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Show Page 12 The Ogden Valley news Volume XVII Issue XV January 15, 2010 Weber State University Hosts Soviet Films Our series this semester will feature six master works of the famed Soviet Russian film theorist and director Sergei Eisenstein (1898-1948). Eisenstein, the son of a middle-class architect from Riga, originally studied engineering and architecture at the Petrograd School of Civil Engineering. During the October 1917 revolution, he broke with his family by joining the Red Army. Within a year, he developed an interest in the Japanese language and after arriving in Japan, in kabuki theater also. His career in films began with his residence in Moscow starting in 1920. Eisenstein published his first monograph on film theory (on the film sequence via the montage, for which he became famous as a director) in 1923, the same year he directed his first film, “Glumov’s Diary.” He followed this film the next year with “Strike,” and in 1925 made the internationally renowned “Battleship Potemkin.” These early successes made him, along with Vsevolod Pudovkin and Alexander Dovzhenko, the leading film director of Stalinist Russia. However, “October”, Eisenstein’s 1927 film made to celebrated the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution, put him at odds with the Soviet film establishment and after a series of self-criticisms, he left for lengthy stays in the United States and Mexico. Upon his return to the Soviet Union, Eisenstein made the allegorical biopic “Alexander Nevsky” (1938), his first film in more than a decade and, coincidentally, his first sound film. This film was withdrawn from circulation due to the Nazi-Soviet pact of 1939 (“Nevsky,” after all, dealt with the pre-modern Russian defense versus German invaders!) but was praised both internationally and domestically. Eisenstein subsequently made the historical epics “Ivan the Terrible, Part 1” (1944), “Ivan the Terrible, Part 2”(1945), and was working on “Ivan the Terrible, Part 3” when his health broke. His last two films received heavy criticism, doubtless contributing to the series of heart attacks that resulted in his death at age 50, in 1948. He was buried as a hero in the prestigious Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. Our program offers a comprehensive retrospective of Eisenstein’s career. Three silent films, “Strike” (1924), “Battleship Potemkin” (1925), and “October” (1927), show how the director perfected his assembly of montage. In fact, more than one critic remarked that even if Eisenstein had never made a sound film, his place in the development of international cinema would yet be secure. As it was, Eisenstein embraced sound only reluctantly, filming the rather one-dimensional “Alexander Nevsky” in 1938. This film, however, provided him the chance to direct his final two classics, “Ivan the Terrible, Part 1” (1944) and “Ivan the Terrible, Part 2” (1946). Also included in the series is the astonishing experimental documentary film, “Man With a Movie Camera” (1929) by Dziga Vertov. Wednesday, January 20, 2010 “Strike” (Soviet Union 1924) (82 min. B/W) will play in the Wildcat Theater, Wednesday, January 20 at 7:00 p.m. One of the outstanding directing debuts in cinema history, Eisenstein’s “Strike” was composed of six parts. Triggered by the suicide of a worker unjustly accused of theft, a strike is called by the laborers of a Moscow factory. The managers, owner, and the Czarist government dispatch infiltrators in an attempt to break the workers unity. Unsuccessful, they hire the police and, in the film’s most harrowing and powerful sequences, the unarmed strikers are slaughtered in a brutal confrontation. This edition of “Strike” is digitally remastered from a mint-condition 35mm print made from the original camera negative and features new digital stereo music composed and performed by the Alloy Orchestra. On Wednesday, February 3, “The Battleship Potemkin” (Soviet Union 1925) (65 minutes, B/W) will be screened in the Wildcat Theater. A landmark film about Russia’s 1905 revolution, “Potemkin” features what may be the most famous scene in cinema history, the Odessa Steps sequence. Ironically, Eisenstein was disappointed when the film did not attract masses of viewers, but audiences responded more positively in a number of international venues. In both the Soviet Union and overseas, the film shocked audiences, not so much for its political statements as for its use of violence, which was considered graphic by the standards of the time. Wednesday, February 17, 2010 “October,” also known as “Ten Days That Shook the World” (Soviet Union 1927) (95 minutes, B/W) will play in the Wildcat Theater. Officially produced to commemorate the tenyear anniversary of the Russian Revolution, “October” quickly became another of Sergei Eisenstein’s experiments in film form. As in his masterpiece “Potemkin,” Eisenstein uses explosive montage to create the spirit of revolution—in this case the events in St. Petersburg during the