Russian (Soviet) and East European Cinema: Media Resources Center UCB

Russia (Soviet Union)

Russian Silent Film

Czechoslovakia

Hungary

Poland

Romania

Yugoslavia/Serbia/Croatia/Macedonia

Eastern and Western Europe videography
: Bibliography of books and articles on Soviet and East European Cinema

Aerograd (1935)

Directed by Alexander Dovzhenko. Set in a mythical Far Eastern Soviet city and air base, the film reflects Soviet anxieties about Japanese aggression. In the story Glushak, a Siberian hunter, kills his long-time friend who is exposed as a traitor to the U.S.S.R. Completion of this film was jeopardized by bureaucrats until Dovzhenko met with Stalin who insured the film's completion. In Russian with English subtitles. 89 min. 999:1089

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Kepley, Vance, Jr. "Strike Him in the Eye: Dovzhenko's Aerograd and the Stalinist Terror." Post Script: Essays in Film and the Humanities, vol. 2 no. 2. 1983 Winter. pp: 37-54.

Alexander (Aleksandr) Nevsky (1938)

Directed by Sergei Eisenstein and Dmitri Vasilyev. Musical score, Sergei Prokofiev. Historical drama set in 1242 which deals with the defence of Russia by the prince, Alexander Nevsky, from invasion by Teutonic crusaders. Special features: Audio essay by film scholar David Bordwell ; Russell Merritt's multimedia essay on the Eisenstein-Prokofiev collaboration ; reconstruction of Eisenstein's unfinished film Bezhin Meadow by the Eisenstein Museum's Naum Kleiman, plus scholar Jay Leyda's photos and documents from the set ; drawings and production stills ; restoration demonstration ; new English subtitle translation. 108 min. DVD 6653 (Criterion); DVD 192; VHS 999:72

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Andrei Rublev (1966)

Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. Story of the famed 15th century icon painter who survives the cruelties of medieval Russia to create works of art. DVD 336; VHS 999:865:1&2

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Anna (Anna: ot 6 do 18) (1993)

Directed by Nikita Mikhalkov. Cast: Anna Mikhalkova, Nikita Mikhalkov, Nadezhda Mikhalkova. Juxtaposing macrocosm and microcosm, the film sets the collapse of the Soviet Union against the growth of Mikhalkov's daughter Anna over the course of 13 years, beginning in 1980. Every year, starting at age six, Anna is subjected to an interview centering on the same five questions. Her personal evolution is interwoven with archival footage and propaganda films tracing the death throes of the Soviet Empire from the last years of the Brezhnev regime through Gorbachev's perestroika reforms to the first steps toward democracy under Boris Yeltsin. 100 min. Video/C 6645

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Anna Karenina (1967)

Director, Aleksandr Zarkhi. Cast: Tatyana Samojlova, Nikolai Gritsenko, Vasili Lanovoy, Yuri Yakovlev. Anna Karenina is the young wife of an aging Russian aristocrat. She has an affair with the handsome Count Vronsky. By following her desires Anna complicates her life, falls into a depression and ends it in a suicide under a train. Based on the novel by Leo Tolstoy. 145 min. DVD 6542

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Makoveeva, Irina. "Cinematic Adaptations of Anna Karenina." Studies in Slavic Cultures, vol. 2, pp. 111-34, 2001

Aprili (Avril, April ) (1961)

Director, Otar Iosseliani. Cast: T. Chanturia, Gia Chiraqadze, A. Chikvaidze, V. Maisuradze, A. Jorbenadze. A critique of materialism, the film is about a young couple who live in a rundown empty apartment. Their love is so strong that it makes the water flow and the electricity work, but when they start purchasing furniture and knickknacks, they fight and grow apart. 30 min. DVD 4448

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Bakenbardi: Sidewhiskers (1990)

Directed by Yuri Mamin. 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. 999:2255

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Ballad of a Soldier (Ballada o soldate) (1959)

Directed by Grigori Chukhraj. A young Russian soldier is given a six-day leave as a reward for an act of bravery in battle. As he journeys home he encounters the devastation of his war-torn country, witnesses glimmers of hope among the people, and falls in love. With its poetic visual imagery this unconventional meditation on the effects of war is a milestone in Russian cinema. 88 min. DVD 1163

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Barta, Peter I.; Hutchings, Stephen, "The Train as Word-Image Intertext in the Films 'Ballad of a Soldier' and 'Thief'." Intertexts, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 127-44, Fall 2002.

Dunlop, John B. "Grigorii Chukhrai's 'Ballad of a Soldier'" Stanford Slavic Studies, vol. 1, pp. 349-360, 1987.

Levin, Julia. "Ballad of a Soldier." Senses of Cinema: An Online Film Journal Devoted to the Serious and Eclectic Discussion of Cinema, vol. 23, pp. (no pagination), November 2002.

Bezhin Meadow (1937)

Directed by Sergei Eisenstein. A tale in which peasant settlements were forcibly reorganized into state affliated collective farms. Video Disc 180

Brilliantovaya ruka (Diamond Hand) (1968)

Directed by Leonid Gaidai. Semyon Gorbunkov goes on a cruise. In Istanbul, he slips and breaks his arm. What he didn't know is that this was a signal for a gang of smugglers (a real smuggler - Gena - was also on board the same ship). So his arm gets bandaged with gold and diamonds. After he returns home, the gangsters are trying to get their stuff back, while the police try to catch them using Gorbunkov and his arm. 100 min. DVD4456

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Brother (Brat) (1997)

Directed by Aleksei Balabanov. After being discharged from the Army, Danila runs afoul of the authorities. He goes to live with his brother, a gangster, in the free-wheeling city of Leningrad and is soon immersed in the city's organized crime scene. 96 min. DVD 4218

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Burnt By the Sun (Utomlyonnye Solntsem) (1994)

Directed by Nikita Mikhalkov. In the Soviet Union of 1936 revolutionary hero, Colonel Kotov, is spending an idyllic summer in his dacha with his wife and their 6 year old daughter. They are surprised by the arrival of the charming Mitia, who exploits his status as an old family friend to carry out a dark mission. Kotov's confidence in himself and his country are at first unshakable; he is unable to comprehend that his peaceful family idyll is about to be destroyed by the brutality of the Stalinist regime. 134 min. DVD 5513; vhs 999:1604

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Movie Review Query Engine

The Cameraman's Revenge and Other Fantastic Tales: the Amazing Puppet Animation of Ladislaw Starewicz (1912-1958)

Six animated works produced by Starewicz in Moscow and Paris between the years 1912 and 1958. As the world's first great puppet and stop-motion model animator, Starewicz was best known for his insect stories. Starewicz's grasshoppers, dogs, frogs, dolls, and other creatures portray heroics and follies with an exuberance of humor and invention. Contents: The Cameraman's Revenge (1912, 13 min.) -- The Insects' Christmas (1913, 7 min.) -- Frogland: The Frogs Who Wanted a King (1922, 9 min.) -- Voice of the Nightingale (1923, 13 min.) -- The Mascot (1933, 26 min.) -- Winter Carousel (1958, 12 min.). 80 min. total DVD 1934

Chapayev (1934)

Directed by Sergei Vassiliev and Georgy Vassiliev. After the revolution, an illiterate Russian who served in the Czar's army forms his own force to fight the White Russians. A stirring account of a beloved hero of the Russian Revolution and Stalin's favorite propaganda film. Based on documents by D.A. Furmanov and A.N. Furmanova. 94 min. 999:1604

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Chekhovian Motifs (Chekhovskie motivy) (2002)

Director, Kira Muratova. Cast: Sergei Bekhterev, Nina Ruslanova, Natalya Buzko, Filipp Panov. In this comic Ukrainian film a groom is horrified to see his former mistress, who recently committed suicide, attending his wedding. 120 min. DVD 8308

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The Childhood of Maxim Gorky (Detstvo Gorkogo) (1938)

Director, Mark Donski. Cast: Alexei Lyarsky, Varvara Massalitinova, Mikhail Troyansky, J. Alexeyeva. The Childhood of Maxim Gorky (Detstvo Gorkovo) was the first of Russian director Mark Donski's trilogy based upon Gorky's memoirs. Alexei Lyarsky plays the young Maxim, who grows up under the czarist regime with his grandparents as guardians. Continually demeaned by his martinet grandfather, Maxim is drawn to his warm-hearted grandmother, who instills in him the willingness to pursue his writing muse. Gorky's (and Donski's) deep abiding love for Russia is conveyed through the film's remarkably romanticist landscape shots along the Volga River. Includes the silent short "Moscow clad in snow" (5 min.), featuring documentary scenes of Moscow from 1909, filmed for Pathe Frères. 86 min. DVD 7620

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Circus (1936)

Director, Grigori Alexandrov. Russian film producer Grigori Alexandrov's attempt at importing American musical comedy into Soviet film. An American circus star is on tour in Moscow with her German manager. There she falls in love with a Soviet engineer, but her manager blackmails her with her dark spot in her life, she has a black baby. 86 min. 999:3252

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Close to Eden (Urga) (1991)

Directed by Nikita Mikhalkov. In this cross-cultural comedy, Gombo, a Mongolian shepherd, and Sergei, a Russian road builder, strike up a friendship and go on the road together, headed for the city. Intending to buy a TV and condoms because he already has 2 children (the limit set by the Chinese governement), Gombo is on his way to becoming a modern man. But present-day ways may not be so alluring after all. 109 min. 999:2260

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Cold Summer of 1953 (Kholodnoe leto piatdesiat tretego) (1988)

Director, Alexander Proshkin. Among the many criminals freed from the Soviet gulags in 1953 are two political prisoners, the middle-aged Kopalych and the young Luzga. While waiting for the arrival of a boat in a small village, they help defend its inhabitants from the hardened criminals convicted for grave offences and also recently released. 96 min. DVD 2353

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The Color of Pomegranates (Nran guyne) (Soviet Union, 1969)

Directed by Sergei Paradzhanov. Cast: Sofiko Chiaureli, M. Aleksanian, V. Galstian. Stylized biographical drama of the life of noted eighteenth century Armenian poet and troubadour Sayat Nova. Based on his writings, the film, which depicts the poet's life in eight sections from childhood to death, is rich with symbols of sacred and secular Armenian life. 88 min. DVD 6262

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Come and See (Idi i smotri) (1985)

Directed by Elem Klimov. Young Florya willing joins the Partisans fighting the Nazis in Byelorussia, USSR during World War II. Separated from his comrades during a paratroop attack and struck deaf by German artillery, Florya, in the company of peasant girl, Glascha, wanders through the battle-scorched Russian forests and man-made slaughter. He witnesses an SS unit's spontaneous, self-congratulatory applause at their own butchery. 145 min. DVD 1164

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The Cranes are Flying (Letyat Zhuravli) (1957)

Directed by Mikhail Kalatozov. Boris' and Veronica's marriage plans are interrupted when Boris enlists in the Soviet army after the German invasion of Russia. Veronica eventually succumbs to the seduction of Boris' cousin, Mark, but subsequently redeems herself by nursing the wounded amidst the terrible suffering of the Russian civilian population during World War II. 91 min. DVD 1162; vhs 999:1028

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Prokhorov, Alexander. "Soviet Family Melodrama of the 1940s and 1950s: From Wait for Me to The Cranes Are Flying." In: Imitations of life : two centuries of melodrama in Russia / edited by Louise McReynolds and Joan Neuberger. Durham [N.C.] : Duke University Press, 2002. (Main Stack PG3089.M44.I53 2002)

Shrayer, Maxim D. "Why Are the Cranes Still Flying?" Russian Review: An American Quarterly Devoted to Russia Past and Present, vol. 56, no. 3, pp. 425-39, Summer 1997.

