Stenka Razin
(Стенька Разин)
Russian film poster
Directed byVladimir Romashkov
Written byVasily Goncharov (play "Ponizovaya Volnitsa")
Produced byAlexander Drankov[1]
StarringYevgeni Petrov-Krayevsky[1]
CinematographyAlexander Drankov
Nikolai Kozlovsky
Music byMikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov
Production
company
A. Drankov's Atelier
Release date
  • 28 October 1908 (1908-10-28)
Running time
10 minutes
CountryRussian Empire
LanguageSilent film

Stenka Razin (Russian: Стенька Разин) is the first finished Russian narrative film.[1]

The 224-meter silent film is a fictionalized account of Stenka Razin, a Russian folk hero. Razin's story was already well known to the film's audience, reducing the need for exposition. In the film, Razin falls in love with a captured Persian princess. When his followers object to this love and frame the princess for infidelity, he throws her into the Volga. The film tells this story through six "tableau" scenes.[2] The shots are almost entirely static, with "barely perceptible" camera movement.[3]

The film was originally conceived by Vasily Goncharov as part of an experimental stage play: the beginning and end of the play would be pre-recorded and projected on screen, while the middle would be performed live. Goncharov hired Alexander Drankov to film the opening and closing footage, but Drankov convinced Goncharov to let him film the middle scenes as well. Without seeking Goncharov's permission or offering him a credit, Drankov released the combined footage as a separate, stand-alone film one day before the play opened. Goncharov complained to the Union of Dramatic and Musical Writers, demanding they protect his authorship rights. However, the union refused to intervene, as they did not consider Goncharov's experiment to be literary.[4]

The film starred Yevgeny Petrov-Krayevsky, an actor from the Petrograd People's House theater. He would later go on to direct films for Alexander Drankov's studio.[1]

The film premiered on 28 October [O.S. 15 October] 1908. Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov wrote a score for the film, and director Alexander Drankov encouraged audiences to sing during the screening. The film was an immediate success and helped establish the Russian film industry.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Rollberg, Peter (2009). The A to Z of Russian and Soviet cinema. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press. p. 195. ISBN 978-0-8108-7619-4.
  2. 1 2 Salys, Rimgaila (2013). "Sten'ka Razin". In Salys, Rimgaila (ed.). The Russian Cinema Reader. Boston, [Massachusets]: Academic Studies Press. pp. 43–47. ISBN 978-1-61811-212-5.
  3. ↑ Cavendish, Philip (2004). "The Hand That Turns the Handle: Camera Operators and the Poetics of the Camera in Pre-Revolutionary Russian Film". The Slavonic and East European Review. 82 (2): 217. ISSN 0037-6795. The initial pans in Sten'ka Razin, for example, follow the motion of the eponymous hero's boat as it navigates its way along the Volga river. However, due to the absence of an easily identifiable horizon-line, and the frequent transgressions of the frame by additional boats, the movement itself is barely perceptible.
  4. ↑ Yangirov, Rashit (2001). "Talking Movie or Silent Theater? Creative Experiments by Vasily Goncharov". In Abel, Richard; Altman, Rick (eds.). The Sounds of Early Cinema. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. pp. 111–113. ISBN 0-253-21479-3.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.