THE SOVIET CINEMA
51
buoyancy, the robust youth of the land of the Soviets."11 At the risk of
be–
ing set down as a ludicrous pedant, I insist that Soviet comedies are lousy.
And I suggest that the tone of Shumiatsky's statement is perhaps itself an
indication of why they are. One does not successfully woo the comic muse
with talk about "dealing a blow of equal force."
But Stalin has said, "Life is gayer, comrades!" And now that socialism
has been achieved in Russia (see 'Article I of the Constitution), life
must
be
gayer. The vogue of comedy dates from the beginning of the second
five-year plan. In the fall of 1934, the State schools for training movie
actors began to require of entrants a knowledge of singing and dancing.
At the end of the year, the first all-slapstick comedy was released. That year
G. V. Alexandrov, Eisenstein's collaborator on
Potemkin, October,
and
The
General Line,
released his first musical comedy,
Jolly Fellows.
"The story
is of a young shepherd who has unusual musical talent. He finds his
~ay
to
the Big
City
and under the favorable conditions of Soviet life his talents
come to fruition, and he develops into a great and popular artist [actually,
a jazz band leader] ...
It
has ingenious stunts, lavish scenes, and so many
laughs that at one time the producing unit seriously considered the advis–
ability of cutting down on the humor."18 Those who h.ave seen
Jolly Fellows
agree it was as painful as it sounds from this description, but, with a certain
amount of plugging from the Kremlin, it was a popular success. Alexandrov
has become the leading exponent of musical comedy in the Hollywood
manner. He was recently entrusted with the important task of making a
documentary to illustrate Stalin's report to the Eighth Congress of the
Soviets. It is not stated whether his experience in making comedies got him
the job.
Last year the Stalin School of comedy reached a new low. It producea
the first Soviet football comedy, Timoshenko's
The Goalkeeper of the Re–
public.
This has been described as "a rollicking if by no means first-rate
production, strongly reminiscent of American college comedies. . . It is
interesting for its carefree comedy, love emphasis, rapid tempo throughout,
and exciting situations verging more than once on the highly improbable . ..
One of the most exciting moments of the picture occurs when the players
arrive late at the stadium in a plane, bailout one after another, and descend
to the field under fluttering white parachutes."19 I still think Soviet comedies
are lousy.
It is obviously not possible to comment in detail on even the most
important Soviet films of the last three years, I have, however, selected
four which, I think, may fairly be taken as representative. I have chosen
Paris Commune
to represent the historical-revolutionary type of film largely
