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| Vera Yureneva / Вера Леонидовна Юренева |
Accompagnamento al piano di Donald Sosin
Mariann Lewinsky (Il Cinema Ritrovato, 2014, catalogue and website): "From this year's About a Hundred Years Ago. 1914 and Ritrovati e restaurati sections you can gather a nice sampler of actresses, and use it for all kinds of studies. This is a test run."
"Rise of the Film Star: Mary Cléo Tarlarini (Amor di regina) represents the pioneering generation - by 1914 she had appeared in some ninety films, a diva avant la lettre. Maria Jacobini (Il focolare domestico, Addio Giovinezza!) and Norma Talmadge (The Lady and Her Maid, The Loan Shark King), just emerging in 1914, were destined to become big stars, while in Sangue bleu Francesca Bertini is simply treated like a star, becoming one in the process, the lavish display of dresses doing much of the work. The most iconic film star of all time, Greta Garbo (The Temptress), was in real life a shy person who disliked acting; but her star persona, a divine beauty suffused with secret sufferings, casts an unfailing spell."
"Double Bill. For great stage actresses who also made great films, see Lyda Borelli (Fior di male), Nazimova (Eye for Eye), Tora Teje (Norrtullsligan), and Vera Yureneva (Žhenšhčhina zavtrašhnego dnya). Yureneva's masterful performance of 1914 fills us with a sense of gratitude to cinematography, which enables us to see it."
"Creators. The expressivity of actress Asta Nielsen (Vordertreppe-Hintertreppe) caused a sensation that changed cinema. She did not limit her talents to playing victims, but created a wide range of characters, including spunky low-class women. Her comedies inspired Rosa Porten (Die Landpomeranze, Der neueste Star vom Variété) and Wanda Treumann (Maison Fifi, Wanda's Trick, Das Teufelchen). On the other hand, acting was not the aim of Stacia Napierkowska (La Coupable, L'Étoile du génie, Effetti di luce). She created her film roles as pantomimes, and they should be understood and appreciated as such." Mariann Lewinsky (Il Cinema Ritrovato, 2014, catalogue and website)
1914. ATTRICI E DIVE
Coming from the Robert Flaherty screening I missed the first film in this programme and saw two shorts of fine Vitagraph quality, and a strong Russian drama.
THE LOAN SHARK KING
US 1914. D: Van Dyke Brooke. Story: Laura Colfax. C: Van Dyke Brooke (Hartman), Norma Talmadge (Helen Hartman), Antonio Moreno (Harry Graham). P: Vitagraph & Co. 35 mm. 335 m. 16' at 18 fps. B&w. From: BFI - National Archive
AA: A drama. Defying her father's orders the daughter elopes with an artist. Five years later, there are two kids, and the artist is employed, but loan sharks pursue him wherever he works. The husband dies, and Helen is left with debt. Foreclosure is imminent, and the agents are already assessing the meagre possessions. Helen, left alone as a widowed mother, is facing a still more crushing system of usury. There is one man behind this - the loan shark king. The anagnorisis and the peripeteia: her own father is the loan shark king. Helen's father sees his two grandchildren. At the resolution Helen is utterly exhausted. - A fine natural performance by Norma Talmadge. - There is a Griffith affinity not only in the story (qf. A Corner in Wheat, The Usurer) but also in the mise-en-scène and the stark and uncluttered storytelling by Van Dyke Brooke. Ok print.
THE SHOP GIRL DETECTIVE
US 1914. P: Vitagraph & Co. 35 mm. 298 m. 14' at 18 fps. B&w. From: BFI National Archive
AA: A comedy. The would-be "shop girl detective" is using every free minute even at her job to read detective fiction. A millionaire from Upper Crust Avenue is forbidding his wife to visit tango tea events: "I will shut down on your spending money". The zealous girl detective misunderstands things and has police arrest the Upper Crust lady with a supposedly stolen garter. A funny one; it would be interesting to know who did this and who is the talented comedienne who plays the shop girl detective. Ok print.
ŽHENŠHČHINA ZAVTRAŠHNEGO DNYA
Женщина завтрашнего дня / Zhenshtshina zavtrashnego dnja / A Woman of Tomorrow. A modern drama in 3 acts / La Femme du demain / Femmes de demain / De Vrouw van Morgen. RU 1914. D: Piotr Chardynin. C: Vera Yureneva / Vera Jureneva, Ivan Mozžuchin / Ivan Mozzhukhin / Ivan Mosjoukine, Maria Morskaya. P: Khanzhonkov & Co. 35 mm. 795 m. 38' at 18 fps. Col. Dutch intertitles. From: EYE Filmmuseum (The Desmet Collection)
SC: Aleksandr Voznesensky.
AA: A drama with two great actors. Ivan Mozzhukhin we know, but the remarkable discovery here is the great Vera Yureneva (1876-1962) as the doctor who is also an activist for female rights - which was not just a role for Vera Yureneva. The film was written for her.
Nora (Yureneva) is a famous doctor, and her lover is Robert (Mozzhukhin). There are a lot of patients in Nora's waiting room. There is an authentic quality in these scenes. Nora is very tired, but there is a nice dinner at her home, and Robert is coming. Yet there is an urgent call that interrupts the dinner. "I cannot deny help. And so many people can give me no money". Robert, alone, looks for distraction, visits a café, and smiles at the sweet waitress Nelly. He invites her to the theatre. She is very shy.
Nora and Robert are still dating. There is a conference in Vienna which Nora helps organize. She gives a powerful speech for equal rights for women. Nora and Robert's relationship is still passionate.
One year later, a grateful patient offers a considerable financial compensation for an efficient cure. "Now we can get married". They consult a picture book of all the places they can visit on their honeymoon.