The Deserter (Desertir) (1933)

Directed by 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 in an envoy to the USSR and is rejuvenated by the spirit of cooperation and optimism of the idyllic workers' state. 100 min. DVD 8554; vhs 999:1690

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Pudovkin bibliography

Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky.

This film shows the director Andre Tarkovskij in action as he makes his own picture 'The Sacrifice'. The program explains the motivation behind the film and contains illumination of Tarkovskij's working methods and style and how he overcame various technical problems during the film-making. Includes interviews with members of the cast and crew. Originally produced as motion picture in 1988. 107 min. Video/C 7170

Divided We Fall (Musime si pomahat) (2000)

Director, Jan Hrebejk. During World War II and the Nazi occupation of Czechoslavakia, a couple, Josef and Marie, decide to hide a young Jewish neighbor in their small apartment. They keep getting a visit from their neighbor, Horst, who is a German sympathizer who has his eye on Marie. When she rejects his advances he seeks revenge by trying to move a Nazi clerk into their home, forcing the couple to tell a lie that will change their lives forever. 122 min. DVD 1227

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The Donkey's Hide (Oslinaya shkura) (1982)

Directed by Nadezhda Kosheverova. Based on the fairy tale by Charles Perrault, tells the story of the arrival of a wicked fairy at the christening of Therese, daughter of King Gaston IX. But the wicked fairy's curse is circumvented by a good fairy who puts a donkey's hide on the princess, so she will not be recognised and also gives the princess a magic ring capable of making its wearer change his or her appearance. 85 min. DVD 2351

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Falling Leaves (Giorgobistve; La chute des feuilles) (1968)

Director, Otar Iosseliani. Cast: Ramaz Giorgobiani, Gogi Kharabadze , Marina Kartsivadze, Aleqsandre Omiadze, Baadur Tsuladze, Tengiz Daushvili. A young idealist takes a job at a local state run winery only to discover and become disillusioned by the corruption of the Soviet state. 91 min. DVD 4448

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Goluboi ogonek (TV, 1962-1970)

Selections from the 1960's arranged by year from the soviet television musical variety program Goluboi ogonek. Disc 1: 1962 -- Disc 2: 1963 -- Disc 3: 1964 -- Disc 4: 1965 -- Disc 5: 1966 -- Disc 6: 1967 -- Disc 7: 1968-1970. DVD 8156

Goluboi ogonek (TV, 1981-1988)

Selections from the 1980's arranged by year from the soviet television musical variety program Goluboi ogonek. Disc 1: 1981 -- Disc 2: 1982 -- Disc 3: 1983 -- Disc 4: 1984 -- Disc 5: 1985 -- Disc 6: 1986 -- Disc 7: 1987 -- Disc 8: 1988. DVD 8157

Golden Horns (Zolotye Roga) (1972)

Directed by Aleksandr Rou. Based on an old Russian fairy tale, tells the story of a woman searching for children taken by the old witch Baba Yaga. Along her way she comes to the aid of the noble deer called Golden Horns. In gratitude for her aid, Golden Horns gives the woman a magic ring and information which leads her to an encounter with Baba Yaga. 74 min. DVD 2328

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Guerrilla Brigade (Vsadniki) (1939)

Directed by Igor Savchenko. Cast: Lev Sverdlin, Stepan Shkurat, Mikhail Troyanovsky, Piotr Masokha, Leonid Kmit. A drama about the welcome, by some Ukrainians, of the German army into Ukraine in 1918, and resistance of the invaders by other Ukrainians. 110 min. 999:3671

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Gypsies are Found Near Heaven (Tabor ukhodit v nebo) (Soviet Union, 1995)

Directed by Emil Loteanu. Cast: Grigore Grigoriu, Svetlana Toma, Ion Sandri Shkurya, Pavel Andreichenko, Sergiu Finiti, Borislav Brondukov, Lialya Chornaya, Nelli Volshaninova, Vsevolod Gavrilov, Barasbi Mulayev, Mikhail Shishkov, Nikolai Volshaninov, Vassily Simich, Yelena Sadovskaya. This colorful, music-filled and sensual melodrama based on early stories by Maxim Gorky tells the fatal love story between the beautiful and rebellious girl Rada and the handsome horse thief Zobar. The story is set in early 20th century Bessarabia, now part of Moldova, then belonging to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Special features: Maxim Gorky's biography; interviews with actress S. Toma and composer Y. Doga; filmographies; photo album. Based on a story by Maxim Gorky. 101 min.DVD 7855

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Hamlet (Gamlet)(1964)

Directed by Grigory Kozintsev. Cast: Innokenti Smoktunovsky, Mikhail Nazvanov, Elsa Radzin, Yuri Tolubeyev, Anastasia Vertinskaya. A Russian production of Hamlet with music by Dmitri Shostakovich. In this Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet, a prince of medieval-era Denmark, senses treachery behind his royal father's death. Based on the play: Hamlet by William Shakespeare as translated into Russian by Boris Pasternak. 140 min. DVD 6529

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I Am Cuba (Ja Kuba; Soy Cuba) (Soviet Union / Cuba, 1964)

Director Mikhail Kalatozov. A Cuban propaganda film first exhibited outside of Cuba and the Soviet Union in 1992. The film, an anthology of pre-revolutionary folk tales, is divided into four parts, each presenting fictional events which led to the success of the revolution under Fidel Castro. In the first film a poor, Havana girl loses herself in the decadent night life of the city and becomes a prostitute serving American tourists; in the second, an old farmer who is about to be evicted from his land by the United Fruit Company sets fire to his house and cane fields and collapses in despair; in the third, university students demonstrate and plot against the government, and are martyred; and in the last an ignorant campesino, driven from his home by Batista's forces, sees the light and follows it to a rebel camp where Fidel's troops welcome him. In Spanish, dubbed in Russian, with English subtitles. 141 min. DVD 5782; vhs 999:1212

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There Once Was a Singing Blackbird (Iko shashvi mgalobeli; Il etait une fois un merle chanteur) (1970)

Director, Otar Iosseliani. Cast: Gela Kandelaki, Gogi Chkheidze, Jansug Kakhidze, Irine Jandieri, Elene Landia, I. Mdivani. Guy Agladze resides in a large city and plays in an orchestra. Guy has a number of friends and acquaintances. His days are hectic and busy. He has to manage too much and he is always late. His time, his energy, his talents evaporate in the hassle of the day and among the little things to be done. Guy dies in an accident without having managed to note down the music that his soul was playing in the rare moments of his solitude. 85 min. DVD 4448

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Irony of Fate (Ironiya sudby, ili S lyogkim parom!) (1975)

Directed by Eldar Ryazanov. A young doctor, with a group of his friends, visits a public bath and gets drunk on New Years Eve. Instead of his friend returning to Moscow, the doctor does, and returns to his home to find its not his home, although the address is the same and his key opens the lock. Here in this stange house he falls in love with a woman. 185 min. DVD 4457

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Ivan the Terrible (Ivan Groznyi) (1944/1958)

Writer and director, Sergei Eisenstein. Part 1 opens with the coronation of Ivan, Grand Duke of Moscow, depicting his goal to unify all Russian lands, his successive battles, ending with his self-imposed exile to await the call of the Russian people. Part 2 begins with his return to Moscow to find that his dream of reuniting all of Russia is all but impossible. He discovers an assassination plot and devises a scheme to turn the tables on the plotters. Director Eisenstein died before completing part 3. (Ivan the Terrible was originally released in Russia as motion picture in 1944; Ivan the Terrible. Part two was originally produced in 1946 and released in 1958.) Special features (Criterion version): (Part 1) Multimedia essay on the history of Ivan the Terrible by Joan Neuberger ; deleted scenes ; drawings and production stills. (Part 2) Multimedia essay on Eisenstein's visual vocabulary by Yuri Tsivian. 181 min. DVD 6654 (Criterion); DVD 55; VHS 999:345

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database [Ivan the Terrible Part I]

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database [Ivan the Terrible Part II]

Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future (Ivan Vasilevich menyaet professiyu) (1973)

Directed by Leonid Gaiday. Cast: Aleksandr Demyanenko, Yuri Yakovlev, Leonid Kuravlev, Saveli Kramarov, Natalya Krachkovskaya. Shurik has built a time machine in his apartment. When it accidentally sends the apartment manager and a thief to the tsar's palace during Ivan the Terrible's reign, and the Tsar finds himself in modern Moscow, things get interesting. 93 min. DVD 4658

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King Lear (Korol Lear)(1969)

Directed by Grigory Kozintsev. Cast: Yuri Jarvet (King Lear), V. Shendrikova (Cordelia), Galina Volchek, Elze Radzinya, Oleg Dal, Karlis Sebris. A Russian adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy in which an old king foolishly tries to divide his kingdom among his three daughters. 140 min. DVD 6954; Video/C 730

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Kukushka (The Cuckoo) (2002)

Directed by Alexander Rogozhkin. Cast: Anny-Kristiina Juuso, Ville Haapasalo, Viktor Bychkov, Aleksei Kashnikov. In a land torn apart by war, two men on opposite sides are about to find out they have one thing in common. Wounded and emotionally tortured, they are taken in by Anni, a young war widow. None of them understands the others' languages, but it doesn't seem to matter. After a hard day at work on Anni's farm, who needs words? 103 min. DVD 4455

