Kaplunovskii, Vladimir

Born July 15 (28), 1906, in Kharkov; died Feb. 14, 1969, in Moscow. Soviet artist and motion picture director; Honored Artist Worker of the RSFSR (1968).

Kaplunovskii graduated from the Kiev Institute of Art (theater and film department) in 1928. His first films were Transbalt (1930) and Dress Rehearsal (1931); Kaplunovskii’s most important work as a set and costume designer were The Lonely White Sail (1937), The Tractor Drivers (1939), Iakov Sverdlov (1940), The Dream (1943), Two Soldiers (1943), Spring (1947, with K. N. Iefimov), Glinka (1947), The Fall of Berlin (1950), Business People (1963), and Kidnapping Caucasian Style (1967). In the 1950’s he began directing films, most notably The Mexican (1956, based on the work by J. London), The Captain’s Daughter (1958, based on the Pushkin novella), and Liubushka (1961). He received the State Prize of the USSR (1947, 1950) and the Order of the Badge of Honor.