Abram Room - Strogiy yunosha AKA A Severe Young Man AKA Le Jeune Sérieux (1935)

A contemplation of the New Soviet Man runs head-first into a romantic comedy with music in this film from the Soviet Union, which was highly controversial upon initial release. Dr. Stepanov (Yuri Yurev) is a well-known and gifted surgeon whose talent is matched only by his arrogance; he constantly bosses around his assistant, Fydor (Maksim Straukh), and his wife, Masha (Olga Zhizneva). Masha is beautiful and a great deal more charming than her husband, and she soon attracts the attentions of Grisha Fokin (Dmitri Dorliak), a young man who is quite infatuated with her. As Grisha pursues Masha, the characters debate the role of free love and free will within the Soviet social and political economy, as well as the juncture of the body and the mind. Strogiy Yunosha ran into considerable oposition from government censors once it was completed, and was banned by Soviet authorities after only two months of release, which led to director Abram Room's banishment from Ukrainfilm Studio. The film was later revived as part of the retrospective "Another History Of Soviet Films 1926-1968," which was presented at the 53rd Locarno Film Festival in August, 2000. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Andrei Konchalovsky - Asya's Happiness AKA The Story of Asya Klyachina (1966)

Asya Klyashina is a cook in a small Russian village, lame and unmarried. During harvest time she works at a field camp where she renews acquaintance with Sasha, a driver returned from the city, who announces that he loves her but has no thought of marriage. Mothers look after their children amid the harvest; the men reminisce about the Patriotic War ("fighting for the Motherland, for Stalin") and about the prison camps after the war. But complications to her life start when Asya discovers she is pregnant by another youth, Stephan.

Dziga Vertov - Entuziazm: Simfoniya Donbassa AKA Энтузиазм: Симфония Донбасса (1931)

Vertov and his Kino group produced this lyrical documentary on the lives of Coal miners in the Donbas who are struggling to meet their production quotas under the five year plan. Enthusiasm is most noteworthy for it's creative use of the new sound medium. Vertov liberated the recording equipment from the studio and shot sound on location. He also used common everyday sounds and wove them into what can only be described as a symphony. In fact, after seeing the film Charlie Chaplin wrote: "Never had I known that these mechanical sounds could be arranged to sound so beautiful. I regard it as one of the most exhilarating symphonies I have heard. Mr. Dziga Vertov is a musician.”

Various - Animated Soviet Propaganda (1924 - 1984)

CONTENTS:

DISC 1: AMERICAN IMPERIALISTS

BLACK AND WHITE (1933) Whenever the collection criticizes American racism, its credibility goes way up. We start with this shocking, graphic exaggeration (?) of America as a land where slavery still rules.

MISTER TWISTER (1963) This poem-based tale uses cute animation to tell the story of a racist American who rejects a St. Petersburg hotel room because a black man is in the next room. This is a fine film, except for the fact that racism can be found in any country. I don't see why Russia should call herself an exception.

Abram Room - Tretya Meshchanskaya AKA Bed And Sofa (1927)

A married couple have a small apartment in Moscow. When an old friend of the husband's arrives in the city, he is unable to find lodgings. Kolia, the husband, invites his friend to move in with them. While Kolia is away on business, sensual Liuda and attractive Volodia fall in love and have an affair. After his initial outrage, the husband calms down. Kolia winds up on the sofa, and the three settle into a menage-a-trois until the wife finds herself pregnant. The two men are trying to decide what to do, but Liuda is strong enough to make her own decisions. Considered a landmark film because of humor, naturalism, and its sympathetic portrayal of the woman.

Yakov Protazanov - Otets Sergiy AKA Father Sergius (1917)

One of the few pre-Revolution Russian feature films to survive, Father Sergius is an elaborate picturization of a Tolstoy novel. Ivan Mozzhukin plays a young, libertine officer who thinks nothing of committing casual sins while in the service of the Czar. He comes to regret his misdeeds as he grows older, his past debaucheries manifesting themselves in his wizened face and desiccated body. He wanders up and down the countryside, searching for redemption. Director Feodor Protazanov emphasized the high and low points of Mozhukin's life by filming in the actual palaces and private clubs described by Tolstoy in his novel. The overall theme of corruption in high places automatically resulted in Father Sergius being banned by the Czarist censors, though the film found a more receptive audience once the government passed into the hands of the revolutionaries. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

V. Chubisov - A Montage Lesson: Sergei Eisenstein

Description: This is not Eisenstein's film, but a series of montage lessons by V. Chubisov using Eisenstein's films for examples...

levchin specifies

Quote:
that the filmmaker is Vadim CHUBASOV, not Chubisov, who taught at the Kiev Theater/TV/Film Institute for many years, and died recently. Moreover, the title of this film is Lessons in Editing, not A Montage Lesson.
No one seems to know when it was made. Judging by the video style it must be the '80s. Clearly this is an instructional film, commissioned and produced by the Karpenko-Kary film school in Kiev.

Credits, Production and Release Information
Director, Scenario: Vadim Chubasov
Comissioned and produced by: Karpenko-Kary film school (Kiev)

Marlen Khutsiyev - Iyulskiy dozhd AKA July Rain (1966)

This is the one-film Soviet New Wave. A unique blend of idealism and realism, heavily influenced by Antonioni, nothing like it was ever again achieved - or attempted - in the Soviet cinema as far as I know. The virtually plotless story of a young unmarried couple's involvement and eventual break-up is told as a series of finely-observed episodes which together form almost an encyclopedia of the time and the place. Among other things, it is a priceless portrait of a somewhat fantastic city which no longer exists.