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Late Marriage (Hatuna meuheret; Mariage tardif) (2001)

Directed by Dover Kosashvili. Cast: Lior Louie Ashkenazi, Ronit Elkabetz, Moni Moshonov, Lili Kosashvili, Ayo Steinovits Laor, Rozina Cambos, Simon Chen, Sopir Kugman, Dina Doron. Unmarried at 31, Zaza has become an embarassment to his family. With one potential bride after another trotted out in front of him, he somehow manages to never tie the knot. Curious, his family investigates and discovers his secret relationship to a divorcee. Upset, the entire family decide to intervene. 100 min. DVD 4207

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Little Vera (Malenkaya Vera) (1988)

Directed by Vasily Pichul. Cast: Natalya Negoda, Andrei Sokolov, Yuri Nazarov, Lyudmila Zajtseva, Aleksandr Negreba, Aleksandra Tabakova. The title character of the Russian Little Vera is a headstrong teenage girl, played by Natalya Negoda. To the dismay of her parents, Vera lives only for the moment, making no provision for her future. She'd rather hang out at local cafes in garish makeup and provocative clothing. A chance meeting with handsome student Sergei (Andrei Sokolov) develops into a sexual relationship. Her parents send out Vera's brother (Alexander Alexeyev-Negreba) to talk some sense into her. This proves doubly dicey when it turns out that the brother is an old acquaintance of the rebellious Sergei. Vera lies that she's gotten pregnant by Sergei, so he obligingly marries her and moves in with her family, which serves only to make matters worse. Vera's drunken father (Yuri Nazarov) ends up stabbing his son-in-law. Persuaded to lie about the incident to keep her father out of jail, Vera takes her family's side. A last-minute tragedy is barely averted, but we get the distinct feeling that Vera's problems with her family in particular and her life in general are far from over [synopsis from All-Movie Guide] 110 min. DVD 8369; vhs 999:379

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Eagle, Herbert. "The Indexicality of Little Vera and the End of Socialist Realism." Wide Angle: A Film Quarterly of Theory, Criticism, and Practice, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 26-37, Fall 1990.

Luna Park (1991)

Director, Pavel Lounguine. Cast: Oleg Borisov, Andrei Goutine, Natalie Egorova. Andrei is the leader of a gang of right-wing skinheads in post-Communist Russia who are determined to "clean up" Russia by beating up Jews, foreigners, and anyone else they disapprove of. When, to his shock, the anti-Semitic Andrei learns that his father is actually a celebrated Jewish composer, he sets off on a frantic search through Moscow to find him. 105 min. 999:2254

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The Mirror (Zerkalo) (1974)

Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. Cast: Oleg Yankovsky, Margarita Terekhova, Ignat Daniltsev. Presents 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. DVD 2298

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Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears (Moskva Slezam ne Verit) (1979)

Director, Vladimir Menshov. Cast: Vera Alentova (Katerina), Irina Muravyova (Liudmila), Raisa Ryazanova (Antonina), Alexei Batalov (Gosha). A romantic comedy about three young, working-class, country girls, who go to Moscow in 1958 to seek work, men, and success. The film closes by skipping forward twenty five years to see just how many of their dreams came true. 150 min. DVD 835; VHS 999:1553

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My Name Is Ivan (Ivan's Childhood)(Ivanovo detstvo) (1963)

Director: Andrei Tarkovsky. Cast: Kolia Burlaiev, Valentin Zubkov, Valentina Maliavina, Yevgeny Zharikov. During World War II twelve year-old Ivan, hell-bent on revenge after his family is killed by German soldiers, serves the Russian army by reconnoitering behind enemy lines. 99 min. 999:3577

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Daly, Fergus; Waugh, Katherine. "Ivan's Childhood." Senses of Cinema vol. 15, pp. (no pagination), Summer 2001

Ross, Bruce. "Nostalgia and the Child 'Topoi': Metaphors of Disruption and Transcendence in the Work of Joseph Brodsky, Marc Chagall and Andrei Tarkovsky." Analecta Husserliana, vol. 28, pp. 307-323, 1990

Thompson, John O. "Reflexions on Dead Children in the Cinema and Why There Are Not More of Them." In: Representations of childhood death / edited by Gillian Avery and Kimberley Reynolds. New York : St. Martin's Press, 2000. (Main Stack HQ1073.R46 2000)

Tarkovsky bibliography

The Nose (Le Nez) (1963)

Directed by Alexander Alexeieff. Fantastic pictures animated on the pinboard capture without words the scene and spirit of Nicolai Gogol's celebrated short story set in 19th century Russia. This best known of the Alexeieff & Parker films, critics have written, is "full of art and poetry" and "should be seen more than once for a full awareness of its artistry." 11 min. (With Alexeieff at the Pinboard, & Night on Bald Mountain). 999:3047

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Nostalghia (1983)

Directed by Andrey Tarkovsky. Cast: Oleg Jankovsky, Erland Josephson, Domiziana Giordano. A homesick Russian poet, Gorchakov, researching in Italy with the aid of a beautiful interpreter, Eugenia, arrives at a Tuscan spa and while there encounters the local mystic, who sets him on a challenging task. 120 min. DVD 538; VHS 999:2851

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Okraina (The Outskirts) (1998)

Directed by Pyotr Lutsik. Cast: Yuri Dubrovin, Nikolai Olyalin, Aleksei Pushkin, Aleksei Vanin. A group of Russian men fight injustice as they try to discover who stole their land. Their hunt for the offenders takes them from the gentle countryside to the halls of power. 95 min. DVD 6565

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Oligarkh (Tycoon: A New Russian; Un nouveau russe) (2002)

Directed by Pavel Lounguine. Cast: Vladimir Mashkov, Mariya Mironova, Andrei Krasko, Levani Uchaneishvili, Mikhail Vasserbaum, Sergei Yushkevich, Aleksandr Samojlenko, Natalya Kolyakanova. During the Gorbachev years, Platon Makovski and his four buddies are university students who jump on the private capitalism movement. Fast-forward 20 years, Platon finds himself the richest man in Russia, having sacrificed his friends to get to the top. But with this cynical rise, comes a brutal fall. 128 min. DVD 4082

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One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich (1999)

Widely regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th century, this is a homage to post-War Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky by his friend and colleague renowned French filmmaker Chris Marker. Marker draws parallels between Tarkovsky's life and films, offering an original insight into the usually reclusive director. Incorporating extensive film clips, journal entries, personal musings, and behind-the-scenes footage of Tarkovsky obsessively commanding his entire crew and of candid moments with his friends and family, this is a personal and loving portrait of the monumental filmmaker. 55 min. Video/C 7646

Andrei Tarkovsky bibliography

Ostrov (The Island) (Russia, 2006)

Director, Pavel Lungin. Cast: Piotr Mamonov, Viktor Sukhorukov, Dmitry Dyuzhev, Yuri Kuznetsov, Viktorya Isakova, Nina Usatova. Ostrov: Somewhere in Northern Russia in a small Russian Orthodox monastery lives an unusual man whose bizarre conduct confuses his fellow monks, while others who visit the island believe that the man has the power to heal, exorcise demons and foretell the future. Brother: The childhood memories and antics of a little boy afflicted with asthma. 112 min. DVD 7743

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Pastorali (Pastoral) (1975)

Director, Otar Iosseliani. Cast: Nestor Pipia, Rezo Charkhalashvili, Marina Kartsivadze, Baia Macaberidze, Vaxtang Eremashvili. The film tells the story of the well-trained musicians from a string quartet who spend the summer rehearsing in a small village in Georgia. Though they rehearse and bicker among themselves, the four become increasingly involved in local controversies and in the lives of the villagers. 91 min. DVD 4448

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Peter the First (1937-1939)

Directed by Vladimir Petrov. Chronicles the later years of Tsar Peter's life, during which he almost singlehandedly, forged a medieval Russia into a modern Western nation. Filmed over a three year period, with a cast of more than 5000, the film utilizes montage techniques as created by Eisenstein, Pudovkin, and Dovzhenko to present this crucial period of Russian history. 203 min. 999:3383

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Prisoner of the Mountains (Kavkazskii plennik) (1996)

Directed by Sergei Bodrov. Cast: Oleg Menshikov, Sergei Bodrov, Jr., Djemal Sikharulidze, Susanna Mekhralieva, Alexander Bureev, Valentina Fedotova, Alexei Jarkov. A Russian army patrol is ambushed by Caucasian rebels and two survivors are taken prisoner by a local patriarch who is 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. DVD 2267

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¡Que Viva Mexico! (Da zdravstvuyet Meksika!) (1931)

Director, Sergei Einstein. A film 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 Siqueiros, Rivera, and Orosco. Previously issued in less complete version under title: Thunder over Mexico. Reconstructed by Grigori Aleksandrov in 1979 from materials directed by Sergei Einstein in 1931. 85 min. DVD 668; VHS 999:876

Also on DVD 668: Romance sentimentale: Eisenstein's first sound film, this experimental 1930 short is a dazzling symphony of images and sounds, made in collaboration with Alexandrov and Tisse. Misery and fortune of woman: A 20 minute excerpt from an ultra-rare 1929 film by Eisenstein, Alexandrov and Tisse intended to encourage legal and sanitary birth/abortion clinics in Europe. A stunning dramatization of the plight of working class women. DVD 668

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Repentance (Monanieba; Pokayanie) (1987)

Directed by Tengiz Abuladze. Cast: Avtandil Makharadze, Iya Ninidze, Merab Ninidze, Zeinab Botsvadze, Veriko Anjaparidz. In a small, somewhat surreal Russian village, a mysterious woman is put on trial for repeatedly digging up the body of Varlam, the town's recently deceased ruler. The trial progresses and the townspeople learn that the woman's parents perished under Varlam's vicious reign of terror along with other innocents. As her ghastly revelations gradually reveal the truth about Varlam's monstrous inhumanity, the film is transformed into a searing expose of the brutal repressions and heroic sacrifices of the Soviet Union's Stalinist era. In Georgian with English subtitles. 151 min. DVD 2352; vhs 999:2738

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The Return (Vozvrashchenie) (2003)

