'30 Ukrainian film "Earth," composer Ovchinnikov, etc.

[Prof Steven P Hill]

Dear colleagues and Prof Mills:

Dovzhenko's film "Earth" ("Zemlia/Zemlya") in its 1930 Ukrainian original was released 
without a sound track.  (The USSR didn't have sound-recording equipment suitable for 
feature-length fictional films until a year or so later; see Kozintsev's "Alone" and Ekk's 
"Road to Life.")

In the USSR in 1971, "Earth" was restored as a sound film, with a music track composed 
by Viacheslav (Vyacheslav) Ovchinnikov.  (Blue link to Ovchinnikov attached below.***)  
Evidently Dovzhenko's original negative had been lost in the USSR during WW2, and  
the only complete (or nearly complete) film copy that the Soviets could find, to use as 
a source for their '71 restoration,  was a used,  somewhat worn & scratched,  circulation 
copy of this classic.  (A bit like a book publisher having lost the printing plates of a 
great novel, finding only one complete but well-used copy in a library, and relying on 
a xerox copy from that one used copy, to put the novel back into print again.  Better 
some copy than no copy...) 

   ***   http://home.wanadoo.nl/ovar/ovchin.htm 

 In 1975 the U.S. company "Blackhawk Films" (a.k.a. Eastin-Phelan Corp.), managed by 
David Shepard, then as now an outstanding collector and restorer of rare film classics, 
got a copy of the USSR's restored "Earth" and  asked me to translate the Russian [not 
Ukrainian] intertitles to English and to write an introduction to the film.  Which I did 
30 years ago, and Blackhawk Films  put "Earth" into American circulation, complete 
with the 1971 Soviet music track.  (My name appeared in the credits as translator.)  
At this moment I don't have handy the "Kino" DVD version (2003), but since Mr 
Shepard has contributed a number of restored filmic gems to "Kino's" available 
inventory on video & DVD, it's not unlikely  that "Kino" offers on DVD the '75 
"Blackhawk" version, which in its turn came from the '71 Soviet restoration.  So 
perhaps the current music track, about which Prof Mills inquires, came from the 
same source. 

Best wishes to all,
Steven P. Hill,
University of Illinois.
_ __ __ __ _ __ __ __ __ 

Date: Mon, 6 Feb 2006 01:22:01 
From: <LISTSERV at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU> 
Subject: Re: GETPOST SEELANGS 
To: Steven Hill <S-HILL4 at UIUC.EDU> 

Date: Sun, 5 Feb 2006 16:10:50 -0600
From: Mills Charles <cmills at KNOX.EDU> 
Subject: Dovzhenko's "Earth" 

A silly question: 
My copy of Dovzhenko's "Earth" on DVD (Kino, 2003, a triple feature, with "The 
End of St Petersburg" and "Chess Fever") has a brassy sound track that I 
assume was not present in the original silent film.  Steven Hill (or anyone else), 
can you comment on the provenance of the sound track?  Many thanks in 
advance! 
C. Mills 
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