Bezhin lug (1937)

A Soviet farmer's son, who is working at a Kolchos is killed by his father, who wants to burn the fields of the Kolchos to damage the Soviet Society.

Director:

Sergei M. Eisenstein

Writers:

Isaak Babel, Sergei M. Eisenstein

Stars:

Viktor Kartashov, Nikolay Khmelyov, Pyotr Arzhanov

Cast

Credited cast:
Viktor Kartashov	...	Stepok (as Vitya Kartashov)
Nikolay Khmelyov	...	Peasant
Pyotr Arzhanov	...	Political Commissioner (as Pavel Ardzhanov)
Yekaterina Teleshova	...	President of Kolkhoz
Nikolai Maslov	...	Arsonist
Yakov Zajtsev
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Stanislav Rostotskiy	...	Boy
Boris Zakhava	...	Stepok's Father

Storyline

A Soviet farmer's son, who is working at a Kolchos is killed by his father, who wants to burn the fields of the Kolchos to damage the Soviet Society.

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Plot Keywords:

father | anti clericalism | homoerotic fight | homoeroticism | controversy | 

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Genres:

Short | Drama

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Details

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian

Release Date:

1937 (Soviet Union)

Also Known As:

Bezhin Meadow

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gosudarstvennoe Upravlenie Kinematografii (GUK)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

31 min (reconstructed) 31 min (Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sergei M. Eisenstein was initially unimpressed by the screen test for Viktor Kartashov, but after seeing his interactions with other cast members, decided the child was right for the part.

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Alternate Versions

The only surviving version of this film was assembled in the 1960s using surviving still frames that Sergei Eisenstein had saved during editing. They were arranged based on the script and set to music. Although the original would have been a sound film, no sound elements are available any more, so the current version is silent, and uses intertitles.

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Connections

Edited into Histoire(s) du cinéma: Fatale beauté (1994)

User Reviews

A tragic loss

This retelling of a classic Communist, collectivist tale is one of the greatest losses to Communism the cinematic world has felt. Destroyed by the Soviets along with several other banned films, restoration artists were able to, more or less successfully, piece the story together again, from the damaged original negative, as a series of stills and a rehashed set of intertitles. The dynamism that must have accompanied the moving images of this film has, unfortunately been lost, but the stills themselves are fantastic, and a great tribute to Eisenstein's art.