Pudovkin

Pudovkin In Italy 1951

Vsevolod Pudovkin was the student of Lev Kuleshov, who, for one, was arguably the very first film theorist ever, and two, was the one who demonstrated that editing meant more than splicing bits of film together to form a coherent story; it was powerful and could evoke emotions based on their order and juxtaposition.

Pudovkin was born on February 28, 1893 in Penza, Russian Empire as Vsevolod Illarionovich Pudovkin. He was a director and actor, known for Admiral Nakhimov (1947), Zhukovsky (1950) and Minin i Pozharskiy (1939). He was married to Anna Zemtsova.

During the 1920s, Pudovkin produced three masterpiece “docudramas”: Mother (1926), End of St. Petersburg (1927) and Storm Over Asia (1928). 

These three films are considered by many to be among the finest examples of Soviet silent cinema. 

In contrast to Eisenstein, Pudovkin preferred to create scenarios that focussed on the courage and resilience of individuals. One need only look at Mother to see this dramatic concern in action. 

As the Soviet film industry moved into the sound era, Pudovkin held on to his theories and practices of montage. While others’ films were slowing down, dilating shot length to accommodate dialogue, Pudovkin’s talkies featured more individual shots per reel than nearly any of his contemporaries.


Pudovkin continued to make films into the 1950s, earning the Order of Lenin and two Stalin Prizes along the way. He passed away in 1953, at the age of 60.