Tag Archives: 1930s

The Foundling
7.6

The Foundling

Jan. 27, 1940

The Foundling

The Foundling (Подкидыш) is a Soviet comedy from 1940 directed by Tatyana Lukashevich. This movie is a childhood classic for many Russians from ...
Jolly Fellows
7.0

Jolly Fellows

Dec. 09, 1934

Jolly Fellows

Jolly Fellows, also known as Moscow Laughs, was the first Soviet musical film. Director, Grigori Aleksandrov, wowed not just domestic audiences, ...
Aerograd
6.1

Aerograd

Nov. 06, 1935

Aerograd

Aerograd is a 1930s film from influential director, Alexander Dovzhenko. Set in the Far East region of Russia, the movie centers on the struggle ...
Boule de suif
7.4

Boule de suif

Sep. 15, 1934

Boule de suif

Boule de Suif (Пышка) is a 1934 Soviet drama by Mikhail Romm. An adaptation of the eponymous short story by Guy de Maupassant, Boule de Suif is a ...
Bezhin Meadow
6.7

Bezhin Meadow

Mar. 04, 1968

Bezhin Meadow

Bezhin Lug (Bezhin Meadow) was to be a Soviet film about a young farm boy whose father attempts to betray the government for political reasons by ...
Bukovina, a Ukrainian Land
5.9

Bukovina, a Ukrainian Land

Bukovina, a Ukrainian Land (Буковина, зeмля Українськa / Bukovina, zemlya Ukrainskaya) is a 1940 Soviet propaganda documentary film. It was shot ...
Thunderstorm
6.9

Thunderstorm

Mar. 25, 1934

Thunderstorm

The cinematic adaptation of “The Storm” play by Aleksandr Ostrovsky. In a provincial town on the Volga River, the young and sensitive ...
By the Bluest of Seas
7.1

By the Bluest of Seas

Apr. 01, 1936

By the Bluest of Seas

Yussuf and Aliosha are two shipwrecked sailor on an island in the Caspian Sea. They start working has sailor and mechanic for the fishboats of ...
The Youth of Maxim
6.7

The Youth of Maxim

Jan. 28, 1935

The Youth of Maxim

A 1935 USA trade-paper reviewer called it… “an impressive and technically outstanding historical drama dealing with czarist terrorism ...
Three Songs About Lenin
6.5

Three Songs About Lenin

This documentary, made up of 3 episodes, is based on three songs sung by anonymous people in Soviet Russia about Vladimir Ilyich Lenin.
Happiness
7.5

Happiness

Mar. 15, 1935

Happiness

A hapless loser (with the surname of Loser) undergoes misadventures with avaracious clergy, a tired horse, and a walking granary (among other ...
Road to Life
7.0

Road to Life

Mar. 12, 1931

Road to Life

Young hobos are brought to a new camp to become good Soviet citizens. This camp works without any guards, and it works well. But crooks kill one ...
My Apprenticeship
6.8

My Apprenticeship

Sep. 12, 1939

My Apprenticeship

My Apprenticeship (V lyudyakh) was the second entry in Russian director Mark Donskoy’s “Maxim Gorki” trilogy. Picking up where ...
Outskirts
7.2

Outskirts

Mar. 24, 1933

Outskirts

Outskirts is an internationally renowned masterpiece of early sound cinema. In a remote Russian village during World War I, colorful and nuanced ...
Minin and Pozharsky
7.0

Minin and Pozharsky

Nov. 03, 1939

Minin and Pozharsky

Minin and Pozharsky is a historical epic created by rock stars of the Soviet cultural establishment. The creator of the story, Viktor Shklovsky, ...
St. Jorgen’s Day
7.1

St. Jorgen’s Day

Aug. 25, 1930

St. Jorgen’s Day

The thief, Korkis, escapes from prison right on the eve of the church holiday, St. Jorgen’s Day. Together with his accomplice, Schulz, he ...
Earth
7.3

Earth

Apr. 08, 1930

Earth

In the peaceful countryside, Vassily opposes the rich kulaks over the coming of collective farming.
Volga-Volga
6.8

Volga-Volga

Apr. 24, 1938

Volga-Volga

Grigory Alexandrov’s musical comedy, Volga-Volga, has long become a classic of Soviet cinema. Most famously, it’s known to have been ...
Chapaev
7.3

Chapaev

Nov. 07, 1934

Chapaev

Chapaev (Чапаев) is known as one of the finest cinematic works of the Socialist Realism movement. Based on a real life Red Army commander, ...
The Children of Captain Grant
6.8

The Children of Captain Grant

The son and daughter of a lost-at-sea captain recruit help to find him on the basis of an incomplete note found in a bottle, and encounter ...
Cosmic Journey
6.9

Cosmic Journey

Jan. 21, 1936

Cosmic Journey

Soviet cinematographers created a progressively realistic image of a journey to the moon in these early days of special effects. Scientist Pavel ...
Tractor Drivers
6.5

Tractor Drivers

Jul. 03, 1939

Tractor Drivers

The story takes place in a Soviet placed in what is now Ukraine. A mechanic arrives in the Soviet, lead by a young independent woman driving ...
Prometheus
6.2

Prometheus

Jan. 01, 1936

Prometheus

A film based on works and biography of the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko (1814 – 1861).
A Severe Young Man
6.8

A Severe Young Man

Dec. 04, 1934

A Severe Young Man

The film’s content makes no concessions to the usual expectations of Soviet audiences of the 1930s. The cast of characters is extremely unlikely ...
Circus
6.8

Circus

May. 25, 1936

Circus

Circus was released in the summer of 1936 and met immediate success with Soviet audiences. The film resonated with an increasingly confident ...
Que Viva Mexico!
7.6

Que Viva Mexico!

Oct. 01, 1931

Que Viva Mexico!

¡Qué viva México! is an attempt by the director, Grigory Aleksandrov, to recreate an unfinished documentary film that he filmed in Mexico in 1931 ...
Alexander Nevsky
7.7

Alexander Nevsky

Nov. 24, 1938

Alexander Nevsky

Alexander Nevsky (Александр Невский) is a 1938 Soviet classic directed by Sergei Eisenstein. The film depicts famed Russian historical figure, ...
Salt for Svanetia
7.8

Salt for Svanetia

May. 24, 1930

Salt for Svanetia

An ethnographic treasure that documents with visual bravado the harsh conditions of life in the isolated mountain village of Ushkul.