{{Short description|Russian actor, screenwriter and film director}} {{Infobox person | name = Victor Tourjansky |native_name = {{nobold|Виктор Туржанский}} | image = Victor Tourjansky.jpg | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = Вячеслав Константинович Туржанский | birth_date = {{Birth date|1891|3|4|df=y}} | birth_place = Kyiv, Russian Empire (now Ukraine) | death_date = {{Death date and age|1976|8|13|1891|3|4|df=y}} | death_place = Munich, West Germany (now Germany) | spouse = | occupation = Film director, screenwriter, actor | years_active = 1913–1964 }}
'''Victor Tourjansky''' ({{langx|ru|Виктор Туржанский}} 4 March 1891 – 13 August 1976), born '''Vyacheslav Konstantinovich Turzhansky''' ({{Langx|ru|Вячеслав Константинович Туржанский}}), was a Russian actor, screenwriter and film director who emigrated after the Russian Revolution of 1917. He worked in France, Germany, Italy, and the United States.
==Biography== {{Unreferenced section|date=January 2018}} Born into a family of artists in Kyiv, Tourjansky moved to Moscow in 1911, where he spent a year studying under Konstantin Stanislavski. He became involved with silent film and, two years later, made his first productions as a screenwriter and director on the eve of World War I. When the October Revolution broke out, he left and stayed in Yalta, which had not yet been taken by the Bolsheviks.
When the laws for the nationalisation of the cinema industry were applied to Crimea, he left with the Ermoliev film company and its actors for France, via Constantinople, in February 1920. He was accompanied by his wife, the actress Nathalie Kovanko. On arriving in Paris, he changed his birth name Viatcheslav, to Victor, which was more easily pronounceable for the French. He was the assistant to Abel Gance for the filming of his ''Napoléon'' (1927). He later worked for Universum Film AG in Germany, where he arrived during the 1930s and directed twelve films, of which several were officially honored by the Nazis (''City of Anatol'', ''Secret Code LB 17'', ''Faded Melody'', ''Enemies '', and ''Orient Express'').
Tourjansky has been credited by some writers as being the director of the first ever film adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel ''Dracula'', although it is disputed if the film, which is supposed to have been released in 1920, ever actually existed.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Nosferatu Story The Seminal Horror Film, Its Predecessors and Its Enduring Legacy |last=Giesen |first=Rolf |publisher=McFarland |year=2025 |isbn=9781476650487 |edition=2nd |pages=45}}</ref>
==Selected filmography== {{div col}} * ''{{Ill|Po trupam k schastyu|ru|По трупам к счастью (фильм)}}'' (Russia, 1915) * ''{{Ill|Zhenshchina vampir|ru|Женщина-вампир (фильм)}}'' (Russia, 1915) * ''{{Ill|Surogaty lyubvi|it}}'' (Russia, 1918) * ''{{Ill|L'Ordonnance (1921 film)|it|3=L'Ordonnance (film 1921)|lt=L'Ordonnance}}'' (France, 1921)<!--18 February 1921--> * ''Les Contes des mille et une nuits'' (France, 1921)<!--23 December 1921--> * ''{{Ill|Le Quinzième Prélude de Chopin|fr}}'' (France, 1922)<!--5 May 1922--> * ''Nuit de carnaval'' (France, 1922)<!--10 November 1922--> * ''La Riposte'' (France, 1922)<!--20 December 1922--> * ''{{Ill|Calvaire d'amour|fr}}'' (France, 1923) * ''{{Ill|Le Chant de l'amour triomphant|fr}}'' (France, 1923) * ''That Scoundrel Morin'' (France, 1924)<!--11 April 1924--> * ''The Masked Woman'' (France, 1924)<!--29 August 1924--> * ''Prince Charming'' (France, 1925) * ''Michel Strogoff'' (France, 1926)<!--30 June 1926--> * ''Tempest'' (director: Sam Taylor, US, 1928), uncredited<!--27 May 1928--> * ''The Adventurer'' (US, 1928)<!--14 July 1928--> * ''Volga Volga'' (Germany, 1928)<!--15 November 1928--> * ''Manolescu'' (Germany, 1929)<!--22 August 1929--> * ''The Eaglet'' (French-language film version, 1931)<!--28 August 1931--> ** ''The Duke of Reichstadt'' (German-language film version, 1931) * ''The Unknown Singer'' (France, 1931)<!