Alexis Granowsky

Alexis Granowsky (Russian: Алексей Михайлович Грановский, romanized: Aleksey Mikhaylovich Granovsky), born Abram Mikhaylovich Azarkh (Russian: Абрам Михайлович Азарх; 23 September [O.S. 11 September] 1890 – 11 March 1937),^[1] was a Russian theatre director who later became a film director.

Alexis Granowsky was born as Abraham Azarkh into a Jewish family in Moscow. After studying in St. Petersburg, he went to Munich where he gained valuable theatre experience working under Max Reinhardt. He served in the Russian army during the First World War before in 1919 he set up his own Jewish-orientated theatre in St. Petersburg, which under a new director became GOSET. Granowsky's reputation rose quickly over the following years, as he became one of the most celebrated theatre directors in Europe. In 1925 Granowsky directed his first film, a silent, but concentrated his efforts on his stage work.

After the Russian Revolution, and the Communist victory in the Russian Civil War, Granowsky continued to live in the country even though he felt himself culturally Western European. Granowsky was initially feted by the Soviet authorities and was awarded a number of honours but he began to find their cultural policies increasingly restrictive, and emigrated to the Weimar Republic in the late 1920s.^[2]

In Germany Granowsky worked on some theatre productions, but increasingly moved into film. He collaborated with a number of other Russian exiles such as Léo Lania who shared his left-wing political views. He directed two German films, before emigrating to Paris where he lived for the rest of his life. He produced and directed expensive prestige films The Adventures of King Pausole (1933) and Taras Bulba (1936). He had married a wealthy German woman, but they separated before his death.^[3] Despite his lavish lifestyle, Granowsky died comparatively poor.

• Jewish Happiness (Еврейское счастье; 1925)
• The Song of Life (1931)
• The Trunks of Mr. O.F. (1931)
• The Adventures of King Pausole (1933)
• Moscow Nights (1934)
• Taras Bulba (1936)

• Barton, Ruth. Hedy Lamarr: The Most Beautiful Woman in Film. University Press of Kentucky, 2010.

• Alexis Granowsky at IMDb