The New Babylon
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''The New Babylon'' (russian: Новый Вавилон, Novyy Vavilon alt. title: russian: Штурм неба, Shturm neba) is a 1929 silent
historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
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 ...
written and directed by
Grigori Kozintsev Grigori Mikhailovich Kozintsev (russian: link=no, Григорий Михайлович Козинцев; 11 May 1973) was a Soviet theatre and film director, screenwriter and pedagogue. He was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1964. In 1965 ...
and
Leonid Trauberg Leonid Zakharovich Trauberg (russian: Леонид Захарович Трауберг, 17 January 1902 – 14 November 1990) was a Ukrainian Soviet film director and screenwriter. He directed 17 films between 1924 and 1961 and was awarded the S ...
. The film deals with the 1871
Paris Commune The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended ...
and the events leading to it, and follows the encounter and tragic fate of two lovers separated by the barricades of the Commune. Composer
Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich), First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throug ...
wrote his first film score for this movie. In the fifth reel of the score he quotes the revolutionary anthem, "
La Marseillaise "La Marseillaise" is the national anthem of France. The song was written in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg after the declaration of war by France against Austria, and was originally titled "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du R ...
" (representing the Commune), juxtaposed contrapuntally with the famous " Can-can" from Offenbach's ''
Orpheus in the Underworld ''Orpheus in the Underworld'' and ''Orpheus in Hell'' are English names for (), a comic opera with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy. It was first performed as a two-act " opéra bouffon" at the Thé ...
''. Footage from ''The New Babylon'' was included in
Guy Debord Guy-Ernest Debord (; ; 28 December 1931 – 30 November 1994) was a French Marxist theorist, philosopher, filmmaker, critic of work, member of the Letterist International, founder of a Letterist faction, and founding member of the Situationis ...
's feature film ''
The Society of the Spectacle ''The Society of the Spectacle'' (french: La société du spectacle) is a 1967 work of philosophy and Marxist critical theory by Guy Debord, in which the author develops and presents the concept of the Spectacle. The book is considered a seminal ...
'' (1973). Kozintsev and Trauberg found some of their inspiration in Karl Marx's ''The Civil War in France'' and ''The Class Struggle in France, 1848-50''.


Background

As one of the directors, Leonid Trauberg, later admitted, the film as it stands is a little difficult to follow. Its subtitle ''Assault on the Heavens: Episodes from the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune, 1870-71'' makes it fairly obvious that it is a principally a political film, and not a love story. Some background knowledge of the
Paris Commune The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended ...
is needed to understand what's going on around the two lovers. As Fiona Ford remarks, "Both ''New Babylon'' and Eisenstein's ''
October October is the tenth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and the sixth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. The eighth month in the old calendar of Romulus , October retained its name (from Latin and Greek ''ôct ...
'' are episodic in structure and require an intimate knowledge of their relevant historical periods (the Paris Commune of 1871 in the case of New Babylon) to better appreciate the directors' intentions and often simply to follow the
diegesis Diegesis (; from the Ancient Greek, Greek from , "to narrate") is a style of fictional, fiction storytelling that presents an interior view of a world in which: # Details about the world itself and the experiences of its characters are reveale ...
." After the disastrous Franco-Prussian war of 1870, the victorious Prussian forces briefly surrounded Paris, cutting it off from the rest of the country, while a civil war was waged between the right-wing bourgeois-backed government backed by the tattered remains of the defeated
French army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed For ...
(caps with a regimental number on a light stripe), and the left-wing workers and their
National Guard National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. Nat ...
(dark caps). One of the scenes in the film features the old bronze cannons of the National Guard, which had been paid for by public subscription. The defeated nationalist government fled in disarray to the old royal
Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 19 ...
some fifteen miles outside Paris. The workers took over large areas of central Paris and organised a Commune under the red flag, the world's first attempt at communist government.


Synopsis

The film is set in the spring of 1871 during the time of the
Paris Commune The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended ...
, immediately after the end of the Franco-Prussian War. Louise is employed as a salesperson in a wholesale store in Paris named "The New Babylon". She is involved in the Commune, against which Jean, a young man from the countryside with no political affiliations, has to fight as a soldier in the army controlled by the French government. Louise and Jean are in love with each other although they are on opposing sides, but their love has no place in a time of political turmoil. At the end of the film, Jean is ordered to dig a grave for Louise, who has been sentenced to death by the court.


