The Death Ray

1918 – Lev Kuleshov’s directorial debut. This work is extremely important not only for Russian cinema; it became a landmark in the history of the world’s cinematograph. For the first time a specific method of montage had been used in this film, which came to be known later as “Soviet montage”. Despite the fact that Kuleshov’s films had preceded many discoveries of Vertov and Eisenstein, his works are little known outside Russia. Among his students were Vsevolod Pudovkin and Boris Barnet. In the introduction to Kuleshov’s book The Art of Cinema (1928), his former students wrote: “It was on his shoulders that we crossed into the open sea. We make films – Kuleshov made cinematography…”

A five-person team of gold prospectors in the Yukon has just begun to enjoy great success when one of the members snaps, and suddenly kills two of the others. The two survivors, a husband and wife, subdue the killer but are then faced with an agonizing dilemma. With no chance of turning him over to the authorities for many weeks, they must decide whether to exact justice themselves or to risk trying to keep him restrained until they can return to civilization.

Naturally, the circus milieu of 2 Buldy 2 (1929) encourages stunts. A father and son, both clowns, are to perform together for the first time, but the civil war separates them, and the elder Buldy, tempted for a moment to acquiesce to the White forces, casts his lot with the revolution. At the climax Buldy Jr. escapes the Whites thanks to flashy trampoline and trapeze acrobatics; the gaping enemy soldiers forget to shoot.

Lost film.

An experiment in editing.

The screen adaptation of the novel by Tadjik writer Sadriddine Aini, telling the story of a tramp who falls in love with a rich girl, was supposed to become the first full-length feature film in Central Asian film history. But the unfinished Dokhunda was banned by the Soviet authorities when film production was already in full swing. No footage survived. This is why Izvolov had to rely on Lev Kuleshov’s draft to study and appreciate the maestro’s vision and the unique aesthetic concept, which was never to be realised during Kuleshov’s lifetime.

A young Lyova travels with the hope of ascent from Czarist Russia to New York. Disappointed, he returns to the young Soviet Union and is glad to have found a simple work.

Actress Brio working in a cafe "The Happy Canary", does not suspect that her new acquaintances Brianski and Lugovec are Communists sent by an underground committee to fight the enemy's counter-intelligence

One Kuleshov film that might be of great interest to scholars is The Breakthrough (Proryv, 1930). It was made in 48 hours. Naturally, such an unusual work did not stay in cinemas for a long time.