Boris Konstantinowitsch Bilinski

Boris Konstantinowitsch Bilinski , different spelling also Bilinsky ( Russian Борис Константинович Билинский ; born September 21, 1900 in Bendery ; † February 3, 1948 in Catania ) was a Russian costume designer and set designer with a career in Western European film.

Live and act

Poster for Fritz Lang's film Metropolis , published in 1927 ;
French variant; owned by the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Consisting of Bendery in the then Russian Bessarabia , now Moldova originating Bilinski was a result of the post-revolutionary unrest in Russia with his mother and three sisters at the age of 20 years from Berlin emigrated, where he as a stage decorator (including the cabaret 'The Blue Bird ') worked. A few years later he went to France , designed temporarily for the theater there and soon joined the Belarusian circle of artists in exile around the film producer Jacques N. Ermolieff .

Bilinski designed the costumes for a number of Ermolieff's 'Albatross' productions, mostly with the Russian screen star Ivan Mosschuchin in the lead role. On the side, Bilinski worked on Parisian theaters (also for ballet performances by Russian exiled artists) as an outfitter and costume designer. He also created several artistically impressive poster designs for the French premiere of Fritz Lang's classic film Metropolis in autumn 1927. Bilinski, who had already been awarded a gold medal for his poster painting in Paris in 1925 at an international exhibition, then founded his own in 1928 Cinema advertising specialist company 'Alboris', which mainly focused on the production of movie posters .

In the same year he followed Ermolieff to Munich for two film assignments . Bilinski work field as Filmkostümier were primarily equipment intensive period films , often with literary, political or adventure background like The Count of Monte Cristo , The White Devil , mysteries of the Orient , Casanova , Magnificent Sinner , Michael Strogoff and from Mayerling to Sarajevo .

At the beginning of the 1930s, important orders from the stage were added again, and Bilinski began to design costumes and decorations for ballets and operas such as Ruslan and Lyudmila . In 1934 he created the ornaments for the Russian exile cabaret 'Shéhérazade' in the Rue de Liège in Paris, and in May 1937 he was responsible for the set and costumes for Debussy's opera Pelléas et Mélisande , which took place during the coronation celebrations of King George VI. at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden .

Shortly after the outbreak of World War II, Bilinski emigrated to Italy with his Italian wife and continued his work, this time also as a film architect, in the Cinecittà studio complex in Rome . Having fallen ill since 1946, Boris Bilinski could no longer continue his work in film. He died in Catania in 1948 .

Filmography

as a costume designer, unless otherwise stated

• 1922: Marriage stories ( Le brasier ardent )
• 1924: The gallant prince ( Le prince charming )
• 1924: Le lion des mogols
• 1925: L'affiche (only equipment)
• 1925: Artist's Blood ( Âme d'artiste )
• 1927: Casanova ( Casanova )
• 1927/28: The Count of Monte Christo, 2 parts ( Monte Cristo , only buildings)
• 1928: Secrets of the Orient
• 1929: The false daughter of the Tsar ( La Tarakanova )
• 1929: Rhapsody of love ( Kult Ciala )
• 1929: The white devil
• 1930: Fra Diavolo
• 1930: La femme d'une nuit (also equipment)
• 1930/31: La maison jaune de Rio
• 1932: Monsieur Tugendsam ( Le rosier de Madame Husson )
• 1932: La mille et deuxième nuit
• 1933: Casanova ( Les amours de Casanova ) (buildings only)
• 1935: Blood Brothers 1918 ( L'équipage )
• 1935: The Tsar's courier
• 1936: Stjenka Razin
• 1937: Les nuits blanches de Saint-Pétersbourg
• 1937: La dame de Malacca
• 1937: La bataille silencieuse
• 1938: Le patriote
• 1938: Monsieur Coccinelle (also equipment)
• 1938: Katja, the uncrowned Empress ( Katia )
• 1938: Entente Cordiale
• 1939: The day is dawning ( Le jour se lève )
• 1939: Tempêtes
• 1938–1940: Volpone ( Volpone )
• 1939/40: From Mayerling to Sarajevo ( De Mayerling à Sarajévo )
• 1940: Senza Cielo (also equipment)
• 1941: criminal record ( Ridi pagliaccio! )
• 1941: Crowned love ( Amore imperiale , also equipment)
• 1941: È caduta una donna
• 1942: Orizzonte di sangue (also equipment)
• 1942: Paura d'amare
• 1942: L'angelo bianco
• 1943: La carne e l'anima (only equipment, premiere: 1945)
• 1946: husband to order ( Il marito povero , only equipment)
• 1946: Lo sconosciuto di San Marino (only equipment)

literature

• Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 1: A - C. Erik Aaes - Jack Carson. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 391.

Web links

Commons : Boris Konstantinovitch Bilinsky  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Boris Bilinsky in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Metropolis ( Memento from December 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
• Boris Konstantinovich Bilinsky