Directed by Andrei Zvyagintsev. Cast: Vladimir Garin, Ivan Dobronravov, Konstantin Lavromenko, Natalya Vdovina. Having a fatherless childhood, young brothers Andrei and Ivan have grown closer than most siblings. But when they least expect it, the father the boys have never known returns. Under the cool midnight sun of a coastal Russian summer, the boys eagerly hop into a car for a fishing trip with a complete stranger they absolutely need to believe is their father. As they travel deep into the wilderness, their journey devolves from vacation to boot camp to father-son love triangle and ultimately to a test of wills that pushes to the brink of violence. 105 min. DVD 4458

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Roads to Koktebel (Koktebel?) (2003)

Directed by Boris Khlebnikov & Aleksei Popogrebskii. Cast: Igor Chernevich, Gleb Puskepalis, Agirppina Steklova, Alexandr Ilyin, Vladimir Kucherenko, Evgeny Syty. A father sets off from Moscow with his 11-year-old son for his sister's house in Koktebel by the Black Sea. With no money, nor means of transportation, they drift through the expansive and mesmeric landscapes at the mercy of chance. For the father, the journey is an attempt to restore self-respect and win back the trust of his son. For the boy, the mythic coastal town holds the key to a new life. 105 min. DVD 6338

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Russian Ark (2002)

Directed by Alexander Sokurov. A modern filmmaker magically finds himself transported to the 18th century where he embarks on a time-traveling journey through 300 years of Russian history. Notable as the longest uninterrupted shot in film history and the first feature film ever created in a single take. 96 min. DVD 1926

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Galetski, Kirill. "The Foundations of Film Art: An Interview with Alexander Sokurov." Cineaste, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 4-9, Summer 2001

Gillespie, David; Smirnova, Elena. "Alexander Sokurov and the Russian Soul." Studies in European Cinema, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 57-65, 2004

Kujundzic, Dragan. "After 'After': The Arkive Fever of Alexander Sokurov." Quarterly Review of Film and Video, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 219-39, Summer 2004

Russian Idea.

The term "The Russian Idea" is used to describe a desire for revolution, to create a utopia. In this film director Sergei Selyanov attempts to prove that 'our national films' that have become part of the world culture are connected with 'The Russian Idea' in one way or the other, using clips from the films of Eisenstein, Pudovkin and Vertov. 53 min. 1999. Video/C MM445

The Sacrifice (Offret) (1986)

Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. Featuring Erland Josephson, Susan Fleetwood, Allan Edwall. A dark and complex drama about redemption and the nuclear holocaust. When a middle aged intellectual in retirement on an island in the Baltic Seas witnesses signs of what he believes to be a nuclear holocaust, he offers to make the ultimate sacrifice in return for the salvation of mankind. 145 min.

Also includes: "Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky" (Zapechatlennoe vremia), 1988, by Michal Leszczylowski. This film shows the director Andre Tarkovsky in action as he makes his own picture "The Sacrifice." The program explains the motivation behind the film and contains illuminatin of Tarkovsky's working methods and style and how he overcame various technical problems during the film-making. Includes interviews with members of the cast and crew. 101 min. (246 min. total running time.) DVD 200

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Andrei Tarkovsky bibliography

Sergei Eisenstein, Autobiography.

Based on Eisenstein's memoirs, this autobiographical film reflects the inner world of the great Russian film director during the tragic years of two Russian revolutions and the Stalin terror. The film follows Eisenstein on a long voyage abroad which he started in 1929, and presents transformed episodes from Eisenstein's films and his contemporaries, as well as rare archival shots of Eisenstein himself presented with a soundtrack of his reminiscences, which are sometimes very personal. 1996. 92 min. Video/C 7059

Siberiade. (1979)

Directed by A. Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky. An epic romantic drama about three generations of two feuding Russian families, the rich Solomins and the poor Ustyuzhanins, of a rural Siberian village. The film spans more than six decades of Russian history encompassing the Bolshevik Revolution, two World Wars and the era of modernization in which the village is threatened by petroleum exploration. Through their multi-generational conflicts and alliances, the film dramatizes the evolution of the Russian people, bound together by the common struggle for survival and faithfulness to the motherland. 206 min. (2 tapes) 999:2058

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Sibirskiy tsiryulnik. (Russia / France / Italy / Czech Republic, 1998)

Directed by A. Nikita Mikhalkov. A foreign entrepreneur ventures to Russia in 1885 with dreams of selling a new experimental steam-driven harvester in the wilds of Siberia. Julia Ormond portrays his assistant, who falls in love with a young Russian officer, and spends the next 10 years perfecting the harvester and pursuing her love, who has been exiled to Siberia. 180 min. DVD 8988

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Solaris (1972)

Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. Ground control has been receiving strange transmissions from the three remaining residents of the Solaris space station. When cosmonaut and psychologist Kris Kelvin is sent to investigate, he experiences the strange phenomena that afflict the Solaris crew, sending him on a voyage into the darkest recesses of his own consciousness. 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. Based on the novel by Stanislaw Lem (PG7158.L39 S6 Main Stack, Moffitt; PG7158.L39 S613 1970a Main Stack) 167 min. DVD 6406; vhs 999:850

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Stalker (1979)

Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. At the center of an outlawed region called The Zone lies a mystical room altered by unnatural forces. Armed guards are the first in a series of lethal obstructions that prevent outsiders from reaching the place where fantastic powers can fulfill one's greatest desires. Only the Stalker can lead a scientist and writer through The Zone where an obstacle course of mental and physical barriers tests the limits of their endurance. At the end they must face a room where the center of power and evil confronts them and the future of mankind. 163 min. DVD 2138

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Andrei Tarkovsky bibliography

The Thief (Vor) (1997)

Directed by Pavel Chukhrai. Cast: Vladimir Mashkov, Katerina Rednikova, Misha Philipchuk. Set during post-World War II Russia, this is a tale of passion, betrayal and innocence lost, as seen through the eyes of an impressionable young boy. (DVD version includes scene selections, production notes, interactive menus, theatrical trailer). 94 min. DVD 90

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Uvlecheniya (Avocations) (1994)

Directed by Kira Muratova. Cast: Svetlana Kolenda, Renata Litvinova, Mikhail Demidov, Vassily Rybakin, Alexi Shevchenko, Gennady Tkachenko. This Russian film charts two young women's bittersweet search for passion. Lilia and Violetta enter the world of horse racing for the love of the game, and while there, they meet jockeys who are fascinated with them but what takes precedence -- love or sports? They'll soon find out. 107 min. DVD 7940

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Vodka Lemon (France / Italy / Switzerland / Armenia. 2003)

Directed by Hiner Saleem. Cast: Romen Avinian, Lala Sarkissian, Ivan Franek, Rouuzanna-Vite Mesropyan, Zahal Karielachvili. A small Armenian village faces tough times after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Hamo is a widower with a small military pension and three useless sons. While making one of his daily visits to his wife's grave he meets Nina and the two begin to date. 88 min. DVD 4935

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Vovochka (2002)

Directed by Andrei Maksimov. A Russian television mini-series centering around Vovochka, a ten-year-old boy and ever-inventive daredevil, who happens to be quite a handful for the grown-ups around him. With Vovochka's arrival at his country place on the eve of the New Year holidays, the life of that quiet suburban Moscow village blows up, both literally and figuratively. 95 min. DVD 2334

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We Are Going to America (My yedem v Ameriku) (1992)

Directed by Yefim Gribov. Cast: Cast: Dima Davydov, Lyubov Rumyantseva, Semen Strugachev, Vadim Danilevsky, Danuta Slavgorodskaia, Ba?ibaIn this Russian comedy, set at the turn-of-the-century, a Russian Jewish family Leaves Russia to find a new life in the New World. Seen through the eyes of 11-year-old Motl, he creates a sense of wonder and chaotic adventure as his family makes their way towards America. 82 min. 999:3277

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White Sun of the Desert (Beloe solntse pustyni) (1969)

Directed by Vladimir Motyl. Cast: Anatolii Kuznetsov, Pavel Luspekaev, Spartak Mishulin, Kakhi Kavsadze, R. Kurkina. In this Central Asian action film a recently discharged soldier makes his way across the desert, seeking only to get to his native village. He happens to be in the area usually occupied by the bandit Abdulla and his gang. The bandit has left, abandoning all the women connected with the gang, and it falls to the soldier to help them get to safety. 80 min. DVD 4826

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To the top

Russian Silent Film

Aelita: the Queen of Mars (silent, 1924)

Directed by Yakov Protazanov. Los, an engineer living in Moscow, dreams of Aelita, the Queen of Mars, and builds a spaceship to take him to her. They fall in love, but Los soon finds himself embroiled in the planet's proletarian uprising. Based on a novella with the same title by A. Tolstoy. 98 min. DVD 84

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Arsenal (1928-29)

Directed by Alexander Dovzhenko. Based on an actual incident, this is a dramatic account of the Ukraine from the First World War through the February and October Revolutions, to the suppression of a workers' revolt in 1918. Dovzhenko presents harsh, realistic scenes of Czarist brutality and war's destruction, but his juxtapositions of the Russian workers and peasants are both impressionistic and symbolic. 75 min. DVD 8448; VHS 999:2101 (digitally mastered)

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The Ascent (Voskhozhdeniye) (Soviet Union, 1976)

Directed by Larisa Shepitko. Cast: Boris Plotnikov; Vladimir Gostiukhin; Sergei Yakovlev. An uncompromising portrayal of war and betrayal, The Ascent (Voskhozhdeniye) follows two Russian soldiers who are captured in German occupied Byelorussia during World War II. Using expressive religious symbolism, director Larisa Shepitko boldly reverses stereotypical Soviet attitudes towards heroism, religion, and philosophy in her examination of souls preparing to die. 108 min. vhs 999:3802

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Battleship Potemkin (Bronenosets Potemkin) (1925)

