Aleksandr Ptushko
- Directing
- April 19, 1900 · Lugansk, Lugansk uyezd, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire [now Luhansk, Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine]
- March 6, 1973
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
Filmography
- The fairy-tale world of Aleksandr Ptushko · Self
- Ruslan and Ludmila · Director, Writer
- Viy · Screenplay, Art Direction
- The Tale of Tsar Saltan · Director, Writer
- The Day the Earth Froze · Director
- A Tale of Lost Times · Director
- The Sword and the Dragon · Director
- The Magic Voyage of Sinbad · Director
- Fuse · Writer
- Scarlet Sails · Director
- My Friend, Kolka! · Producer
- Sampo · Director
- Ilya Muromets · Director
- Sadko · Director
- Three Encounters · Director
- The Stone Flower · Director
- The Lost Letter · Creative Director
- A Winter Tale · Creative Director
- Zoya · Visual Effects Director
- Moscow Skies · Visual Effects Director
- Sinbad the Sailor · Creative Director
- Telephone · Creative Director
- In the Name of the Motherland · Visual Effects Director
- The District Secretary · Visual Effects Director
- Lad from Our Town · Visual Effects Director
- Batyr of the Steppes · Cinematography
- A Good Lad · Visual Effects Director
- The Golden Key · Director, Visual Effects Director
- The Merry Musicians · Director, Writer
- The Dog and the Cat · Writer
- Small But Fierce · Writer
- The Fox and the Grapes · Creative Director
- The Tale of the Fisherman and the Goldfish · Director, Screenplay
- The Wolf and the Crane · Art Direction
- The Giant Turnip · Writer, Creative Director
- Capt. Grant's Family · Visual Effects Director
- The Fox and the Wolf · Writer
- The New Gulliver · Director, Writer
- Lord of Life · Director, Writer
- The Incident At The Stadium · Director, Writer