Life in Bloom
About Life in Bloom
In 1912 the plant breeder Ivan Michurin turns down an American who offers him money to work abroad. He stays in Russia and keeps experimenting, though the tsarist government, the church, and scientists who oppose him will not accept his ideas. Other scientists back him. After the October Revolution his small garden in Kozlov becomes a state nursery.
Cast & crew
More about Life in Bloom
Oleksandr Dovzhenko directed this biography from his own play Life in Bloom. It is his first color film. Leonid Kosmatov and Yuli Kun photographed it. Dmitri Shostakovich wrote the music. Mosfilm released it on January 1, 1949.
Themes
Background
Mosfilm released the film on January 1, 1949. Artkino brought it to the United States the same year as Life in Bloom.
Making
Stalin took an interest in the play and the film and required changes. On some prints Yulia Solntseva is the director and Dovzhenko is named only as producer and screenwriter.
Reviews
Jonathan Rosenbaum, in the Chicago Reader in 2002, called it a feel-good Stalinist biopic, with a Ford-like passage on the wife's death and a few of Dovzhenko's landscape shots left in.
Look
Leonid Kosmatov and Yuli Kun photographed Dovzhenko's first color film, including the garden at Kozlov and the scene of Michurin grieving his wife.
Music
Dmitri Shostakovich wrote the score.
Preservation
Mosfilm restored the picture in 1976. A print is in circulation.
Notes
- Grigori Belov plays Michurin. Vladimir Solovyov plays Mikhail Kalinin. Yuri Lyubimov plays a translator. Sergei Tsenin plays Byrd, the American.
- A passage shows Michurin after his wife's death.
- The opening scene has the American make his offer in English.
- Ukrainian sources also credit Solntseva as co-director.
- Mosfilm restored the film in 1976.
Awards
- Stalin Prize, second degree, 1949, to Oleksandr Dovzhenko and Yulia Solntseva
- Stalin Prize, 1949, to cinematographer Leonid Kosmatov
- Labor Prize, Gottwaldov festival, 1949, to Oleksandr Dovzhenko
- Best color film, Mariánské Lázně festival, 1949, to Oleksandr Dovzhenko
Scenes
- A wealthy American, speaking English, offers Michurin a fortune to leave Russia.
- Michurin grieves after his wife's death.
- The small Kozlov garden becomes a state nursery after 1917.
Influenced by
- Life in Bloom (play)
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (1948. Мичурин.webm)