Director, Sergei M. Eisenstein. Thanks to the success of his earlier Strike, director Sergei Eisenstein was commissioned by the Soviet government to make a film commemorating the Uprising of 1905. Eisenstein's scenario, boiled down from what was to have been a multipart epic of the occasion, focussed on the crew of the Battleship Potemkin. Fed up with the extreme cruelties of their officers-and their maggot -- ridden meat rations -- the sailors stage a violent mutiny. This, in turn, sparks an abortive citizen revolt against the Czarist regime. The film's centerpiece is stage upon the Odessa Steps, where in 1905 the Czar's Cossacks methodically shot down and hacked up rioters and innocent bystanders alike. To Eisenstein, this single bloody incident was the chrysalis of the successful 1917 Bolshevik revolution; thus, he poured his heart and soul into the Odessa Steps episode. The result was what many film historians consider the most famous sequence ever filmed; it is certainly one of the most imitated, as witness Brian DePalma's The Untouchables (1987). This triumph of Eisenstein's "rhythmical editing" technique is in the middle of film; it is not the climax, as many who've never seen Potemkin automatically assume. Incredibly, the sequence is actually topped by Eisenstein's jubilant finale, wherein the sailors of Imperial Navy, in solidarity with their comrades, disregard orders to fire upon the Potemkin. Their pivotal decision is symbolized by the legendary "waking lions" montage (Eisenstein isn't too subtle, but boy was he effective!) The two major sequences in Battleship Potemkin can still bring an audience to its feet even when taken out of context. Considering the intensity of their performances, it is astonishing to learn that all the actors in the film were amateurs, selected by Eisenstein because of "rightness" for roles. Pictorial quality varies from print to print, but even in a duped-down version, Battleship Potemkin is must-see cinema. [Hal Erickson, All-Movie Guide) DVD 8673 includes the original 1926 Edmund Meisel score, performed by the Deutsches Filmorchestra Babelsberg and conducted by Helmut Imig. Special features (disc 1): "Tracing the Battleship Potemkin," a documentary on the making and restoration of the film (43 min.); "Behind the scenes" photo gallery; deleted scenes photo gallery; promotional materials photo gallery. 74 min. DVD 8673; DVD 7; VHS 999:1103; PFA VHS print with Russian intertitles 999:1102

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Bed and Sofa (Tretya meshchanskaya) (1926)

Director, Abram Room. An early silent satirical film produced in the Soviet Union which points up the social consequences of the Soviet housing shortage. A husband and wife invite a friend to live with them and sleep on the sofa, but soon the husband winds up on the sofa. A landmark film because of humor, naturalism, and its sympathetic portrayal of the woman. 74 min. 999:3253

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By the Law (Po zakonu) (1926)

Director, Lev Kuleshov. Set in a mythical Four men and a woman go to the Yukon in search of gold, but when two of the prospectors are murdered their companions set off on a desparate search for the killers to exact retribution. Based on Jack London's story "The Unexpected." Silent with English intertitles and musical accompaniment. 89 min. Video Disc 180; 999:1665 ;999:1689

Chess Fever (Shakhmatnaya goryachka) (1925)

Directed by Vsevolod I. Pudovkin. A Keaton-esque comedy in which a young man's passion for the game threatens to wreck his marriage. DVD 2902; Video Disc 180; vhs 999:1689

Michalski, Milena. " Chess Fever." (movie reviews). Slavonic and East European Review v72, n3 (July, 1994):591 (2 pages).

Pudovkin bibliography

Early Russian Cinema. A. Drankov Studio; Pathe Freres (Moscow) ; Pathe (Moscow-Film d'Art). New York: Released by Milestone Film & Video, 1992.

Silent films with Russian and English subtitles added.

Princess Tarakanova based on play by Ippolit Shpazhinskii, Sten'ka Razin based on song, 'From the Island to the Deep Streams', Romance with Double-Bass, Chekhov adaptation 38 min. 999:686

Folklore and Legend. Contents: Brigand Brothers based on poem by Pushkin ; 16th century Russian Wedding based on play by P. Sukhotin ; Rusalka based on play by Pushkin. Drama in a Gyspy camp (Siversen, 1908) and the unreleased Brigand Brothers (Goncharov, 1912) are plein air folklore subjects, while a 16th century Russian wedding (1909) and Rusalka (1910), both directed by pioneer enthusiast Vasilii Goncharov, show how rapidly Russian cinema espoused national and cultural themes. 40 min. 999:687

Starewicz's Fantasies. Contents: The Dragonfly and the Ant -- Christmas Eve -- The Lily of Belgium. 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). 999:688

Provincial Variations. Contents: The Wedding day -- Merchant Bashkirov's Daughter. Jewish life was one of the exotic subjects covered in provincial films like the Latvian Wedding day ( Slovinski, 1912). The remarkably bleak melodrama Merchant Bashkirov's daughter (Larin, 1913), set on the Volga, was based on a real murder scandal. 55 min. 999:689

Chardynin's Pushkin. The Queen of spades (1910) -- The house in Kolomna (1913). The former touring actor-manager, Petr Chardynin, made an early name for himself and gave Russian cinema a distinctly cultured orientation with Pushkin adaptations like The Queen of Spades (1910) and The House In Kolomna (1913). In the latter Chardynin's protege Mozzhukhin played both a dashing officer and a farcical cook in drag. 45 min. 999:690

Class Distinctions. Contents: The Peasants' Lot (1912) -- Silent Witnesses (1914). Despite strict censorship intended to prevent any inflammatory material from reaching the screen, many early Russian films achieved a remarkably candid portrayal of social conditions. Gonsharov's The Peasants' Lot (1912) portrayed the hardship of rural life, while an early film by Bauer, Silent Witnesses (1914) dealt frankly with servants' views of their masters in a Moscow mansion. 95 min. 999:691

Evgenii Bauer. Contents: A Child of the Big City (1913) -- The 1002nd Ruse (1915) -- Daydreams (1915). Evgenii Bauer is the major discovery from early Russian cinema. In a mere five prolific years, he achieved mastery in several genres, including the social melodrama of A Child of the Big City (1913), erotic comedy like The 1002nd Ruse (1915) and the psychological melodrama of Daydreams (1915). Admired by his contemporaries, he raised Russian cinema to an unparalleled artistic level before his early death in mid-1917. 93 min. 999:692

Lakov Protazanov. Contents: The Departure of a Great Old Man (1912) -- The Queen of Spades (1916). Protazanov, together with Bauer the leading director of the early Russian cinema, did not shrink from controversy in either his highly successful pre- or post-1917 careers. The Departure of a Great Old Man (1912), about the last days of Tolstoi, provoked legal action by the outraged family. The Queen of Spades (1916) starred Mozzhukhin in one of his most compelling roles as Pushkin's haunted hero. 95 min. 999:693

High Society. Contents: Antosha ruined by a corset (1916) -- A life for a life (1916) -- The funeral of Vera Kholodnaia (1919). A panorama of Russian cinema's social impact at the height of its ambition. Antosha Ruined by a Corset (1916) is a racy, knowing urban comdey by Russia's leading screen comedian, Anton Fertner. A Life for a Life (1916) marked the pinnacle of Bauer's ambition to equal lavish foreign production standards. And The Funeral of Vera Kholodnaia recorded the vast public response to the early death of Russia's greatest star in 1919. 86 min. 999:694

The End of an Era. Contents: The Revolutionary (1917) -- For Luck (1917) -- Behind the Screen (1917). Between the February and October revolutions in 1917, Russian cinema reflected urgent new themes, as in The Revolutionary. But 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. Video Disc 150; 999:695

Devil's Wheel (Chertovo Koleso) (1926)

Directors, Grigori Kozintsev, Leonid Trauberg. A story dealing with underworld figures who victimized the people of Petrograd during the Civil War. Unusual photography gave this work a near bizarre style and at times approached expressionism. 55 min. 999:1090 (segments also featured in What Do Those Old Films Mean, Video/C 1406:5)

Diplomatic Pouch (Sumka Dipkuryera) (1927)

Director, Alexander Dovzhenko. A story about a Soviet diplomatic courier and the theft of Soviet state papers which are recovered. The director, Dovzhenko, himself plays a small role in the film. Russian intertitles. 66 min. 999:1088

Earth (Zemlya) (1930)

Director, Alexander Dovzhenko. Trouble results in a Ukrainian village when a landowner refuses to hand over his land for a collective farm. Includes sequences of rustic beauty and of life, love and death in the Ukrainian countryside. 88 min. DVD 2902; Video Disc 150; VHS 999:129

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Zarkhi, Natan Abramovich. Mother, A Film by V. I. Pudovkin. Earth, a film by Alexander Dovzhenko. New York, Simon and Schuster [c1973] (Series: Classic film scripts) (Main Stack PN1997.M38.P813 1973; Main Stack PN1997.M38.Z31)

End of St. Petersburg (Konyets Sankt-Peterburga) (1927)

Directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin. 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. DVD 8554; DVD 2902; vhs 999:602

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Smith, Murray. "The Influence of Socialist Realism on Soviet Montage: The End of St. Petersburg, Fragment of an Empire, and Arsenal." Journal of Ukrainian Studies, vol. 19 no. 1. 1994 Summer. pp: 45-65.

Pudovkin bibliography

Entuziazm (Enthusiasm) (1931)

Directed by Dziga Vertov. Entuziazm: Vertov's first sound film. This lyrical sound and musical documentary celebrates the enthusiasm with which the peasants and miners of the Don River basin in Russia fulfilled their first five-year plan quotas following the October Revolution. The film is for its innovative use of sound in synchronization as well as in counterpoint, and for its interesting cinematic effects, such as multiple superimpositions. 67 min. DVD 9188; vhs 999:2063

Dziga Vertov bibliography

The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks (Neobychainiye Priklucheniya Mistera Vesta v. Stranye Bolshevikov) (1924)

Director, Lev Kuleshov. In this Russian-made 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. Silent film with Russian intertitles. 86 min. 999:1142

Sonnenberg, Ben. "The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks." (movie reviews). Nation v254, n9 (March 9, 1992):311.

