вадим) is a Russian, Ukrainian, Romanian, Slovene masculine given name derived either from the Persian ''badian'' (anise or aniseed), or from the Ruthenian word ''volod'' (russian: волод), meaning ''to rule'' or ''vaditi ...
'' (short), 1910
* ''Na boykom meste'', 1911
* ''
The Kreutzer Sonata
''The Kreutzer Sonata'' (russian: Крейцерова соната, ) is a novella by Leo Tolstoy, named after Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata. The novella was published in 1889, and was promptly censored by the Russian authorities. The work is an ...
'', 1911
* ''Rabochaya slobodka'' (short), 1912
* ''
Voyna i mir
''War and Peace'' (russian: Война и мир, translit=Voyna i mir; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy that mixes fictional narrative with chapters on history and philosophy. It was first published ...
'' (short), 1913
* ''
Uncle's Apartment
Uncle's Apartment, (russian: Дядюшкина квартира) is a 1913 Russian short film directed by Pyotr Chardynin and Yevgeni Bauer.
Plot
The film will tell about a man named Koko, who decides to rent out his uncle's apartment rooms, a ...
'' (co-director), 1913
* ''1613'' (co-director), 1913
* ''Obryv'', 1913
* ''
The Little House in Kolomna
''The Little House in Kolomna'', (russian: Домик в Коломне) is a 1913 Russian short film directed by Pyotr Chardynin.
Plot
The film is based on the 1830 poem ''The Little House in Kolomna'' by Alexander Pushkin.
Starring
* Prask ...
'' (short), 1913
* ''V rukakh besposhchadnogo roka'' (short), 1914
* ''Ty pomnish li?, 1914
* ''Revnost'' (short), 1914
* ''Zhenshchina zavtrashevo dnya'', 1914
* ''Sorvanets'', 1914
* ''
Chrysanthemums
Chrysanthemums (), sometimes called mums or chrysanths, are flowering plants of the genus ''Chrysanthemum'' in the family Asteraceae. They are native to East Asia and northeastern Europe. Most species originate from East Asia and the cen ...
'', 1914
* ''Vlast tmy'' (short), 1915
* ''Ubogaya i naryadnaya'', 1915
* ''Komediya smerti'' (short), 1915
* ''Katyusha Maslova'', 1915
* ''Hromonozhka'', 1915
* ''Peterburgskiye trushchobi'' (co-director), 1915
* ''
Natasha Rostova'', 1915
* ''Potop'', 1915
* ''Teni grekha'', 1915
* ''Venetziansky chulok'', 1915
* ''Lyubov statskogo sovetnika'', 1915
* ''Drakonovskiy kontrakt'', 1915
* ''
Mirages'' (short), 1915
* ''
By the Fireplace'', 1917
* ''
Be Silent, My Sorrow, Be Silent
''Be Silent, My Sorrow, Be Silent'' or ''Still, Sadness, Still'' (russian: links=no, italics=yes, Молчи, грусть, молчи, Molchi, grust, molchi) is a 1918 Soviet film directed by Pyotr Chardynin, and starring Vera Kholodnaya, Ossip ...
'', 1918
* ''Rasskaz o semi poveshennykh'', 1920
* ''Dubrowsky, der Räuber Ataman'' (as Peter Tschardin), 1921
* ''Ukraziya'', 1925
* ''Taras Shevchenko'', 1926
See also
*
Vera Kholodnaya
Vera Vasilyevna Kholodnaya ( Levchenko; russian: link=no, Вера Васильевна Холодная; uk, link=no, Віра Василівна Холодна; 5 August 1893 – 16 February 1919) was an actress of Russian Empire cinema. She w ...
*
Ossip Runitsch
*
Vitold Polonsky
*
Vsevolod Meyerhold
Vsevolod Emilyevich Meyerhold (russian: Всеволод Эмильевич Мейерхольд, translit=Vsévolod Èmíl'evič Mejerchól'd; born german: Karl Kasimir Theodor Meyerhold; 2 February 1940) was a Russian and Soviet theatre ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chardynin, Pyotr
1873 births
1934 deaths
Russian film directors
Male screenwriters
Russian male writers
Russian male actors
Russian male silent film actors
Silent film directors
Deaths from liver cancer
20th-century Russian screenwriters
20th-century Russian male writers