KOMISSAR FILMS. 4 EDITIoN KNIFE IN THE WATER Stishova, E,""Passions over Commissar''in Wide Angle(Athens, Ohio), October 1990 See nZ W WodZIe Navailh, F, " Le drapeau rouge et les gants blancs, in Cahiers du Cinematheque( Perpignan, France), no 67, December 1997 KOMISSAR When director Alexsandr Askoldov completed his first and onl The Commissar) feature, The Commissar, in 1967, it was immediately banned and he was blacklisted as a film director. In December of 1987. in an USSR. 1967 atmosphere of glasnost, The Commissar was permitted a showing in Moscow and soon received international attention and critical praise Director: Alexander Askoldov The film, based on the story "In the Town of Berdichev"by vasily Grossman, is about love, war, maternity and betrayal, and presents a frightening foreshadowing of the Holocaust. Production: Gorky Studios; colour, Cinemascope; running time: 10 The pregnant commissar of a Red Army unit, Klavdia Vavilova, ninutes Not released until 1988, following an unscheduled screening enters the town of berdichev at the head of her battalion in 1922 and at the moscow Film Festival shoots a deserter who had escaped home to his wife. While occupying the town this hard-edged dedicated bolshevik must tell her second Producers: V. Levin, V. Grigorev, L. Prilutzkaya; screenpla in-command that she must leave the army because she is pregnant Alexander Askoldov, based on the novel In the Town of Berdichev by The home of a Jewish tinsmith and his wife, mother-in-law and six Vasily Grossman: photography: Valery Ginsburg: editors: V Isayeva children is commandeered for her confinement and the commissar Loginova, S. Lyashinskaya; assistant directors: B. Dokuchaev, and her baby become assimilated into this family. A friendship G. Balinskaya; art director: Sergei Serebrennikov; music: Alfred develops between Klavdia and Raisa, the tinsmiths wife, and both Shnittke: sound: V Sharoy, E Bazanov, L. Benevolskay begin to adopt characteristics of the other. After her baby is born, the commissar becomes nurturing, gentle, and protective of her child, Cast: Nonna Mordyukova(Claudia Vavilova): Rolan Bykov(Yefim); while, Raisa, the tinsmiths wife, begins to assert her individuality Raisa Niedashkovskaya(Maria): Vasily Shuskin(Commander). Realizing the fragility of new life and responsibilities of motherhood, Klavdia questions whether the consequences of war are too costly for her to return to battle. She finally decides to resume her duties as Awards: Silver Bear. Berlin 1988 commissar and leaves her infant with the Jewish family The film has elements of warmth and humor as the tough commi sar clashes with the gentle tinker, and as they eventually develop Publications a strong bond. The large loving family represents a nurturing Jewish ethic, which Askoldov contrasts with the uncompromising Russian Books. will to conquer in the name of universal justice. The Jewish family is treated sympathetically, but as william Wolf asserts in Film Com- ment,""Paying special attention to the persecution of Jews has long Russian Critics on the Cinema of Glasnost, Michael Brashinsky and conflicted with the Soviet policy of downplaying Jewish identity. Andrew Horton, ed, Cambridge, 1994 The film was banned due to tension derived from the soviet Articles. Unions troubled history with Jews and Askoldov's refusal to change or remove any part of the film which exposes anti-Semitism and portrays the military unfavorably. Anne Williamson stated in Film Variety(New York ), 5 August 1987. Comment(May/June 1988): In 1967, just as Israel had triumphed in Wolf, w, and A. williamson, "Askoldov!, in Film Comment ne the Six Day War, Askoldov was finishing the edit on The Commissar, York), May-June 198 which sympathetically portrays a Jewish family. Soviet censors arlisle, O. A, American Film(Washington D. C), June 1988 realized that scenes like the commissar s vision of the future holo- Reynaud, B, and F. Strauss, in Cahiers du Cinema(Paris), Septem- caust and of the Magazanik family being led to the gas chambers ber 1988 hinted darkly at a connection between Nazism and Russian anti- Johnson, Brian D,"Glasnost on Screen, in Maclean s (Toronto), Semitism and could possibly remind audiences of Stalin's app 26 September 19 ment of Hitler. In addition to the powerful flash forward of the Navailh, F, in Cinema(Paris ), October 1988 family members trudging along to their impending terrifying demise Delmas, G, in Jeune Cinema( Paris), November-December 1988 the film includes a disturbing child,s fantasy of a pogrom. As Louis Derobert, J, in Positif(Paris), December 1988. Menashe suggests in Cineaste, 1989, What appears to be askoldov's Brub, R.-C. in Sequences(Montreal), January 198 preference for humanism over Bolshevism probably contributed Menashe, Louis, in Cineaste(New York) 1989 official wrath toward the film Glaessner, V, in Monthly Film Bulletin(London), May 1989 The Commissar was produced at the Gorky Studio, which rejected Sherwood, Pippa, "The Russian Restitution, in Films and Filming, the finished product as its"greatest political and esthetic failure no.415,May1989 Askoldov was fired for incompetence and the film was destroyed. But Batchan, A, Cineaste(New York), 198 Gorbachev's policy of glasnost led to a revolution in Russias film
