Slavko Vorkapich

{{Short description|Serbian-American film director and montagist (1894 –1976)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Slavko Vorkapich

| image = Vorkapich.jpg

| birth_date = {{birth date|1894|3|17|mf=yes}}

| birth_place = Dobrinci, Austria-Hungary (modern-day Vojvodina, Serbia)

| birth_name = Slavoljub Vorkapić

| death_date = {{death date and age|1976|10|20|1894|3|17|mf=yes}}

| death_place = Mijas, Spain

| occupation = Filmmaker, artist

}}

Slavoljub "Slavko" Vorkapić ({{lang-sr-Cyrl|Славољуб "Славко" Воркапић}}; March 17, 1894 – October 20, 1976), known in English as Slavko Vorkapich, was a Serbian-born Hollywood montagist, an independent cinematic artist, chair of USC School of Cinematic Arts, chair of the Belgrade Film and Theatre Academy, painter, and illustrator. He was a prominent figure of modern cinematography and motion picture film art during the early and mid-20th century and was a cinema theorist and lecturer.*On True Cinema, Babac, Marko - 1998, 1.

Early life

Slavoljub Vorkapić was born on March 17, 1894, in the small village of Dobrinci, near Ruma in the Srem region, at the time part of the Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Vojvodina, Serbia).

His father, Petar, the town clerk, insisted that young Slavko be well-educated. After finishing his primary education, he became a student in a well-known regional high-school in the nearby town of Sremska Mitrovica, where he made his first steps in art and drawing. (Mileva Marić-Einstein, the first wife and work associate of Albert Einstein attended the same high school.)

He continued his high-school education in Zemun and later in the famous Art School in Belgrade. With a scholarship received from Matica srpska, Serbia's highest cultural and scientific institution at the time, Vorkapić went to Budapest, Hungary, where he studied art. At the beginning of World War I, he immediately returned to his homeland where, with the country besieged on all sides, he survived the tragic Serbian retreat across Albania in order to reach Allied positions in Greece.

From there he sailed to Italy, from where he reached France. He managed to enter Art Academy in Paris but soon after moved to Montparnasse among other Avant-garde artists. He took part in the 1917 and 1919 collective painter exhibits.

Career

Slavko Vorkapich's dream to go to the United States was fulfilled in 1920. For a short time, he lived in New York City. Then, for almost a year, he roamed the country nearly homeless, until his arrival in Hollywood in July 1921.{{cn|date=November 2022}}

Although he started his motion picture career as a painter and an actor, he became best known as a montagist, special effects expert, cinematic artist, cinema teacher, editor, and became one of the most respected cinematic filmmakers in the period between the two World Wars. Vorkapić made a great number of cinematic documentaries and lyrical purely cinematic short-length movies. He co-wrote the screenplay for Johann the Coffinmaker (1927), a 27-minute experimental film directed by Robert Florey that involved a lot of trick photographic effects.Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. pg. 313; {{ISBN|978-1936168-68-2}}

Vorkapić co-directed the experimental black and white short motion-picture The Life and Death of 9413: a Hollywood Extra (1928) with Robert Florey, and 2 beautiful and exciting visual tone poems, Moods of the Sea (1941) and Forest Murmurs (1947) with his Hollywood colleague, the Hungarian-born montagist and cinematic filmmaker John Hoffman (1904–1980).{{cite book |last=Stratton |first=James |date=2015 |title=A Star Is Born and Born Again: Variations on a Hollywood Archetype |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S0E_DwAAQBAJ |publisher=BearManor Media |page=283 |isbn=978-1593938192}}{{cite book |last=Marimón |first=Joan |date=2022 |title=Montaje cinematográfico, El. Del guion a la pantalla |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e9Z4EAAAQBAJ |publisher=Edicions Universitat Barcelona |page=136 |isbn=978-8491688402 |language=spanish}}

His one-minute montage sequence for the otherwise lost movie Manhattan Cocktail (1928), directed by Dorothy Arzner, was released in the October 2005 DVD collection Unseen Cinema: Early American Avant Garde Film 1894-1941.

He is best known for his montage work on Hollywood movies such as Crime Without Passion (1934), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941), Viva Villa! (1934), David Copperfield (1935), The Good Earth (1937), Three Comrades (1938) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). Vorkapich used kinetic editing, lap dissolves, tracking shots, creative graphics and optical effects for his montage sequences for such features as Manhattan Melodrama (1934), Maytime, The Firefly (both 1937), San Francisco (1936){{cite book |last1=Corrigan |first1=Timothy |last2=White |first2=Patricia| date=2012 |title=The Film Experience: An Introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oztJXky9aJ0C |publisher=Bedford/St. Martin's |page=155 |isbn=978-0312681708}} and Meet John Doe (1941). He created, shot, and edited these kinesthetic montages for features at Universal Pictures, MGM, RKO, and Paramount. He directed a short documentary movie for RKO, Private Smith of the U.S.A., that was nominated for an Academy Award.{{cite book |last=James |first=David E. |date=2005 |title=The Most Typical Avant-Garde: History and Geography of Minor Cinemas in Los Angeles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n0mkbWQ6hIcC&q=This+Is+America+Series+Private+Smith+of+the+U.S.A.&pg=PA459 |location=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press |page=459 |isbn=9780520938199 |oclc=607607424}}

