Richard Viktorov - Soviet screenwriter and director, creator of science fiction films. The creative path of the cinematographer is the topic of the article.
Biography
Richard Viktorov was born in 1929 in Tuapse. As a teenager he went to the front as a volunteer. After the war, Viktorov became a student at the Faculty of Philology. Then he entered VGIK, the directing department. After receiving his diploma, he worked for some time at Belarusfilm, and later for many years at the Gorky Film Studio. Director Richard Viktorov made films in the science fiction genre. There were few people like him in those years at the Soviet film studio. And it's not that this direction was not favored. Rather, science fiction could not establish itself in Russian cinematography for a long time. After all, even Tarkovsky, who turned to this genre, used it only as a background for his complex philosophical ideas.
Career start
Richard Viktorov is a director whose name the viewer associates with fantastic cinema. Although there are only four such paintings in his track record. According to the memoirs of colleagues, Richard Viktorov was an extremely stubborn man. He was not afraid of the new and unpopular inseventies genre. The thesis work was the film "On my green land." And already in the first years after graduating from VGIK, he created paintings that brought him fame. It is worth listing the main films that Richard Viktorov shot.
The filmography of the Soviet science fiction director includes the following films:
- "A sharp turn ahead."
- "Third Rocket".
- "Beloved".
- "Transitional age".
- Obelisk.
- "Comet".
- Cross the Threshold.
In Moscow
After creating several films, the novice director was invited to the capital - to the Gorky film studio, where he worked until the end of his life. In Moscow, he successfully shot a film based on Pogodin's story "The Amber Necklace". The picture was released in 1965. Then there was the film "Transitional Age". And, finally, the last work in the spirit of realism was the painting "Cross the Threshold". It was created in 1970.
Fantastic
Richard Viktorov, whose films are mostly created in the genre of realism, did not turn to science fiction by chance. He dreamed of making such a movie for a long time. Moreover, the director believed that science fiction could become a broad field of film art and include such genres as drama, comedy, tragedy, fairy tale and even musical. In the 1970s, what seems obvious today surprised Viktorov's colleagues.
Moscow-Cassiopia
This film was Richard Viktorov's first sci-fi film. Film, premierewhich took place in 1973, was a huge success. This picture is intended for a teenage audience. It tells about a stellar expedition to one of the planets in the constellation of Cassiopeia. The success of the film was greatly facilitated, of course, by a high-quality, interesting script. Its authors are Avenir Zak and Isai Kuznetsov.
Youths in the Universe
The film about a trip to an unknown planet turned out to be so successful that when a year later the sequel “Youths in the Universe” was released, which tells about the space adventures of a crew captured by robots, incredible queues formed at the box office of Soviet cinemas. Both the children and their parents wanted to see the picture. Films about the adventures of Soviet teenagers in space were a huge success not only in the USSR, but also abroad. In terms of the number of film awards and prizes received, Viktorov's films in Russian science fiction cinema can only compete with Tarkovsky's Solaris.
Obelisk
At some point, Richard Viktorov suddenly decided to take a short break from creating science fiction and created a realistic picture based on the story by Vasil Bykov. The film "Obelisk" was released in 1976. The tragic story tells about the events of the Second World War. In a Belarusian village occupied by the Germans during the war, there lived a young, respected teacher. In 1941 he joined the partisans. But the Germans captured the teenagers and announced that they would only release them if the teacher surrendered. He fulfilled the demand of the Nazis, therebydoomed himself to death.
It's been many years. One of the saved boys became a teacher and devoted many years to restoring the honest name of a man who has long been considered almost a traitor. After all, he surrendered voluntarily.
In 1982, the shooting of the film "Comet" began. Viktorov failed to complete this work. The director passed away during the filming of the film.