KOMISSAR FILMS, 4th EDITION 644 KNIFE IN THE WATER See N"Z W WODZIE KOMISSAR (The Commissar) USSR, 1967 Director: Alexander Askoldov Production: Gorky Studios; colour, Cinemascope; running time: 108 minutes. Not released until 1988, following an unscheduled screening at the Moscow Film Festival. Producers: V. Levin, V. Grigorev, L. Prilutzkaya; screenplay: Alexander Askoldov, based on the novel In the Town of Berdichev by Vasily Grossman; photography: Valery Ginsburg; editors: V. Isayeva, N. Loginova, S. Lyashinskaya; assistant directors: B. Dokuchaev, G. Balinskaya; art director: Sergei Serebrennikov; music: Alfred Shnittke; sound: V. Sharoy, E. Bazanov, L. Benevolskaya. Cast: Nonna Mordyukova (Claudia Vavilova); Rolan Bykov (Yefim); Raisa Niedashkovskaya (Maria); Vasily Shuskin (Commander). Awards: Silver Bear, Berlin 1988. Publications Books: Russian Critics on the Cinema of Glasnost, Michael Brashinsky and Andrew Horton, ed., Cambridge, 1994. Articles: Variety (New York), 5 August 1987. Wolf, W., and A. Williamson, ‘‘Askoldov!,’’ in Film Comment (New York), May-June 1988. Carlisle, O. A., American Film (Washington D.C), June 1988. Reynaud, B., and F. Strauss, in Cahiers du Cinéma (Paris), September 1988. Johnson, Brian D., ‘‘Glasnost on Screen,’’ in Maclean’s (Toronto), 26 September 1988. Navailh, F., in Cinéma (Paris), October 1988. Delmas, G., in Jeune Cinéma (Paris), November-December 1988. Derobert, J., in Positif (Paris), December 1988. Brub, R.-C., in Séquences (Montreal), January 1989. Menashe, Louis, in Cineaste (New York), 1989. Glaessner, V., in Monthly Film Bulletin (London), May 1989. Sherwood, Pippa, ‘‘The Russian Restitution,’’ in Films and Filming, no. 415, May 1989. Batchan, A., Cineaste (New York), 1989. Stishova, E., ‘‘Passions over Commissar’’ in Wide Angle (Athens, Ohio), October 1990. Navailh, F., ‘‘Le drapeau rouge et les gants blancs,’’ in Cahiers du Cinématheque (Perpignan, France), no. 67, December 1997. *** When director Alexsandr Askoldov completed his first and only feature, The Commissar, in 1967, it was immediately banned and he was blacklisted as a film director. In December of 1987, in an atmosphere of glasnost, The Commissar was permitted a showing in Moscow and soon received international attention and critical praise. The film, based on the story ‘‘In the Town of Berdichev’’ by Vasily Grossman, is about love, war, maternity and betrayal, and presents a frightening foreshadowing of the Holocaust. The pregnant commissar of a Red Army unit, Klavdia Vavilova, enters the town of Berdichev at the head of her battalion in 1922 and shoots a deserter who had escaped home to his wife. While occupying the town, this hard-edged, dedicated Bolshevik must tell her secondin-command that she must leave the Army because she is pregnant. The home of a Jewish tinsmith and his wife, mother-in-law and six children is commandeered for her confinement, and the commissar and her baby become assimilated into this family. A friendship develops between Klavdia and Raisa, the tinsmith’s wife, and both begin to adopt characteristics of the other. After her baby is born, the commissar becomes nurturing, gentle, and protective of her child, while, Raisa, the tinsmith’s wife, begins to assert her individuality. Realizing the fragility of new life and responsibilities of motherhood, Klavdia questions whether the consequences of war are too costly for her to return to battle. She finally decides to resume her duties as commissar and leaves her infant with the Jewish family. The film has elements of warmth and humor as the tough commissar clashes with the gentle tinker, and as they eventually develop a strong bond. The large loving family represents a nurturing Jewish ethic, which Askoldov contrasts with the uncompromising Russian will to conquer in the name of universal justice. The Jewish family is treated sympathetically, but as William Wolf asserts in Film Comment, ‘‘Paying special attention to the persecution of Jews has long conflicted with the Soviet policy of downplaying Jewish identity.’’ The film was banned due to tension derived from the Soviet Union’s troubled history with Jews and Askoldov’s refusal to change or remove any part of the film which exposes anti-Semitism and portrays the military unfavorably. Anne Williamson stated in Film Comment (May/June 1988): ‘‘In 1967, just as Israel had triumphed in the Six Day War, Askoldov was finishing the edit on The Commissar, which sympathetically portrays a Jewish family. Soviet censors realized that scenes like the commissar’s vision of the future Holocaust and of the Magazanik family being led to the gas chambers hinted darkly at a connection between Nazism and Russian antiSemitism and could possibly remind audiences of Stalin’s appeasement of Hitler.’’ In addition to the powerful flash forward of the family members trudging along to their impending terrifying demise, the film includes a disturbing child’s fantasy of a pogrom. As Louis Menashe suggests in Cineaste, 1989, ‘‘What appears to be Askoldov’s preference for humanism over Bolshevism probably contributed to official wrath toward the film.’’ The Commissar was produced at the Gorky Studio, which rejected the finished product as its ‘‘greatest political and esthetic failure.’’ Askoldov was fired for incompetence and the film was destroyed. But Gorbachev’s policy of glasnost led to a revolution in Russia’s film
FILMS. 4th EDItION KONGI'S HARVEST industry and many blacklisted films reemerged. In May, 1986 Articles: conservatives were ousted from the leadership of the Soviet Filmmakers Union and control over the movie industry shifted from the state Davis, Ossie, When Is a Camera a Weapon? " in New York Times, bureaucracy to the unions new leaders-directors whose films had O Septe been shelved in the past Askoldov was given permission to search for " People, in West Africa, no 2821, 1971 his film in the state archives, and he found a print in a damp cellar. The Soyinka, Wole, Class Discussion, inin Person: Achebe, Awoonor, black-and-white film had been partially destroyed, but Askoldov Ind Soyinka at the University of Washington, edited by Karen L. restored it by piecing together various copies. Morell. Seattle. Washington. 