Au bord de la mer bleue

By the Bluest of Seas (Russian: U samogo sinego morya) (1936) Director: Boris Barnet First Watched: 3/30/25 6/10 Stars

a "bros before hos", sweet sea shanty in film form- serenely stagnant, unsure whether it's silent, struggles to sustain interest.

#Tanka #PoemReview

Tanka poems do not have a rhyming scheme. They are based on syllable counts like the more common Haiku. 5-7-5-7-7 in a 5 lined stanza format. Poem Reviews are an artful, eloquent way to express opinions on anything you want, but IMDB makes this difficult with its unforgiving minimum required characters count that comes standard with every review!

There isn't a great deal to the Russian 'classic' "By the Bluest of Seas" other than its remarkable use its location around the Caspian Sea and yet its reputation among cineastes is extremely high. Unlike the propaganda films of Eisenstein and Dovzhendo, this is a simple love story and a tale of friendship that owes more to Hollywood than to early Russian cinema.

Two sailors are washed up on an island where they both fall for the same girl, thus testing their friendship. It's a very simple-minded picture, luminously photographed by Mikhail Kirillov, charming enough in itself but hardly worth the critical plaudits that have been heaped on it.

You know, I love watching early cinema. Those German Expressionist silents are still fantastic for the modern viewer to watch and the 1930s was a decade chock-full of excellence. Sadly, BY THE BLUEST OF SEAS is a rather dull affair, one of those art-house movies that's raved over by the critics but actually turns out to be pretty dull and insubstantial when it comes down to it.

The story is nothing more than a simple love triangle between a couple of fishermen and the girl they both fall in love with. The acting is so minimalist as to be non-existent and the story that plays out is simplistic so that there's barely enough material for the short running time. What the film does benefit from is some very nice cinematography that makes the best of the locations (this was filmed in Azerbaijan on the shores of the Caspian Sea) but of course given the title colour is necessary to make this a truly great-looking production. BY THE BLUEST OF SEAS is nothing special, I'm afraid.

Compared to the works of Eisenstein and Alexander Dovzhenko, this film will probably seem quite unremarkable to many viewers - if you've watched enough early Hollywood romantic comedies, the characters will be familiar and the plot predictable. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable enough watch set against the beautiful Caspian Sea, with gorgeous cinematography and sound. Recommended for hardcore film buffs but not for the average viewer, who would be better served watching more well-known Russian classics or early Hollywood screwball comedies.

It's difficult for me to judge Rivette's statement about Boris Barnet having been the greatest of Soviet filmmakers after Eisenstein ; I definitely prefer his works to Eisenstein's or let's say Pudovkin's.

"U samogo sinyego morya" ("By the Bluest of Seas"), a cheerful poetic miniature capturing skirmishes between love and friendship, abounds in crystal clear simplicity and heartfelt humour. In addition to these, we get more than a couple of credible faces (the one of Yelena Kuzmina in particular), a lot of nice songs, and last but not least the most impressive shots of breakers which I have ever encountered on screen.

Some reviewers didn't see any Soviet propaganda in the movie. I must disagree : the scenery upon which the personal storyline unfolds evidently promotes period collectivism,a.o. No wonder, then. However, art in Barnet's rendering transcends everything else.

The transfer on Mr.Bongo's recent release seems quite good ; regrettably no extras were taken from the original Ruscico version.