Page 230 - Inside the Film Factory New Approaches to Russian and Soviet Cinema

BORIS SHUMYATSKY AND SOVIET CINEMA IN THE 1930S 211
such as Savchenko and Schneider’s The Accordion [Garmon, 1934] and Pyriev’s
extraordinary The Tractor Drivers [1939].
Of almost equal importance are films depicting the socialist construction of
industry such as Macheret’s Men and Jobs [1932], Dovzhenko’s Ivan [1932] or
Ermler’s Counterplan [1932]. This theme was closely related to another: the
depiction of the Revolution through the portrayal of its effect on an individual who,
while being a fully developed character in his own right (unlike Eisenstein’s ‘types’
or Kuleshov’s naturshchiki), also represented the mass. The Kozintsev and
Trauberg Maxim trilogy is perhaps the best example of this, although their Alone,
Ekk’s The Path to Life, Yutkevich’s The Golden Mountains, Pudovkin’s The
Deserter or Raizman’s The Pilots [Letchiki, 1935] would also suffice. This theme
was again intertwined with what Shumyatsky termed ‘the everyday life of the new
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man’. One of the most intriguing films in this field, Abram Room’s A Severe
Young Man, from a script by Yuri Olesha, was in fact banned because it confronted
in a politically unacceptable way the question of inequalities in Soviet life and both
director and scriptwriter were disgraced. It is worth noting, however, that, despite
the thorough discussion of the film at all stages of its production, it was actually
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completed –unlike Bezhin Meadow, and unlike Room’s earlier project, Once One
Summer. Quite how it was completed, given the controversial nature of its subject-
matter, is one of the many questions that still await an answer.
The last theme that Shumyatsky urged upon Soviet film-makers was that of
defence. Again it is difficult to consign particular films to any one thematic division
but, if we are to include the defence of the Revolution, then the list is almost
endless: Soviet cinema has from its inception produced a steady flow of ‘historical
revolutionary’ films. We could again include the Maxim trilogy, The Deserter and,
for different reasons, The Pilots and The Tractor Drivers but we should also recall
Barnet’s Outskirts [1933], Dovzhenko’s Aerograd [1935], Dzigan’s We from
Kronstadt, the Zarkhi and Heifits The Baltic Deputy [Deputat Baltiki, 1936] and, of
course, Eisenstein’s one completed 1930s film, Alexander Nevsky [1938]. Lastly,
we might also include films about the rise of anti-Semitism and fascism in the
West: Pyriev’s The Conveyor-Belt of Death (Konveier smerti, 1933], Kuleshov’s
Gorizont [1932], Roshal’s The Oppenheim Family [Sem’ya Oppengeim, 1938] or
the Minkin and Rappaport film Professor Mamlock [1938].
But one of the most important themes for Soviet film-makers in the 1930s was
the Civil War of 1918—21. Its role for Soviet cinema was comparable to that of the
western for Hollywood and it had many of the same ingredients: action and
excitement, clearly defined ‘goodies’ and ‘baddies’ (Reds and Whites instead of
cowboys and Indians), and the security of a known ‘kheppi-end’ that established
and then confirmed a myth and in this instance helped to legitimise the Revolution
and the sacrifices in the eyes of the cinema-going public.
The great model for the Civil War film was of course Chapayev, made by the
Vasiliev ‘brothers’ in 1934, which, perhaps not surprisingly, won the Grand Prix at
the 1st Moscow International Film Festival in 1935. No other Soviet film, not even