1st Edition

The Film Factory Russian and Soviet Cinema in Documents 1896-1939

    484 Pages
    by Routledge

    484 Pages
    by Routledge

    The Film Factory provides a comprehensive documentary history of Russian and Soviet cinema. It provokes a major reassessment of conventional Western understanding of Soviet cinema. Based on extensive research and in original translation, the documents selected illustrate both the aesthetic and political development of Russian and Soviet cinema, from its beginnings as a fairground novelty in 1896 to its emergence as a mass medium of entertainment and propaganda on the eve of World War II.

    Part 01 1896–1921: Introduction; Part 01a 1896; Section 1 Maxim Gorky: The Lumière Cinematograph (Extracts); Part 02 1911; Section 2 Leonid Andreyev: First Letter on Theatre (Extracts); Part 03 1913; Section 3 Vladimir Mayakovsky: Theatre, Cinema, Futurism; Section 4 Vladimir Mayakovsky: The Destruction of Theatre’ by Cinema as a Sign of the Resurrection of Theatrical Art; Section 5 Vladimir Mayakovsky: The Relationship Between Contemporary Theatre and Cinema and Art; Section 6 Leonid Andreyev: Second Letter on Theatre (Extract); Part 04 1915; Section 7 Vsevolod Meyerhold: On Cinema; Part 05 1917; Section 8 Lev Kuleshov: The Tasks of the Artist in Cinema; Part 06 1918; Section 9 Lev Kuleshov: The Art of Cinema; Part 07 1919; Section 10 Anatoli Lunacharsky: The Tasks of the State Cinema in the RSFSR; Part 08 1920; Section 11 Vladimir Lenin: Art Belongs to the People. Conversation with Clara Zetkin; Part 09 1922: Introduction; Section 12 Vladimir Lenin: Directive on Cinema Affairs; Section 13 Anatoli Lunacharsky: Conversation with Lenin. I. Of all the Arts …; Section 14 Anatoli Lunacharsky: Conversation with Lenin. II. Newsreel and Fiction Film; Section 15 Grigori Kozintsev, Leonid Trauberg, Sergei Yutkevich and Georgi Kryzhitsky: Eccentrism; Section 16 Alexei Voznesensky: Open Letter to Nemirovich-Danchenko and Stanislavsky; Section 17 Lev Kuleshov: ‘Art’ Cinema; Section 18 Lev Kuleshov: Cinema as the Fixing of Theatrical Action; Section 19 Alexei Gan: The Cinematograph and Cinema; Section 20 Lev Kuleshov: Art, Contemporary Life and Cinema; Section 21 Dziga Vertov: We. A Version of a Manifesto; Section 22 Lev Kuleshov: Americanism; Section 23 Lev Kuleshov: Chamber Cinema; Section 24 Vladimir Mayakovsky: Cinema and Cinema; Section 25 Alexei Gan: The ‘Left Front’ and Cinema; Section 26 Alexei Gan: The Thirteenth Experiment; Part 10 1923: Introduction; Section 27 Alexei Gan: Two Paths; Section 28 Dziga Vertov: The Cine-Pravda; Section 29 Proletkino: Quasi-Theses; Section 30 Sergei Eisenstein: The Montage of Attractions; Section 31 Dziga Vertov: The Cine-Eyes. A Revolution; Section 32 Lev Trotsky: Vodka, the Church and the Cinema; Section 33 Russfilm Script Competition; Section 34 Viktor Shklovsky: Literature and Cinema (Extracts); Part 11 1924: Introduction; Section 35 Declaration of the Association of Revolutionary Cinematography; Section 36 Leonid Trauberg: The Red Clown to the Rescue!; Section 37 Alexei Gan: Recognition for the Cine-Eyes; Section 38 Lev Kuleshov: Mr West; Section 39> 39 Anatoli Lunacharsky: Revolutionary Ideology and Cinema – Theses; Section 40 Resolution of Thirteenth Party Congress on Cinema; Section 41 Dziga Vertov: The Cine-Pravda: A Report to the Cine-Eyes; Section 42 Sovnarkom of the RSFSR: Decree on the Establishment of Sovkino; Section 43 Dziga Vertov: Fiction Film Drama and the Cine-Eye; Section 44 Vladimir Blyum: Against the Theatre of Fools’–For Cinema; Part 12 1925: Introduction; Section 45 Anatoli Goldobin: Our Cinema and Its Audience; Section 46 Zhizn iskusstva Editorial: Theatre or Cinema?; Section 47 Abram Room: Cinema and Theatre; Section 48 Dziga Vertov: Cine-Pravda and Radio-Pravda; Section 49 Viktor Shklovsky: The Semantics of Cinema; Section 50 Grigori Boltyansky: Cinema and the Soviet Public; Part 13 1926: Introduction; Section 51 Adrian Piotrovsky: The Battleship Potemkin; Section 52 Alexei Gvozdev: A New Triumph for Soviet Cinema (The Battleship Potemkin and the Theatrical October’); Section 53 Vladimir Kirshon: Literature, Theatre and Cinema (Extract); Section 54 Béla Balázs: The Future of Film; Section 55 Sergei Eisenstein: Béla Forgets the Scissors; Section 56 Alexander Dubrovsky: The Soviet Cinema in Danger; Section 57 Dziga Vertov: The Factory of Facts; Section 58 Viktor Shklovsky: Where is Dziga Vertov Striding?; Section 59 Esfir Shub: The Manufacture of Facts; Section 60 Viktor Shklovsky: The Cine-Eyes and Intertitles; Section 61 Anatoli Lunacharsky: Cinema–the Greatest of the Arts; Part 14 1927: Introduction; Section 62 Vladimir Mayakovsky: Help!; Section 63 Viktor Shklovsky: Sergei Eisenstein and ‘Non-Played’ Film; Section 64 Viktor Shklovsky: The Temperature of Cinema; Section 65 Viktor Pertsov: Literature and Cinema; Section 66 Viktor Shklovsky: The Film Factory (Extracts); Section 67 Vladimir Mayakovsky: Speech in Debate on The Paths and Policy of Sovkino’; Section 68 Vladimir Mayakovsky: On Cinema; Section 69 Kirill Shutko: Preface to Poetics of Cinema; Section 70 Viktor Shklovsky: Poetry and Prose in Cinema; Section 71 Adrian Piotrovsky: The Cinefication of Theatre – Some General Points; Section 72 Viktor Shklovsky: Mistakes and Inventions; Section 73 Osip Brik: The Fixation of Fact (Extract); Section 74> 74 Esfir Shub: We Do Not Deny the Element of Mastery; Section 75 Adrian Piotrovsky: Let Us Be Maximalists!; Section 76 Adrian Piotrovsky: ‘Ideology’ and ‘Commerce’; Part 15 1928: Introduction; Section 77 Nikolai Yakovlev: The Nihilists from ARK; Section 78 Anatoli Lunacharsky: Speech to Film Workers; Section 79 Vsevolod Pudovkin: S. M. Eisenstein (From Potemkin to October); Section 80 Dziga Vertov: The Eleventh Year; Section 81 Alexei Popov: The Relationships Between Cinema and Theatre; Section 82 To the Party Conference on Cinema From a Group of Film Directors; Section 83 Party Cinema Conference Resolution: The Results of Cinema Construction in the USSR and the Tasks of Soviet Cinema; Section 84 Anatoli Lunacharsky: Review of October; Section 85 Adrian Piotrovsky: October Must Be Re-Edited!; Section 86 Esfir Shub: This Work Cries Out; Section 87 Sergei Eisenstein and Grigori Alexandrov: We Are Waiting!; Section 88 T. Rokotov: Why Is October Difficult?; Section 89 Sergei Eisenstein: For Soviet Cinema; Section 90 The Lef Ring: Comrades! A Clash of Views!; Section 91 Zhizn iskusstva Editorial: October – The Results of the Discussion; Section 92 Sergei Eisenstein, Vsevolod Pudovkin and Grigori Alexandrov: Statement on Sound; Section 93 Vladimir Messman: Sound Film; Section 94 Viktor Shklovsky: The Soviet School of Acting; Section 95 Adrian Piotrovsky: Is There a Crisis in Soviet Cinema?; Section 96 Sovkino Workers’ Conference Resolution: Sovkino’s New Course (Extract); Section 97 Sovetskii ekran Editorial: The Rightist Danger in Cinema; Part 16 1929: Introduction; Section 98 Leonid Trauberg: An Experiment Intelligible to the Millions; Section 99 Viktor Shklovsky: Beware of Music; Section 100 Party Central Committee Decree: On the Strengthening of Cinema Cadres; Section 101 Sergei Eisenstein and Grigori Alexandrov: An Experiment Intelligible to the Millions; Section 102 Yuri Tynyanov: On FEKS; Section 103 Pavel Petrov-Bytov: We Have No Soviet Cinema; Section 104 Adrian Piotrovsky: Petrov-Bytov’s Platform and Soviet Cinema; Section 105 Vsevolod Pudovkin: On the Principle of Sound in Film; Section 106 Adrian Piotrovsky: Westernism in Our Cinema; Section 107 Vsevolod Pudovkin, Leonid Obolensky, Sergei Komarov and Vladimir Fogel: Preface to Kuleshov’s Book The Art of Cinema; Section 108> 108 Esfir Shub: The Advent of Sound in Cinema; Section 109 Vsevolod Meyerhold: The Cinefication of Theatre; Section 110 RAPP Resolution on Cinema; Section 111 Vsevolod Pudovkin: Conversation on Sound Film; Part 17 1930: Introduction; Section 112 ‘An ARK Member’: ARRK Must Be Reorganised; Section 113 Ippolit Sokolov: The Legend of ‘Left’ Cinema; Section 114 Na literaturnom postu Editorial: For the Reconstruction of Soviet Cinema; Section 