1975 The Commissar is visually striking and incorporates features of Soyinka, Wole, Theatre and the Emergence of the Nigerian Film Askoldov's great predecessors. Williamson identifies a brilliant meta- Industry, in The Development and Growth of the Film Industry phor in the cross-cutting of soldiers and sees Vsevolod Pudovkin's in Nigeria: Proceedings of a Seminar on the Film Industry and ense of realism as Klavdia struggles to push a cannon up a hill of sand Cultural Identity in Nigeria, edited by Alfred E. Opubor and and in the birth sequence. The rhythm and energy of Sergei Eisenstein Onuora E. Nwuneli, Lagos and New York, 1979. are evoked in the scene of the caravan in which the commissars Gugler, Josef, " Wole Soyinka's Kongi's Harvest from Stage to revolutionary lover dies a gallant death. Brian Johnson notes in his Screen: Four Endings to Tyranny, in Canadian Journal of rticle in Maclean's(26 September 1988):" Askoldov broke the fetters of the socialist realism that prevailed at the time of the films release with fluid camerawork and dreamlike scenes of cavalry horses galloping riderless across a battlefield. The clarity of the images and arying pace of editing offers moments enhanced by an excited tempo Kongi's Harvest is an important film because it is the most as well as those reserved for reflection and contemplation significant attempt to date to take a play by wole Soyinka-Africa's preeminent playwright and winner of the Nobel Prize in 1986--to the -Kelly Otter screen. Soyinka's eponymous play was the first of several to de- nounce tyranny, and was perhaps the most distinguished aestheti cally. Kongi's Harvest analyzes the degeneration of personal rule in independent Africa and satirizes the resulting tyranny in terms of the KONGIS HARVEST confrontation between a populist politician and a traditional ruler. When Kongi's Harvest was first performed in Nigeria in 1965 it was Nigeria, 1970 topical: just a few years after independence authoritarian one-man regimes had imposed themselves in a number of African countries. Director: Ossie davis By the time the film was released in 1970, such regimes had become common throughout the region. Production: Calpenny-Nigeria Films Ltd(Nigeria); color; running Kongi's Harvest is, as the playwright put it, a play"about Power, time: 85 minutes. Released 1970 Pomp and Ecstasy": the power of autocratic president Kongi, the pomp of detained king Danlola, the ecstasy of Segi and Daodu who Producers: Francis Oladele. Arthur Dubons. and Lennart bems oppose the dictator. It is one of Soyinka's finest plays. The film, screenplay: Wole Soyinka, from his own play: assistant directors unfortunately, must be considered a failure. It follows the play closely Dandy E. Oyegunle and Tunde Adeniji; photography: Ake Dahlquist: in most respects but falls far short of its accomplishments and betrays editors: Sharon Sachs, Jerry Gransman, and Gboyega Arulogur it in the end. Still, it conveys Soyinka's bitter satire of the recurrent ound: Bo Abrahamsson; art directors: D. Lindersay and J.K. features of dictatorships-the sycophants surrounding the dictator, Ogunbiyi; costumes: Danny Moquette, Agbo Folarin, Ayo Aderem the dictator's megalomania, the ideological isms invoked to justify and Fadeke Akinwunmi absolute-ism, the propaganda blared at the population, the repression of dissent, and the economic concomitants of such political features Cast: Wole Soyinka(Kongi); Rashidi Onikoyi(Oba Danlola); Banjo mismanagement and corruption The film was directed by the distinguished African-American Solaru(Sarumi): Femi Johnson(Organising Secretary): Nina Baden- actor Ossie Davis, who appears as narrator in the early scenes emper (Segi): Dapo Adelugba(Daodu): Orlando Martins(Dr. Benge): Wale Ogunyemi(Dende) come to Nigeria full of enthusiasm to direct what was to be one of the very first major motion pictures produced in Africa South of the Sahara by an African film company, Francis Oladele's Calpenny Nigeria Films. Arthur DuBow of Herald Productions had raised the funds in the u.s. and Lennart berns of omega film in sweden had furnished the crew. The film never had much exposure. In the 1970s Books New Line Cinema provided limited distribution in the United States, before the film was withdrawn from distribution altogether. By now it Gibbs, James, Kongi's Harvest by Wole Soyinka(typescript), Ken- Institute of African Studies at the University of Ibadan, Nigeuy/ the Soyinka, Wole, Kongi' s Harvest, London, 1967 has all but disappeared. (It may be seen at the Film Archives of neth Library, University of Ibadan, n.d.(c. 196 The film conveys the pageantry of a Yoruba royal court: the royal Gibbs, James, Study Guide to Kongi's Harvest, London, 1973 drums, the royal dance and chant, most strikingly the praise song to Gibbs, James, Wole Soyinka, Basingstoke, London, 1986 the king, in Yoruba. And it departs from the play to take advantage of Ekwuazi, Hyginus O, Film in Nigeria, 2d ed, Jos, Nigeria, 1991 the opportunities the medium offers. It presents an aerial view
FILMS, 4 KONGI’S HARVEST th EDITION 645 industry and many blacklisted films reemerged. In May, 1986, conservatives were ousted from the leadership of the Soviet Filmmakers Union and control over the movie industry shifted from the state bureaucracy to the union’s new leaders—directors whose films had been shelved in the past. Askoldov was given permission to search for his film in the state archives, and he found a print in a damp cellar. The black-and-white film had been partially destroyed, but Askoldov restored it by piecing together various copies. The Commissar is visually striking and incorporates features of Askoldov’s great predecessors. Williamson identifies a brilliant metaphor in the cross-cutting of soldiers and sees Vsevolod Pudovkin’s sense of realism as Klavdia struggles to push a cannon up a hill of sand and in the birth sequence. The rhythm and energy of Sergei Eisenstein are evoked in the scene of the caravan in which the commissar’s revolutionary lover dies a gallant death. Brian Johnson notes in his article in Maclean’s (26 September 1988): ‘‘Askoldov broke the fetters of the socialist realism that prevailed at the time of the film’s release with fluid camerawork and dreamlike scenes of cavalry horses galloping riderless across a battlefield.’’ The clarity of the images and varying pace of editing offers moments enhanced by an excited tempo as well as those reserved for reflection and contemplation. —Kelly Otter KONGI’S HARVEST Nigeria, 1970 Director: Ossie Davis Production: Calpenny-Nigeria Films Ltd (Nigeria); color; running time: 85 minutes. Released 1970. Producers: Francis Oladele, Arthur Dubons, and Lennart Berns; screenplay: Wole Soyinka, from his own play; assistant directors: Dandy E. Oyegunle and Tunde Adeniji; photography: Åke Dahlquist; editors: Sharon Sachs, Jerry Gränsman, and Gboyega Arulogun; sound: Bo Abrahamsson; art directors: D. Lindersay and J. K. Ogunbiyi; costumes: Danny Moquette, Agbo Folarin, Ayo Aderemi, and Fadeke Akinwunmi. Cast: Wole Soyinka (Kongi); Rashidi Onikoyi (Oba Danlola); Banjo Solaru (Sarumi); Femi Johnson (Organising Secretary); Nina BadenSemper (Segi); Dapo Adelugba (Daodu); Orlando Martins (Dr. Gbenge); Wale Ogunyemi (Dende). Publications Books: Soyinka, Wole, Kongi’s Harvest, London, 1967. Gibbs, James, Kongi’s Harvest by Wole Soyinka (typescript), Kenneth Library, University of Ibadan, n.d. (c. 1969). Gibbs, James, Study Guide to Kongi’s Harvest, London, 1973. Gibbs, James, Wole Soyinka, Basingstoke, London, 1986. Ekwuazi, Hyginus O., Film in Nigeria, 2d ed., Jos, Nigeria, 1991. Articles: Davis, Ossie, ‘‘When Is a Camera a Weapon?’’ in New York Times, 20 September 1970. ‘‘People,’’ in West Africa, no. 2821, 1971. Soyinka, Wole, ‘‘Class Discussion,’’ in In Person: Achebe, Awoonor, and Soyinka at the University of Washington, edited by Karen L. Morell, Seattle, Washington, 1975. Soyinka, Wole, ‘‘Theatre and the Emergence of the Nigerian Film Industry,’’ in The Development and Growth of the Film Industry in Nigeria: Proceedings of a Seminar on the Film Industry and Cultural Identity in Nigeria, edited by Alfred E. Opubor and Onuora E. Nwuneli, Lagos and New York, 1979. Gugler, Josef, ‘‘Wole Soyinka’s Kongi’s Harvest from Stage to Screen: Four Endings to Tyranny,’’ in Canadian Journal of African Studies, vol. 31, 1997. *** Kongi’s Harvest is an important film because it is the most significant attempt to date to take a play by Wole Soyinka—Africa’s preeminent playwright and winner of the Nobel Prize in 1986—to the screen. Soyinka’s eponymous play was the first of several to denounce tyranny, and was perhaps the most distinguished aesthetically. Kongi’s Harvest analyzes the degeneration of personal rule in independent Africa and satirizes the resulting tyranny in terms of the confrontation between a populist politician and a traditional ruler. When Kongi’s Harvest was first performed in Nigeria in 1965 it was topical: just a few years after independence authoritarian one-man regimes had imposed themselves in a number of African countries. By the time the film was released in 1970, such regimes had become common throughout the region. Kongi’s Harvest is, as the playwright put it, a play ‘‘about Power, Pomp and Ecstasy’’: the power of autocratic president Kongi, the pomp of detained king Danlola, the ecstasy of Segi and Daodu who oppose the dictator. It is one of Soyinka’s finest plays. The film, unfortunately, must be considered a failure. It follows the play closely in most respects but falls far short of its accomplishments and betrays it in the end. Still, it conveys Soyinka’s bitter satire of the recurrent features of dictatorships—the sycophants surrounding the dictator, the dictator’s megalomania, the ideological isms invoked to justify absolute-ism, the propaganda blared at the population, the repression of dissent, and the economic concomitants of such political features: mismanagement and corruption. The film was directed by the distinguished African-American actor Ossie Davis, who appears as narrator in the early scenes. He had come to Nigeria full of enthusiasm to direct what was to be one of the very first major motion pictures produced in Africa South of the Sahara by an African film company, Francis Oladele’s CalpennyNigeria Films. Arthur DuBow of Herald Productions had raised the funds in the U.S. and Lennart Berns of Omega Film in Sweden had furnished the crew. The film never had much exposure. In the 1970s, New Line Cinema provided limited distribution in the United States, before the film was withdrawn from distribution altogether. By now it has all but disappeared. (It may be seen at the Film Archives of the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.) The film conveys the pageantry of a Yoruba royal court: the royal drums, the royal dance and chant, most strikingly the praise song to the king, in Yoruba. And it departs from the play to take advantage of the opportunities the medium offers. It presents an aerial view of
KONYETS SANKT-PETERBURGA FILMS. 4 EDITIoN Ibadan, the largest metropolis in tropical Africa until the 1950s, on producers'subservience to financial sponsors and the potential including street and market scenes, preparations for the festival, U.S. audience and on their dominant position vis-a-vis editors, and he a motorcade with motorcycle outriders, a street barricade, the famous has complained that Kongi's Harvest had been"badly butchered"by Olumo rock in Abeokuta, the dictators militia singing and drinking, the overseas(i.e. U.S. )partners of Calpenny Productions. Presumably Oba Danlola's large retinue, and a masquerade of the Yoruba Gelede. thats where the playwright, script writer, and lead actor puts the It adds scenes of Daodu and Segi visiting a shrine at the palace of the blame. It would appear that the U.S. sponsors short-changed the Alafin of Oyo, and of Kongi enacting a last supper with his twely production of a major play by the preeminent African playwright wit advisors insufficient financing and insisted on subverting the authorial intent. The production of Kongi's Harvest suffered from its low budget, reported at a pitiful $300,000. The photography is amateurish, the -Josef gugler diting poor, the sound-track bad. The stage experience of the actors in Kongi's Harvest turned out to be a handicap for most. Soyinka's hch diaoju or hi s a g n ascossuing and th lbe ne of KONYETS SANKT-PETERBURGA sustained dramatic sequences make the film appear disjointed. As for Ossie Davis, he had no formal training and little experience as (The End of St. Petersburg a director. In 1969. he had been offered a role in Cotton Comes to Harlem and had wound up directing it. At that time he had a $1.2 USSR, 1927 million budget, but now he was operating with a much lower budget, in a foreign environment, and a very difficult one at that. In short the Director: Vsevolod Pudovkin Im does not do justice to the magnificent play Soyinka has gone so far as to disown the film altogether, even though he had written the Production: Mezhrabpom-Russ script and acted, in a fine display of self irony, the role of Kongi. running time: about 110 minutes 8202 feet. Released 1927 We are left to speculate