RADIO DE GIRO

Abram Matveevich Room was bom on 16 June (old-style calendar) 1894, in ViTno, subsequently Vilnius, the capital o f Lithuania then part o f the Russian Empire.^ His father worked as a bureaucrat in shipping; his mother did not have a job. After finishing school in ViTno, in 1914 Room went to Petersburg to study at the medical faculty o f the Institute o f Psychology and Neurology, at the same time as Dziga Vertov. He then transfered to the medical faculty o f Saratov State University until, in 1918, his studies were interrupted by the Civil War. During that year he worked as a volunteer doctor for the Red Army.

Even as a student Room was particularly interested in the degree to which the mechanism o f the psychology o f the individual influenced social movements

^See: 'Kratkaia avtobiografiia' in Vladimir Zabrodin, ed., Abram Matveevich Room 1894-1976. Materialv k retrospektive fifmov. Moscow, 1994, pp. 7-8, p. 7. Hereafter; Zabrodin, Abram Matveevich Room.

and upheavals.® This was to be seen in his films, as discussed below, where it is often individual action which determines the social outcome. However, Room's interest in the role o f the individual and the personal dimension can also be related to his interest in theatre. To some degree, for Room, theatre acted as a platform for understanding human psychology and its expression. In Saratov Room was involved in amateur theatre, and had helped to organize a theatre school. In 1923 his work was seen by the Commissar for Enlightenment, Anatolii Lunacharskii, who was touring the provinces. Impressed, the Commissar invited the young Room to Moscow, to work at the Teatr Revoliutsii, under the artistic direction o f Vsevolod Meierkhol'd.

Once in Moscow, Room lost no time in choosing 'Ozero LiuT', Aleksei Faiko's first play, to direct. A romantic melodrama about the last hours o f capitalism, shattered by the Revolution, the production was a success. This was despite initial negative critical reaction in Pravda and Izvestiia. where the play's abstraction was criticized. According to these newspapers, the playwright should have been more specific in his presentation o f the revolutionary movement.^ Room later revealed: Etot spektakl' byl nmoiu postavlen pod iavnym vliianiem kino, interes k kotoromu u menia nachal rasti'.^® Appropriately, just as cinema influenced the director's early theatre work, so theatre would remain an influence on Room's films, throughout his long career.

®See: Kleiman, Muzei kino Room broadcast.

^See: Grashchenkova, Room, p. 240-43. As will be discussed in Chapter Six, lurii Olesha was to be similarly criticized for excessive abstraction in Strogii iunosha. also concerned with the relationship of the old and the new (as was Room himself — see Chapter Seven).

Towards the end o f 1923, after directing Ozero LiuT. Room left the theatre to go into cinema. This medium, which was just becoming established, had attracted many creative people, due to its seemingly infinite possibilities. From 1924 until the mid-1930s Room not only made films, but also taught courses at VGDC, the All-Union State Cinema Institute. However, the director's heart never quite left theatre, and he brought much o f its culture to cinema, for example in his way o f treating the people who worked on his films as a team. He also brought two other qualities to his cinematic work from the theatre. The first o f these was a sense o f spectacle. The second is a musicality o f action unusual for the cinema, which he had created in the theatre. It includes a music o f character, o f plot development and o f the whole composition, in addition to which Room brings to his later films a literally musical dimension through the careful use o f audible music itself, the score.

In his films, as Avill be shown. Room pays attention not only to the subtle thoughts and emotions o f an individual, but also to the hidden aspects o f that individual, revealing his or her fears and dreams. The director is not afraid to show people in all their inconsistency and paradoxicality. As will be seen in later chapters, Strogii iunosha was a particularly paradoxical film, perhaps one o f the most paradoxical, or ambiguous, o f all Soviet films, which partly explains its being shelved. That pivotal film will be analyzed at length later; the rest o f this chapter will establish the context either side o f Strogii iunosha. In retrospect, as I

^^See: lutkevich, ed.. Kino. Entsiklopedicheskii slovar'. p. 357. For Pavel Kadochnikov's wonderful caricature of VGIK professors, including Room, and students, see; Kino. 10 February

1935, no. 7.

^^See: Kleiman, Muzei kino Room broadcast.

