Film scholarship has regarded Soviet filmmaker Vsevolod Pudovkin as one of the greatest directors of all time. As a result, many Soviet and Western film critics have examined Pudovkin's work and offered interesting analyses of his stylistic and narrative concerns. These analyses, however, have not situated Pudovkin's practice within the broader context of the Soviet film industry of the 1920's and, thus, have not explained the way in which economic factors had an impact upon his work.
This paper examines Pudovkin's films within their film industry context and asks the following questions: Which industry factors of the 1920's shaped Pudovkin's work? What was the role of Pudovkin's films in the production schedule of his employing studio, Me&zhachek;rabpom? How did changes in Me&zhachek;rabpom's objectives and administrative procedures affect Pudovkin's art?
Pudovkin's work, this paper argues, was highly shaped by the
pragmatic strategies of the Soviet film industry in general and
Me&zhachek;rabpom in particular. Me&zhachek;rabpom, a semi-private
film enterprise, was established in 1924, during Lenin's New Economic
Policy. The firm brought together traditional,
pre-Revolutionary personnel and activists of the Berlin-based
organization Workers' International Relief (WIR). Me&zhachek;rabpom
utilized its traditional
artists and created rather
conventional films, which attracted masses of Soviet spectators, drew
a wide audience abroad, and returned profits for both the Soviet
industry and WIR.
Due to its pragmatic policies, Me&zhachek;rabpom faced charges of
commercialism and ideological deviation. The company, however, did not
cut down on its commercial production. Instead, Me&zhachek;rabpom
adopted different strategies: it invited personnel from the
left,
experimental film group, including Pudovkin, and
added to its schedule a few propaganda films, some of which were
assigned to Pudovkin.
When Pudovkin joined Me&zhachek;rabpom in 1925, he was assigned
formalism,
however, Pudovkin's next propaganda film
(