Rare insight into the early days of Soviet cinema. 'Encyclopaedic work. Most valuable materials' (Savine).

The recently proclaimed Soviet state saw the film industry as one of the most important tools for educating the masses in Communist ideology. However, the government had to first deal with challenges posed by an economy ravaged by WWI, revolution and a civil war. The film industry, as many others, needed to be rebuilt from scratch. In 1921 only one feature film, 'Hammer and sickle'. was produced in the country, and there were weeks when not a single cinema was open even in Moscow.

Transition to the New Economic Policy in 1921 helped to revive the suffering economy. The film industry received an immediate boost, which to a large extent was due to the Lenin's personal attention to the matter. In 1922 the Soviet Union produced ten feature films; by 1924 the number was already up to forty two.

The offered work reviews the progress made by Soviet cinema in the years 1923 – 1925, giving an overview of the major films produced in these years followed by biographies of film directors and actors. The text is richly illustrated with stills and portraits of protagonists. The book concludes with a brief description of the state of the film industry in other countries.

Scarce. WorldCat locates only five copies in public libraries: Stanford, John Hopkins, University of Illinois, Cambridge University and Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich.

First edition, landscape folio (21 x 29.3 cm). 104 pp., with multiple ill; original boards, photomontage illustration after E.A. Mukhina to upper board, covers slightly worn, otherwise a very good copy.