Synopsis
Daring for its time - or any time - Bed And Sofa is the story of a love triangle between a woman and two men living together in a one-room basement apartment in 1927 Moscow. When Liuda becomes pregnant and no one knows which man is the father, she must determine her own future. With an involving plot, comic invention, pathos, naturalistic performances, and highly-charged use of space and objects, director Abram Room illuminates the lives of the characters but without offering a simplistic resolution. Instead he successfully uses their personal stories to probe complex issues of lingering patriarchy and female self-sufficiency in the new society. A sparkling print and excellent new music contribute fresh life and added meaning to an amazingly modern Russian film classic. The delightful comedy Chess Fever by Vsevolod Pudovkin and Nikolai Shpikovsky is included as a half-hour film bonus. It's a witty and ingenious satire on the chess craze which swept Moscow at the time of the International Tournament there. This edition of Bed And Sofa is digitally mastered at the visually correct speed from an excellent original print brought to the USA in the 1930s by film historian Jay Leyda. For the first time the film is presented with correct and full English intertitles. Bed And Sofa Year: 1927 Length: 87 minutes Director: Abram Room Starring: Nikolai Batalov, Liudmilla Semyonova, Vladimir Fogel, Leonid Lurenev, Maria Larotskaia Music: Compiled by Rodney Sauer and Susan hall and performed by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra Format: NTSC Chess Fever Year: 1925 Length: 28 minutes Directors: Vsevolod Pudovkin and Nikolai Shpikovsky Starring: Vladimir Fogel, Anna Zemtsova, Jose Raul Capablanca, Anatoli Ktorov, Ivan Koval-Samborsky, Yakov Protazanov, Yuri Raizman, Mikhail Zharov Music: Compiled and performed by Rodney Sauer Format: NTSC Produced for DVD by David Shepard From the Blackhawk Films Collection Presented by Flicker Alley