The Queen of Spades

The Queen of Spades 1916

5.60

While hosting a game of cards one night, Narumov tells his friends a story about his grandmother, a Countess. As a young woman, she had once incurred an enormous gambling debt, which she was able to erase by learning a secret that guaranteed that she could win by playing her cards in a certain order. One of Narumov's friends, German, has never gambled, but he is intrigued by the story about the Countess and her secret. He soon becomes obsessed with learning this secret from her, and he starts by courting her young ward Lizaveta, hoping to use her to gain access to the Countess.

1916

Father Sergius

Father Sergius 1918

5.80

The story of Prince Stepán Kasátsky discovering his fiancée was the mistress of the Czar, so he then becomes a monk.

1918

Behind the Screen

Behind the Screen 1917

1

Famous Russian screen actors play themselves in this drama about the lives of actors. Thirteen minutes of the film survive.

1917

The Bartered Soul

The Bartered Soul 1919

5.50

Millionaire Gornostayev and ballet dancer in Ilona are always arguing about what is more important - youth and beauty or wealth. Ilona thought that youth and beauty are more important, but Gornostayew disagreed with her. He intended to prove Ilona that she in wrong. Gornostayew signed a contract with young worker Alexey. They moved abroad. Year later. Alexey changed into a real aristocrat and returned to Russia. Gornostayew introduced Alexey to Ilona and she falls in love with him.

1919

Satan Triumphant

Satan Triumphant 1917

6.80

Pastor Talnoх furiously urges the flock to fight temptations, but he himself becomes a victim of temptation. In his house appears Satan, pushing the hero to theft and spiritual fall.

1917

Knight's Spirit

Knight's Spirit 1918

5.80

A romance in the upper-classes develops as the Bolshevik revolution is at hand.

1918

Jenny the Maid

Jenny the Maid 1918

5.50

After the death of Count Chambery his wife and daughter were left without means of subsistence. Seeing no other way out, a young woman settles maid in the house of Baroness Angers.

1918

Comrade Abram

Comrade Abram 1919

5.00

One of a series of short Bolshevik films, Comrade Abram focuses on Abram Hersh, a young Jewish pogrom survivor who became a factory worker and organizer in Moscow and eventually rose to leadership in the Red Army. This short film emphasizes Hersh's suffering and heroism as both worker and Jew, and promotes solidarity over anti-semitism.

1919

Dance of Death

Dance of Death 1917

1

A conductor is haunted by hallucinations during a performance of Camille Saint-Saëns's Danse macabre.

1917

In The Whirlpool Of Moscow

In The Whirlpool Of Moscow 1914

1

Biography of a village boy who got into the city. Having settled down as a sex worker in a tavern, the hero falls in love with a dressmaker - and leaves her as soon as she becomes a mother. Then he meets with the owner of the tavern, robs her and after a series of revels goes to prison. Meanwhile, a woman abandoned by him decides to commit suicide. She is saved from death by a switchman, who soon marries her. Here, after a few years, the hero who returned from hard labor ends up and, for the sake of the happiness of his own daughter, decides to leave the owners of this quiet monastery alone.

1914

The Prosecutor

The Prosecutor 1917

1

Prosecutor Olsen's lover, the singer-songwriter Betsy, leaves him for a new passion. And he, speaking in court as a prosecutor, remains deaf to the dictates of feelings, a ruthless servant of the harsh Law. Some time later, Betsy kills her new lover in a fit of jealousy; Olsen, who retained his feelings, nevertheless becomes her accuser at the trial. He seeks the condemnation of Betsy, but comes to the realization that he lived unrighteously, allowing himself to be judged, becoming a servant of Themis. Exit in the classic tradition of the great mute: Olsen commits suicide.

1917