^^Room supposedly commented on the nature of the camera lens, punning that 'Eto ne oh'ektiv a sub' ektiv!' Hill, 22 March 1999.

shall show, certain qualities in Room's later works cast light on the earlier period. Having addressed these later films in the following section, I shall then turn to the director's career preceding Strogii iunosha. in order to set the context for the film itself.

After Strogii iunosha

In 1974 the film director Grigorii Roshal' wrote a piece in honour o f Room's 80th birthday, in which he conveyed how actively involved in film-related matters his fellow director still was: 'On postoiannyi deiatel'nyi uchastnik vsekh nashikh khudozhestvennykh sovetov v oh "edinenii "Vremia" na kinostudii " M o s f i l ' m " .

Not only was Room as concerned as in his younger days with questions o f filmmaking in general, he was also as keen as before to make films him self This is evident from the unrealized project he was working on when he died, in 1976.

In the last year o f his life. Room had been planning to make a cinematic literary adaptation, based on various stories by Bunin, mixed with elements o f the writer's life. The film, one planned variant o f which was called Solnechnvi udar. took the stories 'Natalie', 'Rusia' and 'V Parizhe' from the cycle 'Temnye allei', written just before the author's death, and fused them with his early stories 'Sukhodol' and 'Poslednii den '.^^ Room decided to use the music o f Rakhmaninov (who loved Bunin's work) in the film, as he felt that its harmonic structure and national colouring suited the project. Room was the first Soviet director to

^'^See; G. Roshal', 'Odin iz zachinatelei...' in Iskusstvo kino. 1974, no. 8, pp. 115-17 (p. 117). ^^See: Grashchenkova, Room, p. 200

conceive o f 'ekrannoe otkrytie B u n i n a ' I n the same way, he had been the first Soviet director to recreate Olesha's literary vision on the screen, over four decades earlier.

Following the banning o f Strogii iunosha. Room's experimental project with Olesha, 1936, the director effectively retreated, making no films in 1937 and 1938. Then, in 1939, still in Kiev, (see below on Room's earlier expulsion from Moscow), he directed Eskadrifia No. 5. initially known as Voina nachinaetsia until officials ruled that the title was too negative.** This hack film, whose script was written by Iosif Prut, was full o f facile optimism about the prospective Soviet war effort, and deservedly proved to be an artistic and commercial failure.*^ In 1940 Room's Veter s vostoka was released, but this did not enhance his reputation significantly either.20 It is shot in a simple, almost documentary style, and tells the

story o f a vain struggle by Ukrainian peasants, as the Second World War was approaching, to hold on to their land in the face o f the land-owning Countess's

*2lbid„ p. 200.

** According to Tat iana Derevenko, head of the Dovzhenko Film Studio museum in Kiev, during a discussion of the film after its television broadcast in Russia on 17 December 1994.

find that it is possible to derive some pleasure from a few interesting and characteristically Room-style shots in the film, mainly of architecture, using perspective and light and shade in a creative way. I disagree in part, therefore, with Grashchenkova's condemnation of it as; "bezlikuiu, lishennuiu ne tol'ko avtorskogo, roomovskogo svoeobraziia, no i togo vysokogo professionalizma, kotoryi do sikh por emu ne izmenial.' See: Grashchenkova, Room, p. 175.

It is worth pointing out here that Grashchenkova refers to most of Room's films in her book, but in a frustratingly random and unanalytical way. I have not therefore included individual references to her work for each of the films I discuss, only references to those books and articles which are germane to the specific point I make.

(played by Ol ga Zhizneva) desire to build a road across it.^i This was to be Room's last film made in Kiev,

Room continued to make films after his evacuation with the Kiev Ukrainfil'm studio to Alma-Ata in Kazakhstan (although, rather implausibly given his age, he claimed he would much rather have been at the front, f i g h t i n g ) . H i s initial work produced there, Tonia. formed part o f a film in the series called *Boevye kinosbomiki'. These almanacs consisted o f collected short films, or 'novellas', made during and about the war. The kinosbomik itself was entitled Nashi devushki. and was completed in 1943. It was not released, but was immediately shelved, due to its purported 'kmpny[e] ideiny[e] nedochet[y].'^^ Room's contribution, Tonia. was the first o f two 'novellas' about young women in the war. Tonia. the scenario for which was written by B. Brodskii, revolves around the eponymous telephone switchboard operator (played by Valentina Karavaeva), left alone at her post when the Germans i n v a d e . V a s i a (played by

2^See: B. Reikh, 'Pravdivyi dokument' in Iskusstvo kino. 1941, no. 3, pp. 13-15. 2^Ibid., p. 116. Alma-Ata is now known as Almaty.

