The Deserter (1933 film)
{{Short description|1933 film}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox film
| name = The Deserter
| image = Streikbrechers_Pudovkin_1933,.jpg
| caption = Streikbrecher going to his workplace (scene from the film)
| director = Vsevolod Pudovkin
| producer =
| writer = Nina Agadzhanova
M. Krasnostavsky
Aleksandr Lazebnikov
| narrator =
| starring = Boris Livanov
Tamara Makarova
Sergey Martinson
Maksim Shtraukh
Sergei Gerasimov
| music = Yuri Shaporin
| cinematography = Anatoli Golovnya
Yuli Fogelman
| editing = I. Aravina
M. Usoltseva
| studio = Mezhrabpom
| distributor = Garrison Films Inc. (United States)
| released = {{Film date|1933|09|19|df=yes}}
| runtime = 103 minutes (2,818 meters)
| country = Soviet Union
| language = Russian
| budget =
}}
The Deserter ({{langx|ru|Дезертир}}, Dezertir) is a 1933 Soviet drama film directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin. It was his first sound picture.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/filmtechniqueact00pudo#page/161/mode/2up|page=161|title=Film technique and Film acting. The cinema writings of V.I. Pudovkin|publisher=Vision Press Limited|author=Vsevolod Pudovkin|year=1954}}
Plot
Karl Renn, a Hamburg shipyard worker, is a member of the Communist Party of Germany and is commissioned by the Soviet Union to organize a general strike and exert pressure on employers. When the strike comes, several fights take place with the police. After a month of strike, many workers are already so exhausted that they become strike-breakers. There arises an armed conflict that even Karl's wife goes to; but he stays at home because of his cowardice. Nevertheless, as a delegate of the party, he is sent together with four comrades to a meeting in the Soviet Union. He stays there, works in a blast furnace and is enthusiastic about the communist system. After a few weeks the news reaches him that his Party Chief in Hamburg had been slain. He then travels back to Germany to continue the struggle of the workers.
Cast
- Boris Livanov – Karl Renn
- Vasily Kovrigin – Ludwig Zelle
- Aleksandr Chistyakov – Fritz Müller
- Tamara Makarova – Greta Zelle
- Semyon Svashenko – Bruno
- Dmitry Konsovsky – Strauss
- Yudif Glizer – Marcella Zelle
- Sergey Martinson – Passerby
- Maksim Shtraukh – First bonze
- Sergei Gerasimov – Second bonze
- Sergey Komarov – Worker
- Vladimir Uralsky – Cell secretary
Reception
{{expand section|date=April 2018}}
Grigori Roshal praised the stylistic aspects of the film; "The pattern of shots attains such vividness, one shot flowing into another, becoming fused one with the other, that ordinary shots create an extraordinary impression."{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/experimentinfilm00unse#page/158/mode/2up|pages=158|publisher=The Grey Walls Press Ltd.|title=Experiment in the Film|editor=Roger Manvell|year=1949}}
The New York Times gave a review which stated that "Pudovkin again demonstrates his ability to hold screen audiences, but be could have reduced the running time of "Deserter" by about fifteen minutes without lessening its value."{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9807E5DD1530E23ABC4B52DFB667838F629EDE|work=The New York Times|title=Directed by Pudovkin|date=24 June 2022 }}
Graham Greene's review for The Spectator described it as "a bad film with some superb moments", nevertheless he also wrote; "But the film should be seen: there are moments magnificent as well as naive..."{{Cite web|url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/19th-february-1937/16/the-deserter-is-pudovkins-first-talkie-the-story-o|publisher=The Spectator|title=The Deserter is Pudovkin's first talkie|author=Graham Greene|author-link=Graham Greene}}
Author and film critic Leonard Maltin awarded the film three and a half out of four stars, praising the film's visuals, and experimental use of sound, calling it "an essential visual and aural experience."{{cite book|author1=Leonard Maltin|author2=Spencer Green|author3=Rob Edelman|title=Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hLtaAAAAYAAJ|date=January 2010|publisher=Plume|isbn=978-0-452-29577-3|page=157}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|id=0023939|title=The Deserter}}
- {{Rotten tomatoes|dezertir|The Deserter}}
- {{TCMDb title|72849|The Deserter}}
{{Vsevolod Pudovkin}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deserter (1933 film), The}}
Category:1930s Russian-language films
Category:Films about the labor movement
Category:Films directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin
Category:Gorky Film Studio films
Category:Russian black-and-white films
Category:Soviet black-and-white films
Category:Russian-language drama films
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