Plot synopsis

On leaving a church, an elderly bourgeois recruited three beggars and took them to her domain to have a hut demolished. She reads the Bible to them, a book with superb golden clasps. One of the workers, Michka, is fascinated by the preaching. A clasp breaks; he fixes it. When it comes to paying the vagrants, the woman divides the sum in half, believing that the trio did not work while listening to the sermon. An argument ensues. The companions leave. On the way, one of them, Senka, shows that he stole the clasps. Michka wants to take them back; a battle breaks out. Michka ends up repurchasing the objects and takes them to their owner who, as a thank you, resumes his reading while the beggar is starving.

commentaries

Women film pioneers: Aleksandra Khokhlova, Ana OLENINA, wfpp.columbia.edu, 2014

Selected in the following festivals or events :

- The Golden Age of Soviet Cinema : 1924-1930, kinoglaz.fr (France), 2023

- Festival international du film d'Amiens, Amiens (France), 2021

- Pionnières du cinéma soviétique à la Cinémathèque française, Paris (France), 2020

- 'Il Cinema Ritrovato' Festival, Bologna (Italy), 2020

- Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF), Moscow (Russia), 2004

Images

Critique (en russe) et images du film publiées sur Sovietskiï Ekran en 1929