Aleksandr Ptushko

Personal Info

Known For Director

Gender Male

Birthday 1900-04-19

Deathday 1973-03-06 (72 years old)

Place of Birth Lugansk, Lugansk uyezd, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire [now Luhansk, Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine]

Also Known As Aleksandr Lukich Ptushko, Alfred Posco, A. Ptushko, Александр Птушко

Aleksandr Ptushko

Biography

Aleksandr Lukich Ptushko (Russian: Александр Лукич Птушко, 19 April [O.S. 6 April] 1900 – 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 prominent early role in animation in the Soviet Union, though a more accurate comparison would be to Willis H. O'Brien or Ray Harryhausen. Some critics, such as Tim Lucas and Alan Upchurch, have also compared Ptushko to Italian filmmaker Mario Bava, who made fantasy and horror films with similarities to Ptushko's work and made similarly innovative use of color cinematography and special effects. He began his film career as a director and animator of stop motion short films, and became a director of feature-length films combining live action, stop motion, creative special effects, and Russian mythology. Along the way he would be responsible for a number of firsts in Russian film history (including the first feature-length animated film, and the first film in color), and would make several extremely popular and internationally praised films full of visual flair and spectacle.

Known For

Director

1972
Ruslan and Ludmila

as Director

1966
1964
1961
Scarlet Sails

as Director

1959
1956
1949
Tri vstrechi

as Director

1946
The Stone Flower

as Director

1945
Teremok

as Director

1939
The Golden Key

as Director

1938
1935
The New Gulliver

as Director

1932
Lord of Life

as Director

Writer

1972
1967
Viy

as Screenplay

1938
1938
1936
1936
1935
1932
Lord of Life

as Writer

Art

1967
Viy

as Art Direction

1961
My Friend, Kolka!

as Art Direction

1946
The Stone Flower

as Art Direction

1945
A Winter Tale

as Creative Director

1945
The Lost Letter

as Creative Director

1944
Sinbad the Sailor

as Creative Director

1944
Telephone

as Creative Director

1936
The Wolf and the Crane

as Art Direction

1936
The Giant Turnip

as Creative Director

1932
Lord of Life

as Art Direction

Camera

1942
Batyr of the Steppes

as Director of Photography

Visual Effects

1967
Viy

as Special Effects Supervisor