Vsevolod Pudovkin

  • Vsevolod Pudovkin – Potomok Chingis-Khana aka Storm Over Asia (1928)

    War1921-1930SilentUSSRVsevolod Pudovkin

    In 1918 a simple Mongol herdsman escapes to the hills after brawling with a western capitalist fur trader who cheats him. In 1920 he helps the partisans fight for the Soviets against the occupying army. However he is captured when the army tries to requisition cattle from the herdsmen at the same time as the commandant meets with the reincarnated Grand Lama. After being shot, the army discovers an amulet that suggests he was a direct descendant of Genghis Khan. They find him still alive, so the army restores his health and plans to use him as the head of a Mongolian puppet regime.Read More »

  • Vsevolod Pudovkin – Konets Sankt-Peterburga AKA The End of St. Petersburg (1927)

    1921-1930DramaSilentUSSRVsevolod Pudovkin

    Filmed to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the 1917 Russian revolution, End of St. Petersburg was the second feature-length effort of director V. I. Pudovkin. Utilizing many of the montage techniques popularized by his contemporary Sergei Eisenstein, Pudovkin details the fall of St. Petersburg into the hands of the Bolsheviks during the revolution. Unlike Eisenstein, Pudovkin concentrates on individuals rather than groups (his protagonist is a politically awakened peasant played by Ivan Chuvelyov) humanizing what might otherwise have been a prosaic historical piece. The mob scenes, though obviously staged for ultimate dramatic impact, are so persuasive that they have frequently been excerpted for documentaries about the Russian Revolution, and accepted by some impressionable viewers as the real thing. Filmed just after his 1926 masterwork Mother, The End of St. Petersburg was followed by the equally brilliant Storm Over Asia.
    — allmovie.comRead More »

  • Vsevolod Pudovkin – Mat AKA Mother (1926)

    1921-1930DramaSilentUSSRVsevolod Pudovkin

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    The son of a worthless alcoholic father and a hardworking mother leads
    an illegal strike during the failed 1905 uprising. In an attempt to save
    her son, the mother inadvertently gives him away to the police, but
    gradually turns to communism after experiencing injustice and suffering.

    Pudovkin’s first feature turns Maxim Gorky’s rambling novel into a
    tightly constructed narrative. The film’s emotional and visual impact
    has not diminished with time, nor has Baranovskaya’s
    performance. – Holt’s Foreign Film Guide.Read More »

  • Vsevolod Pudovkin – Dezertir AKA The Deserter (1933)

    1931-1940ExperimentalPoliticsUSSRVsevolod Pudovkin

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Synopsis:
    In 1929, four years before making this film, Vsevolod Pudovkin and Sergei Eisenstein had collaborated on a Sound Manifesto that called for a radical use of asynchronous sound effects, which would be used in counterpoint to the screen image, rather than supporting it, as is normally the case. In DESERTER, Pudovkin put this theory into practice.

    Starring Boris Livanov as German dockworker Karl Renn, the film focuses upon a politically unconscious figure who learns the error of his ways. Renn becomes involved in picketing and demonstrating on the dock but walks out on his comrades one day, doubtful about the value of this kind of political activity.Read More »

  • Vsevolod Pudovkin – Shakhmatnaya goryachka aka Chess Fever (1925)

    1921-1930Short FilmSilentUSSRVsevolod Pudovkin

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    PLOT SUMMARY
    Chess Fever is a comedy about a man who, though soon to be married, already has a mistress – chess. His bride-to-be, knowing nothing of the game but seeing that his heart resides on the sixty-four squares of the chessboard, freaks out and storms onto the snow-covered streets in hysteria.Read More »

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