Baryshnya i khuligan

Filmed in Petrograd just six months after the Russian Revolution, 'The Young Lady and the Hooligan' is a precious historical document both as a Soviet equivalent of 'Blackboard Jungle' stressing the contemporary importance of adult education, and as the only surviving film written, co-directed by and starring the great Russian poet, Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893-1930), who displays both a vigorous command of the film medium and star quality as a screen actor.

Employing only one subtitle, Mayakovsky and his cameraman and co-director Yevgeni Slavinsky between them employ various silent screen camera tricks like double exposures, as well as combining naturalistic acting with authentic locations, depth of field and diagonal movement across the frame to give a timeless immediacy to a 99 year-old film very much rooted in its era.

Shy Aleksandra Rebikova comes to a small village and is assigned to teaching adults to read and write. Her rowdy pupils distress her, particularly surly Vladimir Mayakovsky, who hands in a classroom assignment with the words "I love you." Believing herself mocked, she tears it up. He stops coming to class, but when they meet in the street, he tries some rough wooing. Her other students come to appreciate her efforts and respect her, The men gang up and beat Mayakovsky to a pulp.

Mayakovsky not only stars, he co-directed and co-wrote the script; although he died in 1930, only 36, he was a playwright whose works were being turned into movies as late as 1977.

In western movies of this sort, the usual course of events would be that the crude peasant would study hard and prove himself worthy of the young lady's love. Mayakovsky's work urges the intelligentsia to make the effort to understand and succor and yes, love their bottom-class students on their own terms.