Rouben Mamoulian

Rouben Mamoulian

Birth : 1897-10-07, Tiflis, Russian Empire [now Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia]

Death : 1987-12-04

History

Rouben Zachary Mamoulian (October 8, 1897 – December 4, 1987) was an Armenian-American film and theatre director. In the interview compilation book Directing the Film (Acrobat Books), Mamoulian declared a strong preference for a stylized look to his scenes, stating that he was more interested in creating a poetic look to his films than in showing ordinary realism. Parts of Becky Sharp, and almost the whole of Blood and Sand, with their heightened and artificial use of Technicolor, demonstrate what Mamoulian meant by this. He also wrote a book called Applause.

Profile

Rouben Mamoulian
Rouben Mamoulian

Movies

Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood
Self (archive footage)
Documentary about the making of 20th Century Fox's 1963 film "Cleopatra," then the most expensive film of all time.
George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey
Self
Biography of the legendary filmmaker directed by his son.
The Horror of It All
Himself
A collection of film clips from horror movies and interviews with the actors and directors who made them.
Garbo
Self
Joan Crawford narrates this documentary about the career of Greta Garbo.
Never Steal Anything Small
Theatre Play
Director Charles Lederer's 1959 musical stars James Cagney as an unscrupulous longshoreman who'll resort to every dirty trick in the book to win his union's presidency.
Silk Stockings
Director
After three bumbling Soviet agents fail in their mission to retrieve a straying Soviet composer from Paris, the beautiful, ultra-serious Ninotchka is sent to complete their mission and to retrieve them. She starts out condemning the decadent West, but gradually falls under its spell—with the help of an American movie producer. A remake of Ninotchka (1939).
Summer Holiday
Director
Danville, Connecticut at the turn of the century. Young Richard Miller lives in a middle-class neighborhood with his family. He is in love with the girl next-door, Muriel, but her father isn't too happy with their puppy-love, since Richard always share his revolutionary ideas with her.
Rings on Her Fingers
Director
Susan Miller works behind the girdle counter in a department store and dreams about the beautiful clothes and glamour she can never hope to have. Enter May Worthington and Warren, a pair of con artists who pose as the mother and uncle of a pretty girl in order to separate millionaires from their money. They convince Susan she has an opportunity to fulfill all her dreams, and the trio heads for Palm Beach. Susan meets John Wheeler who says he is shopping for a sailboat. Believing that he is a millionaire, Warren and May sell him a boat that doesn't belong to them, and make off with his $15,000 life savings. Looking for greener pastures, they work themselves into the family of wealthy Tod Fenwick, who falls for Sue, posing as "Linda Worthington". But John shows up as a guest of Fenwick and he tells "Linda", not knowing she was part of the scam, that he has a detective after the fake captain that sold him the boat...
Blood and Sand
Director
Bullfighter Juan Gallardo falls for socialite Dona Sol, turning from the faithful Carmen who nevertheless stands by her man as he continues to face real danger in the bullring.
The Mark of Zorro
Director
Around 1820 the son of a California nobleman comes home from Spain to find his native land under a villainous dictatorship. On the one hand he plays the useless fop, while on the other he is the masked avenger Zorro.
Golden Boy
Director
Despite his talent as a musician, a city boy decides to become a boxer. He's successful as a fighter — much to the dismay of his parents. When gangsters try to by a piece of him, he begins to have second thoughts.
High, Wide and Handsome
Director
The setting is a small town in 1870s Pennsylvania. Sally Waterson and her father have stopped in town with their traveling medicine show, but when their wagon catches fire, they find themselves stranded. They're taken in by Mrs. Cortlandt and her grandson, Peter, who is trying to set up a pipeline that will supply oil throughout the state. Sally and Peter soon fall in love and marry. Neither their marriage nor Peter's pipe dreams flow too smoothly.
The Gay Desperado
Director
Opera singer Chivo is currently playing a singing cowboy, and Mexican bandito Braganza kidnaps him (along with Jane, an heiress) so he can learn to become more like the American movie gangsters he admires.
Becky Sharp
Director
The first feature length film to use three-strip Technicolor film. Adapted from a play that was adapted from William Makepeace Thackeray's book "Vanity Fair", the film looks at the English class system during the Napoleonic Wars era.
We Live Again
Director
Nekhludoff, a Russian nobleman serving on a jury, discovers that the young girl on trial, Katusha, is someone he once seduced and abandoned and that he himself bears responsibility for reducing her to crime. He sets out to redeem her and himself in the process.
Queen Christina
Screenplay
Queen Christina of Sweden is a popular monarch who is loyal to her country. However, when she falls in love with a Spanish envoy, she must choose between the throne and the man she loves.
Queen Christina
Director
Queen Christina of Sweden is a popular monarch who is loyal to her country. However, when she falls in love with a Spanish envoy, she must choose between the throne and the man she loves.
The Song of Songs
Writer
After her father dies, Lily moves to the city to live with her strict aunt. During the day Lily works in her aunt's bookstore, and at night she sneaks across the street to model for Richard, a sculptor with whom she falls in love. A patron of Richard's, Baron von Merzbach, develops an interest in Lily that may not be with the best of intentions.
The Song of Songs
Director
After her father dies, Lily moves to the city to live with her strict aunt. During the day Lily works in her aunt's bookstore, and at night she sneaks across the street to model for Richard, a sculptor with whom she falls in love. A patron of Richard's, Baron von Merzbach, develops an interest in Lily that may not be with the best of intentions.
Love Me Tonight
Editor
A Parisian tailor finds himself posing as a baron in order to collect a sizeable bill from an aristocrat, only to fall in love with an aloof young princess.
Love Me Tonight
Producer
A Parisian tailor finds himself posing as a baron in order to collect a sizeable bill from an aristocrat, only to fall in love with an aloof young princess.
Love Me Tonight
Director
A Parisian tailor finds himself posing as a baron in order to collect a sizeable bill from an aristocrat, only to fall in love with an aloof young princess.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Producer
Dr. Henry Jekyll believes that there are two distinct sides to men - a good and an evil side. He believes that by separating the two, man can become liberated. He succeeds in his experiments with chemicals to accomplish this and transforms into Hyde to commit horrendous crimes. When he discontinues use of the drug, it is already too late.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Director
Dr. Henry Jekyll believes that there are two distinct sides to men - a good and an evil side. He believes that by separating the two, man can become liberated. He succeeds in his experiments with chemicals to accomplish this and transforms into Hyde to commit horrendous crimes. When he discontinues use of the drug, it is already too late.
City Streets
Director
A mobster's daughter leads her boyfriend from the circus into bootlegging.
Applause
Director
This early example of the "backstage" musical genre tells the story of Kitty Darling, a fading burlesque star who tries to save her convent-educated daughter April from following in Mom's footsteps.
The Flute of Krishna
Director
Produced by the Eastman Kodak Company and shot in a then-experimental process, two-color Kodachrome, Martha Graham's dance "The Flute of Krishna" is performed by students from the Eastman School of Music. It's likely (but unconfirmed) that the film was directed by an uncredited Rouben Mamoulian.