Soviet Montage(1924-1930)

(Screencap from 'The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the land of Bolsheviks)

Soviet Montage is actually an approach in cinema that relies heavily upon editing. 'montage' is the french word for 'assembly' or 'editing'. Minimizing the individual characters in the center of attention is one of the characteristics of Soviet Montage films. In here, single characters are being shown as members of different social classes and are representing a general type or class.

During the world war 1, there were a number of private production companies operating in Moscow and Petersburg. The companies did quite well making films for domestic marker with most imports cut off. These film companies resisted the movie made directly after the revolution to nationalize all private property. They just simply refused to supply films to theaters operating under the control of the government. The government's film section of the State Commission of Education put strict controls on the supplies of raw film stock and as a result, the producers started hoarding their stock and even the largest firms took all the equipment and fled to other countries.

But despite the shortages of equipment and difficult living conditions, some young filmmakers made their moves that would improve the development of a national cinema movement. We have Dziga Vertov and Lev Kuleshov that made their part to save what really has to be saved.

Dziga Vertov

Lev Kuleshov

The Soviet authorities encouraged all the filmmakers to create simple films that would be readily understandable to all audience. Stylistic experimentation or non-realistic subject matter was often criticized or censored.