To state the new Soviet Union and its Bolshevik leaders were having a worldwide image problem in the early 1920s is an understatement. With the bloody upheaval of the ruling Romanovs and the Revolution of 1917, Russia was the first to implement Karl Marx's philosophy of communism into its government. The takeover was so sharp that some of the Allies, soon after The Great War, sent forces to assist the White Russians in their attempt to overthrow the overthrowers. The ultimate success of the Bolsheviks stunned governments throughout the world, with many economically boycotting the collection of communist countries making up the newly-formed Soviet Union.
Film theorist/director Lev Kuleshov aimed to correct the worldwide portrayal of the Soviets as the modern-day barbarians. He knew comedy was the quickest way to change audiences' perceptions on deeply ingrained stereotypes. With a witty script written by Nikolai Aseyev and Vsevolod Pudovkin, the later a soon-to-be noted film director, Kuleshov released April 1924's "The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks." The screenplay called for several Hollywood-type characters and movie's common themes to be introduced, beginning with Mr. West (Porfiri Podobed), a YMCA official from Cleveland. Mr. West planned to visit Moscow to introduce the goals of the men's club athletic organization. To prepare for the trip, he and his protective escort, cowboy friend Jeddie (Boris Barnet), researched several American magazine articles to discover how rough and uneduated Russian people really were.
Once the two arrive in Moscow, Mr. West, a ringer for comedian Harold Lloyd, and Jeddie, a Tom Mix-type Westerner, soon are confronted by an abduction group who attempt to extort an enormous sum of money for their release. Mr. West forms a different opinion on the Russian people and its new government when, like the United States Calvary, the Soviet law enforcement come to the rescue. An escorted trip through the Moscow streets by one enforcement officer serves as an affirmation by Kuleshov that the Romanov intellectual and art institutions so treasured by the world not only are standing, but they are thriving under the Bolsheviks.
"The Extraordinary Adventures" was the first major movie for Kuleshov to put into practice many of his famous cinematic editing theories. As a teacher and one of the founders of the newly-formed National Film School in Moscow, he made a name for himself by deriving the Kuleshov Effect. Explaining how a selection of shots during the editing process can affect the perceptions of movie viewers, Kuleshov demonstrated the process through a sequence of connected shots.
He took a clip of movie actor Ivan Mosjoukine, who looks non-expressively into the camera, while juxtapositioning shots of a bowl of soup, a little girl in a coffin, and a woman on a divan. In each sequence, Ivan's face appears to viewers to verify either his hunger for the soup, his grief over the girl's death, or his desire for the reclining woman. Kuleshov proved through the editor's manipulation of the sequential shots it's the viewer's intuition rather than Mosjoukine's outward expressions that determined what was going through Ivan's mind.
Kuleshov examples were the basis on the montage editing theories perfected by Sergei Eisenstein and other Russian directors, whose techniques and philosophy spread to filmmakers worldwide in a short period of time.
Film theorist/director Lev Kuleshov aimed to correct the worldwide portrayal of the Soviets as the modern-day barbarians. He knew comedy was the quickest way to change audiences' perceptions on deeply ingrained stereotypes. With a witty script written by Nikolai Aseyev and Vsevolod Pudovkin, the later a soon-to-be noted film director, Kuleshov released April 1924's "The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks." The screenplay called for several Hollywood-type characters and movie's common themes to be introduced, beginning with Mr. West (Porfiri Podobed), a YMCA official from Cleveland. Mr. West planned to visit Moscow to introduce the goals of the men's club athletic organization. To prepare for the trip, he and his protective escort, cowboy friend Jeddie (Boris Barnet), researched several American magazine articles to discover how rough and uneduated Russian people really were.
Once the two arrive in Moscow, Mr. West, a ringer for comedian Harold Lloyd, and Jeddie, a Tom Mix-type Westerner, soon are confronted by an abduction group who attempt to extort an enormous sum of money for their release. Mr. West forms a different opinion on the Russian people and its new government when, like the United States Calvary, the Soviet law enforcement come to the rescue. An escorted trip through the Moscow streets by one enforcement officer serves as an affirmation by Kuleshov that the Romanov intellectual and art institutions so treasured by the world not only are standing, but they are thriving under the Bolsheviks.
"The Extraordinary Adventures" was the first major movie for Kuleshov to put into practice many of his famous cinematic editing theories. As a teacher and one of the founders of the newly-formed National Film School in Moscow, he made a name for himself by deriving the Kuleshov Effect. Explaining how a selection of shots during the editing process can affect the perceptions of movie viewers, Kuleshov demonstrated the process through a sequence of connected shots.
He took a clip of movie actor Ivan Mosjoukine, who looks non-expressively into the camera, while juxtapositioning shots of a bowl of soup, a little girl in a coffin, and a woman on a divan. In each sequence, Ivan's face appears to viewers to verify either his hunger for the soup, his grief over the girl's death, or his desire for the reclining woman. Kuleshov proved through the editor's manipulation of the sequential shots it's the viewer's intuition rather than Mosjoukine's outward expressions that determined what was going through Ivan's mind.
Kuleshov examples were the basis on the montage editing theories perfected by Sergei Eisenstein and other Russian directors, whose techniques and philosophy spread to filmmakers worldwide in a short period of time.