Russian
and Eurasian Films at MHC
Drama
The following
films are all in the MHC library, except for the opera, which are
at the music library in Pratt. Unless otherwise noted, they are
all on video and all have English subtitles.
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Adam's
Rib (Rebro Adama) (1992)
PN1997 .R425 1994
Director: Vyacheslav Krishtofovich
Cast: Inna Churikova, Svetlana Ryabova, Maria Golubkina, Elena Bogdanov
Based on the novel Babii dom by A. Kukrchatkin. Three generations
of women share a small, crowded apartment with Nina at the center
of it all. Twice married and divorced, with two sexually active
daughters, one from each failed marriage, she is also at the beck
and call of her mute mother who rings her bedside bell whenever
she craves attention. Trying to cope with the men that exist in
their lives and the troubles they bring, forms the cornerstone of
this bittersweet, comic film.
In Russian language with yellow English subtitles.
(77 min.)
Alexander
Nevsky (1938)
PN1997 .A3533 1990
Director: Sergei M. Eisenstein
Cast:Nikolai Cherkasov, Nikolai Okhlopkov, Alexander Abikosov, Dmitri
Orlov
Biographical story of Prince Alexander Nevsky and his successful
resistance against an attempt by the Teutonic Knights to invade
Russia in 1242.
(108 min.)
Andrei
Rublev (1966)
PN1997 .A495 1992 pt. 1
PN1997 .A495 1992 pt. 2
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Cast: Anatoly Solonitsyn, Ivan Lapikov, Nikolai Grinko
Story of the famed 15th century icon painter who survives the cruelties
of medieval Russia and creates works of art.
(185 min.)
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Anna
Karenina
(1967)
PN1997 .A538 1995
Film adaptation of Tolstoy's classic novel
Director: Aleksandr Zarkhi
Cast: Tatiana Samoilova (Anna Karenina), Vasilii Lanovoi (Count
Vronsky), Nikolai Gritsenko (Karenin), Iurii IAkovlev, Anastasiia
Vertinskaia, Iia Savvina, Maia Plisetskaia
The wife of an aging Russian aristocrat falls for a dashing cavalry
officer.
(143 min.)
The
Ascent (Voskhozhdenie) (1976)
PN1997 .V72
Director: Larisa Shepitko
Cast: Boris Plotnikov, Vladimir Gostiukhin, Sergei Iakovlev, Liudmila
Poliakova, Viktoriia Goldentul, Anatolii Solonitsyn, Nilolai Sektimenko,
Mariia Vinogradova
Russian partisans confront the Nazis during World War II. Two men
react in different ways to their capture and torture.
(111 min.)
Ballad
of a Soldier (Ballada o soldate) (1958)
PN1997 .B3279 1992
Director: Grigori Chukhrai
Cast: Vladimir Ivashov, Shanna Prokhorenko
A soldier-boy earns a ten-day leave to go home to his mother by
performing a desperate act of bravery at the front. On the way home
he has many adventures.
(89 min.)
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The
Battleship Potemkin (Bronenosets Potemkin)
(1925)
DVD
PN1997 .B384 1998
Director: Sergei Eisenstein
Digital videodisc release of a 1925 motion picture by Goskino
Cast: Alexander Antonov, Grigori Alexandrov, Vladimir Barski, Mikhail
Gomorov, A. Levshin, Maxim Strauch Potemkin re-creats the 1905 mutiny
on the battleship "Prince Potemkin." It focuses a mutiny
by the battleship's crew and the subsequent massacre of civilians
- that reflects the spirit of the times. Silent film with Russian
intertitles and English subtitles and music score.
(74 min.)
Beginnings
PN1997 .E25 1992 pt.1
This videocassette contains 4 previously released films: A Fish
Factory in Astrakhan -- Sten'ka Razin -- Princess Tarakanova --
Romance with Double-Bass (Chekhov adaptation)
A silent film with Russian and English subtitles and original music
added.
Cast: Evgenii Petrov-Kraevskii (in the 2nd work), V. Mikulina, N.
Aleksandrova, Nikolai Vasilev (in the 3rd work), V. Gorskaia (in
the 4th work).
Documentaries like A Fish Factory in Astrakhan (1908) preceded
the the first Russian dramatic production, Stenka Razin (Romashkov,
1908). Meanwhile, the Moscow branch of Path produced its own version
of the film d'art, Princess Tarakanova (Hansen/Ma_tre, 1910)
and soon followed with the first of many Chekhov adaptations, Romance
with double bass.
(38 min.)
