Boris Barnet
About
Biography
Biography
Boris Barnet made his film acting debut playing the cowboy Jed, in Lev Kuleshov's "The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks" (1924), and turned to directing two years later. A versatile, sensitive craftsman, particularly effective with comedy, Barnet's career lasted from the silent years into the 1960s--no easy feat in pre-Glasnost Soviet Union. In 1933, he helmed what most consider his masterpiece "Okraina/Patriots," his first sound feature about the divided loyalties of a small Russian town during the first World War. As Soviet tastes changed in the late 1930s, Barnet's light comedies tended to fall out of favor. Two of his films made during the war years, "The Old Jockey" (1940) and "The Novgordians" (1943) were banned. Barnet managed to rehabilitate his career with 1947's "Exploit of an Intelligence Agent" in which he also co-starred as a venal Nazi officer. This odd mixture of film noir and comedy was well-received critically and led to more work for the director. Of the handful of films he directed or co-directed before his 1965 suicide, "Poet" and "The Wrestler and the Clown" (both 1957) stand out.
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Cast (Feature Film)
Writer (Feature Film)
Life Events
1919
Joined Red Army; served as a medic on the front lines
1924
Film acting debut in Lev Kuleshov's "The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks"
1926
Film co-directing debut (with Theodore Otsep), the 21-reel serial "Miss Mend"
1927
Solo feature directing debut, "Devushka s korobkoi/Girl with the Hat Box"
1927
Directed "Moskva v Octybar/Moscow in October", made to honor the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution
1928
Helmed the comedy "Dom na Trubnoi/The House on Trubnaya Square"
1930
Made first in a series of documentaries about musical instruments, "Production of Musical Instruments"
1931
Returned to fictional films with the dark and violent drama "Lyodolom/The Thaw"
1933
First sound film, "Okraina/Patriots/Outskirts"; regarded as the director's masterpiece
1936
Co-directed "U samovo sinyevo morya/By the Bluest of Seas"; one of the first Soviet films made in color; shot on location near the Caspian Sea
1939
First film in three years. the drama "Noch v Senyabr/Night in September"
1940
"Stari nayezdnik/The Old Jockey" banned by the Soviet government for some twenty years
1943
"Novgoridnii/THe Novgorodians" also banned
1945
Helmed the somewhat expressionistic war drama "Odnazhdi noch/One Night"; also acted
1947
Portrayed a venal Nazi in "Podvig razvedchika/Exploit of an Intelligence Officer"; also directed
1951
Helmed "Schedroye lito/Generous Summer", about a collective farm in Ukraine
1955
Directed the musical "Liana"
1957
Collaborated with Konstantin Yudin on "Boryets i kloun/The Wrestler and the Clown"
1963
Final film, "Polustanok/Whistle Stop"
Videos
Movie Clip
