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Ivan Mosjoukine

Ivan Mosjoukine

Ivan Ilyich Mozzhukhin, usually billed using the French transliteration Ivan Mosjoukine, was a Russian silent film actor, writer and director.

Born in Kondol, in the Saratov Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Penza Oblast in Russia), Ivan Mozzhukhin was the youngest of four brothers. His mother Rachel Ivanovna Mozzhukhina (née Lastochkina) was the daughter of a Russian Orthodox priest, while his father Ilya Ivanovich Mozzhukhin came from peasants and served as an estate manager for the noble Obolensky family. While all three elder brothers finished seminary, Ivan was sent to the Penza gymnasium for boys and later studied law at the Moscow State University. In 1910, he left academic life to join a troupe of traveling actors from Kiev, with which he toured for a year, gaining experience and a reputation for dynamic stage presence. Upon returning to Moscow, he launched his screen career with the 1911 adaptation of Tolstoy's The Kreutzer Sonata. Mosjoukine's most lasting contribution to the theoretical concept of film as image is the legacy of his own face in recurring representation of illusory reactions seen in Lev Kuleshov's psychological montage experiment which demonstrated the Kuleshov Effect. In 1918, the first full year of the Russian Revolution, Kuleshov assembled his revolutionary illustration of the application of the principles of film editing out of footage from one of Mosjoukine's Tsarist-era films which had been left behind when he, along with his entire film production company, departed for the relative safety of Crimea in 1917.

At the end of 1919, Mosjoukine arrived in Paris and quickly established himself as one of the top stars of the French silent cinema, starring in one successful film after another. Handsome, tall, and possessing a powerful screen presence, he won a considerable following as a mysterious and exotic romantic figure.

Mosjoukine's film stardom was assured and during the 1920s, his face with the trademark hypnotic stare appeared on covers of film magazines all over Europe. He wrote the screenplays for most of his starring vehicles and directed two of them, L'Enfant du carnaval (Child of the Carnival), released on 29 August 1921 and Le Brasier ardent (The Blazing Inferno), released on 2 November 1923. The leading lady in both films was the then-"Madame Mosjoukine", Nathalie Lissenko. Brasier, in particular, was highly praised for its innovative and inventive concepts, but ultimately proved too surreal and bizarre to become financially successful. Ivan Mosjoukine died of tuberculosis in a Neuilly-sur-Seine clinic. All available sources give his age as 49 and year of birth as 1889. However, his gravestone at the Russian cemetery in the Parisian suburb of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois is inscribed with the year 1887.

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2024

as Mr. Kuleshov

Ivan Mosjoukine, or the Carnival Child

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1998

as Self (archive footage)

