Cinema and Soviet Society: From the Revolution to the Death of Stalin

by Peter Kenez

The story of Soviet film over the period covered by Peter Kenez is central to the history of World Cinema. In this revised, updated paperback edition of his classic text, Peter Kenez explores the roots of Soviet cinema in the film heritage of pre-Revolutionary Russia, tracing the changes in content, style, technical means and production capacities generated by the Revolution of 1917; the constraints on form and subject imposed from the 1930s in the name of Socialist Realism; the relative freedom of expression accorded to film-makers during World War Two; and the extraordinary repression during the final years of Stalin era. Based on original research both in the former Soviet Union and elsewhere in the primary sources of Eastern Europe, this is the essential student text on the period which produced the major films of such 'greats' as Eisenstein, Vertov, Kuleshov, Pudovkin and many more.

Genres: Film, Russia, History, Nonfiction

264 pages, Paperback

First published March 7, 1992

About the author

Peter Kenez, Ph.D., is a Professor Emeritus in the History Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz. A founding faculty member of UCSC's Stevenson College, Kenez received his Ph.D. from Harvard University. He has been teaching Russian and modern European history at UCSC since 1966.

Mr. Kenez' research interests include Russian history, Eastern Europe, 20th-century Europe and Soviet film. At UCSC, he has taught courses in each of those areas, as well as Modern European History, the Holocaust and Jewish social history. He is the recipient of an Excellence in Teaching award.

Kenez is a native of Hungary and a Holocaust survivor. He is the author of eight books, including A History of the Soviet Union from the Beginning to the End and the autobiographical Varieties of Fear: Growing Up Jewish Under Nazism and Communism. His most recent work is entitled From Antisemitism to Genocide; the Origins of the Holocaust.

Reviews

[Richard B · Rating 4 out of 5]

So not a book I'd usually sit down and read, but as an assignment for my class of Russian Revolutionary Cinema this turned out to be a good and as they go enjoyable read. Kenez gives a pretty comprehensive but concise history of cinema in Russia from just prior to the revolutions of 1917 till Stalin's death. You end up coming away with a huge appreciation of what a few young revolutionaries were able to do with not the best materials but real passion to innovate and change the world.

[Chelsea]

Excerpts

[Karthik36 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I interest to take documentary... so i read this book for better understand