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Brief
Encounters (Korotkie vstrechi)
(1990)
PN1997 .K678 1990
Director: Kira Muratova
Cast: Nina Ruslanova, Vladimir Visotsky, Kira Muratova
A busy District Soviet official interrupts her full schedule to
befriend a young woman from the country and to recall her bittersweet
memories of brief encounters with her often absent lover, a prospecting
geologist.
(87 min.)
The
Brigade (Brigada) (2002)
DVD
PN1992.77.B75 B75 2002 parts 1-6
Director: Alekseia Sidorov
Cast: Sergei Bezrukov, Dmitrii Diazhev, Ekaterina Guseva, Pavel
Maikov, Vladimir Vdovichenkov
Gangster drama set in Russia in the 1990s, showing the progression
a group of four friends takes from 1989 to the present day. Originally
broadcast as a television program. Includes 15 45-minute episodes,
as well as interviews with the actors.
Brother
(Brat) (1997)
DVD
PN1997 .B722 2000
Director: Alexei Balabanov
Cast: Sergei Bodrov, Jr., Victor Sukorukov, Svetlana Pis'michenko,
Mariia Zhukova
When Danila is discharged from the Army, he travels to St. Petersburg
to find his older brother, who is now working for a mafia group
that is in conflict with a rival Chechen organized crime faction.
(96 min.)
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Brother
2 (Brat 2)
(1999)
DVD
PN1997 .B723 2000
Director: Aleksei Balabanov
Cast: Sergei Bodrov, Jr., Viktor Sukhorukov, Sergei Makovetskii,
Gari Khiuston, Irina Saltykova, Kirill Pirogov Second film about
a Russian "hero" Danila Bagrov. He meets his army buddies
with whom he fought in Chechnya. One of them, Konstantin, tells
Danila about his brother, a professional hockey player in America,
who is swindled into an oppressive contract by the team owner and
the Ukrainian mafia. After Konstantin is found dead, Danila and
his brother head to America to avenge Konstantin’s death and
resolve his brother’s situation.
(125 min.)
Includes documentary film "Kak snimalsia 'Brat 2'"
(60 min.)
Burnt
by the Sun (Utomlennye solntsem) (1994)
PN1997 .B837 1995
Director: Nikita Mikhalkov
Cast: Oleg Menshikov, Nikita Mikhalkov, Ingeborga Dapkunaite, Nadya
Mikhalkov
Colonel S. Kotov, a hero of the Revolution, is spending the summer
in the country with his young daughter (Mikhalkov's real-life daughter),
his wife and her eccentric family. But when his wife's childhood
love suddenly appears, the idyllic summer day takes a surprising
turn. A lyrical film filled with beauty and warmth, it is also an
indelible account of a man dedicated to family and fatherland, cruelly
destroyed by political paranoia. 1994 Academy Award for Best foreign
language film.
(134 min.)
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By
the Law, Chess Fever (1926)
PN1997 .B98 1997
Based upon "The unexpected," by Jack London
Director: Lev Kuleshov
Cast: Vladimir Fogel, Sergei Komarov, Alexandra Khokhlova By
the law: While searching for gold in the Yukon, a disgruntled
prospector viciously murders two of his fellow shareholders, and
the surviving members, after committing the dead to the frozen earth,
must decide the fate of their deranged cohort.
Chess fever: A Keaton-esque comedy in which a young man's
passion for the game threatens to wreck his marriage.
(108 min.)
A
Chef in Love (1996)
PN1997 .C4624 1997
Director: Nana Djordjadze
Cast: Pierre Richard, Micheline Presle, Nino Kirtadze, Jean-Yves
Gautier, Temour Kamkhadze
A sweeping romance about a free-spirited Frenchman whose romantic
idyll with a princess in pre-Soviet Georgia is threatened by the
barbarism of the Russian revolution. French, Georgian and Russian
with English subtitles.
(100 min.)
Chapayev
(1934)
PN1997 .C45 1984
Directors: S. Vassiliev, G. Vassiliev
Cast: B. Babochkin, B. Blinov, V. Myasnikova, L. Kmit, I. Pevtsov,
S. Shkurat
Story of a beloved hero of the Russian Revolution. An illiterate
member of the Czar's army, he formed his own unit after the Revolution
and fought on the Red side against the Whites.
(101 min.)
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Chekist
(1992)
PN1997 .C4625 1996
Director: Alexandr Rogojkin
Cast: Igor Sergheyer, Alexei Poluyan, Mikhail Vasserbaum, Serghey
Isavnin
In 1917, at the birth of the Russian Revolution, the Bolshevik secret
police (C.H.E.K.A.), forerunners of the KGB, unleased a reign of
bloody terror to wipe out any opposition to communism. This film
follows the daily rituals of a Cheka officer as he and his men judge
and execute their victims.
