2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25
Recently, the musical "Singing in the Rain" was staged in Russia. What does he have to do with the actor Nikolai Batalov? The most direct, because it talks about silent film artists who find it difficult to work in a "talking film". Moreover, if one of the main characters of the American musical fails, and they call her understudy, then the artist Nikolai Batalov overcame this test with honor and starred in the first Soviet sound picture. Unfortunately, today only a few remember this talented artist, who died early, and the vast majority of viewers do not know anything about his life or his work at all.
Childhood and education
Who is Nikolai Batalov? His biography is the story of a talented person who lived and worked while struggling with an insidious disease. He was born in Moscow in 1899. His parents were peasants from the Yaroslavl province who came to the capital in search of a better life. They sent their son to the Trade School. Alexander the First. At the end of his studies, at the age of 16, Nikolai made an important decision to become an actor. To achieve this goal, he passed the exams and entered the SchoolDramatic Arts, which was soon transformed into the Second Studio.
Work in the theater
In 1916, Nikolai Batalov entered the Moscow Art Theater. He immediately attracted the attention of the audience, creating a touching image of Petit the Binder in the production of Zinaida Gippius's play The Green Ring. Critics also called his work on the images of Nechaev in "Mladost", Taras-Bryukhan in "The Tale of Ivan the Fool" and others successful.
Together with the studio, Batalov made tours around the country, during which the inhabitants of the province could see him play in the performances of "The Flood" by G. Berger and in the performance-farce "Lawyer Patlen" by David-Augustin Brues.
In the Moscow Art Theater, Nikolai Batalov met Mikhail Chekhov, who invited him as a stage partner to his famous vaudeville Pichot and Michaud. Of the serious roles of the artist in this theater, the image of the passionate Franz Moor in Schiller's The Robbers, staged by B. I. Vershilov, should also be noted.
Nikolai Batalov took an active part in the "Sovietization" of the Moscow Art Theater. In particular, since 1925 he was a member of the theater's internal management bodies. For some time he was practically in charge of the troupe. In addition, the actor participated in the first premieres of the Moscow Art Theater of the Soviet period and demanded that the works of the “old men” idealists be replaced and a new Art Theater be built with a repertoire consonant with the slogans of the Bolshevik Party. Despite this, he gladly took on the role of Figaro, in which the artist took the stage for the last time before the disease bedridden him.
Working in silent films
BIn 1923, Batalov was invited to shoot the fantastic film "Aelita" based on the novel by A. Tolstov, which was filmed by director Yakov Protazanov. He got the role of the Red Army soldier Gusev, with which he did an excellent job, although this was his first film work. After the premiere of the film, enthusiastic articles appeared in the press, in which he was called the antipode of the "handsome beauties" of Western cinema and precisely the actor who is able to embody the image of a Soviet man on the screen.
2 years after the high-profile premiere of "Aelita", the audience saw Nikolaev Batalov in Leonid Pudovkin's film "Mother", where he played Pavel Vlasov. This role established the actor as a hero fighting for the rights of the working people.
Working in sound films
As already mentioned, Batalov was one of the first Soviet actors who spoke to the audience from the screen. In 1931, he starred in the legendary film "Start in Life". The director of this first Soviet sound film was Nikolai Eck, who decided that Nikolai Batalov would be the most believable in the role of the leader of a labor commune who successfully re-educates homeless children into “real Soviet people”. The actor did an excellent job with the task assigned to him, which was complicated by the fact that before that he had only filming experience in silent films. However, the vast experience of working on the stage allowed Batalov to quickly reorganize and stop expressing emotions through gestures, as was customary in cinema before the invention of a way to combine a picture andsound.
Illness and personal life
The shooting of "Aelita", which took place in extreme conditions, ended for Nikolai Batalov with a serious cold, which caused tuberculosis. Due to deteriorating he alth, the actor even took a break from his theatrical career, and after returning to the stage, he often refused roles, following the advice of doctors who forbade him to overwork. His poor he alth greatly upset Olga Androvskaya, to whom Nikolai Batalov had been married since 1921 (a daughter was born in marriage). This talented actress, starting in 1930, when the actor's he alth deteriorated sharply, practically abandoned the stage and looked after him until his death in 1937.
Now you know what kind of life Nikolai Petrovich Batalov lived - one of the pioneers of Russian sound cinema, who played several dozen interesting roles.
Recommended:
Sorokin Nikolai Evgenievich, theater and film actor, theater director: biography, family, creativity
There are people who are given a lot from birth, the main thing for them is not to lose their gift, not to let it go to the wind, but to save and increase, to share with relatives and with the whole world. Sorokin Nikolai Evgenievich is a famous Russian theater and film actor, director and artistic director, theater director and politician, public figure and exemplary family man. This article is an attempt to "embrace the immensity", a story about how he managed to combine everything
What is Japanese theater? Types of Japanese theater. Theater no. The kyogen theatre. kabuki theater
Japan is a mysterious and distinctive country, the essence and traditions of which are very difficult for a European to understand. This is largely due to the fact that until the middle of the 17th century the country was closed to the world. And now, in order to feel the spirit of Japan, to know its essence, you need to turn to art. It expresses the culture and worldview of the people like nowhere else. One of the oldest and almost unchanged art forms that have come down to us is the theater of Japan
The cinema "Enthusiast" is not just a cinema, but a cinema and concert complex
The article is dedicated to the cinema "Enthusiast". Its main slogan is as follows: “Enthusiast” is not just a cinema, but a whole cinema and concert complex, which always has something to show its audience!”
Actress Elena Butenko. Biography, interesting facts, film and theater roles
Elena Butenko is a theater and film actress. Teaches acting. Singer and musician. The track record of a native of the city of Valka includes 9 cinematographic works. She starred in such popular TV series today as "Gromovs" and "What the dead man said"
Russian actor Denis Balandin: biography, roles in theater and cinema
After studying the filmography of Denis Balandin, you can see that his characters do not represent any particular type. Balandin plays good and bad characters, servants and kings. But no matter what role he plays, the actor conveys each image surprisingly accurately and vividly. His playing is characterized by clear articulation and a deep soft timbre of voice
