Road to Life
About Road to Life
In Moscow in December 1923, police round up homeless children from Zhigan's street gang and from others. Mustafa has already run from placements over and over. Sergeyev argues against a prison for minors and starts a labor commune where the boys work as carpenters and shoemakers and are not locked in. They do not turn honest at once. Zhigan's men try to wreck the railroad the commune is building and kill one of the youths.
Cast & crew
More about Road to Life
Nikolai Ekk directed. The screenplay is credited to Ekk, Aleksandr Stolper, and Regina Yanushkevich. Vasili Pronin photographed it. Yakov Stollyar wrote the music. Mezhrabpom-Film produced it. The Soviet release date is June 1, 1931, and a German opening is dated September 30, 1931. Much of it was shot at the Bolshevo labor commune, which was named for Genrikh Yagoda.
Themes
Background
The story is set in 1923, when Soviet cities were full of homeless children left by war and famine. The film reached screens in 1931, as the industry was switching to sound.
In film history
The first Soviet sound feature.
Making
Ekk shot at the real Bolshevo commune, in the village of Kolomenskoye, and on the grounds of the Annunciation Monastery in Sarapul. While Yagoda was commissar, the dedication brought the location certain advantages.
Audiences
A poll of viewers at the 1932 Venice festival named Ekk best director.
Look
Vasili Pronin shot the commune scenes at Bolshevo, the street-children sequences in Kolomenskoye, and the monastery grounds at Sarapul.
Music
Yakov Stollyar wrote the music.
Preservation
Prints survive. After 1937, passages that named the Bolshevo commune were removed from circulating copies.
Notes
- Nikolai Batalov plays Sergeyev. Yvan Kyrlya plays Mustafa. Mikhail Zharov plays Zhigan.
- Rina Zelyonaya and Georgiy Zhzhonov make their first film appearances.
- After Yagoda's arrest in April 1937, shots that identified the Bolshevo commune were cut. The film itself stayed in circulation.
- The Church of the Ascension at Kolomenskoye appears in the picture.
Awards
- Most Convincing Director, Venice International Film Festival, 1932, Nikolai Ekk
Scenes
- Police sweep the Moscow streets and catch a crowd of homeless children.
- Sergeyev puts the boys to work in an open commune instead of a prison.
- Zhigan's men hit the new railroad and one of the youths is killed.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (1931 Путевка в жизнь.webm)
