Russian imperial history - films

[William Ryan]

Just a footnote to Steven Hill's list.
The chess-playing 'robot' did indeed exist, and was the subject of a 
considerable and fanciful literature in which it allegedly played 
against Catherine II and Napoleon. It was designed by a Hungarian, Baron 
von Kempelen and demonstrated at several courts in Europe as well as 
touring extensively - for its history see most recently Tom Standage, 
The Turk, NY, 2002. I have a Victorian novel, which I prize, which was 
evidently written for the School Prize market: Sheila Braine, The 
Turkish Automaton, London, 1899 (1898) (republished in 1912 as A Polish 
Hero), in which the secret of the 'automaton' is that it is operated by 
a concealed maimed survivor of a Polish insurgent clash with the 
Russians. A reconstruction of the chess-playing Turk was shown in Los 
Angeles in 2003 (http://www.grg.org/Turk.htm). I didn't know about the 
film - thanks.
Will Ryan


Prof Steven P Hill wrote:
> Dear colleagues and Prof Powelstock:
>
> Perhaps Eisenstein's "Ivan the Terrible" ("Ivan Groznyi"),  Pt. 1 ['45] 
> and Pt. 2 ['58] depicting the 16th cen., would be too early an era 
> for this course?
>
> Appx. 1937-38 a Soviet director named Vladimir Petrov made "Peter 
> the Great" ("Petr Pervyi"), but it may not exist nowadays on video 
> subtitled in English...
>
> A decade or two ago,   there was a huge, multi-part dramatized 
> biography made for U.S. television, "Peter the Great," starring 
> Maximilian Schell.  As I recall, a goodly number of veteran British 
> (and US) actors played small roles.  This Schell version does exist 
> on video. 
>
> In various film adaptations of Gogol's story "Overcoat,"   the poor 
> clerk Akakii attempts,   unsuccessfully,   to deal with various early
> 19th-century tsarist bureaucrats and agencies.
>
> In film adaptations of Gor'kii's novel "Mother," disaffected working-class 
> folks c. 1905 come into conflict with the tsarist police state (as Gor'kii 
> visualized it).
>
> In many different film adapations of Gogol's stage play "Inspector General"
> ("Revizor"), the entire gang of bureaucrats --  in a fictitious small town,
> to be sure --  are depicted satirically.
>
> A French silent film dating from the 1920s, "The Chess Player," depicts 
> a (factual? fictional?) chess-playing robot which allegedly became a 
> Russian court favorite around the end of the 18th century.
>
> A very "glamorous" fictionalized biography of Catherine the Great 
> (Ekaterina Vtoraia) was filmed in Hollywood in 1935 under the title 
> "Scarlet Empress," starring Marlene Dietrich.
>
> Undoubtedly  other contributors   will be able to suggest plenty of 
> equally ( if not more )  appropriate films....
>
> Good hunting,
> Steven P Hill,
> University of Illinois.
> ___________________________________________________________________   
>
> Date: Sun 2 Dec 00:36:01 CST 2007
> From: <LISTSERV at BAMA.UA.EDU> 
> Subject: Re: GETPOST SEELANGS 
> To: "Steven P. Hill" <s-hill4 at UIUC.EDU> 
> Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 20:41:21 -0500
> From: David Powelstock <pstock at BRANDEIS.EDU> 
> Subject: Films for Course on Imperial Russian History? 
>
> Dear SEELANGers, 
> A friend of mine is teaching a course on imperial Russian history 
> and asked me for ideas as to films she might show. There are lots 
> of film adaptations of 19th-c. literary works, of course, but I'd be 
> interested to know which of these SEELANGers think might be 
> particularly interesting from the standpoint of imperial history 
> beyond costuming. I thought of "Russian Ark," but students would 
> need to be very well prepared in order to appreciate it's historical 
> dimension. For late imperial I mentioned Bauer's "Child of the Big 
> City." I'd be grateful for ideas that I could pass on. 
>
> Best wishes, 
> David Powelstock 
> _____________________________________________________________________
>
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