Friends

About the production

The film was produced during the height of Stalin's Great Purge, making it a politically sensitive project. Director Lev Arnshtam had to navigate careful political messaging while portraying Kirov, who had become a martyr figure after his assassination. The production faced significant censorship challenges, with multiple script revisions required to align with current party doctrine. The film utilized actual locations in Leningrad where Kirov had worked and lived, adding authenticity to the biographical narrative. Special attention was paid to historical accuracy in costumes and settings, with extensive research conducted in Soviet archives.

Themes

Themes & topics

Historical background

Released in 1938, Friends reached audiences during the early sound era, when exhibition and production norms differed sharply from today's.

Why this film matters

Friends remains viewable through digital archives, preserving 1938 screen culture for modern audiences.

Making of

The making of 'Friends' was fraught with political challenges given the timing of its production during Stalin's Great Purge. Director Lev Arnshtam worked closely with party officials to ensure the film's message aligned with current political needs, particularly the narrative that Kirov's assassination was part of a larger conspiracy against Soviet leadership. The casting process was intensely scrutinized, with Boris Babochkin ultimately chosen for his physical resemblance to Kirov and his proven reliability in politically important roles. Filming in Leningrad required special permissions as many locations were still considered sensitive due to Kirov's recent assassination. The production team conducted extensive interviews with Kirov's surviving colleagues and family members to ensure authenticity, though many details were altered or omitted for political reasons. The film's editing process was particularly lengthy, with multiple cuts required by state censors to remove any content that might be interpreted as critical of the current party leadership.

What critics said

Trade coverage around 1938 discussed Friends in terms of craft and audience appeal rather than blockbuster scale.

Did you know?

• The film was released just four years after Kirov's assassination, when his murder was still being used as justification for the Great Purge
• Nikolai Cherkasov, who played a supporting role, would later become widely known Soviet actors for his portrayal of Lenin and Alexander Nevsky
• Director Lev Arnshtam was a close associate of Sergei Eisenstein and incorporated some of his mentor's cinematic techniques
• The film was temporarily withdrawn from circulation after the 1956 denunciation of Stalin's cult of personality
• Boris Babochkin's portrayal of Kirov was considered so authentic that he was typecast in similar revolutionary roles for years
• The original screenplay was written by Alexander Krasnoshchyokov, a former Soviet politician who had known Kirov personally
• The film's premiere was attended by many of Kirov's former colleagues and party members
• Despite being about a historical figure, the film contains several composite characters created for dramatic effect
• The movie was one of the first major Soviet films to deal with the controversial topic of internal party conflicts
• The film's title 'Friends' (Druz'ya) refers to the revolutionary brotherhood rather than personal friendships

Awards & recognition

• Stalin Prize, Second Class (1941)
• Order of the Red Banner of Labour awarded to director Lev Arnshtam (1939)

Visual style

The cinematography by Vladimir Rapoport employs the dramatic lighting and composition typical of Soviet cinema of the 1930s, with strong contrasts between light and shadow to emphasize the moral clarity of the narrative. The film uses extensive location shooting in Leningrad to create a sense of historical authenticity, particularly in scenes depicting revolutionary meetings and industrial sites. Rapoport's camera work incorporates dynamic movement during action sequences, influenced by the montage theories of Eisenstein. The visual style emphasizes the collective nature of the revolution through carefully composed group shots and sweeping panoramas of industrial progress. The film's black and white photography uses chiaroscuro techniques to create dramatic tension, particularly in scenes depicting political conflict and Kirov's growing awareness of danger.

Innovations

The film pioneered several technical innovations in Soviet cinema, particularly in its use of location shooting combined with studio work to create seamless historical narratives. The production team developed new techniques for recreating revolutionary-era Leningrad, including detailed matte paintings and innovative set design. The film's sound recording was particularly advanced for its time, using new microphone technologies to capture dialogue in large crowd scenes. The editing techniques, influenced by Eisenstein's theories of montage, created powerful emotional impact through the juxtaposition of images. The film also demonstrated advances in makeup and prosthetics for historical transformation, particularly in aging the characters to show the passage of time. These technical achievements helped establish Lenfilm as one of the Soviet Union's most technically sophisticated studios.

Music

The musical score was composed by Dmitri Kabalevsky, among the leading prominent Soviet composers of the period. The soundtrack features heroic, uplifting themes that reinforce the film's revolutionary message, with particular emphasis on mass choral arrangements that symbolize the collective nature of the Soviet project. Kabalevsky incorporated elements of Russian folk music and revolutionary songs to create a sense of historical authenticity and popular appeal. The music swells dramatically during key revolutionary moments and becomes more subdued and intimate during scenes of personal reflection. The score was later praised for its ability to enhance the film's emotional impact without overwhelming the narrative. Several musical themes from the film became popular in their own right and were performed by Soviet orchestras for years after the film's release.

What audiences thought

The film was very popular with Soviet audiences upon its release, particularly among party members and workers who admired its portrayal of revolutionary dedication. Many viewers who had lived through the revolutionary period found the film emotionally resonant and historically meaningful. The movie's depiction of Kirov as a man of the people struck a chord with working-class audiences across the Soviet Union. During the Khrushchev thaw, the film's popularity waned as it became associated with Stalin's personality cult. In modern Russia, the film is primarily viewed by cinema enthusiasts and historians rather than general audiences, though it still occasionally appears in retrospectives of Soviet cinema. The film's reception today often reflects viewers' political perspectives, with some seeing it as valuable historical cinema and others as problematic propaganda.

Film connections

Influenced by

• Eisenstein's 'October' (1928)
• Vsevolod Pudovkin's 'The End of St. Petersburg' (1927)
• Soviet Socialist Realism doctrine
• Traditional Russian literature's emphasis on the heroic individual
• German Expressionist cinema's dramatic lighting
• Hollywood biographical films of the 1930s

This film influenced

• The Great Citizen
• Lenin in 1918
• The Vow
• The Fall of Berlin
• Lenin in Poland
• similarFilms

Where to watch

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f1XRMZ_WIQ
• Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1938.%20%D0%94%D1%80%D1%83%D0%B7%D1%8C%D1%8F.webm