months leading up to the Bolshevik revolt. Eisenstein’s insistence on speaking the language of pure film thrusts his mad rush of images straight into the viewer’s eye. A worker’s rebellion in the streets followed by the raising of bridges to isolate their neighborhood becomes a visual symphony of panic. The film is also known by its U.S. release title, “Ten Days That Shook the World.” While its value as propaganda can be debated, as dynamic film art “October” has few equals. Wednesday, March 3, 2010, “Man With a Movie Camera” (Soviet Union 1929) (65 minutes, B/W) will play at the Wildcat Theater at 7:00 p.m. The film was directed by Dziga Vertov. Vertov’s experimental film, produced by the Ukrainian studio Vufku, presents urban life in Odessa and other Soviet cities. From dawn to dusk, Soviet citizens are shown at work and at play and interacting with the machinery of modern life; thus, the film is often compared to Chaplin’s “Modern Times.” To the extent that it can be said to have “characters,” they are the cameraman of the title and the modern Soviet Union he discovers and presents in the film. FILM SERIES cont. on page 13 ARE YOU A “NEWCOMER” TO OGDEN VALLEY? If so, order your FREE Welcome Package at www.ovba.org SIGNATURE HILL cont. from page 1 into our packs for fear of getting too hot. Taking a long drink of water then storing the bottles back in our packs, we hefted them onto our backs and continued our trek up the trail. At first, the trail wasn’t bad; being wide and packed down by previous skiers, it was fairly easy going. A ways up, though, we discovered it wasn’t going to be as easy as it had started out. The trail thinned and wasn’t packed very well, and it became steeper and steeper. We worked our way up through the trees, our legs burning and our bodies getting hot and sweaty. We made our way out onto an open ridge that was off to the side of the main face and stopped to rest up a bit. We took a few pictures and planned out some lines to come down. We were well over half way up when the wind began to blow and the snow started to come down. The temperature dropped pretty fast so we decided to get our coats, hats, and gloves out so we wouldn’t freeze. We continued up, following the trail across the same face we would be coming down. The excitement built as we could see it was, indeed, going to be knee-deep fresh powder the whole way down. We crossed the face and made our way up the other side of the hill. Finally, after about five more minutes, we were on the top of Signature Hill. I stood next to my dad as we surveyed the landscape far below, then reached over and gave him a high five. “We made it!” he told me excitedly. “I know; it’s so awesome!” I exclaimed as we made our way to the edge of the hill. We took off our packs, pulled off our snowshoes, and removed our boards from off our backpacks. We stored the snowshoes in the packs then strapped into our snowboards. We took a brief moment to let it all sink in and to take some more pictures. I pulled my facemask up and slipped my goggles down over my face and gave my dad the thumbs up. Turning my board, I began to carve down the hill. Everything turned to sheer bliss as I made that first turn, the deep powder flying up creating a wave of white that engulfed me. Everything seemed to slow down as the board floated over the soft fluffy powder, and the sense of weightlessness settled over my body. At every turn I was engulfed in white, and I could feel my hand running through the wave of snow as it blew up over my head. I could hear my dad yell incoherently in sheer joy as we carved our way down the powdery hill. All too soon I could see coming up the trail leading out through the trees and felt a wave of disappointment wash over me as I realized it was over so quickly. It had taken us over an hour to hike up and the ride down was over in less than a minute. We made our way to the trail and shot back towards where we had come up. I glanced back to see the lines we had carved into the hillside then sped down the trail. It took us less than a minute to get down the trail that had taken, what seemed an eternity, to hike up. We weaved our way back and forth through the trees until we came out onto the cross-country ski path. We un-strapped and turned to look back up at the hill as it began to fog over. As the snow began to softly fall I was reminded how lucky I am to live in an amazing place such as this. I smiled as we walked down the packed ski trail back home . . . already excited to do it again. Note: Dakota Scadden is the son of Dave and Cailin Scadden of Liberty. He is currently a junior at Weber High School and loves snowboarding, motocross, photography, and writing. Signature Hill. Your Neighborhood Tax and Accounting Practice Red Cliff RanCh & Cafe Friday and Saturday Nights Grilled T-Bone STeak dinner w/side of Dutch Oven Cheesy Potatoes, Dinner Salad, & Roll. Dutch Oven Cobbler @ Wednesday Horse-drawn Sleigh Rides Snow Shoeing Located below Causey Dam, “the gateway to Monte Cristo.” 801-745-6900 |