about his reasons. He may have wanted to dissociate himself from the failed enterprise. He clearly was Screenplay: Nathan Zarkhi, from the poem" The Bronze Horse concerned about the political implications of the play. Probably manby Pushkin and the novel St. Petersburg by Andrey Biely; most importantly, the films ending drastically departed from photography: Anatoli Golovnya and K. Vents; art director Soyinka's script Kozlowski When the play was first performed in Nigeria in 1965 there was no doubt that Kongi stood for Kwame Nkrumah, the president of Ghana, Cast: A. P Chistyakov(Worker): Vera Baranovskaya(His wife); whose regime had degenerated over the years and exhibited the very Ivan Chuvelov (Ivan, a peasant): V. Chuvelov(Friend from the traits castigated by Soyinka. But when Nkrumah was overthrown in village):V. Obolensky (Lebedev, Steel Magnate); A. Gromov(Rev 966 to popular acclaim, Soyinka, like many intellectuals, refused to lutionary): Vladimir Tzoppi(Patriot): Nikolai Khmelyov and m in the anti- Nkrumah crowd that gathered once he was overthrown. Tzibulsky (Stockbrokers) Nkrumah had been-and Soyinka now argued should continue to work as-the foremost leader for African emancipation, socialism, and unification Publications The ending of the film diverges altogether from both Soyinka's play and his film script. The tyrannicide succeeds, but in the final Books: ene Dr. Genge, the leader of the opposition, is seen taking on the dictators role, repeating the very same megalomanic slogans: " The Korolevich, V, Vera baranovskaya, Moscow, 1929 will of the State is supreme, destiny has entrusted in our hands the will Yezuitov, N, Pudovkin, "Pouti Tvortchevstva, ' 'Les Voies de la of the State, the will of the State is supreme. The film thus presents creation. Moscow. 1937. a stunning reversal. This makes for a dramatic ending, and it empha De la roche. Catherine. and Thorold Dickinson. Soviet cinema sizes the point that power corrupts-a recurrent theme in Soyinka's London, 1948: New York, 1972. work. However, the eclipse of the process of moral renewal that might Mariamov, A, Vsevolod Pudovkin, Moscow, 1952 be expected to come with a new revolutionary regime seems all too Leyda, Jay, Kino: A History of the Russian and Soviet Film, Lon- ynical. Indeed, the author has cautioned us against such a simplistic don,1960 approach. He has Segi observe that, at some point in the past, Kongi Schnitzer, Luda and Jean, Vsevolod Poudowkine, Paris, 1966 was a great man. Likewise we should expect Dr. Benge to have a time of greatness before his regime deteriorates Schnitzer. Luda and Jean. and Marcel Martin Cinema in Revolution: The change in the ending of Kongi's Harvest would appear not to The Heroic Era of the Soviet Film, New York, 1973 have been acceptable to Soyinka. He has emphasized that the film Rimberg, John, The Motion Picture in the Soviet Union 1918-1952 does not correspond to his script, and the film, contrary to the U.S New York, 1973 distributor's blurb, does not credit the script to Soyinka, or anybody Dart, Peter, Pudowkin's Films and Film Theory, New York, 1974 else for that matter. We may surmise that the films cynical, circular Cohen, Louis Harris, The Cultural-Political Traditions and Develop iew of history, or perhaps just African history, was meant to appeal ments of the Soviet Cinema 1917-1972, New York, 1974 to the intended U.S. audience. It is subject to charges of conservatism Klinowski, Jacek, and Adam Garbicz, Cinema, The Magic Vehicle and racism. Ossie Davis is a most unlikely target for such charges A Guide to Its Achievement: Journey One: The Cinema Through Soyinka has commented, with respect to anglophone African cinema, 1949, Metuchen, New Jersey, 1975
KONYETS SANKT-PETERBURGA FILMS, 4th EDITION 646 Ibadan, the largest metropolis in tropical Africa until the 1950s, including street and market scenes, preparations for the festival, a motorcade with motorcycle outriders, a street barricade, the famous Olumo rock in Abeokuta, the dictator’s militia singing and drinking, Oba Danlola’s large retinue, and a masquerade of the Yoruba Gelede. It adds scenes of Daodu and Segi visiting a shrine at the palace of the Alafin of Oyo, and of Kongi enacting a last supper with his twelve advisors. The production of Kongi’s Harvest suffered from its low budget, reported at a pitiful $300,000. The photography is amateurish, the editing poor, the sound-track bad. The stage experience of the actors in Kongi’s Harvest turned out to be a handicap for most. Soyinka’s script, while quite inspired in places, remained too beholden to the rich dialogue of his play. Endless cross-cutting and the absence of sustained dramatic sequences make the film appear disjointed. As for Ossie Davis, he had no formal training and little experience as a director. In 1969, he had been offered a role in Cotton Comes to Harlem and had wound up directing it. At that time he had a $1.2 million budget, but now he was operating with a much lower budget, in a foreign environment, and a very difficult one at that. In short, the film does not do justice to the magnificent play. Soyinka has gone so far as to disown the film altogether, even though he had written the script and acted, in a fine display of self irony, the role of Kongi. We are left to speculate about his reasons. He may have wanted to dissociate himself from the failed enterprise. He clearly was concerned about the political implications of the play. Probably most importantly, the film’s ending drastically departed from Soyinka’s script. When the play was first performed in Nigeria in 1965 there was no doubt that Kongi stood for Kwame Nkrumah, the president of Ghana, whose regime had degenerated over the years and exhibited the very traits castigated by Soyinka. But when Nkrumah was overthrown in 1966 to popular acclaim, Soyinka, like many intellectuals, refused to join the anti-Nkrumah crowd that gathered once he was overthrown. Nkrumah had been—and Soyinka now argued should continue to work as—the foremost leader for African emancipation, socialism, and unification. The ending of the film diverges altogether from both Soyinka’s play and his film script. The tyrannicide succeeds, but in the final scene Dr. Gbenge, the leader of the opposition, is seen taking on the dictator’s role, repeating the very same megalomanic slogans: ‘‘The will of the State is supreme, destiny has entrusted in our hands the will of the State, the will of the State is supreme.’’ The film thus presents a stunning reversal. This makes for a dramatic ending, and it emphasizes the point that power corrupts-a recurrent theme in Soyinka’s work. However, the eclipse of the process of moral renewal that might be expected to come with a new revolutionary regime seems all too cynical. Indeed, the author has cautioned us against such a simplistic approach. He has Segi observe that, at some point in the past, ‘‘Kongi was a great man.’’ Likewise we should expect Dr. Gbenge to have a time of greatness before his regime deteriorates. The change in the ending of Kongi’s Harvest would appear not to have been acceptable to Soyinka. He has emphasized that the film does not correspond to his script, and the film, contrary to the U.S. distributor’s blurb, does not credit the script to Soyinka, or anybody else for that matter. We may surmise that the film’s cynical, circular view of history, or perhaps just African history, was meant to appeal to the intended U.S. audience. It is subject to charges of conservatism and racism. Ossie Davis is a most unlikely target for such charges. Soyinka has commented, with respect to anglophone African cinema, on producers’ subservience to financial sponsors and the potential U.S. audience and on their dominant position vis-à-vis editors, and he has complained that Kongi’s Harvest had been ‘‘badly butchered’’ by the overseas (i.e. U.S.) partners of Calpenny Productions. Presumably that’s where the playwright, script writer, and lead actor puts the blame. It would appear that the U.S. sponsors short-changed the production of a major play by the preeminent African playwright with insufficient financing and insisted on subverting the authorial intent. —Josef Gugler KONYETS SANKT-PETERBURGA (The End of St. Petersburg) USSR, 1927 Director: Vsevolod Pudovkin Production: Mezhrabpom-Russ; black and white, 35mm, silent; running time: about 110 minutes; length: 8202 feet. Released 1927. Screenplay: Nathan Zarkhi, from the poem ‘‘The Bronze Horseman’’ by Pushkin and the novel St. Petersburg by Andrey Biely; photography: Anatoli Golovnya and K. Vents; art director: S. Kozlovsky. Cast: A. P. Chistyakov (Worker); Vera Baranovskaya (His wife); Ivan Chuvelov (Ivan, a peasant); V. Chuvelov (Friend from the village); V. Obolensky (Lebedev, Steel Magnate); A. Gromov (Revolutionary); Vladimir Tzoppi (Patriot); Nikolai Khmelyov and M. Tzibulsky (Stockbrokers). Publications Books: Korolevich, V., Vera Baranovskaya, Moscow, 1929. Yezuitov, N., Pudovkin, ‘‘Pouti Tvortchevstva,’’ Les Voies de la création, Moscow, 1937. De La Roche, Catherine, and Thorold Dickinson, Soviet Cinema, London, 1948; New York, 1972. Mariamov, A., Vsevolod Pudovkin, Moscow, 1952. Leyda, Jay, Kino: A History of the Russian and Soviet Film, London, 1960. Schnitzer, Luda and Jean, Vsevolod Poudovkine, Paris, 1966. Amengual, Barthélemy, V. I. Poudovkine, Lyons, 1968. Schnitzer, Luda and Jean, and Marcel Martin, Cinema in Revolution: The Heroic Era of the Soviet Film, New York, 1973. Rimberg, John, The Motion Picture in the Soviet Union 1918–1952, New York, 1973. Dart, Peter, Pudovkin’s Films and Film Theory, New York, 1974. Cohen, Louis Harris, The Cultural-Political Traditions and Developments of the Soviet Cinema 1917–1972, New York, 1974. Klinowski, Jacek, and Adam Garbicz, Cinema, The Magic Vehicle: A Guide to Its Achievement: Journey One: The Cinema Through 1949, Metuchen, New Jersey, 1975
FILMS. 4th EDItION KORKALEN Taylor, Richard, The Politics of the Soviet Cinema: Nineteen Seven- poem"The Bronze Horseman and Andrey Biely's symbolist novel teen to Nineteen Twenty-Nine, New York, 1979. burg, written in 1910-1l but Marshall, Herbert, Masters of the Soviet Cinema: Crippled Creative rebellion in 1905. Pudovkin superimposes a Marxist interpretation on Biographies, London, 1983 Pushkins Bronze Horseman, the ""Soul of Russia. Through editing, Masi. Stefano. Vsevolod I. Pudovkin. Florence. 1985 he causes the statue to cry during the bombardment of the Czars Zorkaya, Neya, Illustrated History of the Soviet Cinema: Ninetee winter Palace. Biely's vivid city geometry becomes in the film Seven day. New York. 1989 a maze of revolutionary activity. Pudovkin shifts the major site of Youngblood, Denise J, Soviet Cinema in the silent Era: 1919-1934, conflict from the homes of the workers(in Biely) to the foundries in Ann Arbor, 1985, 1991 which they work. The realism of the photographic image would serve Kenez, Peter, Cinema Soviet Society: 1917-1953. New York, 1992 him well, allowing him to rely on the spectators familiarity with the architecture of the city. He vivifies the citys monumental buildings Articles s well as its famous statues), lending credibility to his political narrative. The tradition of romanticized urbanism, from Close Up (london), April 1928 Dickens through Griffith, takes on a marxist ideological thrust in The New York Times, 31 May 1928 End of St. Petersburg ariety(New York), 6 June 1928 Pudovkin conveys the revolutionary and urban themes through Potamkin, Harry A, ""Pudovkin and the Revolutionary Film, in precise techniques of editing, which he had codified in Film Tech- Hound and Horn(New York), April-June 1933 nique. His re-assemblage of filmed reality recalls Constructivism in Leyda, Jay, ""Index to the Creative Work of Vsevolod Pudovkin, "in its tight integration of content camera Sight and Sound (london), November 1948 ace and time; the director creates filmic space and time through Pudovkin Issue"of Cahiers du Cinema(Paris),August editing Pudovkin called this the" linkage"of the film strips, ""brick ber1953. by brick. Kuleshov had taught him the importance of the legibility Weinberg, Herman, "Vsevolod Pudovkin, in Films in Revie of individual shots when trying to emphasize the relationships among York), August-September 1953 shots. Pudovkin would elaborate important details and eliminate Macdonald, Dwight, "Eisenstein