Aleksei Kapler
Writer · 1904 – 1979 · Kiev, Russian Empire [now Ukraine]
Aleksei (born Lazar) Yakovlevich Kapler (also Alexei, Russian: Алексей (born Лазарь) Яковлевич Каплер) (15 September 1903, Kiev – 11 September 1979) was a prominent Soviet filmmaker, screenwriter, actor and writer. He was known as screenwriter of many Soviet movies, such as Lenin in 1918, Amphibian Man, The Blue Bird and Striped Trip, as well as one of the anchors and directors of TV program Kinopanorama (a cinema overview). In 1941, Kapler was awarded the Stalin Prize.
Movies3
Movie5.1DramaSoviet film based on "Nevsky Prospekt" and "The Overcoat" by Nikolai Gogol.
Movie5.7ActionCrimeTypically of the heady days of early Soviet cinema, this is constructed according to the fast, sharp editing principles advocated by Eisenstein, complete with symbolic inserts; but in terms of subject matter, it's much less explicitly political than most movies emerging from Russia in the '20s. Chronicling a young sailor's descent into a murky, treacherous underworld of pimps and thieves, after having encountered a Louise Brooks lookalike at a fairground and missed his departing boat, it's a lively moral fable that delights in vivid visual effects and quirky characterisations. If the plot occasionally reveals gaping holes, and the tacked-on ending urging the clearance of the Leningrad slums seems to be rather gratuitous, there's enough going on to keep one attentive and amused.
Movie7.5AnimationComedyThis little-seen and little-discussed film combines animation with self-reflexive, live action segments to embody the anarchic, satiric spirit of the poet and playwright Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893-1930). The film also showcases Sergei Yuktevich's fondness for formal experimentation. It is nominally adapted from Mayakovsky's play "The Bedbug" and his screenplay "Forget All About the Fireplace."