The engineer Herr Pright has invented a new hydro turbine that is heated with peat, a plentiful natural resource in the surroundings. This method of processing peat is simple, safe and cheap so the hydraulic extraction makes it the cheapest fuel so consequently electricity will reach everyone. Herr Pright wants to build a power plant in order to exploit his invention, a modern project that will revolutionize the electrical industry, a development that is opposed by the all-powerful transnational oil trust led by Herr Orvil Ross.
By accident, Herr Pright meets his former schoolmate Herr Gem Torrinuol who introduces him to Frau Betsy. Herr Pright immediately falls in love with the girl who turns out to be the daughter of Herr Orvil Ross!. Torrinuol is also in cahoots with Herr Ross and the two of them hire saboteurs to blow up the transformers of Herr Pright's power plant on the day of its inauguration.
"Proekt Inzheniera Prayta" ( Engineer Pright's Project ) (1918) was the first film directed by the pioneer and renowned Russian director Herr Lev Kuleshov (at the age of 17) and was written by his brother Boris who also has a principal role in the film.
The picture was considered "futuristic" in those early years and certainly it was and of course is of great modern relevance at a time when people are concerned about dwindling natural resources and possible renewable energy. The film deals with such weighty issues of greed and exploitation in an entertaining way. It's basically a crime thriller wherein the shameful profits of the ruthless oil companies are openly denounced. The moral is that oil companies won't allow safe alternative energies because of their greed and will always try to thwart progress to advance their own interests.
Although "Proekt Inzheniera Prayta" was Herr Kuleshov's first oeuvre, you can see signs of his later recurrent themes and his love of Amerikan crime movies with their chases, mysteries and investigations. The film is a bit amateurish but certainly interesting as the debut of one of the most important directors in Soviet cinema.
And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must start blowing out every candle in the Schloss in order to saving energy.
Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/
