Fyodor Otsep, the director who later traveled to Germany to film the exciting cinematic miniature adaptation of Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov" (the book 1880, the film 1931), was also apt in translating works by other authors into the medium of film. "Zhivoy trup" (The Living Corpse, 1929) is based on Tolstoy's popular play with the same title, released posthumously after the writer's death. With a play, Otsep is not forced to cut down the plot as he was with Dostoevsky's gigantic novel. Instead, he delivers a nicely told narrative, that is quite easy to follow, and features some cinematic merit to it as well.
Vsevolod Pudovkin, the director of "The Last Days of St. Petersburg" (1927) among other notable films, plays the lead character Fyodor Protasov, who is unhappily married to Liza (Maria Jacobini), who is in love with another man (Gustav Diessl). Fyodor tries to do the right thing, and grant his spouse freedom. The only thing standing in the way is the law, which forbids divorces. So, what our resourceful protagonist decides to do is fake his own death. He does so, and what started out as a good idea, soon estranges him from society, and all of life's pleasantries.
The film was a co-production with a German film company, and many of the cast are European, as opposed to Soviet actors. Soviet cinema of the 1920's was not always best at making intelligible adaptations of the country's enormous reserve of fine literature from the last century. However, Otsep's clear-cut storytelling manages to both carry the narrative, and to add psychological depth to the lead character. Pudovkin is great in the leading role, and another famed director Boris Barnet, with whom Otsep directed his debut "Miss Mend" (1926), is also seen in front of the camera.
Soviet films could get away with societal commentary by setting themselves during the existence of imperial Russia. From today's perspective, you certainly read a narrative like this as a critique of strict marital laws. Yet the presence of the authority never fades away in the film, even if the protagonist tries to escape. Editing, cinematography, as well as set design all work well in this film, and this really does not feel like a piece of filmed theater. Not Otsep's best work perhaps, but a solid film.
