rdf-syntax-grammar
mods:
  schema location: http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
  title info:
    title: Early Russian Cinema
    part number: Volume Six
    part name: Class Distinctions (1912-1914)
  title info:
    title: Peasants' Lot
  title info:
    title: Silent Witnesses
  name:
    name part: Sargeant, Erich
    role:
      role term: producer.
  name:
    name part: Bauėr, Evgeniĭ Fran�t�sevich
    name part: 1865-1917
    role:
      role term: director.
  name:
    name part: Goncharov, Vasiliĭ
    name part: 1861-1915
    role:
      role term: director.
  name:
    name part: Mozzhukhin, Ivan Il�ich
    name part: 1889-1939
    role:
      role term: actor.
  name:
    name part: Alexander Street (Firm)
  name:
    name part: Milestone Film & Video
    role:
      role term: film distributor.
  type of resource: moving image
  genre: videorecording
  genre: Silent films.
  genre: Documentary films.
  origin info:
    place:
      place term: nyu
    date issued: 1991
    issuance: monographic
  language:
    language term: rus
  physical description:
    reformatting quality: access
    form: remote
    extent: 1 online resource (96 minutes)
  abstract: A contemporary review acclaimed The Peasants' Lot as a fine picture on a subject 'close to the heart of every Russian.' As well as applauding the 'well-considered and excellent performances' by Goncharova and Mozzhukhin, the reviewer enthused over its choice of scenes from peasant life: 'the scene at the races is wonderfully presented, the fire in the village vividly depicted, the pictures of rural life alternate successfully, hopeless poverty contrasting with the existence of a rich family in the capital. Here was a balanced view of the country, as seen from the city, which followed Goncharov's solidly traditional approach, echoing the view of rural life familiar from Russian 19th-century literature. A film that clearly answered the urgent demand for 'national' images that confirmed the increasingly unstable status quo. It is impossible for us to see Silent Witnesses today without some degree of hindsight. For this 'upstairs-downstairs' drama of life below stairs shows a world that, unwittingly, stood on the brink of extinction. Fascinating also to compare the figure of the porter with Emil Jannings' famous doorman over a decade later in The Last Laugh. But the film has an undeniable edge to its portrayal of the upper classes and - is this hindsight? - a marked sympathy for its servant class. It also shows Bauer's virtuoso visual style at its most ornate, using split-screen and subjective shots, as well as the very architecture of the house, to evoke the social structure that is its subject. A contemporary review noted: Running through the film is the idea that people have still not shed their prejudices over white skin and blue blood. It is impossible not to single out the weak-willed, characterless whimperer exclusively preoccupied with his own pitiful 'me': he sees himself as the only thing of value in the world. The vitality of the idea, challenging bourgeois morality, is highly characteristic of both Russian and foreign dramas, and increases considerably the u…
  target audience: adult
  note: Milestone Film & Video ; produced by Erich Sargeant.
  note: Title from resource description page (viewed February 03, 2017).
  note: Silent with Russian titles and English subtitles.
  subject:
    topic: Motion pictures
    geographic: Russia
  subject:
    topic: Motion picture industry
    geographic: Russia
    topic: History
  subject:
    topic: Silent films
    geographic: Russia
  subject:
    geographic: Russia
  identifier: http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login
  record info:
    record content source: VaAlASP
    record creation date: 170203
    record change date: 20260324203722.7
    record identifier: in00003944065
    language of cataloging:
      language term: eng