Dziga Vertov: The Man with the Movie Camera and Other Newly-Restored Works

Dziga Vertov was the revolutionary documentarian of Soviet filmmaking in the silent era, a filmmaker and film theorist who, like Sergei Eisenstein, put his ideas of filmmaking as a political act into practice in his work. This Blu-ray release collects four of his greatest feature films, all newly remastered and digitally restored. The Man with the Movie Camera (1929) is Vertov's masterpiece: part documentary, part film essay, part cinematic gymnastics, the film ostensibly captures a day in the life of a big city, and it remains a landmark of Soviet silent cinema. Previously available only in incomplete or otherwise compromised editions, this definitive version is mastered from a near-complete 35mm nitrate print, with missing footage reconstructed from alternate sources, backed by a superb score from the Alloy Orchestra. Kino-Eye (1924) is a feature-length version of the newsreels Vertov produced to spread the message of socialism and collectivism, displaying his early experiments in political filmmaking—mixing slice-of-life observations (often captured with a hidden camera) with documentary studies and sophisticated editing patterns. Vertov made his sound film debut with Enthusiasm: The Symphony of the Donbass (1931), a celebration of the Soviet Five Year Plan, and he here treats sound in much the same way he treats images: as pieces to be manipulated, cut, and mixed to set a scene or make a point. Three Songs About Lenin (1934), Vertov's tribute to the Soviet leader who died in 1924, serves up a cinematic symphony in three movements, celebrating the triumph of socialism and the unity of industry and art. Extras include Vertov's 1925 newsreel Kino-Pravda #21, and a booklet. Highly recommended. (S. Axmaker)