Russian Cinema Reader

This two-volume reader is intended to accompany undergraduate courses in the history of Russian cinema and Russian culture through film. Each volume consists of newly commissioned essays, excerpts from English language criticism and translations of Russian language essays on subtitled films which are widely taught in American and British courses on Russian film and culture. The arrangement is chronological: Volume one covers twelve films from the beginnings of Russian film through the Stalin era; volume two covers twenty films from the Thaw era to the present. General introductions to each period of film history (Early Russian Cinema, Soviet Silent Cinema, Stalinist Cinema, Cinema of the Thaw, Cinema of Stagnation, Perestroika and Post-Soviet Cinema) outline its cinematic significance and provide historical context for the non-specialist reader. Essays are accompanied by suggestions for further reading. Volume one films: Sten'ka Razin, The Cameraman's Revenge, The Merchant Bashkirov's Daughter, Child of the Big City, The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks, Battleship Potemkin, Bed and Sofa, Man with a Movie Camera, Earth, Chapaev, Circus, Ivan the Terrible, Parts I and II.