Dina Iordanova has published extensively on Eastern European and Balkan cinema. Her most recent books are Cinema of Flames: Balkan Film, Culture And The Media (BFI, 2001) and Emir Kusturica (BFI, 2002).
A Lyubov Orlova filmography appears at the bottom of this article.
A misguided assumption about Soviet cinema, which still persists, is that it's a national cinema mostly comprised of depressing war dramas in which popular genres were neglected and even suppressed. This is certainly not the picture of Soviet cinema I remember when, growing up in 1960s Bulgaria, I could enjoy a fair share of popular films, like the Soviet action-adventure Neulovimyye mstiteli/The Elusive Avengers (1966) or Yuri Nikulin's superb comedies, all playing in theatres alongside the comedies of Louis de Funès or Raj Kapoor's ever-popular weepy Awara/The Vagabond (1951).
A highlight was Eldar Ryazanov's musical, Karnavalnaya noch/Carnival Night (1956), with Lyudmila Gurchenko's unforgettable dancing and singing. Made several years before I was even born, Carnival Night was so popular that by the time I started watching movies it was still regularly playing in theatres as well as being shown on television. Here, a buoyant and beautiful Lydmila Gurchenko leads a group of amateur actors to undermine the plans of the Culture Ministry and its boring leadership in order to turn a New Year's Eve celebration into an exciting vibrant extravaganza, with confetti, sparklers and crackers.
It was only later, in my teenage years when I started visiting the Sofia Cinémathèque, that I realized how Carnival Night in many aspects replicated Grigoriy Aleksandrov's musical extravaganzas of the 1930s. And that Lyudmila Gurchenko's captivating performance followed in the footsteps of Stalinism's shining star, Lyubov Orlova, whose charismatic presence in Soviet popular classics, all directed by Aleksandrov, like Vesyolye rebyata/The Jolly Fellows (1934), Tsirk/The Circus (1936), Volga-Volga (1938) and Svetlyi put/The Shining Path (1940), had kept a massive Soviet audience fascinated and bedazzled throughout the 1930s.
Lyubov Orlova was probably the most glamorous and popular actress of Soviet cinema. In possession of bright eyes and shining teeth, high cheekbones and immaculate skin, she was good looking and emanated exuberant health. She was a proficient dancer and singer, her smile was irresistible and her charisma unsurpassed. Her name, Lyubov, meant 'Love,' and she remained an object of great admiration throughout her lifetime and beyond....
<http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/02/23/orlova.html> ***** -- Yoshie
* Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://solidarity.igc.org/>