Tsirk

We rented this movie for my Russian grandmother; she's seen it, she says, 17 times. Scary. This is a saccharine romance in which an American actress, impregnated by a black man, escapes to Russia and starts a new life. She loves one man; the heavy, however, threatens that if she doesn't marry him, he will reveal her secret. This continues for a long time until the end, when he does so; indignantly, the masses at the circus rise and say that it doesn't matter what color the baby is, this is tolerant Russia! Then, for no reason whatsoever, the actress and her new lover are marching at the head of a huge parade singing about the freedom that Soviet Russia provides.

This is one of those knock-off comedies that Aleksandrov made after returning from Hollywood. It even features a Chaplin impersonator. It's not that great, and anyone who masochistically feels they simply must learn about Soviet film in the 1930s would be advised to stick to Eisenstein and The Three Songs Of Lenin.

It`s funny to see Americans so picky about this movie, when Russians at than time and still are portrayed much worse in Hollywood productions. It`s either gangsters or drunk "comrades". Also I have to add that the famous singer Paul Robson was living some time in Soviet Russia and sent his son to Soviet high school. In later interview the son told BBC that it was the only time when he didn`t felt subhuman in his entire life. There`s the racism for you ! As for the Stalin - people didn`t know anything at that time and were just rebuilding the country that was finally theirs, so the jubilant scenes are absolutely rightful,they were supposed to gratify people for their immensely hard work and show what they have already achieved. Plus the march scenes are not a bit more silly than for example "water games" shot in Hollywood and featuring just diving, swimming an endless liters of colored water and smoke. I have to mention the actress in lead role - Orlova. She was a prime dancer of the Soviet cinema. Film features one shot that shows just how great her talent as an actress was. When she dances on the cannon, it`s closed with a thick glass and lit up from inside. The glass during the dance heated up, and when she sits down she actually sits on something like an oven ring. But she continues to sing !! You can only note the slight trepidation in her voice if you know about the accident, otherwise it`s seamless !

Overall, this movie has to be taken along with the context and ability to be fair both ways. After all, Stalins face was used by filmmakers as a means to get their films through,so you can just peel that away as an ugly wrapping.

The movie Tsirk is about a Russian woman named Mary who was a socially out casted for having a black child. During her escape she is meets her soon to be German manager Von Kneishitz. After running away from her previous life with her new born baby, she joins the circus. In this new group she is at least making a living but she still feels like she must hide from her past. Her manager, Von Kneishitz, is always reminding Mary of her situation and frequently threatens to reveal Mary's illegitimate child. As Mary becomes more at home in her new environment she begins to have feelings for the ideal Russian man. As her feelings continue to grow for the great Russian man the threat to reveal her child becomes more real. While pursuing her new love Mary's plans are thwarted by the conniving and evil German. The film ends in glory after Von Kneishitz reveals Mary's son. All the people under the big top unite to welcome the newly discovered child into the warm embrace of the Russian state. All of this happens while they laugh at the silly German for being racist and turn him into the outcast.

This film is brimming with propaganda. This film shows just how great the Russian people are when they unite together to belittle the foolish and backward German. There is also a scene that features a giant poster of Stalin that helps the viewer to see that this work was used as propaganda. While on the one hand it supports Russian unity and demonstrated the evils of the German people it also was racist in its own rite. During one of the final scenes all of the different ethnic groups sing to the child in their own native language. The shot with the Jewish group singing to the child was cut out of the official soviet release.

This was an interesting film but I would only recommend it to those interested in seeing how the Russian government was interested in spreading the message of the state through film.

Circus which was written by Brigori Aleksandrov and was directed by Aleksandrov and I. Simkov was released in 1936. The movie which is a comedy/musical centers on a U.S.-Vaudeville dancer Marion Dixon on tour with her German manager Von Kneischitz in Mosocow. The woman's act entails her being shot from a canon and is a crowd favorite. When Marion begins to fall in love with the handsome Ivan Petrovich Martynov(Sergei Stolvarov) she falls in love with Moscow as well. When Marion decides she wants to remain in Moscow this does not make her German manager happy. Her manager insists that if she tries to stay in Moscow she will never be accepted after he tells everyone about her son who is half black. As the film progresses and comes to a close Marion confesses her love to Martynov and Kneischitz shows Marion's black child to the circus audience. While Kneischitz thinks he is going to ruin Marion, the opposite occurs. The Russian people accept the child. In the final scene they all march off in unity and happiness.

The purpose of this film is clearly propaganda. The author seems to try and convey multiple messages in this film for that purpose. One message the author tries to convey in this film is that the Russian people are good and the German people are bad. This message is used as propaganda in order to create and increase nationalism amongst the Russian people during a time of conflict between Russia and Germany. Another message which the author tries to convey is not apparent until the end of the movie. This message is the portrayal of the Russian way of living, during the time of the Soviet Union, as the best way of living. The author conveys this message of equality and bliss amongst the Russian people for the purpose of propaganda in the final scenes.

In my opinion the author and the Committee of Cinema Affairs want to portray Stalin and Lenin as Gods and Communism as a type of religion. This is reflected in what I believe to be the theme of the film; The Soviet way of living is the best way of living because all Russian people are equal and happy. This theme reflects the author's purpose of the film as propaganda.

I liked some aspects of the film and some aspects I did not necessarily like but in a way I understood. The parts of the film that I did like were: the love story of Marion and Martynov, the humor associated with the acts of the circus clowns, and the conveyed message of equality and bliss. However some parts of the film may rub certain individuals the wrong way. For example: the way the black child is hidden from the public until the very end of the film. Although I understood that part of this use of a black child was to portray the existence of slavery in the United States during this time period. Another aspect of the film that may be offensive to some is the way that Americans(through the image of Marion) are portrayed as dumb and Russians superior. I would suggest this film to a friend because the film captures a person's interest, is controversial, and is funny. However this film is not for everyone, and I would mostly recommend it for the purpose of study in film or history, not pleasure.

Grigori Aleksandrov co-directed some of the best films by Sergei Eisenstein, "Staroye i novoye", "Oktyabr" and "Que viva Mexico!". He was as much talented as Eisenstein, but with much more sense for genre movies, especially comedy. In his films he blended brave formal devices, a genre narration and a humor, and he did it with a great skill. "Tsirk" is an excellent example of Aleksandrov's style. The film is visually expressive, includes some typical modernistic devices, but with populist aim, some scenes are made in Busby Berkeley way, and so on. Also, "Tsirk" is a great propaganda movie and it tells the truth about American racism of those times, using this for glorification of Soviet Union as a tolerant and progressive society. (In fact, regarding racism, Soviet society of that time really was progressive in comparison with the United States.) Final scenes celebrates Lenin, Marx and Stalin in superb artistic way (a long double exposure is fascinating), and the film glorifies not only Soviet Union, but Soviet Russia, too. In fact, Soviet Russia is adored homeland in the film as a result of Stalin's Russian nationalism.