Staroye i Novoye (1929)
Genre: Drama / History
Duration: 121 minuten / 131 minuten (ZDF/Arte 1998 restauratie)
Alternative titles: The General Line / Old and New / Старое и Новое / De Generale Lijn / Generalnaya Liniya
Country:
Soviet Union
Directed by: Grigoriy Aleksandrov and Sergei M. Eisenstein
Stars: Marfa Lapkina and M. Ivanin
IMDb score:
7,2 (1.849)
Releasedate: 25 September 1929
Staroye i Novoye plot
A poor woman tries to convince her fellow villagers to establish a joint cooperative in Russia under Stalin. The collective way of working does the farmers a lot of good.
Actors and actresses
Marfa
Marfa's son
Tractor Driver
Secretary of the milk cooperative
Miroshkin - Schoolmaster
The butcher
Komsomolets
Witch
Priest
Reviews & comments
Vinokourov
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- 3143 messages
- 2909 votes
I had seen everything by Eisenstein except this film/documentary. It is not really that sensational. Staroye i Novoye is especially long. In the beginning, a group of weathered faces are captured on screen, who lament their miserable existence in the countryside. But of course the Soviet authorities offer a solution.
Anyway, halfway through the film a farming community is flourishing, all that needs is a tractor. The second half is mainly about that. A young lady is followed in this quest and well that's it... The film could have been a bit shorter in length. For the rest still quite a few artistic shots and cool editing, as you can expect from Eisenstein. Apart from the conspicuous and poorly told propaganda, it was still passable.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Dievegge
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- 3181 messages
- 8234 votes
Eisenstein made propaganda for the ideology of the Soviet Union, but he was also an innovator in the field of editing and cinematography. In this collaboration with the young "Mormonenko" this time agriculture is discussed.
At the beginning of the century, agricultural land was owned by kulaks or lords of the manor, while tenants lived in miserable conditions. The solution came from two sides: collectivization and mechanization. Collective farms were established: kolkhozes and sovkhozes. Tractors and other machines made the work less hard. The Church struggled against it - religion as opium for the people.
Thoughtful montages translate ideas into images. Poverty is illustrated by weathered faces in close-up, and by the toil in the fields with a single cow as a beast of burden. The beauty of the countryside is shown, with grain crops swaying in the wind. Modern machinery, shown from different perspectives, seems almost science fiction. In Marfa's dream, these elements are processed as shadows.
To apply for credit, one has to confront bureaucracy: pen pushers with a bust of Lenin on their desks. A telling image is that row of tractors crossing the hills. The fences, symbols of private property, are being demolished. Broadly smiling farmers agree with the favorable outcome. The message is obvious, but in technical and visual terms Eisenstein was a pioneer.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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