^^See the Russian Gosfifmofond resolution: Gosfil'mofond Rossii, 1-2-1, No. 1450 cited in Evgenii Margolit and Viacheslav Shmyrov, tiz 'iatoe kinol 1924-1953. Moscow, 1995, p. 88. Henceforth: Margolit and Shmyrov, Iz'latoe kino.

has been suggested that B. Brodskii' might have been "Boris Brodianskii'. See: Sergei Zemlianukhin and Miroslava Segida, Domashniaia sinemateka. Otechestvennoe kino 1918-1996. Moscow, 1996, p. 273. Henceforth: Zemlianukhin and Segida, Domashniaia sinemateka. Valentina Karavaeva's first major role was that of Mashen'ka, also a 'telegrafistka', in lulii Raizman's film of the same name. In this film, however, the heroine leaves her sedentary post to take part in the fighting. Mashen'ka was also completed in Alma-Ata in 1942. See: Zemlianukhin and Segida, Domashniaia sinemateka. p. 242. An amazing account of Karavaeva's life is given in: Georgii Paradzhanov, "Lik chelovecheskii', Kinostsenarii. 1999, no. 3, pp. 134-43.

Sergei Stoliarov), the man she loves, is at the front.^^ On the telephone to him she reports the movements o f the German tanks outside her window. This enables the Soviets to counter-attack. When the Germans order her to demand an end to Soviet fire she defiantly does the opposite, and is killed for refusing to cooperate. As with Nashestvie. treated below, this film highlights the difference one 'ordinary' person's heroic actions can make in times o f national crisis. Throughout Tonia. Room makes dramatic use o f music by Sergei Prokof ev. The film ends with Vasia, after Tonia's funeral, looking at a photograph o f her face. This melts into Tonia's living face, urging him to keep fighting: 'Vasia, ty zamechateTno b'esh', bei eshche, bei!' The heroine's memory lives on, still helping the cause.

Despite the positive message o f Tonia. film industry officials found something to fault in Room's film. The Gosfil'mofond resolution regarding the film states that it is unconvincing in its portrayal o f the heroine's 'polnaia izoliatsiia ot vsekh iavlenii kipuchei zhizni prifrontovogo goroda'.^^ The result o f such a verdict o f excessive abstraction, in addition to a similarly negative one for the second 'novella', was the immediate shelving o f Nashi devushki.^*

^^One of Sergei Stoliarov's most memorable roles was in 1936, when he played Martynov in Grigorii Aleksandrov's Tsirk.

^^Room used related techniques in the fantasy sequences of Prividenie. kotoroe ne vozvrashchaetsia.

^^See the Russian Gosfifmofond resolution: Gosfil'mofond Rossii, 1-2-1, no. 1450 cited in Margolit and Shmyrov, Iz' iatoe kino, p. 88.

^^The second 'novella', entitled 'Odnazhdy noch'iu', directed by Grigorii Kozintsev, also provoked a negative reaction from Gosfil'mofond. Kozintsev's film concerns the supposed poisoning, by a female laboratory assistant and Kolkhoz worker, of a saboteur, who betrays himself by his cowardly behaviour. The film organization disapproved of the plot's central theme of 'patologicheskoe sostoianie otravlennykh liudei, zhdushchikh smerti.' Whatever the official rhetoric, according to

The dismal fate o f Tonia did not deter Room from continuing to make war films. With his next effort, Nashestvie. completed two years later, the director's career took a turn for the better. Room achieved significant popular, as well as critical, success with this worthwhile and engaging adaptation o f Leonid Leonov's play o f the same name. The film was scripted by Boris Chirskov, and co-directed by Oleg Zhakov, who also played the leading character, Fedor Talanov.^^ Nashestvie tells the story o f Fedor, a young man, recently released from prison, arriving home during the German invasion. He is full o f anger and resentment at having been in prison, and cannot find a place for him self in society. In a fit o f disillusionment, Fedor storms out o f his family home after an argument with his father. Those working against the Germans, as well as his family, suspect him o f being a traitor, but he performs a noble deed which restores their faith in him, and costs him his life. Fedor exchanges identities with Kolesnikov, a resistance leader hiding in his parents' flat. When he is captured by the Germans, both he and his parents insist that he is Kolesnikov, knowing that this means he will be killed. He is indeed killed, but Kolesnikov is free to continue his activities. Thanks to Fedor's actions, the Russians manage to drive the Germans out, and the young

Iz' iatoe kino, this particular 'Boevoi kinosbomik' was probably banned for a mixture of reasons, including both a general reduction in the production of such collected war films, and because of the undesirable portrayal of the Red Army's retreat in 1941-42. See ibid.

