''The White Eagle'' (russian: Белый орёл, Belyy oryol) is a 1928 Soviet
silent drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
Yakov Protazanov
Yakov Alexandrovich Protazanov (russian: Яков Александрович Протазанов; 4 February ( O.S. 23 January ) 1881 – 8 August 1945) was a Russian and Soviet film director and screenwriter, and one of the founding fathers of ...
and starring
Vasili Kachalov
Vasily Ivanovich Kachalov (russian: Василий Иванович Качалов; – 30 September 1948), was one of Russia's most renowned actors. He worked closely and often with Konstantin Stanislavski. He led the so-called Kachalov Group wi ...
,
Anna Sten
Anna Sten ( ua, А́нна Стен; born Anna Petrivna Fesak, December 3, 1908November 12, 1993) was a Ukrainian-born American actress. She began her career in stage plays and films in the Soviet Union before traveling to Germany, where she st ...
and
Vsevolod Meyerhold
Vsevolod Emilyevich Meyerhold (russian: Всеволод Эмильевич Мейерхольд, translit=Vsévolod Èmíl'evič Mejerchól'd; born german: Karl Kasimir Theodor Meyerhold; 2 February 1940) was a Russian and Soviet theatre ...
.
[Christie & Taylor p.434] Set in
Tsarist
Tsarist autocracy (russian: царское самодержавие, transcr. ''tsarskoye samoderzhaviye''), also called Tsarism, was a form of autocracy (later absolute monarchy) specific to the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states ...
times, it is based on the play ''The Governor'' by
Leonid Andreyev
Leonid Nikolaievich Andreyev (russian: Леони́д Никола́евич Андре́ев, – 12 September 1919) was a Russian playwright, novelist and short-story writer, who is considered to be a father of Expressionism in Russian litera ...
.
Plot
The film takes place in 1905. Governor-liberal attempts to prevent a strike in the city but the workers refuse to obey. The governor gives an order to shoot the strikers and suppresses the uprising with force while children die in the crossfire. As a reward, he is represented with the order of "White Eagle", but the governor is haunted by pangs of conscience.
Cast
*
Vasili Kachalov
Vasily Ivanovich Kachalov (russian: Василий Иванович Качалов; – 30 September 1948), was one of Russia's most renowned actors. He worked closely and often with Konstantin Stanislavski. He led the so-called Kachalov Group wi ...
as Governor
*
Anna Sten
Anna Sten ( ua, А́нна Стен; born Anna Petrivna Fesak, December 3, 1908November 12, 1993) was a Ukrainian-born American actress. She began her career in stage plays and films in the Soviet Union before traveling to Germany, where she st ...
as Governor's wife
*
Vsevolod Meyerhold
Vsevolod Emilyevich Meyerhold (russian: Всеволод Эмильевич Мейерхольд, translit=Vsévolod Èmíl'evič Mejerchól'd; born german: Karl Kasimir Theodor Meyerhold; 2 February 1940) was a Russian and Soviet theatre ...
as Dignitary
*
Ivan Chuvelyov
Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulgari ...
*
Andrey Petrovsky as Chief of Police
*
Pyotr Repnin as Bishop
*
Ye. Volkonskaya
*
Mikhail Zharov
Mikhail Ivanovich Zharov (russian: Михаи́л Ива́нович Жа́ров; 27 October 1899 – 15 December 1981) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor and director. People's Artist of the USSR (1949) and Hero of Socialist Labour ...
*
Yuri Vasilchikov
*
Aleksandr Gromov
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
as Revolutionary
References
Bibliography
* Christie, Ian & Taylor, Richard. ''The Film Factory: Russian and Soviet Cinema in Documents 1896-1939''. Routledge, 2012.
External links
*
Films directed by Yakov Protazanov
Films based on works by Leonid Andreyev
Soviet drama films
Soviet silent feature films
1920s Russian-language films
Soviet black-and-white films
1928 drama films
1928 films
Silent drama films
{{1920s-USSR-film-stub