The End of St. Petersburg (1927)

A peasant comes to St. Petersburg to find work. He unwittingly helps in the arrest of an old friend who is now a labor leader. The unemployed man is arrested and sent to fight in World War I. After three years, he returns to rebel.

Directors:

Vsevolod Pudovkin, Mikhail Doller (co-director)

Writer:

Nathan Zarkhi

Stars:

Aleksandr Chistyakov, Vera Baranovskaya, Ivan Chuvelyov

Cast

Credited cast:
Aleksandr Chistyakov	...	A worker
Vera Baranovskaya	...	His wife
Ivan Chuvelyov	...	Peasant boy
V. Obolensky	...	Lebedev
Sergey Komarov	...	His employer
Viktor Tsoppi	...	Patriot
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Aleksei Davor
Vladimir Fogel	...	German Officer
Aleksandr Gromov	...	Revolutionary (as A. Gromov)
Nikolay Khmelyov
Vsevolod Pudovkin	...	German Officer
Max Tereshkovich
M. Tsybulsky
Anna Zemtsova

Storyline

A peasant comes to St. Petersburg to find work. He unwittingly helps in the arrest of an old friend who is now a labor leader. The unemployed man is arrested and sent to fight in World War I. After three years, he returns to rebel.

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Plot Keywords:

saint petersburg russia | factory owner | russian empire | scab | strike breaker | 

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Taglines:

Russia's Greatest Screen Achievement (Print Ad- Philadelphia Inquirer, ((Philadelphia, Penna.)) 9 November 1928)

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Vsevolod Pudovkin: The German officer.

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Connections

Featured in Fejezetek a film történetéböl: Az orosz és a szovjet némafilm (1989)

User Reviews

Starts slow, but continuously builds

This films editing style lends, which can jarringly cut between shots with little regard to space and time, itself well to scenes with lots of tension or aggression. This makes the majority of the movie very intense by using images transitions to convey emotion, but the early parts suffer for it. Noticeable emphasis is placed on the angles and content of shots to convey mood, which frequently works as an effective metaphor in the narrative. But before the story is set up, the meaning of many juxtaposed shots floats away without having another element in the story to meaningfully attach to.

I think too much time is spent early in the film on imagery the film deemed important, instead of offering context for the imagery. But after that it is quite enjoyable to watch. Montage used as metaphor relies heavily on a common ground between the language of images a film uses and the audiences understanding of them. But the impression and transition between images itself can enhance pacing and tension, and this greatly improves the movie. In particular the scenes where the younger protagonist attacks his employer is very powerful. In fact the content of the film after that point is enough to justify watching it. It takes characters to make a story enjoyable, and the film becomes aware of this and uses its editing to enhance the characters.

Details

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

None

Release Date:

30 May 1928 (USA)

Also Known As:

The End of St. Petersburg

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mezhrabpom-Rus

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1