(90 min.)
The
Cherry Orchard (Vishnevyi sad) (1994)
PN1997 .V5455 1994
Based on Chekhov's play “The Cherry Orchard”
Director: V. Martens
Cast: T. Eremeeva, E. TSyplakova, L. Pirogova, I. Annenkov, V. Korshunov
(55 min.)
The
Commissar (1967, released 1988)
PN1997 .C6478 1993
Based on the story In the Town of Berdichev by Vassily Grossman
Director: Alexander Askoldov
Cast: Nonna Mordyukova, Rolan Bykov
In this drama set against the Russian Civil War, a tough Red Army
commander's military career is disrupted by an unwanted pregnancy.
Forced to stay with a poor Jewish family until her child is born,
she finds herself transformed by the warmth and compassion of her
hosts. She must ultimately decide whether to rejoin her troops or
stay with her child.
(105 min.)
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The
Cranes are Flying (Letiat zhuravli)
(1957)
PN1997 .C736 1992
Director: Mikhail Kalatozov
Cast: Tatiana Samohilova, Aleksei Batalov
Set during World War II, a tragic story of youthful love shattered
by war.
(94 min.)
Creation
of Adam (Sotvorenie Adama) (1993)
PN1997 .S6446 1995
Direcor:Yuri Pavlov
Cast : Saulus Balandis, Serghei Vinogradov, Alexander Strizhenov,
Irina Metliskaya, Anzhelika Nevolina
Andrey's marriage is in trouble when his wife accuses him of being
gay. Andrey helps a young gay man, Philip, escape from some local
bullies. A work visit from a charismatic, wealthy businessman turns
Andrey's life around. Russian with English subtitles.
(93 min.)
Dersu
Uzala (1974)
PN1997 .D877 1994
Direcor: Akira Kurosawa
Cast: Yuri Solomin, Maxim Munzuk
In eastern Siberia, 1902, a native hunter befriends the leader of
a Russian mapping expedition and becomes its guide and primitive
philosopher. Based on the novel by Vladimir Arsenyev. Winner of
the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, 1975.
(140 min.)
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The
Deserter (1933)
PN1997 .D4665 1997
Director: Vsevolod Pudovkin
A German shipyard laborer joins a worker's strike in defiance of
a corrupt union and regardless of the company's violent reprisals.
Starved, beaten and discouraged, he is sent as an envoy to the USSR
and is rejuvenated by the spirit of cooperation and optimism of
the idyllic workers' state. In Russian with English subtitles.
(100 min.)
Don
Quixote (Don Kikhot) (1957)
PQ6332.S7 D65
Director: Grigori Kozintsev
Cast: Nikolai Cherkassov, Y. Tolubeyev, S. Birman
Don Quixote and his squire set out to right the wrongs of the world.
Adapted from Cervantes' novel.
(110 min.)
The
End of an Era (Early Russian cinema ; v.10):
The revolutionary = Revoliutsioner
For luck = Za schast'em/K schast'iu
Behind the screen = Kulisy ekrana
PN1997 .E25 1992 pt.10
These Russian films (1917) were originally silent; music acc. and
English subtitles added.
Cast: Revolutionary: Ivan Perestiani; For luck: Nikolai
Radin
Between the February and October revolutions in 1917, Russian cinema
reflected urgent new themes, as in The Revolutionary. Bur
Bauer also continued his vein of tragic melodrama in what was to
be his last film, For Luck -- designed by and featuring as
an actor the young Kuleshov. A poignant fragment, Behind the Screen,
shows the stars Mozzhukhin and Lisenko on the eve of their departure
into exile.
(91 min.)
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The
End of St. Petersburg (Konets Sankt-Peterburga) (1927)
PN1997 .K674 1991
Director: Vsevolod Pudovkin
Cast: Vera Baranovskaya, Ivan Chuvelev
Shows changing conditions in Russia as seen by a young peasant who
lived through the upheaval in St. Petersburg that culminated in
the revolution of 1917. Made for the 10th anniversary of the Russian
revolution.
(89 min.)
Europe,
Europe (Evropa Evropa) (1992)
PN1997 .E928 1992
Director/writer: Agnieszka Holland
Cast: Marco Hofschneider, Julie Delpy, Hanns Zischler
In German and Russian with English subtitles. The true story of
a Jewish teenager who survived World War II by living as a Nazi
for 7 years and through 3 countries.
