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[EXPERIMENT IN FILMMAKING] Krasnye partizany. Geroicheskaia poema v 10 pesniakh po stsenariiu B. Leonidova [i.e. Red Partisans. A Heroic Poem in 10 Songs Based on Screenplay by B. Leonidov]

Item #1020

Leningrad: Sovkino, 1924. 16 pp.: ill. 25x17 cm. In original avant-garde wrappers. Tears of the spine, a few spots on the front cover, otherwise very good. Stamp of movie theater on the front cover.
First edition. Very rare. This is an interesting edition containing a film libretto and an interview with director where the film production is explained. For ‘Red Partisans’, students of film studios, soldiers, policemen, steam brigades, workers of three large factories and a little number of actors were attracted. It was overall 20 000 performers in total. For the first time in Russia, seven camera operators simultaneously shot the film. The credits indicate four of them, including Friedrich Verigo-Dorovsky (1874-1941). Together, the camera operators shot the action in one-take performance (after detailed instructions). The production was placed on the Leningrad outskirts and inside the factories that reduced expenses.
The picture was directed by Vyacheslav Viskovskii (1881-1933). Starting as an actor and director of provincial theaters, he turned to cinematography in 1915. In a few years, he directed overall 60 films and a part of them was based on original screenplays. Viskovsky was highly competent in cinematography, and the audience enjoyed his works. After the October Revolution, he was engaged in theater art, then tried to achieve success in Hollywood. In 1924, he returned to the USSR and worked as a director at the Sevzapkino film studio. Viskovsky was trying to get back into the mainstream, produced films on the Revolution, but didn’t succeed. Soviet critics blamed him for the lack of ideological accents.
The screenplay was written by a member of the Association of Revolutionary Cinematography, Boris Leonidov (1892-1958).
The brief chronicle of the film production, as well as impressions of soldiers involved are included in the book.


No copies located in Worldcat.

Status: On Hold