УДК: 791.45.072"1914"

DOI: 10.35852/2588-0144-2025-2-105-134

EDN: JDAARX

Full text (PDF): Download

Natalie S. Ryabchikova

PhD in Film Studies, lecturer at the School of Design
Higher School of Economics
Moscow, Russia
E-mail: natalia.ryabchikova@gmail.com

Olga Rakhmanova, Leo Tolstoy and the Russian Screenplay in 1914

Abstract

This article looks at an episode from the history of early Russian cinema that is connected to the attempts of actor Pavel Orlenev and a group of his colleagues and assistants in the spring and summer of 1914 to produce screen adaptations of Henrik Ibsen’s play “Brand” and of Leo Tolstoy’s unpublished dramatic work Tsar Aggei (Pan Aggei, Aggei, Dramatization of the Legend of Aggei). With the discovery in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (RGALI) of the correspondence between actress, director, and drama teacher Olga Rakhmanova and a Tolstoy associate Vladimir Chertkov, it has become possible to correct the relatively better known history of the production of “Brand” (1915) and to describe in detail the far lesser known attempt of producing Aggei (1914). According to this newly discovered evidence in both of these cases Olga Rakhmanova acted as a screenwriter, and in the case of “Brand” also as a co-dicrector, which puts the beginning of her work as a screenwriter two years before the traditionally accepted date, and the beginning of her work as a director three years before that. The correspondence between Rakhmanova and Chertkov also provides new information about the functioning of the Russian cinema industry in 1914, in particular details concerning the activities of Aleksandr Khanzhonkov’s film company. Moreover, Rakhmanova’s letters comprehensively characterize the state of screenwriting in Russia at the moment when one period of the development of national cinema ended and another one began after the Russian Empire entered the First World War.

Keywords

Early Russian cinema, screen adaptation, screenwriting, literary screenplay, women filmmakers, Leo Tolstoy, Henrik Ibsen, Pavel Orlenev, Olga Rakhmanova, unproduced screenplays, Aggei, Brand .

For citation

Ryabchikova N. S. Olga Rakhmanova, Leo Tolstoy and the Russian Screenplay in 1914. Theatre. Fine Arts. Cinema. Music. 2025, no. 2, pp. 105–134.

DOI: 10.35852/2588-0144-2025-2-105-134

EDN JDAARX

References

  1. . Ryabchikova N. Olga Rakhmanova. In: Women Film Pioneers Project. Ed. by J. Gaines, R. Vatsal and M. Dall’Asta. New York: Columbia University Libraries, 2016. URL: https://wfpp.columbia.edu/pioneer/ olga-rakhmanova/ (date of access: 04.05.25).
  2. Naumov A. V. Arkhivnyj fond kompozitora N. N. Rakhmanova kak istoricheskij istochnik [The Archival Collection of the Composer N. N. Rakhmanov as a Historical Source]. In: Muzykalnyj teatr v prochlom, nastojashchem i budushchem [Musical Theatre in the Past, Present, and Future]. Sc. ed. by P. A. Michkov. Novosibirsk: NGK imeni M. I. Glinki, 2024, pp. 69–79. 
  3. Korotkiy V. M. Operatory i rezhissery russkogo igrovogo kino. 1897–1921. Biofil’mograficheskij spravochnik [Early Russian Fiction Cinema Cameramen and Directors. 1897–1921. A Biographic and Filmographic Reference Book]. Moscow, NIIK, 2009, 430 p.
  4. Orlenev P. M. Zhizn’ i tvorchestvo russkogo aktera Pavla Orleneva, opisannye im samim [The Life and Artistic Career of the Russian actor Pavel Orlenev, as Described by Himself]. Leningrad; Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1961, 343 p.
  5. Mgebrov A. A. Zhizn v teatre. V 2 tomakh. T. 1. Orlenev. Moskovskij Khudozhestvennyj Teatr. Komissarzhevskaja [A Life in Theatre. In 2 vols. Vol. 1. Orlenev. The Moscow Art Theatre. Komissarzhevskaya]. Leningrad: Academia, 1929, 535 p.
  6. Gardin V. R. Vospominanija. V 2 tomakh. T. 1. 1912–1921 [Memoirs: in 2 vols. Vol. 1. 1912–1921]. Moscow: Goskinoizdat, 1941, 232 p.
  7. AnninskiiL. A.Lev Tolstoy i kinematograf [Leo Tolstoy and Cinema]. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1980, 288 p. 
  8. Khanzhonkov A. A. Pervye gody russkoj kinematografii [The First Years of Russian Cinema]. Moscow; Leningrad: Iskusstvo, 1937, 176 p.
  9. Saraskina L. I.Lev Tolstoy v rannem rossijskom kinematografe [Leo Tolstoy in Early Russian Cinema]. Nauka televideniia [The Art and Science of Television]. 2017, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 82–126. 
  10. Matskin A. P. Orlenev. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1977, 328 p. 
  11. Tolstoy L. N. Polnoe sobranie sochinenij v 90 tomakh. T. 26 [Works: in 90 vols. Vol. 26]. Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’ctvo khudozhestvennoj literatury, 1936, X, 948 p. 
  12. Stroganov M. V.Leo Tolstoy in the Documentary Films. Theatre. Fine Arts. Cinema. Music. 2019, no. 2, pp. 178–199. 
  13. Letopis’ rossijskogo kino. 1863–1929 [Chronicle of Russian Cinema. 1863–1929]. Ed. by V. I. Fomin. Moscow: Materik, 2004, 698 p. 
  14. Leigh M. Reading between the Lines: History and the Studio Owner’s Wife. In: Doing Women’s Film. Reframing Cinemas, Past and Future. Eds. C. Gledhill and J. Knight. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2015, pp. 42–52.
  15. Kovalova A. Antonina Khanzhonkova. In: Women Film Pioneers Project. Eds. J. Gaines, R. Vatsal and M. Dall’Asta. New York: Columbia University Libraries, 2025. URL: https://wfpp.columbia.edu/pioneer/ antonina-khanzhonkova/ (date of access: 04.05.25).
  16. Ryabchikova N. Sjemochnaja ploshchadka: “Proletkino” [Shooting Lot: Proletkino]. Kinovedcheskie zapiski [Film Scholar’s Notes]. 2009, no. 92/93, pp. 388–404. 
  17. Dokumenty po filmu “Rasplata”, 1926 [Materials from the Film The Payback]. Ed. by L. Kirjakevich. Kinovedcheskie zapiski [Film Scholar’s Notes]. 2009, no 92/93, pp. 405–417.

Received: 11.03.2025

Revised: 18.04.2025

Accepted: 07.05.2025