Nikolai Nademsky

About the struggle of the Belarusian peasants against the oppression of the Polish pans (lords) during the reign of tsar Paul I (1796-1801).

To help his friend Lenya, Yura steals a Stradivarius violin belonging to the professor from his grandfather, a violin maker. Having learned about everything, the professor begins to study with the talented Lenya.

At the school where worker Nikolai Zhikharev studied, students were given a lot of theoretical information, but how to work with machinery was not explained. Therefore, on one of the first working days at the plant Zhikharev made a serious mistake - he let steam out of the boiler. He was transferred to the clerk's office, but even there difficulties awaited the hero. He does not give up. He decided to change the educational process in schools to train and prepared workers for factory work.

In the peaceful countryside, Vassily opposes the rich kulaks over the coming of collective farming. (imdb)

Zvenigora is less a film than a tone poem, set forth by master Russian cinematic poet Alexander Dovzhenko. Moving outside the studio system for the first time (it was his fourth film), Dovzhenko uses lyrical location shots of rural Ukraine and its farmers to excellent advantage. (All Movie Guide)

The seamy Jewish underworld of Odessa is the setting for Isaac Babel's story based on the life of gangster king Mishka Yaponchik "Mike the Jap" Vinnitsky. Murder is a way of life for Benya and his gang until he finds himself ensnared in a Bolshevik trap. (imdb)

Dovzhenko's debut film, it deals with a dandified barber's attempts to get rid of his "love berry" - his illegitimate offspring. Although a farce, its permissive sexuality can still be considered to be risque. (wikipedia.org)