Great Citizen
About Great Citizen
The two-part film follows Shakhov, a fictional stand-in for Sergei Kirov, played by Nikolay Bogolyubov. In the 1925 and 1934 sections he fights a bloc led by Kartashov, played by Ivan Bersenev. He exposes sabotage, removes the factory director Avdeev, and puts Nadya Kolesnikova, played by Zoya Fyodorova, in the job. Maksim, played by Boris Chirkov, brings him Central Committee backing. A gunman, Briantsev, played by Pyotr Kirillov, shoots Shakhov in a cultural center.
Cast & crew
More about Great Citizen
Fridrikh Ermler directed. Lenfilm released the parts on February 13, 1938, and November 27, 1939. Together they run 252 minutes. Stalin took a hand in the screenplay. Four people associated with the production were arrested. The press then attacked the studio leadership. The Russian title is Великий гражданин.
Themes
Background
Kirov was killed in Leningrad in December 1934. This film, finished in two parts across 1938 and 1939, retells that killing under another name and ties it to the opposition trials.
Making
Ermler shot it at Lenfilm while the purges were going on. Stalin's intervention in the script and the arrests of four associates are part of the production record Wikipedia gives.
Notes
- Shakhov is the name used instead of Kirov.
- The first part is set in 1925 and the second in 1934.
- Kartashov stands for the Trotskyist-Zinovievite opposition the film is built to condemn.
- Chirkov, who plays Maksim, was already the lead of the Maxim trilogy.
- The assassination is in a cultural center, not on a street.
- The picture was meant as screen support for the purges then underway.
Scenes
- Shakhov has Avdeev removed and Kolesnikova put in charge of the factory.
- Briantsev shoots Shakhov in the cultural center.
