The sound film emerging

Pre-war years and the years of the Great Patriotic War

In the history of world cinema 1935 was the year of the first color film «Becky Sharp» (the world's first full-length film in color) release. It was a screen version of the novel by William Thackeray «Vanity Fair» by American director of Armenian origin Ruben Mamulyan. Ruben Mamulyan, director of theater and cinema, the first director of many plays by Eugene O'Neill, worked in Hollywood since the late 1920's. In his films, stars such as Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, and Maurice Chevalier shone. Among his other films there are: «Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde» (1931), «The song of the songs» (1933), «The sign of Zorro» (1940), «Blood and Sand» (1941). In 1963, the historical drama «Cleopatra», starring with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, appeared. The film's directors were Joseph Leo Mankiewicz, Ruben Mamulyanan and Darryl F. Zanuck.

In the history of Armenian cinema 1935 was also marked by the appearance of sound films. The first Armenian sound film «Pepo» (based on Gabriel Sundukyan's play, 1935, the director Beknazaryan, lyrics by Eghishe Charents, music by Aram Khachaturyan) entered the golden fund of multinational Soviet cinema art, summed up the development of Armenian cinema and opened a new page in its history and marked a more mature stage of cooperation between cinema and other kinds of art. The premiere of the film took place during the opening of the Moscow cinema in Yerevan. An important component of «Pepo», the action of which takes place in Tbilisi at the end of the XIX century, was the music and songs of the Tbilisi Armenians. The young composer Aram Khachaturyan wrote music for the film and for him this was the first experience in the cinema. The film featured such actors as Nersesyan, Hasmik, Avetyan, Avetisyan, Malyan, Gulakyan, Makhmurova and Khachanyan.

In the second half of the 1930s, mainly historical and revolutionary films were produced. An interesting works by young directors Hayartyan («Karo», 1937) and Gevorkov («Mountain March», 1939) were created. The most remarkable film of these years was Beknazaryan's «Zangezur» (1938), dedicated to the establishment of Soviet power in Armenia. In 1941, Hamo Beknazaryan and actors Hrachya Nersisyan and Avet Avetisyan were awarded the Stalin Prize for that film.

Among the films on the contemporary topics there are «The unbreakable friendship» (or «Mountain stream», directed by Barkhudaryan) about the friendship of the Armenian and the Azerbaijani collective farmers and the comedy «The People of Our Collective Farm» (director Hayartyan), both shot in 1940.

During the Great Patriotic War, short feature films about the human destinies were created– «Daughter» (1942, director Beknazaryan) and «The Guardsman's Wife» (1943, directed by Barkhudaryan). In 1944, Beknazaryan completed work on the historical film «David Bek», dedicated to the heroic struggle of the Armenian patriots, led by the outstanding commander of the 18th century David Bek, for the liberation of his homeland from the Persian conquerors. The author of the film songs lyrics was the poet Avetik Isahakyan.