Viktor Eisymont

Biography

Viktor Eisymont (Viktor Vladislavovich Eisymont, 1904-1964) was a Soviet film director whose career ran from the late 1930s to the mid-1950s. He is mainly associated with war and historical dramas, a common territory for Soviet studio filmmaking of that era.

His filmography opens with Friends (1938), which he co-directed with Lev Arnshtam, and continues through The Drummer's Fate (1955) and other titles of the following decade. Among his best-known works is The Girl from Leningrad (1941), which earned a second-class Stalin Prize. Cruiser 'Varyag' (1946) received the same honour in 1947, and Alexander Popov (1949), co-directed with Gerbert Rappaport, won it in 1951. Today his films are studied as part of postwar Soviet cinema, though little is documented about his personal life and his name remains largely confined to specialist circles.

Key films

• Friends (1938), co-directed with Lev Arnshtam, an early title in his career.
• The Girl from Leningrad (1941), a war drama that earned a second-class Stalin Prize.
• Cruiser 'Varyag' (1946), a film about the Russian cruiser of the Russo-Japanese War, honoured in 1947.
• Alexander Popov (1949), co-directed with Gerbert Rappaport, which won the same prize in 1951.
• The Drummer's Fate (1955), one of his mid-1950s releases.