American Cinematographer - November 1990 - 42

Koltsaty worked

Above: On the

on more than 30 major
five State Awards, the Soviet

set of Carnival

feature films and

Night. 1955.
Below: Kolsaty

equivalent of the Academy Awards. The five films

with his beloved
Mitchell camera

(released in two parts in 1938 and

for which he

won

was

honored

were:

A Great Citizen

1939), A Musical
Story (1940), The Great Turning Point (1945), Great
Power (1950), and Taras Shevchenko (1951). Koltsaty
frequently worked with Friedrich Ermler, who di¬
rected three of these films. Up until a few years ago
(Gorbachev's liberalization policies have extended
even to the film industry), directors of photography
were attached to a
specific studio and worked ex¬
clusively for that studio. Koltsaty was the exception.
Although affiliated first with Mosfilm and then with
Lenfilm, he was regularly lent out on orders from

in China, 1960.

the Ministers of Culture and Cinema, who consid¬
ered him such an outstanding craftsman that they
wanted him available to help out wherever he might
be needed.

Koltsaty shot his last film in 1980, at the age
of 75. Two years later he emigrated to the United
States. His son Sasha, also a cinematographer, re¬
sides in Los Angeles as well, having emigrated to the
U.S. after spending several years in Israel. Koltsaty
is

currently working on his autobiography which,
detailing his life, will serve as an invaluable his¬
tory of Soviet cinema.
▲

in

Russian Translators: Larissa

vodka with them.' So he crossed our names off the
list. To think that a chance encounter six years be¬
fore - and a scheme to use indoor bathrooms -
should have saved my life!"

Koltsaty's

career

reads like

a

history of

Soviet cinema. He shot the film, one of the first
sound films, and the first movie in 3-D. He was also
the first Soviet cinematographer to use an American

During the Second World War, the United
cameras to its wartime ally
as part of an aid package. They neglected, however,
to send instructions. A top Soviet director of pho¬
tography tried out the camera, but when the film
was
developed the actors were headless, chopped
off at the top of the frame! No one could figure out
what was wrong and dismissed it as faulty foreign
equipment.
But Koltsaty reasoned that American cam¬
camera.

States sent ten Mitchell

eras

had to be better than Soviet-made ones, and

certainly American actors appeared, complete with
heads, in their movies. He examined the camera and
found that someone had removed a small screw just
above
to

a

drop

another

small window,
a

allowing an opaque screen
fraction below the window. He inserted

screw

and the

camera

worked

perfectly.

Koltsaty never used a Soviet-made camera after that.
Lenfilm even has one of the old Mitchells on display
at the

40

a plaque identifying it
Koltsaty used in A Great Citizen.

studio, with

camera

American

Cinematographer

as

the

November 1990

Eryomina and Herman Sinitzen
American Cinematographer - November 1990

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