Vorkapich is credited for editing and montage on Moscow Strikes Back (1942), one of four winners at the 15th Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature.{{cite web |title=Moscow Strikes back |url=https://archive.org/details/MoscowStrikesBack |publisher=Artkino Pictures |access-date= |date=1942 |quote=available for free download at the Internet Archive}}{{cite news |title=Movie Review: 'Moscow Strikes Back,' Front-Line Camera Men's Story of Russian Attack, Is Seen at the Globe |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1942/08/17/archives/moscow-strikes-back-frontline-camera-mens-story-of-russian-attack.html |access-date=22 May 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=1942-08-17 |quote=Russian documentary produced by the Central Studios, Moscow, USSR; English commentary by Albert Maltz, narrated by Edward G. Robinson; editing and montage by Slavko Vorkapich; musical score arranged by Dimitri Tiomkin; released here through Artkino Pictures, Inc. At the Globe Theatre. }}

He was appointed chair of the Department of Film of the University of Southern California from 1949 to 1951.

During the 1950s, he was in Yugoslavia and worked as a professor at the Belgrade Film and Theatre Academy. In Yugoslavia in 1955, Vorkapić directed a full-length motion picture, Hanka.{{cn|date=November 2022}}

Personal life

In 1938, Vorkapich commissioned modern architect Gregory Ain to build a garden house for his residence in Beverly Hills. It was a minor landmark in prefabricated architecture.{{cite book

| last = Denzer

| first = Anthony

| title = Gregory Ain: The Modern Home as Social Commentary

| publisher = Rizzoli Publications

| year = 2008

| url = http://www.rizzoliusa.com/catalog/results.pperl?title_auth_isbn=denzer&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&submit=submit

| isbn = 978-0-8478-3062-6}} It has since been destroyed.{{Why|date=November 2022}}{{When|date=November 2022}}

Two of his many master drawings, his gift during a visit to Yugoslavia, are kept in the Srem Museum in Sremska Mitrovica.

His later wife was Marie Denyse Sentous of Los Angeles, California, USA. They were married July 21, 1928 in Santa Barbara, California, USA.Petetition for Naturalization in the United States of America, sworn in court on June 5, 1939.

Death

Slavko Vorkapić died of a heart attack in Mijas, Spain on the estate of his son Edvard who was a cinematographer on October 20, 1976, aged 82.

Influence and legacy

The now-common montage sequence often appeared as a notation in Hollywood screenplays of the 1930s and 40s as the "Vorkapich" because of his mastery of the dynamic visual montage sequence wherein time and space are compressed using a variety of cinematic techniques, such as kinetic montage, camera tricks, optical printer effects, dolly shots, & stylized graphics. Sometimes moviemakers will simply refer to the technique as "a Vorkapich".{{cite web|last1=Dixon|first1=Kelley|title=Better Call Saul Insider Podcast|url=http://podbay.fm/show/966297954|website=podbay|accessdate=17 April 2015|page=1:27:50|format=audio|date=6 April 2015|quote=So I pitched ... what if this is like a Vorkapich?}}

Vorkapich's protege Art Clokey learned kinescope animation techniques under him at USC Film School and went on to use them to create the Gumby animated series.

Better Call Saul creator Peter Gould has cited Vorkapich as a major influence for the two and a half minute montage sequence seen from 27:33–30:00 in the Season 1 finale, "Marco".

References

Sources

The Most Typical Avant-Garde. James, David – 2005
On True Cinema. Babac, Marko – 1998
Slavko Vorkapich: Reminiscences. Davis, Ronald – 1978

External links

{{IMDb name|id=0903465|name=Slavko Vorkapić}}
{{IMDb title|id=0048146|title=Hanka}}
[https://archive.org/details/TheAcidKaleidoscopeExperience Recreation of the life and death of 9413] at the Internet Archive
[http://www.filmreference.com/Writers-and-Production-Artists-Vi-Win/Vorkapich-Slavko.html Slavko Vorkapić] at FilmReference.com
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927202915/http://www.fueradecampo.cl/filmografias/imagenes/vorkapich.jpg Slavko Vorkapić picture circa 1950]
http://purecinema-celluloid.webs.com/slavkovorkapich.htm
"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHLMrbrAIiU The Furies]," opening montage sequence of Crime Without Passion (1934)