Aleksandr Ptushko

Aleksandr Lukich Ptushko Russian Александр Лукич Птушко 19 April OS 6 April 1900 6 March 1973 was a Soviet animation and fantasy film director and a Peoples Artist of the USSR 1969 Ptushko is frequently and somewhat misleadingly referred to as the Soviet Walt Disney because of his prominent early role in animation in the Soviet Union though a more accurate comparison would be to Willis H OBrien or Ray Harryhausen Some critics such as Tim Lucas and Alan Upchurch have also compared Ptushko to Italian filmmaker Mario Bava who made fantasy and horror films with similarities to Ptushkos work and made similarly innovative use of color cinematography and special effects He began his film career as a director and animator of stop motion short films and became a director of featurelength films combining live action stop motion creative special effects and Russian mythology Along the way he would be responsible for a number of firsts in Russian film history including the first featurelength animated film and the first film in color and would make several extremely popular and internationally praised films full of visual flair and spectacle