Potseluy Meri Pikford

This is an important film to watch if you want a good demonstration of international dialog within cinema. We see the power that American cinema held during the Soviet Union's NEP as thousands upon thousands of Russians mob Pickford & Fairbanks. The attitude of the film towards American cinema stars is both affectionate and annoyed - when we see our hero satirize the affected actions of Fairbanks, it is motivated by frustration in his inability to attract women like that screen icon did.

The Beatles had nothing on this screen couple. There was never -any- celebrity marriage that was as gigantic or joined together two stars quite -so- popular.

Ultimately, the film comes to the conclusion that victory can be gained by beating the capitalists at their own game. Unfortunately, in the 1930s the NEP was dissolved and the Soviet Union was plunged into a time of almost unmatched fear and oppression.

People just don't realize how far and influential one blockbuster film could be. One of the lost films is the soviet "the thief, but not from bagdad" - a satire of Fairbanks' Thief Of Bagdad. It's sort of sad that we may never get to see this - it would've been interesting to see a Communist interpretation of that most graceful and rich fantasy film.

The beginning of this film is pretty good and interesting, but it starts to get a little tedious halfway through. As a story, this is crackerjack, but an interesting footnote in the history of silent films. Hard to find - I had to watch it in Russian!