By the Law

Po zakonu

Soviet Union

1926

80 Min

Black and White

1.33:1

Russian

Currently 4.2/5 Stars.
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SCR Lev Kuleshov, Jack London, Viktor Shklovsky

CAST Aleksandra Khokhlova, Sergei Komarov, Vladimir Fogel

Synopsis

A five-person team of gold prospectors in the Yukon has just begun to enjoy great success when one of the members snaps, and suddenly kills two of the others. The two survivors, a husband and wife, subdue the killer but are then faced with an agonizing dilemma. With no chance of turning him over to the authorities for many weeks, they must decide whether to exact justice themselves or to risk trying to keep him restrained until they can return to civilization. —IMDb

Director

Lev Kuleshov

Lev Vladimirovich Kuleshov studied art at the Moscow School of Painting, Architecture and Sculpture as a 15 years old. Afterwards, he worked as an illustrator for a fashion magazine and later he was employed at a Moscow film studio as a set designer, occasionally acting in its productions. Inspired by the German Expressionism, he made his directorial debut with the Project of Engineer Prite (1918) when only 18 years old. The film was considered among Russia’s most sophisticated early films.

During the Russian Revolution Kuleshov documented the war on the Eastern front in documentary On the Red Front (1920). Around that time, deeply impressed by the works of American directors Mack Sennett and D.W. Griffith, he started to devise his montage theory, later name Kuleshov effect. As an instructor at the First National Film School in Moscow, an institution Kuleshov helped found in 1919, he introduced his theories in editing and montage to his students and future soviet film greats… read more

Lev Vladimirovich Kuleshov studied art at the Moscow School of Painting, Architecture and Sculpture as a 15 years old. Afterwards, he worked as an illustrator for a fashion magazine and later he was employed at a Moscow film studio as a set designer, occasionally acting in its productions. Inspired by the German Expressionism, he made his directorial debut with the Project of Engineer Prite (1918) when only 18 years old. The film was considered among Russia’s most sophisticated early films.

During the Russian Revolution Kuleshov documented the war on the Eastern front in documentary On the Red Front (1920). Around that time, deeply impressed by the works of American directors Mack Sennett and D.W. Griffith, he started to devise his montage theory, later name Kuleshov effect. As an instructor at the First National Film School in Moscow, an institution Kuleshov helped found in 1919, he introduced his theories in editing and montage to his students and future soviet film greats as S. Eisenstein and V. Pudovkin. At the same school he collaborated with group of his students on several now generally regarded as seminal films in Russian Cinema. Among them also The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks (1924), a clever satire on Russian politics, something that was not accepted very well by the authorities. His next film Death Ray (1925) met with authorities disapproval for not containing enough propaganda. Kuleshov’s problems with government empowered after his next film By the Law (1926), a psycho-drama based on a Jack London story. After this movie the government entirely withdrew the fundings for next Kuleshov’s film. Kuleshov decided to leave filmmaking in favor of becoming a full-time theorist and an instructor in the film school by 1933. One of his most important books remains Fundamentals of Film Direction.

During the World War II, soviet government allowed him to make films again and Kuleshov became the head of the Moscow Film Institute in 1944. His early work was only re-discovered in 1960s by Jay Leyda, founder of the film journal Kino and the rediscovery allowed Kuleshov to travel to the West as part of film festival juries and lecture during showing of his films. —Seagull Films

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