Lenin 1918
Lenin 1918 ( Russian : Lenin w 1918 godu = Lenin in 1918 ) is a Soviet feature film from 1939 by Mikhail Romm and takes place during the First World War / Russian Civil War . Dramatic highlights of the film are the assassination of Fanny Kaplan to Lenin on August 30, 1918 in Moscow and the victory of Joseph Stalin in the Battle of Tsaritsyn (see Volgograd ) on the White Army . In 1941, together with Romm's work Lenin , the film received the Stalin Prize 1st class in October (1938) . (Engel, p. 335) The original film version was re- assembled as part of the de-Stalinization after 1956 , so that all shots and scenes with Stalin were omitted. The full film version has been accessible to the public again since the 1980s. The German premiere took place on January 17, 1946.
action
Soviet Russia 1918. The power of the Bolsheviks under Lenin's leadership is now limited to the greater Moscow area . Foreign intervention powers and whites invaded the Soviet republic from all sides: the Germans from the west, the British from the north, the Czechoslovak legions from the east, and General Krasnov's white troops from the south .
Prime Minister Lenin is organizing supplies for the population with the utmost energy, supported by Head of State Sverdlov . But in addition to the threat from outside, there is a group of conspirators operating inside that are preparing a coup , and whose leader is Konstantinovich. The coup plotters, nobles, bourgeois and Social Revolutionaries , former tsarist officers and sailors , contact the commander of the Kremlin guard, Matveev. He appears to respond to the conspirators' concerns, but confides in Felix Dzerzhinsky , the chief of the Cheka . Dzerzhinsky also found out that the date of the coup was set for August 30, 1918.
Matveev goes to the headquarters of the conspirators, which is already being secretly observed by a Cheka command under Vasily, a confidante of Lenin, armed with heavy machine guns. In the conspirators' nest, Matveev found that officers of the Red Army and Navy were also part of the putschists. One of those present recognizes Matveev as a Chekist. With superhuman effort he manages to escape. Vasily and his commanders intervene and shoot down some of the conspirators. In the turmoil, however, Matveev was shot dead by a Cheka officer who he knew and who, as it now turns out, was also one of the conspirators.
Although the coup failed, the conspirators are now taking direct action against Lenin. Lenin visits the Michelson factory and gives a fiery speech to the workers. When he leaves the factory, the international is played. At that moment the Social Revolutionary Fanny Kaplan steps out from behind Lenin's car and shoots him down. The head of government remains seriously injured. Vasily, who accompanied Lenin, manages to arrest Kaplan. The outraged workers want to lynch Kaplan , but this is prevented by Chekists. As a consequence of the attack, Sverdlov calls for revolutionary mass terror .
Dzerzhinsky receives the Cheka officer who shot Matveev. During the conversation, the Cheka leader realizes that the officer is one of the conspirators. When it comes to a fight between the two, a guard appears and shoots Matveev's murderer, as Dzerzhinsky is not carrying a weapon.
Meanwhile, as political commissar , Stalin is organizing the fight on the front in Tsaritsyn . If the city falls into the hands of the whites, the fate of the October Revolution is sealed, as the vital food transports to Moscow come from here. Voroshilov informs Stalin that the commander-in-chief of the Red Army , Leon Trotsky , has given him a nonsensical order. The order is canceled by Stalin. Voroshilov fights against General Krasnov's troops, Stalin returns to Moscow.
In Moscow, Stalin personally takes care of Lenin, who, thanks to Stalin's care , soon feels better again. Lenin is so pleased with Stalin's arrival that he even forced his chair on him and, despite his gunshot wounds by Kaplan, contented himself with a chair. Vasily, who is again in the Kremlin with Lenin, goes to the front in Tsaritsyn and is blessed beforehand by Lenin's housekeeper. The film ends with the victory of Voroshilov and Vasilis in the battle of Tsaritsyn .
Production notes
Romm's films Lenin in October 1938 and Lenin 1918 initiated the “genre” of the so-called Stalin films, in which Stalin is staged as Lenin's political heir. (Engel, p. 137) In Lenin 1918 Stalin is portrayed for the first time by Gelowani, who also embodied him in the last film of this kind, The Unforgettable Year 1919 .
According to the film historians Oksana Bulgakowa and Enno Patalas in Stalin - a Mosfilm production , these films were re- edited and Stalin removed as part of the de-Stalinization process . For the new version, director Romm even shot some scenes again after 20 years. (Engel, p. 116) The new assembly was also relatively easy because the Tsaritsyn sequences with Stalin and Voroshilov were assembled independently of the main plot with Lenin. There may be two German versions. Apparently the original version was dubbed by DEFA as early as 1945 , a second, cut version was possibly broadcast by DFF around 1967 . The German dubbed version of the original version is obviously in the film archive of the Federal Archives .
Trivia
- Trotsky, as commander-in-chief of the Red Army during the civil war, alongside Lenin, the most important Bolshevik politician, does not appear optically in this or the other Stalin films in the sense of damnatio memoriae .
- The role of Stalin in the Battle of Tsaritsyn was highlighted again in 1942 in the feature film The Defense of Tsaritsyn ( Oborona Zarizyna , director: Georgi Wassiljew ). In this work, too, Stalin is embodied by Gelowani.
literature
- Christine Engel (ed.): History of Soviet and Russian Films , Stuttgart / Weimar (Verlag JB Metzler) 1999. ISBN 3-476-01546-7
- Film Week, in: Neues Deutschland from November 1, 1947.
Documentation
- Stalin - Eine Mosfilmproduktion (TV-D 1993, director: Oksana Bulgakowa / Enno Patalas).