Pikovaya dama

I watched two films by Yakov Protazanov (1881 - 1945): "Queen of spades" (1916) and "Aelita" (1924). The last one was made in the Soviet Union but the first in Tsarist Russia.

"Queen of spades" fully breathes the atmosphere of Tsarist Russia, adapted after a short story by Alexander Pushkin that was earlier adapted into an opera by Tchaikovsky.

The story is situated in aristocratic circles where partying and gambling is a virtue as long as the strict codes of honor are obeyed.

The film has three main characters.

Hermann (Ivan Mozzhukhin) is a German officer who gambles not according to the code and is terribly punished by fate. His character represents the moral of the story.

The Countess has lived by the code of honor all her live. When she was young she was well known in Paris (called "La Venus Moscovite"). The Countess as a young woman is played by Tamara Duvan. She looks very much like Jean Harlow. In her old days (played by Yelizaveta Shebueva) the Countess still likes party's and she still dresses up for them. All the guests pay her respect at the beginning of the evening, and the rest of the evening she just sits lonely in a corner. The Countess in her old days acts very much like Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) in "Sunset boulevard" (1950, Billy Wilder), she is unable to see that her glory days are over.

The character of Liza (Vera Orlova) is unfortunately not explored enough in this film. She is the nurse of the Countess and in this capacity obliged to stay with her in her corner while the party is going on. It is therefore no wonder that this young girl is all too susceptible when a man finally gives her some attention.

Described by Dostoevsky as 'the pinnacle of the art of the fantastic' Pushkin's short story of 1834 has never ceased to cast its spell and here we have the version directed by and starring the formidable duo of Yakov Protazanov and Ivan Mozzhukhin.

Although Yvgeny Slavinski's camera is static we are treated to dissolves, split screen and flashbacks whilst the sets are stupendous, courtesy of no less than three art directors graciously supplied by the king of designers Alexander Benois.

Pushkin describes his leading character Hermann as 'having the profile of Napoleon and the soul of Mephistopheles'. As luck would have it Mozzhukhin resembles the former and being a simply superlative actor, depicts the latter admirably. His is a performance of immense psychological depth. Also very taking is Vera Orlova as Lizaveta who is used shamelessly by Hermann to gain admittance to the home of the aged Countess so that he might learn the secret of the cards.

The eternal question is whether the image of the dead Countess we see in the closing scenes of the film is a ghost wreaking revenge or a figment of imagination in the mind of a man who has sown the seed of his own destruction. That of course is down to the individual viewer.

Despite an initially slow pace which tests one patience the film gradually gains momentum and becomes utterly gripping. It not only gives us in the person of Hermann a morality tale of the curse of obsessive greed but also depicts a hedonistic and privileged way of life that would soon be swept away by the tidal wave of revolution.

This Yakov Protazanov movie is an excellent adaptation of Pushkin's classic short story, "The Queen of Spades", with a very good leading performance by Ivan Mozzhukhin and an impressive production for 1916. The story is told deliberately and with considerable detail, allowing the psychological impact to sink in fully, as well as following the developments and turns of the plot itself.

All of the cast is solid, giving carefully restrained performances that work well, but Mozzhukhin stands out as German. He uses his eyes, face, and careful gestures to communicate more than the most extravagant gestures could have done. Even his occasional stylized or exaggerated moments still seem to fit in with the increasing deterioration of his character's mind.

The photography, flashbacks, and special visual effects are quite good for its era, and the special effects are incorporated well into the story. There is one very imaginative sequence that uses a flashback and a jump cut, in the scene when German comes to confront the Countess in her room. The techniques help to flesh out the character of the old Countess and to add extra tension to this crucial scene.

The production as a whole is also of good quality, with detailed settings and good use of extras in the sequences that take place in public. At the time, it would have been quite difficult to improve on this adaptation of Pushkin's story.

This film was a happy surprise for me - I had not realized how ambitious early Russian silent film-making was. This movie has a large cast, elaborate sets and even some tricky camera-work. It's also the earliest performance I've seen so far by Ivan Mosjoukine, and it is interesting to compare to his more mature work later in France. At this point, he is clearly learning how to play down to the camera; many scenes are just perfect in tone, mostly the ones that involve Germann (not Herman, as listed in the credits) alone and reflective. Some of the more dramatic moments still carry the traces of stage performance, and come across as a bit over-the-top, but these moments are rare. Mosjoukine is already showing some of the characteristic traits of his later film acting - his hands are particularly beautiful and expressive. He also has those light, birdlike movements, especially of the head, that come across so well on film, but would have been invisible on the live stage. He was clearly giving a great deal of thought to how to bring out the best in this new technology. 'The Queen of Spades' has some nice double-exposure effects, particularly at the end, as an unshaven, ragged Germann plays with invisible cards in his cell in the insane asylum. The ghost of the Countess is very effective here, unlike in its first appearance, where it was so clearly solid it cast shadows. I imagine doing a long scene in double exposure with the two performers so close together would have been rather difficult at the time. On the other hand, the trick photography of Germann caught in a spider web as he sinks into insanity is very effective and gripping. This is a very good movie, far more than just a footnote of early Russian film-making.

The supremely stylish yet chilling 1949 British adaptation of Aleksandr Pushkin's supernatural tale is not only the best-regarded version of this particular source, but among the finest genre outings to emerge from that country; with this in mind, I do not expect it to be surpassed by any other rendition I may care to check out! The film under review (snippets from which, found on the RusCiCo/Image DVD of another popular Russian horror story i.e. THE VIY {1967}, had first intrigued me some years back!), in fact, is one of two I intend including in the current Halloween challenge – the other, even less well-known, emanating from France in 1965. This Russian production, then, dates from the early days of cinema, so that the camera remains static throughout and the cast tends to gesticulate (apart from being heavily made-up, especially around the eyes, in order for their facial expression to better register on-screen!). Still, the end result is not ineffective for all that – after all, leading man Ivan Mozzhukhin (whom I was familiar with so far via THE LATE MATHIAS PASCAL {1926}) was a genuine star, comparable in his handsome looks and thespian skills to John Barrymore – where a sudden transition, within the same shot, between the past and the present proves its single most creative touch. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the devilish pact sealing the card-playing trick is absent here, relegating the fantasy elements to the Countess' ghostly visitation at the very end!; for the record, director Protazanov would later helm the seminal Sci-Fi epic AELITA, QUEEN OF MARS (1924) – which I do own a copy of but have yet to watch…