Film

Of the many artistic genres that shaped the Culture and Civilization of Stalinism, arguably none was more significant than cinema. Newsreels, animated shorts, and feature films were among the most popular and effective instruments in communicating Communist ideas and values to audiences throughout the USSR (and across the world). During the early and mid-1920s, Soviet filmmakers including Dziga Vertov, Vsevolod Pudovkin, and Sergei Eisenstein became internationally renown for their development and use of new techniques such as fast and slow motion; freeze framing; jump cuts; and montage. Their avant-garde cinematic experiments demonstrated that the country’s leading artists possessed creativity and technical skill rivaling their best foreign peers.

A decade later, the establishment of Socialist Realism as the USSR’s official artistic style rapidly transformed the Soviet film industry from a wellspring of cutting-edge innovation into a fountainhead of politically correct cant. Under the watchful direction of Party ideologues — and the personal instruction of Josef Stalin — filmmakers abandoned “formalist” techniques including montage in favor of simple, straight-forward narratives that supported the Party’s “General Line.” While movies might still entertain, their main purposed was to instill enthusiasm in audience members for the task of “building socialism” by using optimistic stories about positive heroes overcoming obstacles through collective action (and the guidance of the Party). Though oftentimes formulaic, the cinema of the Stalin era was not without its own blockbuster hits. The most popular films of the 1930s through early 1950s are regarded as “classics” in Russia today.

 

Gallery of Stalinist Cinema

Click on any of the images below to access a slideshow containing descriptions of representative Soviet films from the period 1925-1953. Click a second time on the film’s title (at the bottom of the screen) to view it online w/English subtitles.