Forward, Soviet! (Shagai, Soviet!)(1926)

Directed by Dziga Vertov. Commissioned by the Moscow Soviet as a documentary and information film for the citizens of Moscow prior to municipal elections, film is a tableau of Soviet life and achievements in the period of reconstruction following the Civil War of 1917-1921. 72 min. Video/C 3770

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Dziga Vertov bibliography

Fruits of Love.(1926)

Comedy film in which a single man attempts to trick others into caring for his infant child. Silent films with Russian intertitles. PFA print. Video/C 4036

Jew on the Land. (1926)

Director, Abram Room. A semi-documentary about a Jewish experimental agricultural settlement in Russia. Silent films with Russian intertitles. PFA print. Video/C 4036

Katka's Reinette Apples (Kat'ka Bumazhnyi Ranet)

Directors, Eduard Ioganson, Fridrikh Ermler. This is a warm, tender story about Katka, a young woman who comes to Petrograd in the early 1920s and has to sell apples to earn a livelihood. After being seduced and cheated she is rescued by Fedka, a gentle man of the streets. Film is notable as it is regarded as an accurate portrayal of this period of Soviet history and constitutes one of the first attempts to create a film based upon contemporary Soviet "everyday life". 86 min. PFA print. Silent film with Russian intertitles. 999:1143 (segments also featured in What Do Those Old Films Mean, Video/C 1406:5)

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Kino Eye (Kinoglaz) (1924)

Directed by Dziga Vertov. A collection of short excerpts from newsreels and documentary films of Soviet life in the early 1920s made by Vertov and his "Kino-Eye" group. PFA print 999:1141 (segments also featured in What Do Those Old Films Mean, Video/C 1406:5)

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Schaub, Joseph Christopher. "Presenting the Cyborg's Futurist Past: An Analysis of Dziga Vertov's Kino-Eye." Postmodern Culture: An Electronic Journal of Interdisciplinary Criticism vol. 8 no. 2. 1998 Jan. pp: 27

UC Berkeley users only

Vertov, Dziga. Kino-eye: The Writings of Dziga Vertov / edited with an introduction by Annette Michelson ; translated by Kevin O'Brien. Berkeley, Ca.: University of California Press, c1984. (Main Stack PN1995.9.D6.V44 1984)

Kino-Pravda (1922)

Directed by Dziga Vertov. Excerpts from the second of the newsreel journal series which originally consisted of 23 issues produced from 1922-1925. Consists of a record of Soviet life edited into a unique genre of mixed documentary, animation and reviews and provides a record of the Revolution's social achievements. Kino-Pravda footage includes: Work on the reconstruction of the Moscow trolley system, Line No. 13 -- Tanks on the labor front (Leveling the Khodinka Airport) -- At the trial of the Social-Revolutionaries -- Organizing the peasants to join the communes -- Town of Gelenzhik (Children's sanitarium ; Save the starving children!) -- For inquiries regarding traveling film-shows. 14 min. 999:2063

Dziga Vertov bibliography

Kiss of Mary Pickford (Pocelui Meri Pikford) (1927)

Director/script, Sergei Komarov. A rare, hilarious cinematic oddity, a film formulated from Kuleshov montage techniques from footage of the famous American couple's visit to Russia in 1926, wherein a regular guy tries to win a girl through friendship with the movie stars. Fairbanks and Pickford didn't know of their role in the film, being spliced in later according to montage theory. Silent film with Ukranian subtitles. 79 min. PFA print. 999:1185

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Mad Love: the Films of Evgeni Bauer (1913-16)

Presents 3 films by Russian film director Evgeni Bauer noted for creating macabre masterpieces, dramas obsessed with doomed love and death, astonishing for graceful camera movements, risque themes and opulent sets. The films were buried in Soviet archives for decades until the fall of the Iron Curtain. Contents: Twilight of a woman's soul (1913, 49 min.): Bauer's first surviving film, tells the story of a society woman who kills her rapist and in its aftermath must make a new life for herself when her husband leaves her. -- After death (1915, 46 min.): Adapted from a story by Ivan Turgenev, explores one of Bauer's favorite themes: the psychological hold of the dead over the living. -- Dying swan (1916, 49 min.): An artist obsessed with the idea of capturing death on canvas becomes fixated on a mute ballerina. Special features: 37-minute documentary film essay on Evgeni Bauer by Russian film scholar Yuri Tsivisan. Silent with musical scores. DVD 3875

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Man With The Movie Camera (Man With a Movie Camera) (Chelovek s Kinoapparatom) (1929)

Directed by Dziga Vertov. Photographer, Mikhail Kaufman. An experimental film without any plot, showing, through a succession of street and interior scenes, all the tricks of which the instrument is capable creating a boldly detailed portrait of the Moscow of the l920s. Uses numerous cinematic techniques such as split screens, multiple superimpositions and variable speeds to study the relation between cinema and reality.

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DVD 88 Kino. Original music composed and performed by the Alloy Orchestra following the instructions written by Dziga Vertov. 68 min. Special features: Audio essay by Yuri Tsivian.

DVD 2992 Kino. Music by Michael Nyman and his band. 68 min.

The Mermaid (In Russian, 1996)

Director, Alexander Petrov. In this animated short, a mermaid returns from the dead to avenge her life, but finds the one who betrayed her has long since retired from the world to atone for his sins. Two years in the making and nominated for an Academy Award this carefully crafted film was created through the technique of oil painting on glass. In Russian. 10 min. 999:3267

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Mother ('Mat') (1926)

Directed by Vsevolod I. Pudovkin. Mother (Mat) was the first of Russian-filmmaker Vsevold Pudovkin's "personal epics"-films that weave spectacular historical tales while never losing sight of the individual, and individual emotions, that motivate those tales. Based on a Maxim Gorky story, Mother recreates the abortive Russian revolution of 1905. The title character, played by Vera Baranovkskaya, is the unwitting cause of the imprisonment of her political-activist son Nikolai Batalov. When her boy is killed in an escape attempt, she is awakened to the horrors of the Czarist regime, and picks up Batalov's political cudgel. She too, is killed while participating in a worker's protest. The sweep and scope of the action scenes in Mother never dwarf the human story. What sticks in the mind most vividly is the intimate scene in which Batalov, contemplating his upcoming release from prison, begins dreaming of his mother, while superimposed closeups of her face blend into lyrical shots of the Russian spring thaw. Mother was the first of Pudovkin's trilogy of Revolution-inspired silent masterpieces: the subsequent films were End of St. Petersburg and Storm over Asia. (Hal Erickson, All-Movie Guide). 88 min. DVD 21; Video Disc 180; vhs 999:4

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October (Oktyabr) SEE Ten Days That Shook the World

Salt for Svanetia (Sol Svanetij) (1930)

Directed by Mikhail Kalatozov. An ethnographic treasure that documents the harsh conditions of life in the isolated mountain village of Ushkul. As the focus of the film shifts to the Svan's barbaric religious customs the film is transformed into a work of Communist propaganda, holding up these grotesque, near-pagan ceremonies (which many Svanetians later denied as accurate) as an example of religion's corruptive influence. 53 min. Video Disc 180; VHS 999:1688

The Second Circle (Krug Vtoroj) (1990)

Directed by Aleksandr Sokurov. A young man travels to a frigid Siberian town and tries to come to terms with his father's death and to deal with the mundane details of his burial in a society cut off from spiritual values. 92 min. 999:2241

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Soviet Toys (1923)

Directed by Dziga Vertov. Soviet, silent animation 999:1184

Storm Over Asia (Potomok Chingis-Khana) (1928)

Directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin. Revolutionary drama centered on a young Mongol thought to be descended from Genghis Khan whom imperialists seek to use to further their expansionist interests. After a series of misadventures the young man rebels and leads his people against their oppressors. 125 min. DVD 58

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Strike (Stachka) (1924)

Directed by Sergei Eisenstein. The first full-length feature project of pantheon Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein, Strike is a government-commissioned celebration of the unrealized 1905 Bolshevik revolution. The story is set in motion by a series of outrages and humiliations perpetrated on the workers of a metalworks plant. The Czarist regime is unsympathetic to the workers, characteristically helping the plant owners to subjugate the hapless victims. Finally, the workers revolt, staging an all-out strike. Here is where Eisenstein's theory of "the montage of shocks" was given its first major workout. While the notion of juxtaposing short, separate images to heighten tension and excitement was not new, Eisenstein was the first to fully understand the value of using sudden-shock images (a bloody face, a fired weapon, a descending club) to make his dramatic and sociological points. Playing to mixed reviews and small audiences in Russia, Strike proved a success worldwide, assuring Eisenstein complete creative freedom on his next project, the immortal Potemkin. (Hal Erickson, All-Movie Guide). 80 min. DVD 353; Video Disc 150; VHS 999:2100 (94 min., digitally mastered); VHS 999:695

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Ten Days that Shook the World (October = Oktiabr) (1928)

Directed by Sergei Eisenstein. Borrowing its title from a book by American communist John Reed (of Reds fame), Sergei Eisenstein's Ten Days That Shook the World reenacts the crucial week-and-a-half in October, 1918, when the Russian Kerensky regime was toppled by the Bolsheviks. While Eisenstein takes certain liberties in characterization--those opposing the Bolsheviks are depicted as mental defectives or grossly overweight clowns--his re-creation of such events as the storming of the Winter Palace are painstakingly meticulous. The "actor" playing Lenin, a nonprofessional worker named Nikandrov, so closely resembles the genuine article that the effect is positively eerie. So authentic is Eisenstein's reconstruction of events that, for years, TV documentaries have been passing off clips from Ten Days That Shook the World as "actual" scenes of the Revolution. While impressive on a technical level, the film never truly stirs the audience's emotions; Eisenstein purists have argued that this "alienation" technique was the director's intention all along, forcing the viewer to observe the events intellectually rather than emotionally. Produced in celebration of the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution, Ten Days That Shook the World was initially titled October. (Hal Erickson, All-Movie Guide) 120 min. DVD 22; vhs 999:601

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Turksib (1929)

Directed by Victor Turin. Depicts the herculean accomplishments of joining the arid plains of Turkestan to the icy Siberian mountains by rail. 57 min. Video Disc 180; VHS 999:1688

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Coldicutt, Ken "Turksib; building a railroad" Screening the Past, Issue 2 (8 December 1997) pp: 32-

Zvenigora (Zakoldavanoye Mesto) (1928)

Directed by Alexander Dovzhenko. An allegory in which the central theme is the relationship of an old man with his two sons, one bad, one good, searching for treasure buried in the hill of Zvenigora. The good son represents the progressive social order for which the revolution strove; the bad son represents the chaos of any major social upheaval. Zvenigora is less a film than a tone poem, set forth by master Russian cinematic poet Alexander Dovzhenko. Moving outside the studio system for the first time (it was his fourth film), Dovzhenko uses lyrical location shots of rural Ukraine and its farmers to excellent advantage. The very complex storyline (too much so to dwell on at great length here) combines elements of fact and folklore in relating the "history" the Ukraine, using the search for a fabled treasure as the glue that holds the tale together. This is not an accessible "classroom classic" like Eisenstein's Potemkin. Be prepared to think and be challenged, and not to sit back comfortably, while experiencing Zvenigora. (Hal Erickson, All-Movie Guide) Silent film with Russian intertitles. 84 min. 999:1092

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What Do Those Old Films Mean?: Part 5: U.S.S.R. 1924-1928: Born Yesterday.