(115 min.)
Evgenii
Bauer
PN1997 .E946 1992 (Early Russian Cinema, Vol. 7)
Russian films, directed by Bauer, were originally silent; music
acc. and English intertitles added
A child of the big city = Ditia bolshogo goroda (1913);
The 1002nd ruse = Tysiacha vtoraia khitrost (1915); Daydreams
= Grezy (1915).
(93 min.)
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The
Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks
(Neobychainye prikliucheniia Mistera Vesta v strane Bolshevikov)
(1924)
PN1997 .E973 1991
Director: Lev Kuleshov
Cast: Porfiri Podobed, Boris Barnet, Vsevolod Pudovkin
In this satiric film on America's slanted view of the Soviet Union,
Mr. West is a bourgeois American who visits those "mad, savage
Russians" on a dare. Once in Russia, he is faced with an onslaught
of strange characters and events, thrusting him into a world of
danger and intrigue. He soon concludes that only through his all-American
ingenuity will he survive ... and then the farce begins. Short introduction
in English; film subtitled in English; accompanied by musical score.
(78 min.)
Father
Sergius (Otets Sergii) (1978)
PN1997 .O823 1980z
Director: Igor Talankin
Cast: S. Bondarchuk, V. Titova, V. Strzhelchik
The story of a young Russian prince who flees the court to become
a monk and later renounces even that position to travel the country
as a poor pilgrim. Based on the story by Leo Tolstoy.
(130 min.)
Five
Evenings (Piat vecherov) (198?)
PN1997 .P53
Director: Nikita Mikhalkov
Cast: Stanislav Liubshin, Liudmila Gurchenko
Follows the emotional turmoil of a man who, in the course of five
evenings, becomes reacquainted with an old flame. In Russian, no
subtitles.
(105 min.)
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Freeze,
Die, Come to Life (Zamri, umri, voskresni) (1989)
PN1997 .Z255 1991
Director: Vitaly Kanevsk
Cast: Pavel Nazarov, Dinara Drukarova, Yelena Popova
A story of two children who experience the insanity of growing up
in a remote Russian mining community during the period of Communist
rule.
(105 min.)
The
Girl with the Box (Devushka s korobkoi) (1927)
PN1997 .D490 1991
Director: Boris Barnet
Cast: Anna Sten, Vladimir Fogel, Pavel Pol, Ivan Koval Samborsky,
Serafima Birman
A girl who works in a small hat shop is given a supposedly worthless
lottery ticket instead of wages by her unscrupulous employer. The
ticket wins her a fortune, and a chase ensues to possess the ticket
and her affection.
(67 min.)
The
Gorky Trilogy (1938-1940)
PN1997 .G657 1900z pt.1
PN1997 .G657 1900z pt.2
PN1997 .G657 1900z pt.3
Director: Mark Donskoi
Cast: Alexi Lyarsky, Varvara Massalitinova, Nokolai Valbert
Screen adaptations of Gorky’s novels: My childhood (The
childhood of Maxim Gorky) -- My apprenticeship -- My university.
(300 min.)
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A
Hundred Days Before the Order (100 dnei do prikaza) 2000
DVD
PN1997 .S76 2000
Cast: Vladimir Zamanskii, Armen Dzhigarkhanian, Oleg Vasilkov, Roman
Grekov
Five young Red Army recruits struggle for survival against the violence
that surrounds them on a daily basis.
(70 min.)
His
Personal Life (Chastnaia zhizn) (1987?)
PN1997 .C46 1987
Director: Yuli Raizman
Cast: Mikhail Ulyanov (Sergei Abrikosov), Iya Savvina, Irina Gubanova
A manager of a large Soviet factory, who had spent all his time
and energy in work, is facing retirement. He takes stock of his
role as husband and father and the many things he has neglected
and attempts to acquire a private life.
(103 min.)
I
am Cuba (Ia—Kuba) (1964)
PN1997 .I238 1995
Script: Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Enrique Pineda Barnet
Director: Mikhail Kalatozov
Four main stories show the rise of the Communist revolution in Cuba,
including Battista's Havana and the grinding poverty and oppression
of the Cuban people.
Dialogue in Spanish and Russian, subtitles in English.
(141 min.)
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Iakov
Protazanov
(Early Russian Cinema, vol. 8)
The departure of a great old man = Ukhod velikogo startsa
(1912)
The queen of spades = Pikovaia dama (1916)
PN1997 .I24 1992
Russian films, directed by Protazanov, were originally silent; music
acc. and English subtitles added.
