Kenez, Part One

Cinema and Soviet Society: From the Revolution to the Death of Stalin
By: Peter Kenez
Part One


"I would like to contribute to our understanding of the interaction of culture and politics...I would like to gain an understanding of the mental world of Soviet citizens in these crucial years of great social transformation" (3). 


1. Cinema Before October


Imperial Russia had a vibrant film industry. Movies were made to entertain people and make money for the enterprising businessman. It was not quality, but quantity, that mattered. 


First Russian narrative film: Stenka Razin 


Nicolas II's view of cinema ("I considered that cinematography is an empty matter, which no one needs. It is even something harmful" 14) can be explained by his failure to appreciate the significance of public opinion on the modern world. The government neglected all methods of shaping public opinion, not just cinema. 


WWI lead to a shortage or raw film, cameras, and other equipment. However, this led to a boom in Russian cinema because the cheap foreign competition was removed. 129 films made in 1913, 299 made in 1916. At the beginning of the war, most movies fit in the category of patriotic war film, but as it became clear that the war was not going to be short and glorious, people lost interest in that category. Films in this period did not end happily because the audience was brought up on the 19th century melodrama and thus expected a tragic conclusion. 


The two best pre-revolutionary directors were Evgenii Bauer and Protazanov. 


2. The Birth of the Soviet Film Industry


It took filmmaking a long time to take off during this period. The new soviet leadership had the motivation, but not the funding to start such an endeavor. The main products of studios during this period were newsreels and agitki, short films with extremely didactic content, aimed at an uneducated audience. The agitki played an important propaganda role, but after the civil war they basically disappeared. 


The NEP created enough financial resources for the halted film industry to pick back up. During 1923 and 1924, Soviet films finally surpassed the level of agitki. The most memorable films from this time are Aelita and The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks. 


3. The Films of the Golden Age, 1925-9


Most well-known directors of this period: Vertov, Pudovkin, Dovzhenko, and Eisenstein. These men were cerebral artists. They wrote with intelligence and insight on cinematic issues. All of the films they made were made in order to serve the interests of the state. 


The film from this period that interested me the most was Third Meshchanskai Street (1927). It's often referenced as one of the earliest feminist films. 


The most popular subcategory (among critics) of cinema during this period was the revolutionary spectacle (Strike, The Battleship Potemkin, October, The End of St. Petersburg, Arsenal). These films legitimized the revolution and thereby the child of the revolution, the regime. The removed the revolution from the realm of the ordinary. However, while they impressed foreign critics, they did not appeal to Russian audiences. Russians wanted to be entertained. They wanted a story and a character with which to identify. The average Russian during this period was more interested in watching a foreign film, then a Russian one. Foreign films produced ten times as much profit as domestic ones. 


4. Reaching the People, 1925-9


The Bolsheviks were weakest in the countryside and they didn't have the resources to reach it. Slowly, edited and recut films, designed for the peasants, reached the often-broken and dilapidated projectors in the countryside. The "achievement" of reaching the countryside was too small to make a large impact.  


I noticed the following consistent theme: the Bolsheviks were vulnerable to the error of overestimating the power of persuasion.