Cast

*Arnold Arnold - deputy * Sergei Gerasimov - journalist Loutro *David Gutman - owner of the shop "New Babylon" *
Oleg Zhakov Oleg Petrovich Zhakov (russian: Олег Петрович Жаков; 1 April 1905 in Sarapul, Vyatka Governorate – 4 May 1988 in Pyatigorsk, Stavropol Krai) was a Soviet and Russian film actor. He performed in more than sixty films between ...
- member of the
Paris Commune The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended ...
*
Yanina Zhejmo Yanina Boleslavovna Zhejmo (russian: Янина Болеславовна Жеймо; pl, Janina Bolesławowna Żejmo; 29 May 1909 – 29 December 1987) was a Soviet actress of Polish origin. Her father was Polish and her mother was Russian. She ...
- milliner Teresa *
Andrei Kostrichkin Andrei Aleksandrovich Kostrichkin (russian: Андрей Александрович Костричкин; 24 August 1901 – 28 February 1973) was a Soviet actor. He appeared in more than 50 films between 1925 and 1971. Honored Artist of the RSF ...
- bailiff * Elena Kuzmina - saleswoman Louise *
Sofiya Magarill Sofiya Zinovevna Magarill (Russian - Со́фья Зино́вьевна Магари́лл; (5 April 1900 – 15 October 1943, Alma-Ata) was a Soviet film actress. Life In 1925 she graduated from the A. Morozov theatre studio, after studying ...
- actress *
Tamara Makarova Tamara Fyodorovna Makarova (russian: Тама́ра Фёдоровна Мака́рова; 13 August 1907 – 19 January 1997) was a Soviet and Russian film actress and pedagogue. People's Artist of the USSR (1950) and Hero of Socialist La ...
- cancan dancer *
Vsevolod Pudovkin Vsevolod Illarionovich Pudovkin ( rus, Всеволод Илларионович Пудовкин, p=ˈfsʲevələt ɪlərʲɪˈonəvʲɪtɕ pʊˈdofkʲɪn; 16 February 1893 – 30 June 1953) was a Russian and Soviet film director, screenwriter ...
- bailiff *Lyudmila Semyonova - cancan dancer *
Pyotr Sobolevsky Pyotr Stanislavovich Sobolevsky (russian: Пётр Станиславович Соболевский; 22 May 1904 – 26 June 1977) was a Soviet actor. He appeared in more than 50 films between 1926 and 1973. Biography Sobolevsky was born on 22 ...
- soldier Jean *Eugene Chervyakov - soldier of the national guard


Production

''The New Babylon'' was staged with members of the "Factory of the Eccentric Actor" (FEKS) - an avant-garde artists' association founded by Kozintsev and Trauberg in 1922 that sought to create new paths in the performing arts. FEKS first began as a theater group, but in the following years, many of its members shaped the Russian-Soviet film history when working as actors, outfitters, and cinematographers. They wanted to get away from the naturalism and empathy aesthetics of bourgeois art, and saw Eccentrism (as laid out in Trauberg's ''Eccentric Manifesto'') With downloadable PDF. as a new direction within the avant-garde that sought to find a place between
Futurism Futurism ( it, Futurismo, link=no) was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such ...
,
Surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...
and
Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich), Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 192 ...
ist
Constructivism Constructivism may refer to: Art and architecture * Constructivism (art), an early 20th-century artistic movement that extols art as a practice for social purposes * Constructivist architecture, an architectural movement in Russia in the 1920s a ...
. FEKS were influenced by street art and their cinematic preference was D. W. Griffith and
Chaplin Chaplin may refer to: People * Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977), English comedy film actor and director * Chaplin (name), other people named Chaplin Films * '' Unknown Chaplin'' (1983) * ''Chaplin'' (film) (1992) * ''Chaplin'' (2011 film), Ben ...
, not German expressionistic cinema of the early 1920s. "Yesterday: salons, obeisances, barons. Today: yells of newsboys, scandals, policeman's truncheon, noise, scream, stomping, running," declared Kosintsev and Trauberg in their ''Manifesto of the Eccentric Actor''. Like Kosintsev and Trauberg, twenty-two year old
Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich), First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throug ...
was a member of the film group of "FEKS", dedicated to the abolition of the borders between theater, film, circus, music hall and opera. In his musical score he used various musical forms: dance and operetta melodies as well as French folk music and revolutionary songs: "
Ça ira "" (; French: "it'll be fine") is an emblematic song of the French Revolution, first heard in May 1790. It underwent several changes in wording, all of which used the title words as part of the refrain. Original version The author of the orig ...
", " La Carmagnole" and "
La Marseillaise "La Marseillaise" is the national anthem of France. The song was written in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg after the declaration of war by France against Austria, and was originally titled "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du R ...
"; it served as a leitmotif for the reactionary bourgeoisie and was used in various forms, such as can-can, waltz or gallop. The score, which bears the Opus number 18, was lost shortly after the premiere, and was only discovered again shortly after Shostakovitch's death in 1975. The Russian premiere of ''The New Babylon'' took place on 18 March 1929 in
Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. The score was of unprecedented complexity, and closely followed the fast cross-cuts of the film. Shostakovich himself performed the original solo piano score for two industry preview screenings. But the
Sovkino Goskino USSR (russian: link=Yes, Госкино СССР) is the abbreviated name for the USSR State Committee for Cinematography (Государственный комитет по кинематографии СССР) in the Soviet Union. It w ...
censors ordered over 20% of the film to be removed, and attempts to re-edit the complex orchestral version of the score proved disastrous, with orchestras struggling to perform it. A copy of the piano score, originally intended for smaller cinemas, was rediscovered, and had its first live public performance on 25 March 2017 at the
Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhi ...
in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
.


References


Bibliography

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External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:New Babylon, The 1929 films Soviet black-and-white films Soviet silent feature films Films directed by Grigori Kozintsev Films directed by Leonid Trauberg Films scored by Dmitri Shostakovich Films about the Paris Commune Soviet historical drama films 1920s historical drama films 1929 drama films Silent drama films 1920s Russian-language films