Cast for Departure: Vladimir Shaternikov, O Petrova, Mikhail
Tamarov, Elizaveta Thiemann.
Cast for Queen: Ivan Mozzhukhin, Vera Orlova, Elizaveta Shebueva.
(95 min.)
Incident
at Map Grip 36-80 (Sluchai v kvadrate 36-80) (1983)
PN1997 .S578 1983
Director: Mikhail Tumanishvili
Cast: Boris Scherbakov, Mikhai Volontir, Anatoly Kuznetsov, Vladimir
Sedov
A Soviet and an American military officer must decide the fate of
a disabled American nuclear submarine, a decision that could mean
the start of World War III.
(85 min.)
Ivan
The Terrible (Ivan Groznyi) (1944)
PN1997 .I928 1990 pt.1
PN1997 .I928 1990 pt.2
Director: Sergei Eisenstein
Cast: Nikolai Cherkassov, Mikhail Zharov
Story of the 16th century Czar of Russia, Ivan the Terrible. Describes
events from his coronation in Moscow to his abdication and subsequent
popular recall.
(184 min.)
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Ivan's
Childhood (Ivanovo detstvo) (1963)
PN1997 .I933 1991
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Cast: Kolya Burlaiev, Valentin Zubkov, Valentina Malyavina, Yevgeny
Zharikov
An orphan boy serves the Russian army by reconnoitering behind enemy
lines during World War II.
(84 min.)
King
Lear (Korol Lir) (1980)
1971PR2819 .A23 1980z
Director: Grigory Kozintsev
Cast: Yuri Jarvet, V. Shendrikova
A dramatization of William Shakespeare's play in which tragedy occurs
when an old king divides his kingdom between his daughters.
(140 min.)
Kino-eye
(Kino-glaz) (1924)
DK266.4 .K544 1999
Director: Dziga Vertov
Silent movie with added musical accompaniment. Central to KINO-EYE
... are the activities of the Young Pioneers, a group of Soviet
adolescents committed to serving the needy. These scenes of teen
philanthropy are interwoven with playful cinematic experiments ...
documenting a society fresh from revolution ...
(74 min.)
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Lady
Macbeth of the Mtsensk Region (Ledi Makbet Mtsenskogo uezda) (1989)
PN1997 .L428 1995
Director-producer: Roman Balaian
Cast: Natalia Andreichenko, Aleksandr Abdulov, Nikolai Pastukhov,
Tatiana Kravchenko, Oleg Iliukhin, Elena Kolchugina, Natalia Potapova
Based on the novel "Ledi Makbet Mtsenskogo uezda" by Nikolai
Leskov.
(78 min.)
Let
Sleeping Dogs Lie (Ne budite spiashchuiu sobaku) (1991)
PN1997
.N422 1991
Cast: Victor Pavlov, Alexei Zharkov, Elena Popova, Vladimir Etush
(123 min.)
Little
Vera (Malen’kaia Vera) (1988)
PN1997 .L5773 1989
Director: Vasily Pichul
Cast: Natalya Negoda
The controversial, award winning coming of age movie about a woman
torn between her lover and her bitter parents.
(110 min.)
Luna
Park (1991)
PN1997 .L85 1994
Director: Pavel Lounguine
Cast: Oleg Borisov, Andrei Goutine, Natalie Egorova
An intense, moving tale of a young man coming to terms with his
past, in a country spinning dangerously out of control. Examines
the role of skinhead influences in early 1990s Moscow.
(105 min.)
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Man
with a Movie Camera (Chelovek s kino-apparatom) (1929)
DK268.3 .C43 1997
Director: Dziga Vertov
Silent film with musical accompaniment. An experimental film which
uses numerous cinematic techniques (split screens, multiple superimpositions,
variable speeds, et cetera) to present a dawn to dusk view of the
Soviet Union and to study the relation between cinema and reality.
(70 min.)
The
Mirror (Zerkalo) (1974)
PN1997 .M5695 1980z
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Cast: Oleg Yanovsky, Margarita Terekhova
Tarkovsky's looking glass is not merely cracked but shattered and
we see the jagged, jumbled reflections of its shards, images of
Tarkovsky's childhood mixed with fragments of his adult life--a
child's wartime exile, a mother's experience with political terror,
the breakup of a marriage, life in a country home--all intermingled
with slow-motion dream sequences and poetic chunks of stark newsreels.
(106 min.)
Mother
(Mat') (1926)
PN1997 .M6684 1990
Director: Vsevolod Pudovkin
Cast: Vera Baranovskaia, Nickolai Batalov, A. Christiakov
A heroic young revolutionary gives his life fighting against the
misery and poverty of Tsarist Russia in the futile prewar revolution
of 1905, and, in so doing, brings about the political awareness
of his own mother. Intertitles in Russian and English; musical accompaniment
added.