115 Nikolai Anoshchenko: Sound Cinema in the Service of the Cultural Revolution; Section 116 Viktor Shklovsky: The Script Laboratory; Section 117 Kino i zhizn Editorial: Film Work and the Mass Audience; Section 118 Dziga Vertov: The Radio-Eye’s March; Section 119 Dziga Vertov: Speech to the First All-Union Conference on Sound Cinema; Section 120 Viktor Shklovsky: Sound as a Semantic Sign; Section 121 Ippolit Sokolov: The Second Sound Film Programme; Section 122 Kino i zhizn Editorial: Is There a Soviet Sound Cinema?; Section 123 Viktor Shklovsky: The Film Language of New Babylon; Part 18 1931–4: Introduction; Part 18 1931; Section 124 Proletarskoe kino Editorial: What Does ‘Proletarian Cinema’ Mean?; Part 19 1932; Section 125 Proletarskoe kino Editorial: We Are Continuing the Struggle; Section 126 Vsevolod Pudovkin, Esfir Shub et al.: To All Creative Workers in Soviet Cinema; Section 127 Party Central Committee Decree: The Reorganisation of Literary and Artistic Organisations; Part 20 1933; Section 128 Anatoli Lunacharsky: Synopsis of a Report on the Tasks of Dramaturgy (Extract); Section 129 Vsevolod Pudovkin: The Role of Sound Cinema; Section 130 Sergei Eisenstein: Cinema and the Classics; Part 21 1934; Section 131 First Congress of Soviet Writers (Extracts); Section 132 Pravda Editorial: The Whole Country is Watching Chapayev; Section 133 Film-Makers’ Letter to Stalin; Section 134> 134 Grigori Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg: The Youth of Maxim (Extracts); Section 135 Vsevolod Pudovkin: The Youth of Maxim; Section 136 Dziga Vertov: More on Mayakovsky (Extract); Part 22 1935: Introduction; Section 137 Joseph Stalin: Congratulations to Soviet Cinema on Its Fifteenth Anniversary; Section 138 For a Great Cinema Art: Speeches to the All-Union Creative Conference of Workers in Soviet Cinema (Extracts); Section 139 Dziga Vertov: My Illness; Section 140 Boris Shumyatsky: A Cinema for the Millions (Extracts); Section 141 Boris Shumyatsky: The Role of the Producer; Section 142 Boris Shumyatsky: Perfecting Our Mastery; Section 143 Dziga Vertov: Diary Entry; Part 24 1937; Section 144 Boris Shumyatsky: The Film Bezhin Meadow; Section 145 Yuli Raizman: Seminar at VGIK (Extracts); Section 146 Vsevolod Pudovkin: The Director and the Scriptwriter (Extracts); Section 147 Vsevolod Pudovkin: Dialogue in Film (Extract); Section 148 Alexander Dovzhenko: The Artist’s Teacher and Friend; Part 25 1938; Section 149 G. Ermolayev: What Is Holding Up the Development of Soviet Cinema?; Section 150 Iskusstvo kino Editorial: The Fascist Cur Eradicated; Section 151 Alexei Stakhanov: My Suggestion to Soviet Cinema; Section 152 Reactions to Stakhanov’s Article (Extracts); Section 153 Vsevolod Pudovkin: The Internal and the External in an Actor’s Training; Part 26 1939; Section 154 Sergei Eisenstein: My Subject Is Patriotism; Abbreviations; Notes to Introduction; notes02> Notes to Documents; Table 1: Cinema Installations and Their Distribution in the Russian Empire and USSR, 1914–41; Table 2: Film Production, 1918–41; Appendices; Appendix 1 Films: Russian and Soviet |> Appendix 2 Films: Foreign |> Appendix 3 People: Russian and Soviet; Appendix 4 People: Foreign; Index;

    Biography

    Richard Taylor is Reader in Politics and Russian Studies at the University of Wales, Swansea, and Ian Christie is Head of Special Projects at the British Film Institute.

    "This superbly illustrated, readable and authoritative work is a major step in the revision of Soviet film history and will be an indispensable starting point for anyone seeking to understand that history." TLS

    `... this invaluable book ... informative and well-written comments of the editors ... an essential starting point for viewing and discussion.' - D.J. Wenden, Historical Journal of Film Radio & Television

    ` ... Richard Taylor's and Ian Christie's excellent scholarly work ... very worthy of attention and highly illuminating ...' - Anthony Smith, The Sunday Times

    ` ... a fascinating contribution to the debate ...' - Financial Times