Contents: The House on Trubnaya Square -- The Cigarette-girl of the Mossel Prom -- Katka's Apples -- The Devil's Wheel -- Kino-Eye -- Lace -- Remnants of an Empire. Explores the prominence of themes of social disorder, change, and experimentation in post-revolutionary Soviet cinema of the 1930's. Examines the sexual division of labor in the home. Includes excerpts from rare films that are virtually unknown in the West. Explores the prominence of themes of social disorder, change, and experimentation in post-revolutionary Soviet cinema of the 1930's. Examines the sexual division of labor in the home. Includes excerpts from rare films that are virtually unknown in the West. Video/C 1406:5 Pt. 5

To the top Czechoslovakia

Adelheid (1969)

Directed by Frantisek Vlácil. Cast: Petr Cepek, Emma Cerna, Jan Vostrcil, Pavel Landovsky. In the aftermath of World War II, a former soldier takes charge of a manor formerly owned by a German family. He falls in love with the daughter, who is now a maid, and is forced to confront the conflict between his love and his conscience when he discovers that she is sheltering her German-soldier brother. 99 min. DVD 8534

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Alice (Neco z Alenky) (Czechoslovakia / Switzerland / UK / West Germany, 1988)

Directed by Jan Svankmajer. Alice is sitting in her room full of toys reading Lewis Carroll's story, during which she too is carried off to Wonderland. As she follows the elusive White Rabbit so begins this dream expedition into the landscape of childhood, combining techniques of animation, puppet theatre and live action. English version. 86 min. 999:1554

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All My Loved Ones (Vsichni moji blízcí ) (Czech Republic / Slovakia / Poland, 1999)

Directed by Matej Minac. Cast: Josef Abraham, Libuse Safrankova, Jiri Bartoska, Ondrej Vetchy, Branislav Holicek, Lucia Culkova, Tereza Brodska, Marian Labuda, Rupert Graves. Inspired by the real life heroics of Nicholas Winton who saved hundreds of Czech Jewish children from the Nazis. The Silberstein's are a large and close knit extended family living in Czechoslovakia. Believing in the decency of mankind, they don't pay heed to the Nazi threat. They finally realize the true horror of what is coming, but it is too late. Making the toughest possible decision, they must decide if they will turn their young son, David, over to Nicholas and risk never seeing him again. 95 min. DVD 7254

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A Bite to Eat (1963)

Directed by Jan Nemec. Nemec's diploma film from the Prague Film Academy. The film is a hallucinatory moment, virtually without dialogue and handles one man's feverish attempt to steal a loaf of bread from a Nazi-guarded train. 10 min. In Czech with German subtitles. Video/C 999:3795

Black Peter (Cerný Petr) (1963)

Written and directed by Milos Forman. This first feature film by Milos Forman presents Peter, a teenage malcontent, who lands a job in a grocery store, which pleases his pompous father. When, Peter finds the work distasteful and depressing, he seeks relief through a clumsy romance with a young girl. A delightful coming-of-age film that finds its humor in the keenly observed details of youthful romance, teenage dissatisfaction, and the small moments of life. 85 min. DVD 2858

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Milos Foreman bibliography

Closely Watched Trains (Ostre Sledované Vlaky) (1966)

Directed by Jiri Menzel. Comedy-drama about a young tainmaster employed in a tiny station during World War II. He becomes involved in a plot to blow up a German ammunition train, but when the plan backfires, he is forced to commit the ultimate act of courage. Based on the novel by Bohumil Hrabal. DVD 1180; vhs 999:1073

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The Collected Shorts of Jan Svankmajer: The Early Years, Vol. 1 (1965-1980)

Utilizing a delirious combination of puppets, humans, stop-motion animation and live action, Svankmajer's films conjure up a dreamlike universe that is at once dark, macabre, witty and perversely visceral. This is a collection of his short works produced between 1965 and 1980. Contents: The fall of the House of Usher (1980, 15 min.) -- A game with stones (1965, 9 min.) -- Et cetera (1966, 7 min.) -- Punch and Judy (1966, 10 min.) -- The flat (1968, 13 min.) -- Picnic with Weissmann (1969, 13 min.) -- A quiet week in the house (1969, 19 min.). 86 min. DVD 6298

The Collected Shorts of Jan Svankmajer: The Years, Vol. 2 (1982-1992)

Utilizing a delirious combination of puppets, humans, stop-motion animation and live action, Svankmajer's films conjure up a dreamlike universe that is at once dark, macabre, witty and perversely visceral. This is a collection of his short works produced between 1982 and 1992. Contents: Dimensions of dialogue (1982, 12 min.) -- Down to the cellar (1983, 15 min.) -- The pendulum, the pit and hope (1983, 16 min.) -- Meat love (1988, 1 min.) -- Flora (1989, 20 sec.) -- The death of Stalinism in Bohemia (1990, 15 min.) -- Food (1992, 17 min.). 76 min. DVD 6299

Conspirators of Pleasure (Spiklenci slasti) (Czech Republic / Switzerland / UK, 1996)

Director, Jan Svankmajer. "Conspirators of Pleasure" is a partially animated, surreal comedy without dialog, about six ordinary if somewhat seedy individuals who obsessively and painstakingly prepare their sexual "feasts" which usually involve bizarre, homemade autoerotic contraptions. 97 min. DVD 1674

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Daisies (Sedmikrasky) (1966)

Directed by Vera Chytilová. In this Czech new wave film two madcap teenage girls decide that since the world is spoiled they will be spoiled as well. Accordingly they embark on a series of destructive pranks in which they consume and destroy the world about them. 75 min. DVD 1825

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Diamonds of the Night (Demanty noci) (1964)

Directed by Jan Nemec. Diamonds of the night is a study of two Jewish boys who escape from a train which is transporting them from one concentration camp to another. The film goes beyond the theme of war and anti-Nazism to concern itself with man's struggle to preserve human dignity. 64 min. Video/C 999:3795

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Distant Journey (Daleká Cesta) (1949)

Directed by Alfred Radok. Cast: Blanka Waleska, Otomar Krejca, Viktor Ocasek, Zdenka Baldova, Jiri Spirit, Eduard Kohout. One of the first theatrical films about the Holocaust, banned for decades in the Czech Republic and then rediscovered, follows the struggles of Dr. Hannah Kaufman and her family from the time of the Nazi Occupation of Prague through her experiences in the transit camp of Theresienstadt (modern Terezin). 98 min. DVD 4133

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Divided We Fall (Musime si pomáhat) (Czech Republic, 2000)

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Ecstacy (Ekstase; Extase) (1932)

Directed by Gustav Machatý. Cast: Hedy Lamarr, Zvonimir Rogoz, Aribert Mog, . Simple yet symbolic story of an adulterous love triangle in a pastoral setting. Based on a story by Samuel Cummins. (Dubbed) 79 min. 999:287

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The Elementary School (Obecná Skola) (1991)

Directed by Jan Sverak. Ten-year-old Eda lives in Czechoslvakia. It is 1945 he goes to school with some boys who are so mischievous that they drive away their teacher. She is replaced by a tough disciplinarian who administers frequent beatings and also brags that he played an important role in the resistance to the Nazis. Despite this, the boys take to him. This gentle drama manages to get in some political points, including well-placed jibes about the development of a "model socialist state" in Czechoslovakia after the war. 110 min. 999:2749

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The End of August at the Hotel Ozone (Konec srpna v Hotelu Ozon) (Czechoslovakia, 1967)

Directed by Jan Schmidt. Cast: Beta Ponicanova, Magda Seidlerova, Vanda Kalnova, Alena Lippertova, Ondrej Jariabek. Director Jan Schmidt paints a chilling, bleak picture of the future. Nuclear war has destroyed almost all of civilization. A group of women has gone to primal barbarity to survive. They go in search of men to help them have children. 67 min. DVD 7676

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Faust (1994)

Directed by Jan Svankmajer. An Everyman lured off the streets of Prague finds himself becoming Faust and entering a world of mind-boggling magic and strange encounters. He summons up Mephisto, makes his awful pact and is plunged into a world of laughing devils, dreams and nightmares. Film is a profoundly imaginative combination of live-action, claymation, puppet-theatre, stop-motion animation and special effects. English language version. 93 min. DVD 467; VHS 999:1594

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The Fifth Rider is Fear (A páty Jezdec je Strach)(1964)

Director, Zbynek Brynych. Cast: Miroslav Machacek, Olga Scheinpflugova, Jiri Adamira, Illia Prachar, Josef Vinklar, Zdenka Prochazkova, Slavka Budinova, Jiri Virtala. An aging Jewish doctor is forbidden to practice medicine in Prague during the Nazi occupation. He is employed in a warehouse as a clerk, cataloguing confiscated Jewish property. When a partisan is wounded, the doctor reluctantly agrees to treat him. The doctor hides him in his run-down apartment building as he sneaks through the black-market underworld of Prague in search of morphine to ease the man's pain, ever fearful of informant neighbors and vigilant authorities. Within a historical context, director Zbynek Brynych creates a thinly-disguised allegory about contemporary communist Czechoslovakia that is rich in atmosphere and dark in tone. 100 min. DVD 7247

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Firemen's Ball (Horí, má Panenko) (1967)

Director, Milos Forman. Firemen's Ball was Czechoslovakian director Milos Forman's final film in his home country; he was scouting locations in Paris when the Russians moved their tanks into Prague in 1968 causing Forman to decide to remain an expatriate. Because of the supercharged political climate of the era, critics read all sorts of allegory and hidden meanings into the Firemen's Ball. Other critics simply accepted the film as the slapsticky tale of a disastrous small-town celebration in honor of a retiring fire chief, and laughed accordingly. Best to judge for oneself: you can catch Firemen's Ball under its original English title, or under its alternate cognomen Like a House on Fire. (Hal Erickson, All-Movie Guide) DVD 1063; vhs 999:1056

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Milos Foreman bibliography

The Good Soldier Schweik (Dobrý voják Svejk ) (1956)

Directed by Karel Steklý. Cast: Rudolf Hrusinsky, Eva Svobodova, Josef Hlinomaz, Frantisek Filipovsky, Milos Kopecky, Svatopluk Benes. Tells the story of Schweik, a good-natured buffoon in the Czech Army during WWI, whose mishaps bring disaster to rigid military situations. Though determined to do his duty, the messes he creates expose the weaknesses of the military as an institution and bring into sharp relief the absurdity of war. 104 min. DVD 3590

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The Good Soldier Schweik 2: Beg to Report, Sir (Poslusne hlásím) (1957)

Directed by Karel Steklý. Cast: Rudolf Hrusinsky, Jaroslav Marvan, Josef Hlinomaz, Frantisek Filipovsky, F. Mrazek, Svatopluk Benes. Continues the exploits of Schweik, a good-natured buffoon in the Czech Army during WWI. 99 min. DVD 3591