(88 min.)
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Oblomov
(1981)
PN1997 .O234 1981
Director: Nikita Mikhalkov
Cast: Oleg Tabakov (Oblomov), Elena Solovei (Olga), Yuri Bogatyrev,
Andrei Popov
An adaptation of the 19th-century Russian novel Oblomov by
Ivan Goncharov. A comedic drama about a member of the landed gentry
of nineteenth-century Russia whose indolence destroys his life.
(145 min.)
October
(Oktiabr’) (1928)
PN1997 .O242 1980z
Directors: Sergei Eisenstein and Grigori Alexandrov
Cast: Vasili Nikandrov, N. Popov, Boris Livanov, Eduard Tiss, Nikolai
Podvoisky
Depicts events and circumstances which culminated in the Russian
Revolution of October 1917. Describes the Kerensky regime, the European
theater of World War I, and discusses the conflicting plans and
ambitions of various participants. A shorter version of the motion
picture was released in the United States with the title: Ten
days that shook the world
(102 min.)
Of
Freaks and Men (Pro urodov i liudei) (1998)
DVD
PN1997 .O33 2001
Director: Aleksei Balabanov
Explores the seamy underside of the early 20th century upper classes.
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The
Overcoat (Shinel’) (1968)
PN1997 .O895 1980z
Director: Alexei Batalov
Cast: Rolan Bykov
Classic adaptation of the Gogol story of a clerk whose new overcoat
changes his destiny.
(73 min.)
Peter
the First
Parts I and II (1937-9)
PN1997 .P497 1986 pt.1
PN1997 .P497 1986 pt.2
Director: Vladimir Petrov
Story by Alexei Tolstoy and Vladimir Petrov from the novel by Tolstoy.
(203 min.)
The
Planet of Storms (1962)
PN1997 .P5838 1990z
Director: P. Klushantsev
Cast: Gennadi Vernov, Vladimir Temelianov, Yuri Sarantsev
Cosmonauts land on Venus and find themselves in peril by various
alien monstrosities.
(81 min.)
Prisoner
of the Mountains (Kavkazskii plennik) (1996)
PN1997 .K338 1997
Director: Sergei Bodrov, Sr.
Cast: Oleg Menshikov, Sergei Bodrov, Jr., Djemal Sikharulidze, Susanna
Mekhralieva, Alexander Bureev, Valentina Fedotova, Alexei Jarkov
Based on the novella Prisoner of the Caucasus by Leo Tolstoy.
A pair of Russian soldiers are captured and taken prisoner by a
Chechen father hoping to barter them for the release of his captured
son. A bond of understanding develops between the soldiers and their
captors, but it is broken when plans for their release go awry,
and a chain of violence and retaliation is precipitated.
(99 min.)
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Provincial
Variations
(Early Russian Cinema, vol. 4)
The Wedding Day
Merchant Bashkirov's Daughter
PN1997 .P779 1992
Jewish life was one of the exotic subjects covered in provincial
films like the Latvian Wedding Day (Slovinski, 1912). The
remarkably bleakmelodrama Merchant Bashkirov's daughter (Larin,
1913), set on the Volga, was based on a real murder scandal.
(55 min.)
Repentance
(Pokoianie) (1987)
PN1997 .R464 1988
Director: Tenghiz Abuladze
Cast: Avtandil Makharadze, Ia Ninidze, Merab Ninidze, Zeinab Botsvadze,
Ketevan Abuladze
In a small Russian village a woman is put on trial for repeatedly
digging up the body of the town's recently deceased ruler. The trial
gradually reveals the truth about the despot's vicious reign of
terror, and forces the townspeople to face the reality of his (and
the Soviet Union's) monstrous inhumanity during the Stalinist era.
In Georgian, with English subtitles. Cannes Special Jury prize,
1987.
(151 min.)
The
Road to Life (Putyovka v zhizn) (1931)
PN1997 .R634 1990z
Director: N. Ekk
Cast: Mikhail Zharov, Maria Gonta, Tzyvan Kyrla
One of the earliest Russian sound films, A road to life is a dramatization
of the problem of orphaned juvenile delinquents in post-war Russia.
After the repressive efforts of the government failed to reform
these children, a group of teachers gathered them into collective
homes where they were taught cooperation through useful work and
recreation. These efforts resulted in the successful socialization
of the children.
(100 min.)