^^Boris Chirskov wrote the scripts for various films, the most famous of which are Valerii Chkalov (with G. Bardukov and D. Tarasov), dir. Mikhail Kalatozov, 1941; Zoia (with L. Amshtam), dir. Lev Arnshtam, 1944 and Velikii perelom. dir. Fridrikh Ermler, 1946. He was one of the first Soviet script writers to use the technique of the inner monologue. See: lutkevich, ed.. Kino. Entsiklopedicheskii slovar'. pp. 488-89. Oleg Zhakov had studied the eccentric FEKS method of acting and had played roles in several films by Kozintsev and Trauberg during the 1920s. See: ibid., p. 139.

man's family are proud o f his memory, with his mother (movingly acted by Ol'ga Zhizneva) exclaiming: 'On nash'.^°

Like Tonia. Nashestvie revealed aspects o f Room's concern for the individual's role in society and the place o f the personal, as well as elements o f spectacle and the use o f music, rooted in his theatrical background. Indeed, many o f Room's films share the theme o f the unsung hero, the ordinary person who makes some kind o f sacrifice for the greater good. In his wartime films that sacrifice is the ultimate: life. In Tonia the heroine gives up her life in order that the Russians may drive out the Germans. In Nashestvie Fedor does the same, but with forethought, not in a burst o f spontaneous defiance. These are both ordinary individuals who make their own moral choices, which take on a far greater significance than the merely personal, standing as examples to others. Tonia and Fedor do not seek glory, they simply follow the dictates o f their consciences.

Stylistically, both Tonia and Nashestvie mix realism with theatricality. Tonia features actuality footage o f tanks firing, and Nashestvie. filmed in Kalinin, includes shots o f genuinely war-ravaged b u i l d i n g s . Tonia also includes several inserts o f Pravda newspaper headlines about the war and actuality footage, as well as documentary-style intertitles stating how many days into the war the action is.

^^Ol'ga Zhizneva came to fame in the 1920s, when she had acted in several of Iakov Protazanov's successful films, Zakroishchik iz Torzhka. 1925, Ego prizw. 1925 and Protsess o trekh millionakh. 1926, and in Room's Prividenie. kotoroe ne vozvrashchaetsia. 1929, with Boris Ferdinandov and Maksim Shtraukh. As well as in Nashestvie. 1944, after Strogii iunosha she starred in Room's films Sud chesti. 1948, again with Shtraukh, and Granatovyi braslet. 1964. Zhizneva was not only one of Room's best and most consistent actors, she also became his wife, and she played her best roles in his work, usually embodying nobility and sincerity of feeling. For more on Shtraukh see below. ^^See: Grashchenkova, Room, p. 180. Kalinin has now reverted to its former name of Tver.

The exteriors and interiors o f the buildings are realistic, full o f the kinds o f detail Room is usually associated with: architectural intricacies such as arches or pillars, striking shadows (in the case o f Tonia. cross-shaped shadows cast by tape stuck on the windows to prevent them shattering during a bomb blast), portraits and furniture which expresses the character o f the household. Irina Grashchenkova suggests that the depiction o f typical objects in the Talanov household preceding the arrival o f Fedor is a deliberate device, ensuring that the contemporary viewer would feel an affinity with him and the family before Fedor's subsequent hostile outburst.

In different ways, both Tonia and Nashestvie contain elements o f Room's fondness for spectacular scenes, which will be discussed below and in Chapter Seven (the latter with specific reference to Strogii iunoshal. Tonia plays with the fast inter-cutting o f shots o f the switchboard operators and the speakers at the other end o f the telephone, which becomes like a kaleidoscopic visual gimmick. There is also a sense o f spectacle about Tonia watching out o f the window as the