Old and New, aka The General Line (Eisenstein, 1929)
After the failure of October (1927), Eisenstein’s next film (and final silent film) chronicles the modernization attempts in a collective farm with a focus on one peasant woman named Marfa. This film contrasts with his earlier work in that it is set in during the present time, and concerns simple peasants rather than heroic sailors and workers standing up to oppressors. The title The General Line was meant to reflect the fact that this film depicted the actual party line. However, by the time the film was released, the complex set of political events leading up to the rise of Josef Stalin meant that this title was no longer accurate.[1] Although remarkable for its complicated use of montage, this fact contributed to Eisenstein’s fall in popularity in the face of the start of Socialist Realism.
Director: Sergei Eisenstein
Writers: Sergei Eisenstein, Grigori Aleksandrov
Cast: Marfa Lapkina, M. Ivanin, Konstantin Vasilyev
Year: 1929
Production Company: Sovkino
Buy Online.
Director: Sergei Eisenstein
Writers: Sergei Eisenstein, Grigori Aleksandrov
Cast: Marfa Lapkina, M. Ivanin, Konstantin Vasilyev
Year: 1929
Production Company: Sovkino
Buy Online.
WATCH OLD AND NEW HERE!
[1] Peter Kenez. Cinema and Soviet society from the revolution to the death of Stalin. (London: I.B. Tauris, 2001) 87.