tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435823559307305151.post5410812806390189924..comments2024-03-27T05:40:32.489+00:00Comments on Film: Ab Initio: The first dramatic Russian film - 1908 - Stenka Razin - Vladimir RomashkovUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435823559307305151.post-28721024085946211882010-07-31T22:03:06.504+01:002010-07-31T22:03:06.504+01:00@ Rob - Many thanks for an astute and thought prov...@ Rob - Many thanks for an astute and thought provoking reading of the film. I had not thought of the film as being static and more akin to a set of moving illustrations - and yes, the way that the film mirrors the stanzas of the poem reinforces this very idea.<br /><br />I will find the Wagner Rheingold overture a listen with the film and see what the results are.<br /><br />There is something hypnotic about early film making where water is involved. I recently saw a Lumiere Brothers actuality film of the Niagara Falls - it was stunning.AmanAnandnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435823559307305151.post-60784432746096762502010-07-20T16:02:10.499+01:002010-07-20T16:02:10.499+01:00This is a really fascinating 102 year-old (!) arti...This is a really fascinating 102 year-old (!) artifact... The film almost seems designed as a series of illustrations to set alongside the folksong: a kind of -<br />Stanza 1) Wooded Island with River Wide and Free;<br />Stanza 2) Forests;<br />Stanza 3) Moslem Dancing;<br />etc.<br />A strangely static film, too, which really enhances this sense of 'illustration'! Compared with any of the other recent films, this one does feel like a series of 'moving pictures'... or, in the case of the forest scene, a CCTV camera (with anachronistic digits ticking away in the corner)!<br />The loss of the soundtrack is definitely a shame (although try the Wagner Rheingold overture with the opening river scene!! Instant Malick!)... <br />And - wow- that cut to black at the end (as she hits the water) is stunning.Robnoreply@blogger.com