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The Joke (Zert) (1969)

Directed by Jaromil Jires. Cast: Josef Somr, Jaroslava Obermaierova, Jana Ditetova, Jaromir Hanzlik, Vera Kresadlova, Ludek Munzar, Evald Schorm. Set in Stalinist Czechoslovakia during the 1950s, this tragicomedy revolves around the consequences of a single joke: a young man, is expelled from the university and the Communist party and sentenced to six years hard labor for an irreverent postcard he sends to a lady friend. This leaves him cynical, bitter, and out for revenge. 80 min. DVD 7249

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Kolya (Czech Republic, 1996)

Directed by Jan Sverak. A confirmed bachelor is in for the surprise of his life when a get-rich-quick scheme backfires, setting off a wild set of circumstances and leaving him with a pint-sized new roommate. 105 min. 999:2259

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Labyrinth of Darkness (1978-1989)

Made by Jiri Barta. Includes all eight films of Czech filmmaker Jiri Barta which combine animation of objects and puppets with live-action to fashion gothic worlds of horror and fantasy infused with humor and moral examinations. Principally with sound and music but no dialogue. Contents: A ballad about green wood (11 min.) -- The club of the laid off (25 min.) -- The design (6 min.) -- Disc jockey (10 min.) -- The last theft (21 min.) -- The pied piper of Hamelin (55 min.) -- Riddles for a candy (8 min.) -- The vanished world of gloves (16 min.). 152 min. DVD 6161

Larks on a String (Skrivanci na niti) (1969)

Director, Jiri Menzel. While serving time for desertion and taking steps toward re-education, a rag-tag group of junkyard workers unite as a young couple decides to marry. Even the prison guards can't resist this romance as the wedding and on-site honeymoon unfold in a series of plot twists. 96 min. 999:3255

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The Last Butterfly (Poslední motýl) (Czechoslovakia / France / UK, 1991)

Director, Karel Kachyna. Cast: Tom Courtenay, Brigitte Fossey, Freddie Jones, Ingrid Held, Milan Kazko, Josef Kemr, Linda Jablonska, Daniel Margolius. A French actor is taken prisoner by the Gestapo and sentenced to perform in the "model city" of Terezin, a concentration camp filled with artists and children to prove to the world how well the Nazis treat the imprisoned Jews. But the actor discovers the horrifying truth and as he rehearses with a group of children in what is to be the last performance of their lives, he refuses to play a role in the Nazi's charade. 106 min. 999:3513

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Loves of a Blonde (Lásky Jedné Plavovlásky) (1965)

Director, Milos Forman. Milos Forman's black comedy stars Jana Brejchova as a young shoe factory worker who looks for love at a dance held to honor the soldiers stationed nearby. To the girl's dismay, all of the soldiers are aging reserves, so she turns to the dance's pianist (Vladimir Pucholt) instead. (Jason Ankeny, All-Movie Guide) 88 min. DVD 1064; vhs 999:16

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Milos Foreman bibliography

Lunacy (Sílení)(Czech Republic / Slovakia, 2005)

Director, Jan Svankmajer. Cast: Pavel Liska, Jan Triska, Anna Geislerova, Jaroslav Dusek, Martin Huba, Pavel Novy, Stano Danciak. In (supposedly) nineteenth-century rural France, a young man named Jean Berlot becomes caught up in the nightmarish world of a mysterious, decadent Marquis, orgiastic black masses, "therapeutic" funerals and an asylum with a smorgasbord of macabre treatments and tarred-and-feathered doctors. Features Svankmajer's usual mix of live action and stop-motion animation.

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The Ossuary: and Other Tales

Director, Jan Svankmajer. Posledni trik pana Schwarcewalldea a pana Edgara = The last trick (1964, 11 min.) -- Don Sanche = Don Juan (1970, 31 min.) -- Zahrada = The garden (1968, 19 min.) -- Historia naturae, suita = Historia naturae (1967, 9 min.) -- Johann Sebastian Bach: Fantasia G-moll = Johann Sebastian Bach (1965, 10 min.) -- Kostnice = The ossuary (1970, 10 min.) -- Otrantsky zamek = The Otrants Castle (1973-1979, 17 min.) -- Tma/Svetlo/Tma = Darkness light darkness (1989, 8 min.) -- Muzne hry = Manly games (1988, 12 min.) The last trick: two magicians compete attempting to out-do each other in an escalating competition. Don Juan: chronicles the life of the title character. The garden: a man visits a friend in his garden and discovers some unusual practices. Historia naturae: a study of various animal species. Johann Sebastian Bach: an array of visual images accompany a pianist playing a piece by Bach. The ossuary: a journey around the Sedlec Ossuary, a monument made of the skeletons of thousands of Black Death victims. The Otrants Castle: a documentary-style story of a castle. Darkness light darkness: the component parts of a human body go about reconstructing themselves into a whole. Manly games: a spectator becomes drawn into an especially violent game of football. A collection of short films produced 1964-1989. 127 min. DVD 6761

A Report on the Party and the Guests (O slavnosti a hostech) (1966)

Director, Jan Nemec. Cast: Helena Pejskova, Jana Pracharova, Zdena Skvorecka, Pavel Bosek, Ivan Vyskocil, Jan Klusak, Jiri Nemec, Ewald Schorm. A political thriller that satirizes unquestionable conformity. A group of happy picnickers run afoul of a bullying sadist who has an unbreakable hold over his followers. After he interrogates one of them, a stranger then invites everyone to an elegant, formal banquet. The affair is bizarre, and ends with the group armed and hunting down a guest who chose not to remain. 71 min. Video/C 999:3796

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Romeo, Juliet and Darkness (Romeo, Julia a tma) (1959/60)

Director, Jiri Weiss. Cast: Ivan Mistrik, Dana Smutna, Jirina Sejbalova, Frantisek Smolik, Blanka Bohdanova. Pavel, a young student living in Prague in 1942, hides a Jewish girl Hana in his apartment building's attic. He is her only link to the outside world and their growing trust develops into love, until the two are discovered by Pavel's mother who forces the residents of the building to decide whether Hana can remain. Based on: Romeo, Julie a tma / Jan Otcenasek. 96 min. Video/C 999:3510

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The Shop on Main Street (Obchod na Korze) (1965)

Directors, Jan Kadar, Elmar Klos. In 1942, Tono and his wife are struggling because of his antipathy towards the fascist regime. His brother-in-law, the local fuehrer, chooses Tono to oversee a button shop owned by a sweet, harmless Jewish widow, Mrs. Lautman. When the Jews are ordered deported, the well-meaning Tono decides to shield her from the Nazis. 128 min. DVD 5514; vhs 999:864

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Grosman, Ladislav. The Shop on Main Street. Translated from the Czech by Iris Urwin. Illustrated by Victor Ambrus. [1st ed.] Garden City, Doubleday [1970] (Main Stack PG5039.17.Gr6.O22; NRLF #: $B 444 555)

Something Like Happiness (Stesti) (2005)

Director, Bohdan Slama. Cast: Tatiana Vilhelmova, Pavel Liska, Ana Geislerova. A trio of friends residing in an urban Czech housing project find that happiness can come from the place where you least expect it in this quirky heartfelt drama. As the shadow of the country's largest chemical factory looms large over their bleak industrial suburb, Monika, Tonik, and Dasha hold out hope for a brighter future in another place. While supermarket employee Monika's dreams are built around the hope that she will someday venture to America to be with her boyfriend, George, Tonik secretly pines for Monika, and single mother Dasha finds comfort in the arms of a married man while slowly drifting from reality. As Tonik flees his conservative parents to live on the farm of his eccentric aunt, Dasha's grip on reality finally slips -- leaving her two young children in the care of Tonik and Monika. As things begin to look up for the willing but inexperienced new parents, a lifetime of happiness is finally within their reach. 107 min. DVD 6619

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[Jan] Svankmajer, Alchemist of the Surreal.

Five works of the master Czech animator showing his use of a wide assortment of techniques expressed through clay, painting, puppets, trick photography and a crazy assortment of objects, food shots, living creatures and cartoons. Dimensions of Dialogue (1986, 12 min.): A confrontation between two heads, one shaped out of vegetables and one shaped out of kitchen utensils, leads to a new head made of chopped-up food. The Last Trick (1964, 12 min.): Svankmajer's first film which fuses animation and live-action as two rival magicians do battle on a small stage. Punch and Judy (1966, 8 min.): An intriguing look at the traditional Punch and Judy story as depicted through two puppets who try to escape from exquisitely decorated coffins. Et cetra (1966, 8 min.): A film in which three individual drawings--a pair of wings, a whip and a house--come to life on their paper to tell their own stories. Jabberwocky (1971, 14 min.): an eerie interpretation of the Lewis Caroll poem with a brilliant rendition of dancing children's toys and clothing inspired by a child's imagination. 60 minutes total running time. 999:2108

Svankmajer, Volume 2. (1965-1990)

Animated shorts by Jan Svankmajer. Six works by the master Czech animator who has fascinated audiences with his bizarre transformations of objects and beings. In Jabberwocky (1971, 14 min.) he interprets Lewis Carroll's verse as a last magical adventure before adulthood. J.S. Bach: Fantasia in G Minor (1965, 9 min.) probes the mystery of the real with the great composer's help. Domestic mayhem is on the menu in Punch and Judy (1966, 10 min.), while Leonardo's Diary (1972, 12 min.) transports the Renaissance polymath to the 20th century. The Ossuary (1970, 10 min.) tours the ultimate bone-yard, a monument to the Black Death. And in The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia (1990, 10 min.) Svankmajer hammers an animated nail in the coffin of Czech communism. 65 minutes total running time. 999:2178

Transport From Paradise (Transport z raje) (1963)

Directed by Zbynek Brynych. Cast: Vlastimil Brodsky, Juraj Herz, Vaclav Lohnisky, Ladislav Pesek, Ladislav Potmesil, Ilja Prachar, Zdenek Stepanek, Walter Taub, Josef Vinklar. Depicts life in the Terezin Ghetto, a concentration camp in Czechoslovakia during World War II, where the Nazi guards permit their Jewish prisoners to roam freely about the camp and conduct their own business and social affairs but the prisoners' main fear is that they may at any moment be shipped off to one of the death camps. Based on the book: Night and hope / by Arnost Lustig. 94 min. VHS 999:2392

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (US