Mikhail Zharov
1899 - 1981Медведь
Isidor Annensky
Olga Androvskaya, Mikhail Zharov
A romantic comedy based on an Anton Chekhov play of the same name. A young man comes to collect a debt owed to him by the widow Popova's late husband. They argue , duel with pistols , and fall in love while all of this is witnessed by Popova's servant Luka.
The Bear
Иван Грозный. Сказ второй: Боярский заговор
Sergei Eisenstein
Nikolai Cherkasov, Serafima Birman
This is the second part of a projected three-part epic biopic of Russian Czar Ivan Grozny, undertaken by Soviet film-maker Sergei Eisenstein at the behest of Josef Stalin. Production of the epic was stopped before the third part could be filmed, due to producer dissatisfaction with Eisenstein's introducing forbidden experimental filming techniques into the material, more evident in this part than the first part. As it was, this second part was banned from showings until after the deaths of both Eisenstein and Stalin, and a change of attitude by the subsequent heads of the Soviet government. In this part, as Ivan the Terrible attempts to consolidate his power by establishing a personal army, his political rivals, the Russian boyars, plot to assassinate him.
Ivan the Terrible, Part II: The Boyars' Plot
Ivan the Terrible, Part I
Sergei Eisenstein
Nikolai Cherkasov, Lyudmila Tselikovskaya
Set during the early part of his reign, Ivan faces betrayal from the aristocracy and even his closest friends as he seeks to unite the Russian people. Sergei Eisenstein's final film, this is the first part of a three-part biopic of Tsar Ivan IV of Russia, which was never completed due to the producer's dissatisfaction with Eisenstein's attempts to use forbidden experimental filming techniques and excessive cost overruns. The second part was completed but not released for a decade after Eisenstein's death and a change of heart in the USSR government toward his work; the third part was only in its earliest stage of filming when shooting was stopped altogether.
Ivan the Terrible, Part I
Человек в футляре
Isidor Annensky
Mikhail Zharov, Nikolay Khmelyov
The Greek teacher Belikov, who works in a rural gymnasium, loved to keep things in cases, was afraid of everything and lived himself, as if in a case, on the principle: “no matter what happens”. By this principle, he literally "terrorized" the gymnasium and the villagers. Hope appeared when Varenka arrived in the village - “not a girl, but marmalade”, although she was already aged, and “did not mind being married, even if only to a teacher of the Greek language”.
Man in a Shell
Петр Первый
Vladimir Petrov
Nikolai Simonov, Mikhail Zharov
This, the first Soviet depiction of Peter the Great, set the stage for what would become the post-Revolutionary line concerning the early Romanovs. Rulers like Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great were widely admired for their dedication to Russia and their absolute determination to enhance her position in the world. But praise for the hated later Romanovs conflicted too heavily with the very beliefs that had brought about the Revolution in 1917.
Peter the First, Part I
Шахматная горячка
Nikolai Shpikovsky, Vsevolod Pudovkin
José Raúl Capablanca, Vladimir Fogel
With an international chess tournament in progress, a young man becomes completely obsessed with the game. His fiancée has no interest in it, and becomes frustrated and depressed by his neglect of her, but wherever she goes she finds that she cannot escape chess. On the brink of giving up, she meets the world champion, Capablanca himself, with interesting results.
Chess Fever
Окраина
Boris Barnet
Aleksandr Chistyakov, Yelena Kuzmina
Outskirts is an internationally renowned masterpiece of early sound cinema. In a remote Russian village during World War I, colorful and nuanced characters experience divided loyalties: family loyalty vs. personal desire, nationalism vs. transcendent humanism.
Outskirts
Деревенский детектив
Ivan Lukinsky
Mikhail Zharov, Roman Tkachuk
Police officer Aniskin lives with his family in a rural Russian village whose inhabitants admire his gentleness and wisdom. When an accordion is stolen from the local clubhouse, he begins to investigate.
The Village Detective
Путёвка в жизнь
Nikolai Ekk
Nikolai Batalov, Yvan Kyrlya
Young hobos are taken to a new camp to become good Soviet citizens. This camp works without any guards, and it works well. But crooks kill one of the young people when they try to damage the newly built railroad to the camp.
Road to Life
Два-Бульди-два
Nina Agadzhanova, Lev Kuleshov
Sergei Komarov, Vladimir Kochetov
Naturally, the circus milieu of 2 Buldy 2 (1929) encourages stunts. A father and son, both clowns, are to perform together for the first time, but the civil war separates them, and the elder Buldy, tempted for a moment to acquiesce to the White forces, casts his lot with the revolution. At the climax Buldy Jr. escapes the Whites thanks to flashy trampoline and trapeze acrobatics; the gaping enemy soldiers forget to shoot.
Two-Buldi-Two
