Potomok Chingis-Khana (1928)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Vsevolod Pudovkin

Writers:

Osip Brik (writer)
I. Novokshenov (story)

Release Date:

6 September 1930 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | War

Tagline:

Pudovokin's Remarkable Film Of The East In Revolt

Plot:

In 1918 a simple Mongol herdsman escapes to the hills after brawling with a western capitalist fur trader who cheats him...

Plot Keywords:

Odyssey | King | Fur Trapper | Revolution

Cast

Valéry Inkijinoff	...	Bair, the Mongol [The Son - U.S.] (as Valeri Inkishanov)
I. Dedintsev	...	The British Commandant
Aleksandr Chistyakov	...	The Russian Rebel Leader
Viktor Tsoppi	...	Henry Hughes, unscrupulous fur-buyer.
F. Ivanov	...	The Lama
V. Pro	...	British missionary, translates amulet
Boris Barnet	...	English soldier, pipe smoker
Karl Gurniak	...	English soldier
I. Inkizhinov	...	Bair's Father
L. Belinskaya	...	The Commandant's Wife
Anel Sudakevich	...	Commandant's blonde daughter

Also Known As:

Storm Over Asia
The Heir to Genghis Khan

Runtime:

Germany:82 min (restored and synchronised version) | Sweden:114 min | USA:74 min | Australia:126 min | 127 min (18 fps)

Country:

Soviet Union

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Finland:K-16 (1951) | Sweden:15 | Australia:PG | Finland:(Banned) (1929)

Company:

Mezhrabpomfilm

Trivia:

Valéry Inkijinoff was a friend and classmate of Vsevolod Pudovkin at Moscow film school and the film was conceived with him in the lead part.

Just to point out

... that our hero is NOT a descendant of Genghis Khan, since he acquires the amulet which says he is by chance in a scuffle with the local lama. He's just a young hunter who's unjustly treated and, since he has never opened the amulet which the officers have to cut into, he can at first have no idea of the message which has made these unaccountable people change their attitude. Pudovkin is undermining the concept of hereditary leadership quite thoroughly therefore, which is far from irrelevant to the Bolshevik message. It strikes me that it had some very relevant messages for a propaganda drive, for example that the themes and the need for revolution applied to all the peoples in the Soviet orbit, not just to the Russians; that anti-Bolshevik forces exploited the country's resources when they were present (I don't know if they really did, but the point is forcefully made) and that traditional values could be twisted to serve the ends of a power-hungry enemy. There's also several attacks on religious institutions, here Buddhist not Orthodox but within a cross-Soviet pattern. The message was frequent but rarely expressed so intelligently - see the inauguration of the Lama which is outstanding because it's a genuine, rational argument translated into an astounding visual image.