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Scarecrow
(Chuchelo) (1985)
PN1997 .C488 1988
Director: Rolan Bykov
Based on a story by Vladimir Zheleznikov. Story of cruelty of schoolchildren
as they persecute a girl who doesn’t fit in.
(130 min.)
The
Seagull (Chaika) (1970)
PN1997 .C388 1994
Director: Iuliia Karasik
Cast: A. Demidova, V. Chetverikov, N. Plotnikov, L. Saveleva, A.
Dzhigarkhanian, V. Telichkina, Iu. Iakovlev
Two writers and one actress strive for the ideal of artistic perfection.
Set in the late 19th century Russia, unreciprocated love in three
linked romantic triangles influence the paths their lives follow,
with the seagull the representation of love for one of the writers.
Based on the play by Anton Chekhov.
(95 min.)
The
Second Circle (Krug vtoroi) (1990)
PN1997 .K78 1992
Director: Aleksandr Sokurov
Cast: Petr Alexandrov, Nadezhda Rodnova, Tamara Timofeeva, Aleksandr
Bystriakov
Set in a frigid Siberian town to which a youth has travelled to
superintend the burial of his father, this is a story of the son's
confrontation with death. His father's life is viewed in the context
of and as a contemporary image of twentieth-century Soviet society's
influence. What comes to the fore, however, are the eternal verities
of death, faith, and the continuance of life.
(92 min.)
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Siberiade
(1979)
PN1997 .S494 1994 pt.1
PN1997 .S494 1994 pt.2
Director: A. Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky
Cast: Lyudmilla Gurchenko, Nikita Mikhalkov, Vitaly Solomin, Vladimir
Samoilov, Sergei Shakurov, Igor Okhlupin
An epic romantic drama about three generations of two feuding families,
the rich Solomins and the poor Ustyuzhanins, of a rural Siberian
village, from the time of the Russian Revolution to the present-day
exploration of hidden resources of Siberian soil.
(206 min.)
Sidewhiskers
(Bakenbardy) (1990)
PN1997 .B326 1992
Director: Yuri Mamin
Cast: Victor Sukhorukov, Alexander Medvedev
The Pushkin Club is a group of reactionaries who affect 19th century
dress and want to remove from Russia "the scum of Western influence."
In this original, biting satire a warning about the rise of militarism
and fascism in Russia is sounded.
(110 min.)
Sisters
(Sestry) (2001)
DVD
PN1997.2 .S477 2001
Director: Sergei Bodrov, Jr.
Cast: Katia Gorina, Oksana Akinshina, Sergei Bodrov
The sisters are, in fact, half-sisters - 13-year-old Sveta and 8-year-old
Dina, whose father is a mid-ranking gangster in the Russian Mafia.
He is released from prison after serving time for a robbery, but
finds his colleagues on the outside suspect him of stashing away
some of his crime's ill-gotten gains. To ensure his co-operation
they plan to kidnap his children, but the resourceful, independent
kids escape and hide out in the countryside. The squabbling sisters
temporarily put aside their differences as they try to stay one
step ahead of their would-be captors. First and only film directed
by Sergei Bodrov, Jr., star of “Brother” and “Brother
2.”
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Solaris
(1971)
PN1997 .S632 1991 pt.1
PN1997 .S632 1991 pt.2
Director: A. Tarkovski
Cast:Donats Banionis, Natalia Bondartchouk
Based on the novel by Stanislaw Lem. On the water planet, Solaris,
human space explorers encounter a unique and radical intelligence.
Contact between man and this entity stretches the limits of reason
and insanity, knowledge and comprehension.
(167 min.)
Strike
(1925)
PN1997 .S795 1999
Director: Sergei Eisenstein
Cast: Grigori Alexandrov, Maxim Strauch
Originally released in 1925 as motion picture. Silent with musical
accompaniment. Story of a strike by factory workers in Tsarist Russia
which is brutally suppressed. English subtitles.
(94 min.)
Starewicz's
Fantasies
PN1997 .E25 1992 pt.3
Director:
Wladyslaw Starewicz
Silent films with Russian and English subtitles with original music
added.
One of ten volumes of a unique video anthology (with original music)
from Gosfilmofond, Milestone Film & Video, and the British Film
Institute.
The dragonfly and the ant
Christmas Eve
The Lily of Belgium
Cast: Ivan Mozzhukhin, Olga Obolenskaia, Lidiia Tridenskaia, P.
