Gerbert Rappaport(1908-1983)
- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Writer
Gerbert Moritsevich Rappaport was born on July 7, 1908, in Vienna,
Austria-Hungary (now Austria). His father, Morice Rappaport, was a
Doctor psychoanalyst. In 1927-28, young Rappaport studied law at
University of Vienna. In 1928 he moved to Berlin and started working at
Nero-Film Studio. There he met his Austrian compatriot, director Georg
Pabst. During the 1930s he worked as assistant director with
Georg Wilhelm Pabst in about ten
productions, including several works with the Paramount Studios in
Hollywood. There, in 1935, Rappaport was handpicked by
Boris Shumyatskiy, the leader of the
Soviet State Committee for Cinema. Boris Shumyatskiy invited Rappaport
to work as director at the Lenfilm Studios in Leningrad (St.
Petersburg). Rappoport accepted the invitation, because the Soviets
supported his artistic ideas for making anti-Nazi films.
In 1938 Rappaport made his directorial debut with Professeur Mamlok (1938), an anti-Nazi film about a brilliant Jewish doctor who saves the life of a Nazi leader, and get killed as a reward.The film based on the eponymous play by Friedrich Wolf was a success in the Soviet Union, but it was temporarily banned in 1939, after the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentropp Pact. During the Second World War, the film was popular again, and Rappaport continued making successful films securing himself a steady career and a high reputation in the Soviet Cinema.
Gerbert Rappaport was designated Honorable Artist of Russia. He was nominated for Grand Prize of the Cannes Film Festival for Étoiles du ballet russe (1954). His last film was a criminal drama Menya eto ne kasaetsya (1976). Gerbert Rappaport died on August 31, 1983, in Leningrad (St. Petersburg), Russia, Soviet Union.
In 1938 Rappaport made his directorial debut with Professeur Mamlok (1938), an anti-Nazi film about a brilliant Jewish doctor who saves the life of a Nazi leader, and get killed as a reward.The film based on the eponymous play by Friedrich Wolf was a success in the Soviet Union, but it was temporarily banned in 1939, after the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentropp Pact. During the Second World War, the film was popular again, and Rappaport continued making successful films securing himself a steady career and a high reputation in the Soviet Cinema.
Gerbert Rappaport was designated Honorable Artist of Russia. He was nominated for Grand Prize of the Cannes Film Festival for Étoiles du ballet russe (1954). His last film was a criminal drama Menya eto ne kasaetsya (1976). Gerbert Rappaport died on August 31, 1983, in Leningrad (St. Petersburg), Russia, Soviet Union.
