Bleiman, Mikhail

Born May 6 (19), 1904, in Rostov-on-Don. Soviet screenwriter, critic, and cinematic art theoretician.

Bleiman studied in the history-philology department of the University of Don (Rostov-on-Don, 1920–23) and at the Briusov Institute of Literature and Art (Moscow, 1923). He began to work in cinema in the 1920’s. He is the author of about 40 screenplays. Bleiman’s greatest works are the films The Great Citizen (1937–39, with F. M. Ermler and M. V. Bol’shintsov) and The Deed of the Agent (1947, with K. F. Isaev and M. B. Makliarskii). He participated in the creation of the screenplays for The Invincibles (1942, with M. K. Kalatozov), The Sky of Moscow (1944, with Bol’shintsov), It Happened in the Donets Basin (1945, with B. L. Gorbatov and S. P. Antonov), Return With Victory (1947, with Isaev), Anxious Youth (1955, with V. P. Beliaev), and many others. Bleiman is the author of many articles on questions of cinematic art and problems of screenwriting. He also teaches. He won the State Prize of the USSR in 1948. He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and medals.