Vsevolod Pudovkin

Pudovkin is often designated as the second great artist of the Soviet silent film; his accomplishments have often taken a back seat to those of his more bellicose contemporary, Sergei Eisenstein. The difference between the two directors is typified in the oft-quoted statement of French critic Leon Moussinac: "Pudovkin's films resemble a song, Eisenstein's a scream." But if Eisenstein gained notoriety as the more resolutely avant-garde film artist, it was Pudovkin who arguably made the more enduring contributions to the medium, refining the body of techniques--pioneered by D.W. Griffith--which today compose the seamless continuity of the psychological film.