Rouben Mamoulian

Birthday: 8 October 1897, Tiflis, Russian Empire [now Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia]

Birth Name: Rouben Zachary Mamoulian

Height: 184 cm

Rouben Mamoulian was born on October 8, 1897 in Tiflis, Russian Empire as Rouben Zachary Mamoulian. He was a director and writer, known for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), The Mark of Zorro (1940) and Queen Christina (1933). He was married to Azadia Newman. He died on December 4, 1987 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.

You can have all the philosophy you like: if a film doesn't come across in graphic terms, it falls s...Show more »

You can have all the philosophy you like: if a film doesn't come across in graphic terms, it falls short. Show less «

It was touching to see how Ira Gershwin, while singing, would become so overwhelmed with admiration ...Show more »

It was touching to see how Ira Gershwin, while singing, would become so overwhelmed with admiration for his brother [George Gershwin] that he would look from him to me with half-open eyes and pantomime with a soft gesture of his hand, as if saying,"He did it. Isn't it wonderful? Isn't HE wonderful?". Show less «

Realism and naturalism are not for me. I think it's too feeble an instrument.

The most important critic is time.

[on casting Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932)] I don't want Hyde to be a monster, Hyde is not evil, he ...Show more »

[on casting Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932)] I don't want Hyde to be a monster, Hyde is not evil, he is the primitive, the animal in us, whereas Jekyll is a cultured man, representing the intellect. Hyde is the Neanderthal man and [Fredric March's] makeup was designed as such. Show less «

I think that anybody - and I'm not exaggerating - is capable of giving one hell of a good performanc...Show more »

I think that anybody - and I'm not exaggerating - is capable of giving one hell of a good performance. Show less «

I consider that color on the screen must be used as an emotion.

[on CinemaScope] The worst shape ever devised.

[interviewed in 1966]: The screen is the most powerful, exciting and contemporary medium. One of the...Show more »

[interviewed in 1966]: The screen is the most powerful, exciting and contemporary medium. One of these days, we will learn to do it full justice. Show less «

I visualize a whole film before I come to the set and then I try to match it.

[on the improvisations George Gershwin brought to music] George at the piano was George happy. He wo...Show more »

[on the improvisations George Gershwin brought to music] George at the piano was George happy. He would draw a lovely melody out of the keyboard like a golden thread, then he would play with it and juggle it, twist it and toss it around mischievously, weave it into unexpected patterns, tie it in knots and untie it and hurl it into a cascade of ever-changing rhythms and counterpoints. George at the piano was like a gay sorcerer celebrating his Sabbath. Show less «

Improvisation is for the birds and the amateurs.

We have forsaken the magic of the cinema. We have gotten too far away from the cinematic effects ach...Show more »

We have forsaken the magic of the cinema. We have gotten too far away from the cinematic effects achievable by camera angles and creative editing. Show less «

Rouben Mamoulian's FILMOGRAPHY

as Director (5)

109 min

Country: United States

Genre: Thriller, Horror, Mystery

Twelve years after the tragic death of their little girl, a dollmaker and his wife welcome a nun and several girls from a shuttered orphanage into ...

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Rouben Mamoulian

The Mark of Zorro

Cleopatra

Blood and Sand

Queen Christina

Rings on Her Fingers

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