The New Land
About The New Land
In January 1930 Semyon Davydov, a former sailor sent from a Leningrad factory as a twenty-five-thousander, arrives in the Don village of Gremyachy Log to start a collective farm. He works with party-cell secretary Makar Nagulnov and village-council chairman Andrei Razmyotnov. Poor peasants sign up, and richer households are named for dekulakization. Those households refuse, and by the end of February the lists stop growing. Private meetings start plotting against the farm. Under pressure from the center, Davydov is elected chairman and Ostronov is made supply manager. The village plows by hand and harrows with oxen. Tractors arrive, the machines grandfather Shchukar had talked about, and go to work in the fields.
Cast & crew
More about The New Land
Yuli Raizman directed this Mosfilm adaptation of the first part of Mikhail Sholokhov's novel. Sergei Yermolinsky wrote the screenplay. Russian sources date the production to 1939 and the premiere to 5 May 1940. The Russian title is Podnyataya tselina. The catalog title is The New Land.
Themes
Background
The story opens in January 1930, in the first winter of mass collectivization on the Don.
Look
Leonid Kosmatov was the cinematographer.
Music
Georgy Sviridov wrote the score. The English plot summary places his music under the arrival of the tractors.
Notes
- Boris Dobronravov plays Davydov. Mikhail Bolduman plays Nagulnov. Vladimir Dorofeyev plays grandfather Shchukar.
- Gavriil Belov plays Ostrovnov. Sergei Blinnikov plays Bannik. Aleksandr Khokhlov plays Polovtsev.
- The English plot summary spells the supply manager Ostronov; the English cast list spells Belov's role Ostrovnov.
- It is black and white.
Scenes
- At the activists' meeting, poor peasants enroll and name wealthier farmers for dekulakization.
- Enrollment stops by the end of February while secret meetings organize against the farm.
- Tractors come into the fields grandfather Shchukar had only talked about.
Influenced by
- Mikhail Sholokhov's novel Virgin Soil Upturned
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (1939. Поднятая целина.webm)
