Milestone Films

Early Russian Cinema, Volume 7: Evgeni Bauer

 

These three contrasting films by the magnificent and macabre Evgeni Bauer reveal something of the distinctive eroticism of his work and indeed of early Russian cinema as a whole. The two longer films share the common feature of a male victim, in marked contrast to the female victim of most melodrama; while the comedy The 1002nd Ruse celebrates a knowing female sexuality that would almost certainly not be found in any contemporary American equivalent (although it has much in common with the contemporary sex comedies of Lubitsch and DeMille).

A Child of the Big City traces the heroine Mon’ka’s evolution from a poor innocent seamstress to a monster of depravity and egotism. Her “rise” is paralleled by the fall of her idealistic admirer, Viktor, who finally commits suicide in face of her callous disregard. Film historian Miriam Hansen has noted this unusual variation on the familiar melodrama schema of the male aggressor and female victim: “Bauer’s contemporary urban and upper-class settings display male ruin and inadequacy as an effect of the real or imagined revenge of a powerful woman.”

Daydreams is regarded by many as Bauer’s surviving masterpiece. Film historian and archivist Paolo Cherchi Usai describes it as “a masterful balance between subject technique and narrative development. The tension in the plot (reminding one of Hitchcock’s Vertigo) reaches its climax in the extraordinary tracking shot during which the camera quite literally follows the main character along a deserted street, stops when he stops, then tracks back slowly, while he retraces his route. Necrophilia, mysticism and abstraction are the main ingredients of a tale with an astonishing and eerie finale.’’ [Silent Witnesses, ed. Tsivian et al, London/Pordenone: 1989]

A CHILD OF THE BIG CITY (Ditia bol’shogo goroda) Alternative title: The Girl From the Street (Devushka s ulitsy). Director/Art Director: Evgeni Bauer. Photography: Boris Zavelev. Production Compony: Khanzhonkov. Released March 5, 1914. Cast: Elena Smirnova (Monechka/Mary). Nina Kozlianinava (Mon’ka, the heroine, as a child). Mikhail Salarov (Viktor Kravtsov). Arsenii Bibikov (Kramskoi, his comrade). Leonid Iost (Kravisov’s lackey). Lidiia Tridenskaia (Masha, a laundress). Emma Bauer (A dancer).

THE 1002ND RUSE (Tysiacha vioraio khitrost’)Director/Screenplay: Evgeni Bauer. Based on the play 1001 khitrost’ (The Thousand and First Ruse) by Vladimir Azov. Production Company: Khanzhonkov. Released May 29, 1915. Cast: Lina Bauer (The cunning wife). S. Rassatov (Her husband). Sergei Kvasnitskii (Her lover).

DAYDREAMS (Grezy). Alternative title: Deceived Dreams (Obmanutye mechty). Director: Evgeni Bauer. Screenplay: M. Bosov & Valentin Turkin. Based on the novel Bruges la Morte by Georges Rodenbach. Photography: Boris Zavelev. Production Company: Khanzhonkov. Released October 10, 1915. Cast: Aleksandr Vyrubov (Sergei Nikolaevich Nedelin). N. Chernobaeva (His wife and Tina Viarskaia, an actress). Viktor Arens (Sol’skii, an artist).

This DVD is also available for Institutional Purchase, which includes public performance rights and a 3-year streaming license. Please click on the “Format” button and select “DVD Institutional Rate.”

 An Explanation of Home, Classroom, and Public Performance Rights

Individuals and non-profit institutions purchasing DVDs, DVD-Rs, or Blu-rays — or streaming — at published home-use sale and rental prices are authorized to use the film only for private home screenings and legitimate classroom showings (a regularly scheduled class with an instructor present), per the United States Copyright Law. You can learn more about the distinction between classroom and public performance screenings here.

 

Through our distribution partner, Kino Lorber, Milestone provides a variety of licensing to suit all needs. Our standard institutional licensing packages are designed to provide colleges, universities and qualified non-profits with the best value for multiple uses, and our one-time community screening licenses allow any organization to exhibit high-quality films for a reasonable fee. Please note that all licensing carries restrictions on audience numbers and/or geographic range.

STANDARD INSTITUTIONAL LICENSING

  • CLASSROOM RIGHTS allow unlimited use in face-to-face classroom situations for the life of the media, restricted to a single campus or location. Please note that this license doesn't include public screenings or digital transmission of any kind.
  • PUBLIC PERFORMANCE RIGHTS (PPR) allow educational and nonprofit groups to exhibit our films to groups of 100 or fewer individuals where admission is not charged. The term of the public performance license is for the life of the DVD. However, if you intend to charge admission, expect an audience over 100, or publicly advertise the screening, then we ask that you contact us regarding an exhibition fee. Films purchased without Public Performance Rights are restricted for individual viewing or face-to-face teaching in the classroom only.
  • DIGITAL SITE LICENSES (DSL) allow colleges, universities and nonprofits to locally host and stream to their community on a closed, password-protected system for the life of the digital file.
  • K-12 PPR comes with limited performance rights so films can be shown in classrooms, at PTA meetings, during after school programs, and transmitted on a closed-circuit system within a K-12 school building or on a single campus. 

For all educational licenses and screenings, please Estelle Grosso, Director of Educational and Non-Theatrical Sales & Distribution at Kino Lorber (Milestone’s distribution partner) at: egrosso@kinolorber.com

The purchase of DVDs, DVD-Rs, and Blu-rays at the institutional rate by anyone outside of a North American non-profit educational institution does not grant rights for public performance or streaming.

Any continuous or loop screenings as part of a museum exhibition must also be licensed separately. Inquiries must be negotiated directly by emailing egrosso@kinolorber.com

Information for Exhibitors Screening DCPs and Film Prints

All bookings must be made by email correspondence with George Schmalz, Director of Theatrical Sales at Kino Lorber (Milestone’s distribution partner) at: gschmalz@kinolorber.com to negotiate terms and insure a screening copy is available. An order is only finalized when Kino Lorber sends written confirmation.

DCPs are shipped insured for their cost via Federal Express or UPS and must be returned the same way or by an equivalent method. Shipping and handling charges for outgoing DCPs appear on your invoice. The immediate return or transshipment (as directed) of all DCPs is your responsibility.

DCPs should be returned to:

Milestone Film & Video
38 George Street
Harrington Park, New Jersey 07640-0128
United States 

35mm and 16mm prints are shipped insured for their cost via Federal Express or UPS and must be returned the same way or by an equivalent method. Please do not ship prints back via US Mail. Exhibitor pays to ship both ways. Shipping and handling charges for outgoing prints appear on your invoice. The immediate return of all prints is your responsibility.

Prints should be returned insured for $1,000 to:

Iron Mountain
Attn: Milestone Account
235 Main Street
Little Falls, NJ 07424
201.944.3700

For public screenings, advertising materials can be requested by contacting jhertzberg@kinolorber.com

Milestone is the exclusive licensor for all the titles in this catalog, all of which are available from Milestone’s distribution partner Kino Lorber. in their complete versions.

 

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