Journalist and translator who became a screenwriter and assistant director in the 1930s and made an acclaimed directorial debut with the Maupassant adaptation, "Pushka/Boule de suif" (1934). During his early career, Romm's vision chimed with the prevailing political climate. He directed two intelligent, sensitive biographical portraits, "Lenin in October" (1937) and "Lenin in 1918" (1938); and, when commissioned to make a socialist version of John Ford's "Lost Patrol", turned out a gripping and compassionate desert drama, "The Thirteen" (1937)....