Petrov-Byton, Pavel

Petrov-Byton, Pavel Petrovich 

(real surname Petrov). Born Feb. 11 (23), 1895, in the village of Bogorodskoe, now Bogorodsk, Gorky Oblast; died Oct. 26, 1960, in Leningrad. Soviet film director. Member of the CPSU from 1918.

Petrov-Bytov graduated from the Petrozavodsk Theatrical Studio in 1921. From 1931 to 1933 he attended the Institute of Literature, Art, and Languages of the Communist Academy. He began working at the Sevzapkino film studio (now Lenfil’m) in 1924. In 1927, Petrov-Bytov made the film The Maelstrom, one of the first works devoted to the social transformation of the countryside. In 1929 he directed his best film, Cain and Artem, adapted from M. Gorky and praised by A. V. Lunacharskii. Other films included The Miracle (1934), Pugachev (1937), and The Rout of Iudenich (1941). After the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45, Petrov-Bytov worked at the Leningrad Studio of Popular-Science Films.

REFERENCES

Lunacharskii, A. V. “Kain i Artem.” In Lunacharskii o kino. Moscow, 1965.
Gurevich, S. “P. P. Petrov-Bytov.” In the collection Iz istorii “Lenfil’ma,” fasc. 1. Leningrad, 1968.