A Life for a Life
About A Life for a Life
The widowed millionaire Khromova (Olga Rakhmanova) has a daughter, Musya (Lidiya Koreneva), and an adopted daughter, Nata (Vera Kholodnaya). Both love Prince Vladimir Bartinsky (Vitold Polonsky), a spendthrift brought into the house by the merchant Zhurov (Ivane Perestiani). The prince loves Nata, learns her dowry is small, and marries Musya for the money. Nata marries Zhurov and keeps seeing Bartinsky. When the affair is close to becoming public, Khromova tells the prince to shoot himself. He refuses. She kills him.
Cast & crew
More about A Life for a Life
Yevgeni Bauer directed and wrote the adaptation of Georges Ohnet's novel Serge Panine. Boris Zavelev photographed. Khanzhonkov released it in 1916. Russian intertitles. 66 minutes; a circulating copy runs 1 hour, 8 minutes, and 9 seconds. Other titles are For Every Tear a Drop of Blood and Rival Sisters.
Themes
Making
Bauer cast Kholodnaya as the adopted daughter and Koreneva as the daughter who gets the prince, with Rakhmanova as the mother who ends it.
Look
Boris Zavelev photographed the Khromov house and the scenes between Nata and the prince.
Preservation
A print survives, with a copy on Wikimedia Commons running just over 68 minutes.
Notes
- Zhurov wants Nata before he introduces the prince. She will not commit, then marries Zhurov after the prince chooses Musya's dowry.
- The English plot summary stops before the killing. The Russian account ends with Khromova shooting Bartinsky after he will not shoot himself.
Scenes
- Bartinsky drops Nata when he learns the dowry and marries Musya.
- Nata, married to Zhurov, keeps the affair with the prince.
- Khromova tells him to shoot himself, he refuses, and she kills him.
Influenced by
- Serge Panine
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Жизнь за жизнь. (1916).webm)