--12 December 1931--> * ''Student's Hotel'' (France, 1932) * ''The Orderly'' (France, 1933) * ''Volga in Flames'' (France, 1934) <!--* ''The Battle'' (1934) - Nicolas Farkas is the director. Victor Tourjansky is not credited. --> * ''Dark Eyes'' (France, 1935)<!--30 August 1935--> * ''The World's in Love'' (Austria, 1935)<!--4 October 1935--> * ''La Peur'' (France, 1936)<!--10 April 1936--> * ''City of Anatol'' (German-language film version, 1936)<!--16 October 1936--> ** ''Wells in Flames'' (French-language film version, 1937) * ''The Lie of Nina Petrovna'' (France, 1937)<!--7 September 1937--> * ''The Postmaster's Daughter'' (France, 1938)<!--4 February 1938, Belgium--> * ''Faded Melody'' (Germany, 1938)<!--25 February 1938--> * ''Secret Code LB 17'' (Germany, 1938)<!--7 August 1938--> * ''The Blue Fox'' (Germany, 1938)<!--14 December 1938--> * ''The Governor'' (Germany, 1939)<!--23 April 1939--> * ''A Woman Like You'' (Germany, 1939)<!--19 October 1939--> * ''Enemies'' (Germany, 1940, also screenplay)<!--7 November 1940--> * ''{{Ill|Die keusche Geliebte|it|L'amante casta}}'' (Germany, 1940)<!--27 December 1940--> * ''{{Ill|Illusion (1941 film)|de|3=Illusion (1941)|lt=Illusion}}'' (Germany, 1941, also screenplay)<!--30 December 1941--> * ''{{Ill|Liebesgeschichten (1943 film)|de|3=Liebesgeschichten (1943)|lt=Liebesgeschichten}}'' (Germany, 1943)<!--3 March 1943--> * ''Tonelli'' (Germany, 1943, also screenplay)<!--12 July 1943--> * ''Orient Express'' (Germany, 1944) * ''{{Ill|Dreimal Komödie|de}}'' (Germany, 1945–1949) * ''The Blue Straw Hat'' (West Germany, 1949) * ''{{Ill|Si te hubieses casado conmigo|es}}'' (Spain, 1950)<!--29 July 1950--> * ''The Man Who Wanted to Live Twice'' (West Germany, 1950)<!--15 September 1950--> * ''Chased by the Devil'' (West Germany, 1950)<!--24 October 1950--> * ''{{Ill|Mutter sein dagegen sehr!|de}}'' (West Germany, 1951) * ''Marriage for One Night'' (West Germany, 1953) * ''Salto Mortale'' (West Germany, 1953)<!--30 April 1953--> * ''Arlette Conquers Paris'' (West Germany, 1953)<!--1 September 1953--> * ''Daybreak'' (West Germany, 1954) * ''Island of the Dead'' (West Germany, 1955)<!--23 August 1955--> * ''The Royal Waltz'' (West Germany, 1955)<!--6 October 1955--> * ''{{ill|Beichtgeheimnis|de|Beichtgeheimnis (Film)}}'' (West Germany, 1956)<!--18 July 1956--> * ''The Goddess of Love'' (co-director: Fernando Cerchio, Italy, 1957)<!--5 December 1957--> * ''Heart Without Mercy'' (West Germany, 1958) * ''Herod the Great'' (co-director: {{Ill|Arnaldo Genoino|de}}, Italy, 1959)<!--1 January 1959--> * ''Prisoner of the Volga'' (co-director: {{Ill|Arnaldo Genoino|de}}, Italy, 1959)<!--26 March 1959--> * ''The Cossacks'' (co-director: Giorgio Rivalta, Italy, 1960)<!--4 February 1960--> * ''The Pharaohs' Woman'' (co-director: Giorgio Rivalta, Italy, 1960)<!--10 December 1960--> * ''The Triumph of Michael Strogoff'' (France, 1961)<!--15 December 1961--> * ''A Queen for Caesar'' (co-director: Piero Pierotti, Italy, 1962) {{div col end}}
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category|Victor Tourjansky}} *{{IMDb name|869645}} *Christian Gilles, ''Le cinéma des années [trente, quarante, cinquante] par ceux qui l'ont fait'', Paris : L'Harmattan, 2000. {{ISBN|978-2-7384-8951-7}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Authority control}} {{Victor Tourjansky}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tourjansky, Victor}} Category:Film directors from the Russian Empire Category:Male actors from the Russian Empire Category:People who emigrated to escape Bolshevism Category:1891 births Category:1976 deaths Category:Male actors from Kyiv Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Germany Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to France Category:White Russian emigrants to Germany Category:White Russian emigrants to France Category:Russian male film actors Category:Russian film directors Category:Russian male silent film actors Category:Film people from Kyiv