Underplayed Gems

The Shephard and the Czar (1935)

The Shephard and the Czar poster
Original title
Пастух и царь
Directed by
Aleksandr Ledshchev
Genre
drama film
Country
Soviet Union
Runtime
1h 30m
Rating
9.0 of 10 from 1 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

This is a Soviet black-and-white drama from 1935 that blends fiction with documentary elements. It was originally planned as a silent film but was adapted to include sound during production. The director used distinctive stylistic techniques that were ahead of their time.

stylizedexperimentaltransitionalatmosphericblack-and-whitesound-on-filmdocumentary-stylenostalgicearnest

What happens

«Пастух и царь» — советский чёрно-белый художественно-документальный фильм, снятый в 1932—1933 годах режиссёром Александром Ледащевым на студии «Межрабпомфильм». «Пастух и царь» задуман был как немой фильм. Но по ходу работы пришлось перестраиваться применительно к появившемуся тогда звуку. Поэтому сегодня лента воспринимается скорее как озвученная, нежели как звуковая. На стыке двух этапов развития кинематографа Александру Ледащеву удалось найти своеобразные стилистические приёмы, в чём-то даже предвосхитившие многие режиссёрские находки последующих лет. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.