User Reviews

Even though this very, very old Russian film has quite a lot of intertitles for the time, the plot (such as it is) is still pretty difficult to follow if you're unfamiliar with the story, so it's worth familiarising yourself with the tale before watching the film. Much of the film comprises of thirty or so cossack types waving their arms about on a boat on the Volga or in a forest clearing to demonstrate firstly what a grand time they're having, and then how unhappy they are. It seems they are rebels whose leader has gone all soppy over some princess, so they hatch a diabolical plan to win back his leadership. It's all a little confusing, but it is redeemed somewhat by quite a bold and unexpected conclusion.

The long, rich history of Russian films with a plot began on October 1908 when producer Alexander Drankov's released his movie "Stenka Razin." Although there had been short "actualities" showing real life events on the screen before then, Drankov's movie contained a storyline, that of the 17th century Cossack leader who fought against Russia's nobility and tsarist bureaucrats. The film's plot was taken from a section of a popular 1883 poem on the rebellion and Razin's rejection of a Persian princess. Although there is not much to the plot and the film dwells too much on the rebels crowded onto a small boat, Drankov pioneered a new narrative onto the screen that Russian audiences never had seen before. "Stenka Razin" served as an informal template for future Russian movies where large masses of people would be within the picture frame performing collective activities (think of Sergio Eisenstein's 1925 "Battleship Potemkin.")

Drankov's eclectic career also had him produce the world's first movie ad. He came up with the idea of placing a snapshot from the movie "Stenka" onto postcards to hand out. Several years later he became the first to produce the first Russian crime films. He ended up in the United States where he ran his own photo company in San Francisco before dying in 1949.

This telling of the story of "Stenka Razin" is not bad for its era. It has a good amount of energy and a good setting along the Volga River. On the other hand, it is rather uneven and sometimes seems disorganized. While the main events of the story fit together, some details are unclear, and it seems as if there was some unrealized potential. It's also possible, though, that some portions of the original may now be missing.

The story line concerns Razin, the leader of a gang of outlaws, and his attentions to a captured princess. The action takes place partly on the river and partly in the nearby forest, with the scenes on the river coming off rather better. The movie's age does show in a number of ways, but overall it doesn't work too badly given its limitations.

Perhaps "Stenka Razin" is such a popular Russian story that audiences of the day could follow along with what is happening, but I found this early film pretty incomprehensible much of the time. The first several minutes consists of some rather static vignettes (folks in boats, folks in the woods cheering a lot, etc.)...followed towards the end with LOTS of explanatory info on the screen....though NONE of this stuff you actually see and the long, long note in Russian is translated into a brief line or two in English!. Now this style of silent isn't unprecidented...I've seen a few early films from various countries which are more like tableaus...showing a few scenes but not a complete story. It makes watching the film today a bit difficult and unfulfilling. Unless you are a film student or historian, this one is pretty skippable.