The Peasants’ Lot (1912) movie

A melodramatic story of young Russians in love. This movie once again illustrates the superior artistry and emotional power of Russian film in the pre-revolutionary period.

Young Petr (Ivan Mosjoukhine, who we’ve seen in “Christmas Eve” and “House in Kolomna”) is in love with Masha (Aleksandra Goncharova, from “16th Century Russian Wedding” and “The Brigand Brothers”). They make time together in a haystack, to the approval of his father, and convince her father that they should be wed. While they are planning, a fire destroys the house of Masha’s family, and they sink into poverty as they are forced to sell off their most important possessions, including the cow that brought in most of the family income. Masha goes to the city in search of labor, as many young peasant people did in Russia during the Czarist period. Just as with an American film in which a healthy, honest young woman from the farm seeks her fortune in the city, Masha soon falls into a dangerous and corrupting situation. She becomes a serving-girl to a wealthy man with an automobile and ulterior motives. Back on the farm, her father becomes ill and the family dispatches a letter asking her to send money quickly. She gets it the only way she can see how – by asking the master for it and doing what he asks in return. She delivers the money, and confesses how she got it, and she and her father commiserate over their unfortunate lot. Petr is now married, and Masha turns to another suitor, but they seem to be mooning over one another as they work together in the fields once more.

The Peasants’ Lot (1912) movie

Genre: Drama
Production Co.: Aleksandr Khanzhonkov Studios

Directed by Arseny Bibikov
Script by Arseny Bibikov
Cinematografy by of Louis Forestye
Produced by Aleksandr Khanzhonkov

Cast:
Aleksandra Goncharova, Ivan Mozzhukhin, Pyotr Chardynin, Arseny Bibikov, Lidiya Tridenskaya, Andrey Gromov

Видео The Peasants’ Lot (1912) movie канала All soviet movies on RVISION