His Excellency (1928 film)
{{short description|1928 film}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox film
| name = His Excellency
| image = His_Excellency_(1928_film).jpg
| caption =
| director = Grigori Roshal
| producer =
| writer = Serafima Roshal
Vera Stroyeva
| narrator =
| starring = Leonid Leonidov
Maria Sinelnikova
Tamara Adelheim
Nikolay Cherkasov
Mikhail Rostovtsev
| music =
| cinematography = Nikolai Kozlovsky
| editing = Mark Donskoy
| studio = Belgoskino
| distributor =
| released = {{film date|df=yes|1928}}
| runtime = 60 minutes
| country = Soviet Union
| language = Russian
| budget =
}}
His Excellency ({{langx|ru|Его превосходительство|Yego prevoskhoditelstvo}}) is a 1928 Soviet drama film directed by Grigori Roshal.{{cite book|author=James Hoberman|title=The Red Atlantis: Communist Culture in the Absence of Communism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7dUsfjS_VOsC&q=his+excellency&pg=PA78|date=1 March 2000|publisher=Temple University Press|isbn=1566397677|pages=78–79}} It was released in the United States under the name, "Seeds of Freedom.""Seeds of Freedom," Variety, 11 September 1929
The film is based on real events. On 5 May 1902, shoemaker-laborer Hirsh Lekert, a member of the Jewish party Bund, attempted to murder the governor of Vilnius, Victor von Wahl.
Plot
On the eve of 1 May leaflets turn up in the city with the appeal to support the May Day demonstration of Vilnius workers. Cossacks disperse the May Day workers' march killing some and arresting others. Among the dead and arrested are Jewish laborers. Fearing riots, the Jewish bourgeois elite send their representatives to the governor with the request that he punish only the prisoners, and not the rest of the Jewish population. The governor agrees; he orders those who were arrested to be flogged. Hirsh Lekert, a cobbler, is outraged and proposes killing the governor. Despite advice from revolutionary friends (one intertitle states that "six shots do not make a revolution"), he shoots the governor and kills him. Lekert is arrested and sentenced to death.
Behind the Scenes
The film is notable in that star Leonidov played two important roles, Governor Victor von Wahl and the "Old Rabbi." He is both sides of the split face on the poster.
Cast
- Leonid Leonidov as Governor von Wahl and "Old Rabbi"
- Maria Sinelnikova as Miriam, the rabbi's adoptive daughter
- Yuly Untershlak as Hirsch Lekkert
- Tamara Adelheim as Rivele
- Nikolay Cherkasov as the tall clown
- Mikhail Rostovtsev as the short clown
- Abraham Grinfeld as Layser, the rabbi
- A. Nenyukov as Pyotr
- Mariya Dobrova as Circus Star
- Aleksandr Sandel as Factory Owner Spiess
- Igor Doronin
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|tt0017844}}
Category:Films directed by Grigori Roshal
Category:Russian-language drama films
Category:Soviet-era Belarusian films
Category:Belarusian drama films
Category:Soviet black-and-white films
Category:Soviet silent feature films
Category:1920s Russian-language films
Category:Silent Soviet drama films
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