Lophukin, A. Kheruvimov, Pavel Knorr (in the 2nd work), Irina Starewicz
(in the 3rd work)
Starewicz's fantasies, Wladislaw Starewicz's later puppet
animation, is now better known than his brilliant beginning at the
Khanzhonkov Studio. He pioneered insect-puppets in The Ant
and The Grasshopper (1911), before turning to live-action
fantasy in a version of Gogol's Christmas eve (1913) and
contributing to the war effort with an anti-German allegory The
Lily of Belgium (1915)
(58 min.)
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A
Summer to Remember (Seryozha) (1961)
PN1997 .S933 1980z
Directors: G. Danelia, I. Talankin
Cast: Borya Barkhatov (Seryozha), Sergey Bondarchuk (Korostelov),
Irina Skobtseva (Marianna), Natasha Chechetkina (Lidka), Seryozha
Metyelytsyn (Vasska), V. Merkuriev (Uncle Kostya)
A lyrical look at the relationship between a young boy and his new
stepfather. Based on the story Seriozha by Vera Federovna
Panova.
(80 min.)
The
Thief (Vor) (1998)
PN1997 .V68 1999
Cast: Ekaterina Rednikova, Vladimir Mashkov, Misha Philipchuk
An Academy Award nominated (Best Foreign Language Film, 1997) tale
of passion, betrayal and innocence lost, as seen through the eyes
of an impressionable young boy. Set in post-World War II Russia.
(93 min.)
Three
Songs about Lenin (Tri pesni o Lenine) (1934)
DK254.L4 T48 1991
Director: Dziga Vertov
Lenin as revealed through the eyes of the Russian people, represented
by three songs.
(62 min.)
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Thunder
over Mexico (Que viva Mexico)
(1931-2)
PN1997 .Q37
Sergei Eisenstein's "lost" masterpiece, reconstructed
by Grigory Aleksandrov and Nikita Orlov. A video document of the
history of Mexico, presented in four novellas: Sandunga,
an exposition of Tehuantepec jungles and the peaceful lifestyles
of their inhabitants; Manguei, a love story about a poor
peon and his bride; Fiesta, devoted to bullfighting and romantic
love; and Soldadera, a portrayal of the 1910 revolution in
Mexico as depicted in the frescoes of Sigueiros, Rivera, and Orosco.
(85 min.)
The
War (Voina) (2002)
DVD
PN1997.2 .V646 2002
Director: Aleksei Balabanov
Cast: Aleksei Chadov, Sergei Bodrov, Jr., Ingebora Dapkunaite, Evklid
Kiurdzidis, Georgii Gurguliia, Vladimir Gostiukhin, Iurii Stepanov
Brutal story of friendship, patriotism and personal loyalties told
against the background of the story of hostages in the first Russian-Chechen
conflict.
War
and Peace (Voina i mir) (1967)
PN1997 .V64 1982 pt.1
PN1997 .V64 1982 pt.2
PN1997 .V64 1982 pt.3
Director: Sergei Bondarchuk
Cast: Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Lyudmila Savelyeva, Sergei Bondarchuk,
Anastasia Vertinskaya, Vasily Lanovoi, Irina Skobtseva, Boris Zakhava,
Vladislav Strzhelchik
Videorecording of the 1967 film adaptation of the novel by Leo Tolstoy.
Follows the interconnected lives of a group of Russian aristocrats
from 1805 to 1812, including Napoleon's invasion of Russia.
(403 min.)
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The
White Russian Station (Belorusskii vokzal)
(198?)
PN1997 .B443
Director: Andrei Smirnov
Cast: Aleksei Glazirin, Evgenii Leonov, Anatolii Papanov, Vsevolod
Safonov
Three friends come to bury a fourth and reminisce about World War
II.
(72 min.)
White
Sun of the Desert (Beloe solntse pustyn) (198?)
PN1997 .B44
Directors: M. Daknev, V. Dovlatov
Set in the desert near the Afghan border during the Revolution of
1917-1920. In Russian with no subtitles.
(65 min.)
Wild
Oats (Oshibki iunosti) (1978)
PN1997 .O766 1995
Director: Boris Frumin
Cast: Stanislav Zhdanko, Marina Neyelova, Natalia Varley, Mikhail
Vaskov, Nikolai Karatchetsov, Nikolai Penkov, Marina Maltseva, Bella
Tchirina
Dmitri Gurianov is a Red Army conscript stationed at a Black Sea
resort. Leaving behind the humiliations of army life, he chooses
a high paying construction job in Siberia. He starts a love affair
with a beautiful, enigmatic co-worker, but they split over the question
of parenthood. Dmitri moves to Leningrad and drifts into a life
among black marketeers and a marriage of expediency.
(87 min.)
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