Last night, thinking I had rented a Russian-language film from Netflix to practice my vocabulary, I watched the most interesting documentary I have seen in years. It is called From Russia to Hollywood, the 100 Year Odyssey of Chekhov and Shdanoff.Produced by Hollywood acting teacher Lisa Dalton, whom I presume is a former student of Michael Chekhov or his young colleague George Shdanoff, the film features almost as many stars as there once were on the MGM back lot--James Dean, Rex Harrison, Patricia Neal, Clint Eastwood, Gary Cooper, Beatrice Straight, Jack Palance, Marilyn Monroe, Gregory Peck, Yul Brynner, Jennifer Jones, Lloyd Bridges, Leslie Caron, even Jack Larson, who played Jimmy Olsen on TV's Superman. They all studied the "Psychological Gesture" technique pioneered by the nephew of Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, whose creative synthesis of acting styles moved beyond Konstantin Stanislavsky's "Method" as promoted by Lee Strasberg, and British "technical" acting of the Laurence Olivier variety.
Chekhov had once been the leading actor on the Moscow stage, before he had to flee for his life from both Stalin's purges and Hitler's conquest of Paris. Luckily, he managed to escape to England--where he was supported by the Whitney family's private theatre operation at Dartington Hall. Chekhov eventually made his way to Hollywood, at the invitation of Rachmaninoff, apparently. In California, a brief acting career led to work as a coach for some of the biggest names in pictures.
I especially enjoyed the segments with Anthony Quinn and Leslie Caron, for their stories of working with Chekhov make one sorry that there are not many clips of him at work in the film.
If you are interested in acting, or Hollywood history, or Russian culture, this is definitely a film worth seeing. I found it interesting that I didn't remember learning much about Chekhov, despite years studying movie history at UCLA. Thanks to Lisa Dalton, and what seems like a real labor of love, future students of movie history have a chance to give Michael Chekhov and George Shdanoff the credit they deserve for nurturing a style of acting--based a recognition of shared humanity--that has stood the test of time. You can read the Wikipedia entry here. More here. There are lots of other Michael Chekhov-oriented websites you might look at with a Google search. Meanwhile, you can rent From Russia to Hollywood, the 100 Year Odyssey of Chekhov and Shdanoff from Netflix, here. Five Stars.