Nelly is ill. Robert visits her. She has a baby. The case is really serious. Nora is a specialist in such cases. There is great mourning.
There is a Jan Olsson shot - a threeways split screen from a hotel from which Robert asks the concierge to call Nora. Nora is in the image on the left, the concierge and Robert are in the image to the right, and in the middle there is a city view - of Hanzhonkov studios.
Nora arrives and decides to stay until the crisis is over. Nelly is delirious. "Please call her husband and ask him to come".
There is an electrifying shot when Robert arrives and looks are exchanged.
There is a further electrifying shot when Robert approaches and the shock starts to sink in.
The performances have been rather subdued until now.
The conclusion of the film is about Nora's infinite disappointment, also involving gesticulation of sorrow and agony. It is a moving pantomimic conclusion to the story.
Chardynin's early cinema storytelling style is assured. Much is in long shots or full shots, often in long takes.
A print from a toned and tinted source. The colours have mostly faded, except in intertitles, and the visual quality is then not brilliant. But there are enough fine passages for a mental reconstruction of how this movie has looked.
P.S. 8 Aug 2014. Lauri Piispa told me today that there are two versions of A Woman of Tomorrow. The version we saw in Bologna which survives in Amsterdam. And the other version that can be accessed at Gosfilmofond in Moscow. The Moscow print is not only longer - there is one reel more of tragedy, including the suicide of Robert (Ivan Mosjoukine) - but the entire film was reshot. Lauri also told that there is a sequel, Zhenshchina zavtrashevo dnya, 2:ya seriya, 1915, also directed by Chardynin. Their screenwriter Aleksandr Voznesensky was Yureneva's husband.
Wikipedia:
Юре́нева Ве́ра Леони́довна (10 (22) июня 1876, Москва — 19 января 1962, Москва) — русская драматическая актриса, артистка театра Соловцова в Киеве и МХАТа 2-го, Заслуженная артистка РСФСР (1935).
Биография
Родилась в Москве, дочь военного юриста Леонида Шадурского (ее старшая сестра Зоя Шадурская — участница революционного движения, близкая подруга Александры Коллонтай). С юных лет увлекалась театром, в 1902 году успешно окончила Петербургское театральное училище, была ученицей В. Н. Давыдова. В течение нескольких сезонов (1906—1919, с перерывами) — ведущая актриса театра «Соловцов» в Киеве (ныне Национальный академический театр русской драмы имени Леси Украинки). Участвовала в кинопостановках. Выступала на сцене под фамилией первого мужа, дворянина Ивана Юренева. Вторым мужем артистки был поэт, переводчик и драматург А. С. Вознесенский (Бродский)[1].
В 1918 году, находясь в Киеве, Вера Леонидовна увлеклась молодым журналистом и сотрудником дипломатической миссии Советской России Михаилом Кольцовым. В том же году они поженились. На Первомай 1919-го В. Л. Юренева блеснула на сцене театра имени Ленина (бывшего «Соловцов») в революционной премьере — спектакле «Фуэнте Овехуна (Овечий источник)» по пьесе Лопе де Веги (постановка К. А. Марджанова), где сыграла главную роль Лауренсии. Вместе с Кольцовым Юренева уехала в Москву, но в 1922 году они расстались.
В 1919—1955 годах В. Л. Юренева служила в различных театрах Москвы и Ленинграда, в том числе — в театре Корша (1919—1920), МХАТе 2-м (1930—1936), Александринском театре (1922—1924 и 1936—1939), Литературно-драматическом театре ВТО (1947—1955). Заслуженная артистка РСФСР (1935).
В последние годы жизни, проживая в коммунальной квартире, общалась с Э. Радзинским, в то время студентом, который в своих произведениях приводит услышанные от нее истории.
Автор книги «Записки актрисы», Москва-Ленинград, 1946.
Похоронена на Новодевичьем кладбище в Москве.
Личный архив хранится в РГАЛИ, фонд № 2371.
Творчество
Какую бы роль ни играла актриса, на сцене она всегда была Женщина с большой буквы и целостная личность, скрывающая в себе бездны страстей. По воспоминаниям самой Веры Леонидовны: «моей основной темой была тема любви»[2]. Эмоциональность и выразительная пластичность позволяла Вере Юреневой создавать запоминающиеся образы даже тогда, когда драматургический материал роли не был значителен.
Роли
Бронка (С. Пшибышевский, «Снег», 1904)
Регина (Г. Ибсен, «Привидения» , 1904)
Нора (Г. Ибсен, «Кукольный дом», 1909)
Виктория («История одной любви» по К. Гамсуну)
Виоланта (Д. Флетчер, «Испанский священник»)
Катерина (А. Островский, «Гроза»)
Лариса (А. Островский, «Бесприданница»)
Анна Каренина (по Л. Толстому)
Елена Николаевна (М. Арцыбашев, «Ревность», 1913)
Вера (фильм по роману И. А. Гончарова «Обрыв», постановка П. И. Чардынин, 1913)
Екатерина Ивановна (Л. Андреев, «Екатерина Ивановна»)
Лауренсия (Лопе де Вега, «Овечий источник» («Фуэнте овехуна»), 1919)
Клеопатра (У. Шекспир, «Антоний и Клеопатра»)
Примечания
↑ Кальницкий М. Забытая легенда // Киевские ведомости. 2007, 22 ноября
↑ Юренева В. Записки актрисы. Москва-Ленинград, 1946. — С.118.
Ссылки
Российский гуманитарный энциклопедический словарь
Городиський М. П. Київський театр «Соловцов». Київ, 1961. (укр.)
Кальницкий М. Забытая легенда // Киевские ведомости. 2007, 22 ноября (текст статьи с недействующей ссылкой на источник)
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