The project, significant in the era of the USSR, owes its appearance to the specific creative politicized competition of the Soviet film studios Lenfilm and Mosfilm. The fact is, on the eve of February 1936, a competition for filming a cinema tape for the anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution started. The process was personally sponsored by Stalin, and the leading filmmakers of that era were included in the committee. Until that time, the only on-screen recreation of the image of the leader of the proletariat was Eisenstein's work entitled "October." In the era of sound cinema, the incarnation of the great theorist of Marxism was imperative.
Beginning of the filming process
The script of the film "Lenin in October" (1937) returned for revision several times, no one wanted to take risks and take responsibility. The production process began in the spring, but when the project did not receive significant progress over the summer, the situation took a catastrophic turn. Only then did the hardware mechanisms spin faster, the director of Lenin in October Mikhail Romm was given a full carte blanche. The director, like Sergei Eisenstein, who created the mythical episode with the assault on Zimnyi, which was repeatedly perceived as a chronicle, could not escape the scenes demonstrating the preparation of the armed uprising and the “last and decisive battle” of the revolutionary masses.
The best screen incarnation
The main role of the painting "Lenin in October" was approved by Boris Schukin, who managed to create an unforgettable screen image that was liked by the audience and strict censors. The talented, charmingly burry, energetic, attentive and lively Lenin met the expectations of the Bolsheviks. True, there is a version according to which Lenin's swiftness is due to the peculiarities of filming the chronicle. In accelerated projection, Ulyanov is really very energetic, even fussy and a little even eccentric. It is these properties that a genius performer reflected in his skill. The version of Boris Schukin became a reference for the acting embodiment of the role of leader. He was imitated, although he repeatedly appealed and challenged realism.
In the first version of the film "Lenin in October", Stalin also appears, played by Semyon Goldshtab. His character is different from the title one, the honorary ally is held more sedately, as befits a boss.
Canonical image
Despite the rigorous ideologization and propaganda of what was happening on the screen in strict accordance with the party’s instructions, the interpretation of the image of the Russian revolutionary by script writer Alexei Kapler, production director Mikhail Romm, and first and foremost, the outstanding performer of the Vakhtang school Boris Schukin, is not just active and laid-back but also possessing a bit of adventurism, a predisposition to the game, dressing up and mystification, albeit for conspiratorial purposes. It is difficult to name a more interesting cinematic manifestation of Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin) than in the movie "Lenin in October".
Production diversions
The filming process of the movie "Lenin in October" was accompanied by ongoing wrecking. Foes intentionally smashed expensive foreign optics. Once an unknown man cut the lighting cable, the creators had to cancel the entire shooting shift. Someone regularly stole the already shot material, which was strictly forbidden to take out of the editing studio. On one of the final days, pests filed a rack of lighting equipment, under which director Mikhail Romm and lead actor Boris Schukin regularly rested. Fortunately, no one was hurt, only the on-duty illuminator escaped with scratches and slight bruises. As a result of the investigation of acts of sabotage, the perpetrators were not found.