The Steel Road

1929 Documentary 57 minutes Directed by Victor Turin

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About The Steel Road

Viktor Turin documents the building of the Turkestan–Siberia Railway, from Tashkent northeast through Almaty toward Novosibirsk. The film sets desert and sand against rails and machines, and Turkic riders, camels, and sheep against a steppe turned over to cotton. It treats the line as the development of Semirechye. Yefim Aron is the writer on Wikidata.

Cast & crew

More about The Steel Road

Yevgeny Slavinsky photographed it and Vissarion Shebalin composed the score, for a 57-minute 1929 Vostokkino documentary. John Grierson prepared the English version. The BFI issued it on DVD and Blu-ray in 2011 in The Soviet Influence: From Turksib to Night Mail, with a new score by Guy Bartell.

Themes

  • desert against rails
  • cotton on the steppe
  • a railway as a state project
  • Turksib
  • Tashkent
  • Almaty
  • Novosibirsk
  • Semirechye

Background

The line was built to tie Turkestan cotton country to Siberia. The film argues that case with construction footage.

Reviews

John Grierson prepared the English version of Turksib.

Look

Yevgeny Slavinsky shot the desert, the herds, and the track-laying.

Music

Vissarion Shebalin is the composer on Wikidata. The 2011 BFI edition uses a new score by Guy Bartell.

Notes

  • The English title Turksib is the name of the railway.
  • The catalog title is The Steel Road.
  • No on-screen cast is listed. It is a documentary.
  • Grierson's interest is recorded on the English Wikipedia, which also notes the 2011 BFI disc.

Scenes

  • Open sand is cut against ordered rails and moving machines.

Also available

  • Wikimedia Commons (Turksib (1929) by Viktor Alexandrovich Turin.webm)
  • BFI DVD/Blu-ray, The Soviet Influence: From Turksib to Night Mail (2011)