Mikhail Romm

Journalist and translator who became a screenwriter and assistant director in the 1930s and made an acclaimed directorial debut with the Maupassant adaptation, "Pushka/Boule de suif" (1934). During his early career, Romm's vision chimed with the prevailing political climate. He directed two intelligent, sensitive biographical portraits, "Lenin in October" (1937) and "Lenin in 1918" (1938); and, when commissioned to make a socialist version of John Ford's "Lost Patrol," turned out a gripping and compassionate desert drama, "The Thirteen" (1937). His films of the late 1940s and 50s unfortunately suffered from the pressures of Stalinism; he returned to form, however, with "Nine Days of One Year" (1961) and "Ordinary Fascism" (1965), a compilation feature about the rise of Nazism.