General Information

Author/Creator

Stuart, Charles Edward, director

Language

English.

Published

USA : National Film Preservation Foundation, 1928.

Physical Description

Digital film (87 mins.)

Digital ver. identifier

HU_OSA_10000843

Contents/Summary

Summary

One of the first moving pictures filmed in the Soviet Union by a foreigner, Soviet Russia Through the Eyes of an American was filmed by Charles Edward Stuart, an internationally recognized American mining engineer engaged by the Soviets under their first five-year plan. The film is a travelogue directed by Stuart and narrated by radio personality Norman Brokenshire. Filmed in cities and villages and from trains, river steamers, and bus caravans, the travelogue journeys southward from Moscow to Kharkov and Stalingrad, to the Crimea in the Black Sea, and, finally, eastward through the Caucasus to Tbilisi in Georgia. During the 1930s, the film was shown in commercial theaters in the United States and was used by Stuart in conjunction with lectures to university audiences throughout the country. In 1985, R. C. Raack, professor of history and cataloger of historical documentary films at the University of California at Hayward, completed an appraisal of the Stuart film. Believing that the footage was shot between 1926 and 1930, Professor Raack states, in part, "In the documentary film world the footage compiled by Mr. Stuart must be regarded as remarkable because it shows Moscow before the first five-year plan, lively, thriving, almost prosperous. We also have remarkable scenes of Kharkov, perhaps just before 1930, showing some of the remarkable achievements of Soviet architecture before the disasters of complete Stalinization. This city footage and more from Soviet Georgia are the most impressive parts of the material."

Subjects

Genre

Documentary films

Bibliographic Information

Holdings

Item Type	Current Location	Call Number	Status	Shelving Location	Public Note
Digital film	OSA Film Library	HU_OSA_10000843.mp4	Available		Access Copy, MP4 format