and Pudovkin in the Twenties, ""in others, often stressing the metaphorical nature of a particular detail. It On Movies(Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey ), 1969; as On Movies is the editing that gives the film its strong metaphorical potential New York ), 1981 The various ways in which Pudovkin alternates these details in the Pudovkin Issue"of Iskusstvo Kino(Moscow), February 1973. editing gives the film its distinctive rhythm. He establishes oppositions, Hudlin, E, Film Language: Pudovkin and Eisenstein and Russian cutting for contrast between day and night, as well as between large Formalism, 'in Journal of Aesthetic Education(Urbano, Ilinois). open spaces and claustrophobic interiors. He inserts ironic inter-titles No.2,1979 to contrast with visual images. Most significantly, he employs paral Burns, P. E, "'Linkage: Pudovkin's Classics Revisited, "in Journal lel editing to contrast static shots with dynamic activity. Pudovkin Sao ef popular Film and Television(Washington, D. C), Summer 1981. maintains this rhythm throughout the film, often cutting on human in, O, Konec Sankt-Peterburga, "in Iskusstvo Kino(Moscow), movement to provide fluid continuity Caruso, U.G.,"La Madre/La fine di San Pietroburgo/Tempeste a more enduring contribution zation o RTDo no. 8. August 1987. Pudovkin's conception of the nfortunately set Sonnenberg, B, Aelita, Queen of Mars, Others from U.S.S.R., in he pattern for what would become t tic of socialist Nation . vol 254. 9 March 1992. Realism. His cinematic dynami would remain sull'Asia, in Cineforun(Bergamo), vol 33, no 5(325), June 1993 Smith, M., The Influence of Socialist Realism on Soviet Montage -Howard Feinstein The End ofst. Petersburg, Fragment of an Empire, and Arsenal, in Journal of Ukrainian Studies, vol. 19, no. 1, 1994 Kepley, V, Jr, ""Pudovkin and the Continuity Style: Problems of Space and Narration, "in Discourse(Detroit), no 17.3, Spring 1995. KORKALEN CThe phantom Chariot) Pudovkin made The End of St. Petersburg in 1927 for the tenth Sweden. 1921 anniversary of the Soviet Revolution. From an earlier conception of the film as a 200-year history of St. Petersburg and its changing political climate, Pudovkin focused instead on the struggle for that Director: Victor Sjostrom(Seastrom) city at the time of the Revolution. As in Mother, Pudovkin charted the developing of the(mass)protagonist from political naivete Production: Svensk Bio; black and white, 35mm, silent; running Marxist st consciousness. The film's distinction is in the conjunction time: about 20 minutes; length: 5 reels, 6122 feet. Released I Janu- of this personal mode of Marxist analysis with two other major points ary 1921. Re-released in a re-edited version in America in 1922 of reference: the St. Petersburg cityscape itself and its representation Filmed 1920 in Sweden in the Russian literary tradition; and Pudovkin's theoretical writings (Film Technique and Film Acting), particularly on the role of editing Screenplay: Victor Sjostrom(Seastrom), from the novel by Selma The portrayal of a protagonist who interacts with the animated Lagerlof; photography: Julius Jaenzon; art directors: Aleksander architecture of St petersburg follows in the tradition of Pushkins Bako and axel esbensen
FILMS, 4 KÖRKALEN th EDITION 647 Taylor, Richard, The Politics of the Soviet Cinema: Nineteen Seventeen to Nineteen Twenty-Nine, New York, 1979. Marshall, Herbert, Masters of the Soviet Cinema: Crippled Creative Biographies, London, 1983. Masi, Stefano, Vsevolod I. Pudovkin, Florence, 1985. Zorkaya, Neya, Illustrated History of the Soviet Cinema: Nineteen Seven to Today, New York, 1989. Youngblood, Denise J., Soviet Cinema in the Silent Era: 1919–1934, Ann Arbor, 1985, 1991. Kenez, Peter, Cinema & Soviet Society: 1917–1953, New York, 1992. Articles: Close Up (London), April 1928. New York Times, 31 May 1928. Variety (New York), 6 June 1928. Potamkin, Harry A., ‘‘Pudovkin and the Revolutionary Film,’’ in Hound and Horn (New York), April-June 1933. Leyda, Jay, ‘‘Index to the Creative Work of Vsevolod Pudovkin,’’ in Sight and Sound (London), November 1948. ‘‘Pudovkin Issue’’ of Cahiers du Cinéma (Paris), August-September 1953. Weinberg, Herman, ‘‘Vsevolod Pudovkin,’’ in Films in Review (New York), August-September 1953. Macdonald, Dwight, ‘‘Eisenstein and Pudovkin in the Twenties,’’ in On Movies (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey), 1969; as On Movies (New York), 1981. ‘‘Pudovkin Issue’’ of Iskusstvo Kino (Moscow), February 1973. Hudlin, E., ‘‘Film Language: Pudovkin and Eisenstein and Russian Formalism,’’ in Journal of Aesthetic Education (Urbano, Illinois), No. 2, 1979. Burns, P. E., ‘‘Linkage: Pudovkin’s Classics Revisited,’’ in Journal of Popular Film and Television (Washington, D.C.), Summer 1981. Sasin, O., ‘‘Konec Sankt-Peterburga,’’ in Iskusstvo Kino (Moscow), no. 8, August 1987. Sonnenberg, B., ‘‘Aelita, Queen of Mars, Others from U.S.S.R.,’’ in Nation, vol. 254, 9 March 1992. Caruso, U.G., ‘‘La Madre/La fine di San Pietroburgo/Tempeste sull’Asia,’’ in Cineforum (Bergamo), vol. 33, no. 5(325), June 1993. Smith, M., ‘‘The Influence of Socialist Realism on Soviet Montage: The End of St. Petersburg, Fragment of an Empire, and Arsenal,’’ in Journal of Ukrainian Studies, vol. 19, no. 1, 1994. Kepley, V., Jr., ‘‘Pudovkin and the Continuity Style: Problems of Space and Narration,’’ in Discourse (Detroit), no. 17.3, Spring 1995. *** Pudovkin made The End of St. Petersburg in 1927 for the tenth anniversary of the Soviet Revolution. From an earlier conception of the film as a 200-year history of St. Petersburg and its changing political climate, Pudovkin focused instead on the struggle for that city at the time of the Revolution. As in Mother, Pudovkin charted the developing awareness of the (mass) protagonist from political naiveté to Marxist consciousness. The film’s distinction is in the conjunction of this personal mode of Marxist analysis with two other major points of reference: the St. Petersburg cityscape itself and its representation in the Russian literary tradition; and Pudovkin’s theoretical writings (Film Technique and Film Acting), particularly on the role of editing. The portrayal of a protagonist who interacts with the animated architecture of St Petersburg follows in the tradition of Pushkin’s poem ‘‘The Bronze Horseman’’ and Andrey Biely’s symbolist novel St. Petersburg, written in 1910–11 but set during the unsuccessful rebellion in 1905. Pudovkin superimposes a Marxist interpretation on Pushkin’s Bronze Horseman, the ‘‘Soul of Russia.’’ Through editing, he causes the statue to cry during the bombardment of the Czar’s Winter Palace. Biely’s vivid city geometry becomes in the film a maze of revolutionary activity. Pudovkin shifts the major site of conflict from the homes of the workers (in Biely) to the foundries in which they work. The realism of the photographic image would serve him well, allowing him to rely on the spectator’s familiarity with the architecture of the city. He vivifies the city’s monumental buildings and squares (as well as its famous statues), lending credibility to his political narrative. The tradition of romanticized urbanism, from Dickens through Griffith, takes on a Marxist ideological thrust in The End of St. Petersburg. Pudovkin conveys the revolutionary and urban themes through precise techniques of editing, which he had codified in Film Technique. His re-assemblage of filmed reality recalls Constructivism in its tight integration of form and content. The camera records real space and time; the director creates filmic space and time through editing. Pudovkin called this the ‘‘linkage’’ of the film strips, ‘‘brick by brick.’’ Kuleshov had taught him the importance of the legibility of individual shots when trying to emphasize the relationships among shots. Pudovkin would elaborate important details and eliminate others, often stressing the metaphorical nature of a particular detail. It is the editing that gives the film its strong metaphorical potential. The various ways in which Pudovkin alternates these details in the editing gives the film its distinctive rhythm. He establishes oppositions, cutting for contrast between day and night, as well as between large open spaces and claustrophobic interiors. He inserts ironic inter-titles to contrast with visual images. Most significantly, he employs parallel editing to contrast static shots with dynamic activity. Pudovkin maintains this rhythm throughout the film, often cutting on human movement to provide fluid continuity. Pudovkin’s conception of the mass hero would unfortunately set the pattern for what would become the official aesthetic of Socialist Realism. His cinematic dynamization of St. Petersburg would remain a more enduring contribution. —Howard Feinstein KÖRKALEN (The Phantom Chariot) Sweden, 1921 Director: Victor Sjöström (Seastrom) Production: Svensk Bio; black and white, 35mm, silent; running time: about 120 minutes; length: 5 reels, 6122 feet. Released 1 January 1921. Re-released in a re-edited version in America in 1922. Filmed 1920 in Sweden. Screenplay: Victor Sjöström (Seastrom), from the novel by Selma Lagerlöf; photography: Julius Jaenzon; art directors: Aleksander Bako and Axel Esbensen
KORKALEN FILMS. 4 EDITIoN Cast: Victor Sjostrom(David Holm): Hilda Borgstrom(His wife): "Sjostrom, in Anthologie du cinema 1, Paris, 1966. Astrid Holm(Sister Edith): Tor Weijden(Gustafsson); Tore Svenberg Klinowski, Jacek, and Adam Garbicz, Cinema, the Magic Vehicle (Georg): Concordia Selander(Edith's mother); Lisa Lundholm(Sis A Guide to Its Achievement: Journey One: The Cinema Through ter Maria): Olaf Aas(Coachman): Nils Rehn( Prison chaplain 1949, Metuchen, New Jersey, 1975 Barsacq, Leon, Caligari's Cabinet and Other Grand Illusions: A His tory of Film Design, New York, 1976. Publications Ellis, Jack C, A History of Film, Englewood Cliffs, New Jer- Forslund, Bengt, Victor Sjostroi, New York, 1988 Cowie, Peter, Scandinavian Cinema: A Survey of the Films and Film makers of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, Charensol, Georges, 40 ans de cinema nordique 1895-1935 London 1992 Paris. 1935 Hardy, Forsyth, Scandinavian Film, London, 1951 Idestam-Almquist, Bengt, Den Svenska Filmens Drama: h Stiller. Stockholm. 1952 Potamkin, M. C,"The Golden Age of Scandinavian Film. Idestam-Almquist, Bengt, Classics of the Swedish Cineme holm. 1952. Idestam-Almquist, Bengt, Victor Sjostrom, in Biografbladet( Stock- Waldenkranz. Rune. Swedish Cinema. Stockholm. 1959 holm), Summer 1950 Jean, Rene, and Charles Ford, Sjostrom, Paris, 1963 Turner, Charles L,""Victor Sjostrom, in Films in Review(New Cowie. Peter. Swedish Cinema. London. 1966 York), May and June 1960
KÖRKALEN FILMS, 4th EDITION 648 Körkalen Cast: Victor Sjöström (David Holm); Hilda Borgstrom (His wife); Astrid Holm (Sister Edith); Tor Weijden (Gustafsson); Tore Svenberg (Georg); Concordia Selander (Edith’s mother); Lisa Lundholm (Sister Maria); Olaf Aas (Coachman); Nils Aréhn (Prison chaplain). Publications Books: Charensol, Georges, 40 ans de cinéma nordique 1895–1935, Paris, 1935. Hardy, Forsyth, Scandinavian Film, London, 1951. Idestam-Almquist, Bengt, Den Svenska Filmens Drama: Sjöström och Stiller, Stockholm, 1952. Idestam-Almquist, Bengt, Classics of the Swedish Cinema, Stockholm, 1952. Waldenkranz, Rune, Swedish Cinema, Stockholm, 1959. Jean, Rene, and Charles Ford, Sjöström, Paris, 1963. Cowie, Peter, Swedish Cinema, London, 1966. ‘‘Sjöström,’’ in Anthologie du cinéma 1, Paris, 1966. Klinowski, Jacek, and Adam Garbicz, Cinema, the Magic Vehicle: A Guide to Its Achievement: Journey One; The Cinema Through 1949, Metuchen, New Jersey, 1975. Barsacq, Léon, Caligari’s Cabinet and Other Grand Illusions: A History of Film Design, New York, 1976. Ellis, Jack C., A History of Film, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1979. Forslund, Bengt, Victor Sjöström, New York, 1988. Cowie, Peter, Scandinavian Cinema: A Survey of the Films and Filmmakers of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, London, 1992. Articles: Potamkin, M. C., ‘‘The Golden Age of Scandinavian Film,’’ in Cinema (London), September 1930. Idestam-Almquist, Bengt, ‘‘Victor Sjöström,’’ in Biografbladet (Stockholm), Summer 1950. Turner, Charles L., ‘‘Victor Sjöström,’’ in Films in Review (New York), May and June 1960