Storm Over Asia (1928)

After a run-in with the law, a Mongolian man becomes a fugitive and joins the Russian Civil War.

Director:

Vsevolod Pudovkin

Writers:

Osip Brik, I. Novokshenov (story)

Stars:

I. Inkizhinov, I. Dedintsev, Valéry Inkijinoff

1 win.

Cast

Complete credited 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.
Fyodor Ivanov	...	The Lama (as F. Ivanov)
V. Pro	...	British missionary, translates amulet
Boris Barnet	...	English soldier, pipe smoker
Karl Gurnyak	...	English soldier
Bilinskaya	...	The Commandant's Wife
I. Inkizhinov	...	Bair's Father
Anel Sudakevich	...	Commandant's blonde daughter

Storyline

In 1918 a simple Mongolian herdsman escapes to the hills after brawling with a western capitalist fur trader who cheats him. In 1920 he helps the partisans fight for the Soviets against the occupying army. However he is captured when the army tries to requisition cattle from the herdsmen at the same time as the commandant meets with the reincarnated Grand Lama. After being shot, the army discovers an amulet that suggests he was a direct descendant of Genghis Khan. They find him still alive, so the army restores his health and plans to use him as the head of a Mongolian puppet regime.

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Plot Keywords:

puppet regime | herdsman | bolshevik | russian revolution | year 1918 | 

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Taglines:

Pudovokin's Remarkable Film Of The East In Revolt

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Did You Know?

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.

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Connections

Featured in Histoire(s) du cinéma: Toutes les histoires (1989)

User Reviews

Superb!!

I loved this movie - it takes a good silent film to keep me glued to the screen, many Silents have huge amounts of frenetic studio-bound talking heads, but of course we have to wait for the titles to see what has just been said.

Other reviewers have laid the premise of this one but as a Russian film lover and trying anything I come across (this DVD, just £3!!) and expecting propaganda and heavy symbolism, I had a tour de force of both Mongolian and Buddhist life, but far from being a National Geographic documentary, this had real passionate pizazz and incredible, often beautiful locations, with long-lost ancient rituals and occasions coming alive on the screen.

I think it unfair to criticise and thus mark down a film because of the style and way it was made, at the time - this is 1928, the film stock and prints has degraded and the technical aspects made for slightly sped-up and jaunty action, whilst almost all the huge casts would have been local amateurs.

However, what made it for me was the music - brilliantly (and I believe, the original choice overseen by the director just before his death, in the 50s) - the crisp stereo really prickling the senses and the variety - from strident symphonies to traditional music from the locations in the film, all perfectly matched to the action. So, when some of the strangest looking tube-like horns get blown by long bearded Mongolians, we get a strange sounding instrument, not an artificially contrived one. This might sound a minor point but for me, from the outset, it really put me in the mood and set me up for the duration.

So - whilst many of the rather turgid Silent dramas are rather hard work and there's a sense of relief when they finally end, this was pure pleasure all the way through. Put to one side any preconceived notions about communist regimes and heavy Soviet symbolism and enjoy this much lighter and enjoyable classic. (It IS critically considered a Classic, actually and not just my say so or opinion)

Details

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

None Russian

Release Date:

6 September 1930 (USA)

Also Known As:

Storm Over Asia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mezhrabpomfilm

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min (restored and synchronised) 127 min 127 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Silent Mono (sound version)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1