Cinema in Russia

Cinema in Russia

1979

as Film footage

Nitchevo

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1936

L'enfant du carnaval

L'enfant du carnaval

1934

Casanova

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1934

The 1002nd Night

The 1002nd Night

1933

as Tahar

Sergeant X

Sergeant X

1932

as Jean Renault

The White Devil

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1930

as Hadschi Murat

Manolescu, the Prince of Adventures

Manolescu, the Prince of Adventures

1929

as Manolescu

The Adjutant of the Czar

The Adjutant of the Czar

1929

as Prince Boris Kurbski

The Secret Courier

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1928

as Julien Sorel

The President

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1928

as Chico/Pepe Torre, ein Bauer

Loves of Casanova

Loves of Casanova

1927

as Casanova

Surrender

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1927

as Constantine

Michel Strogoff

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1926

as Michael Strogoff

The Late Mathias Pascal

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1925

as Mathias Pascal

The Lion of the Moguls

The Lion of the Moguls

1924

as le prince Roundghito-Sing

Les Ombres Qui Passent

Les Ombres Qui Passent

1924

as Louis Barclay

Kean

Kean

1924

as Edmund Kean

The Burning Crucible

The Burning Crucible

1923

as Zed, le détective

Member Of Parliament

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1923

as Lord Chilcote / Loder, writer

The House of Mystery

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1923

as Julien Villandrit

Tempêtes

Tempêtes

1922

as Henri

The Child of the Carnival

The Child of the Carnival

1921

as Marquis Octave de Granier

Justice d'abord

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1921

A Narrow Escape

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1920

as Octave de Granier

The Queen's Secret

The Queen's Secret

1919

as Paul, lord Verden's son

Kuleshov Effect

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1919

Father Sergius

Father Sergius

1918

as Prince Kasatsky, later Father Sergius

Knight's Spirit

Knight's Spirit

1918

as Vladek / Stas Marzinkovskiy

Little Ellie

Little Ellie

1918

as Norton, city's mayor

Satan Triumphant

Satan Triumphant

1917

as Pastor Talnoks / Pastor's son Sandro

Behind the Screen

Behind the Screen

1917

as Ivan Mosjoukine

The Prosecutor

The Prosecutor

1917

as Eric Olsen, prosecutor

Dance of Death

Dance of Death

1917

as Mark Galich, music composer

Beggar Woman

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1916

as Poet

Panna Meri

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1916

Sin

Sin

1916

as Lavrov, engineer

And The Song Remained Unfinished

And The Song Remained Unfinished

1916

as Doctor Rakitin

The Dagger Woman

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1916

as Sakhovskiy, the painter

Life is a Moment, Art is Forever

Life is a Moment, Art is Forever

1916

as Prince Boleslav

The Queen of Spades

The Queen of Spades

1916

as Hermann

In The Wild Blindness Of Desires

In The Wild Blindness Of Desires

1916

as Nikolay

Me And My Conscience

Me And My Conscience

1915

as Gleb Znamenskiy

Nikolay Stavrogin

Nikolay Stavrogin

1915

as Nikolay Stavrogin

Vanyushin's Children

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1915

as Aleksey

Idols

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1915

as Giu Kolman

Petersburg Slums

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1915

Mazepa

Mazepa

1914

as Mazepa

The Tale of the Sleeping Princess and the Seven Knights

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1914

as Prince Elisei

Do You Remember?..

Do You Remember?..

1914

as Yaron

In the Hands of Merciless Fate

In the Hands of Merciless Fate

1914

as Sergey Nevedov, doctor's son

Wicked Night

Wicked Night

1914

as Georges Vinogradov, a student

Mysterious Someone

Mysterious Someone

1914

as Writer

Chrysanthemums

Chrysanthemums

1914

as Vladimir

Glory to Us, Death to the Enemy

Glory to Us, Death to the Enemy

1914

as Russian officer

Life in Death

Life in Death

1914

as Dr. Renaud

Tomboy

Tomboy

1914

as Anatoliy, painter

Her Heroic Feat

Her Heroic Feat

1914

as Robert

Woman of Tomorrow

Woman of Tomorrow

1914

as Nikolay, Anna's husband

Khaz-Bulat

Khaz-Bulat

1913

as Prince

The Night Before Christmas

The Night Before Christmas

1913

as Devil

Brothers

Brothers

1913

as Aleksey

The Little House in Kolomna

The Little House in Kolomna

1913

as Hussar / Mavrusha

The Precipice

The Precipice

1913

as Rayskiy

Sorrows of Sarah

Sorrows of Sarah

1913

as Isaak

Uncle's Apartment

Uncle's Apartment

1913

as Koko

Accession of the Romanov Dynasty

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1913

A Terrible Revenge

A Terrible Revenge

1913

as Petro the wizard

Alcoholism and Its Consequences

Alcoholism and Its Consequences

1913

as Alcoholic

The Peasants' Lot

The Peasants' Lot

1912

as Pyotr

The Man

The Man

1912

as Boris, Barkov's son

The Spring's Stream

The Spring's Stream

1912

as Albov, the painter

The In-Law

The In-Law

1912

as Ivan

Worker's Quarters

Worker's Quarters

1912

as Surguchyov, factory's clerk

Scary Corpse

Scary Corpse

1912

The Robber Brothers

The Robber Brothers

1912

as Younger brother

Defence of Sevastopol

Defence of Sevastopol

1911

as Kornilov / associate of the envoy of the Menshkov retinue

In A Lively Place

In A Lively Place

1911

as The coachman

The Kreutzer Sonata

The Kreutzer Sonata

1911

as Trukhachevskiy

At Midnight in the Graveyard

At Midnight in the Graveyard

1910