ENTHUSIASM
Symphony of the Don Basin

Vertov and his Kino group produced this lyrical documentary on the lives of Coal miners in the Donbas who are struggling to meet their production quotas under the five year plan. Enthusiasm is most noteworthy for it's creative use of the new sound medium. Vertov liberated the recording equipment from the studio and shot sound on location. He also used common everyday sounds and wove them into what can only be described as a symphony. In fact, after seeing the film Charlie Chaplin wrote: "Never had I known that these mechanical sounds could be arranged to sound so beautiful. I regard it as one of the most exhilarating symphonies I have heard. Mr. Dziga Vertov is a musician.”

“Enthusiasm for both his subject and his style permeates Vertov's first sound film, contrasting the old order and the new through didactic, dynamic montage. As in The Man With The Movie Camera, one's attention is drawn to the making of the film itself as a contribution to the modernization program, epitomizing Lenin's statement, 'Of all the arts, for us cinema is the most important'” —Holt’s Foreign Film Guide

Written and directed by Dziga Vertov. Photo; B. Zeitlin. Sound; P. Shtro. Music; N.Timofeyev

USSR: 1930, 74 min. Original sound. No dialog. From Kiev Film Studio/ Ukrainfilm
ISBN 1-55881-056-0
$29.95

A VERTOV DOUBLE FEATURE:
THE MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA & KINO PRAVDA

Two great examples of Vertov's "Kino Eye" films which attempted to use the camera not only to fìlm events but to play a role and influence the events being filmed; a unique use of the camera as a participant/ spectator.

KINO PRAVDA One of the earliest Eye Films was this nearly straightforward propaganda newsreel (with a few posed shots) of a nation changing and developing under communism; Moscow transit, tank training, the leveling of an airport, attempts to curb starvation and more. The film concludes with a 'help wanted' ad listing a Moscow address for anyone interested in film employment! (The address is no longer valid--we tried.)[Russia: 1922, 14 minutes]

MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA Billed as a record of 'life as it is lived', the film is also an dazzling celebration of filmaking, filmviewing and one of the last great Eye Films. [Russia: 1928 69 minutes]

Silent films with added, copyrighted music scores. 83 minutes
ISBN 1-55881-057-9
$29.95

EISENSTEIN
~ PUDOVKIN
DOVSHENKO
RUSSIAN SILENTS
LOST BOYS OF RUSSIA