From a cultural point of view, the Russian Revolution of October
1917 was more than just an upheaval of the Czar and the beginning
of Marxism. The world had been forever changed by the upheaval,
and the new Soviet Government in 1917 was the suggestion that
all forms of expression to the public, such as the cinema, should
be under the guidance of the State. Lenin declared that "of
all the arts, the most important for Russia is, to my mind, that
of the cinema."
The cinema was controlled by Communists whose sole aim was the
spread of their faith, and they were out to show the world that
the old system had been decadent and things were being changed
for the better.
Beginning in the mid 1920's, Sergei Eisenstein, V. Pudovkin and
other popular directors of the new Soviet cinema system were glorifying
the Bolshevik Revolution by elaborately staged re-enactments of
the upheaval. They churned out numerous, serious, no-nonsense
films that followed the Communist Party line including "The
Battleship Potemkin," "The End Of St. Petersburg,"
"Mother," "Strike," and "Ten Days That
Shook The World."
Before Socialist Realism began to dictate what could be depicted,
the new Soviet filmmakers were given quite a bit of latitude,
and a few directors took advantage. Instead of following in the
footsteps of Eisenstein by glorifying the struggles of the masses,
one filmmaker, Abram Room, produced a film with only three principals.
"Bed and Sofa" (1927), starring Ludmilla Semyonova,
Alexei Bartalov and Vladimir Fogel was produced by Sovkino (Moscow)
and released March 15, 1927.
The film opens in a small, bleak one-bedroom apartment in Moscow
in the 1920's, consisting of a bed and sofa during a very severe
housing shortage. The film does not portray earth shaking events
but the plight of the threadbare, pinched and bleak daily life
under the new Soviet regime.
The film begins in a room, not a slum, but a very crowded room
where a couple are asleep in bed. A cat stirs them up. The husband,
a construction worker, rushes out to his job on a building high
above Moscow. The young wife is brooding and resentful, bored
with the constant, nagging succession of household duties, cooking
in cramped quarters, and attempting to organize things where there
is no place to put her clothes.
On a train coming into Moscow is another young man, a printer
seeking a place to live. After wandering around Moscow with all
his possessions in a bundle, he meets the construction worker
whom he had known.
"No room, but we have a sofa," the construction worker
says. The wife is resentful of the intrusion, and she reluctantly
accepts it as another instance of her husband's lack of concern
for her. There is now another occupant in the apartment that
was too small for the couple and their cat.
The printer, who is much more sensitive than the construction
worker, tries to make up for his intrusion by assisting her and
giving her gifts. Then, while the husband is away on a business
trip, the wife and the printer fall in love and have an affair.
After his initial outrage, the husband calms down, and the three
settle into a cozy, domesticated menage-a-trois until the wife
finds herself pregnant. When the two men are trying to decide
what to do, she announces that she has other ideas on the outcome
of her life.
The decision reached at the end of the film by the wife at the
center of the triangle represents the liberation of women in the
new Soviet society
The film is a very frank portrayal of sexual manners, and the
pitiful living conditions in Moscow are in sharp contrast to the
official picture of a state where everything was to be peaches
and cream. It was supposedly based on the life of poet Vladimir
Mayakovsky.
Rediscovered during the 1970's, the film has become regarded as
a great little masterpiece of the silent era. "Bed and Sofa"
was an unusually frank film for its period, and, aside from the
extraordinary fluidity of his camera in a confined set and the
natural performances of his cast, director Abram Room deals with
his subject in a casual matter-of-fact way, refreshingly free
of any sensationalism.
In March, 1928, the first All-Union Party Conference was held
in Moscow, and after the introductory speeches, the first delegate
to speak was a comrade from Siberia. He hoped that the present
film distribution in his Irkutsk area was not typical, for they
were sent nothing more appropriate on the anniversary of Lenin's
death than Buster Keaton's "Three Ages."
As for Soviet productions, he believed that the producers didn't
seem to think ahead to how these films will be received by non-city
audiences. When "Bed and Sofa" was shown in the country,
the peasants become outraged, spitting out, "Ah so that's
how they behave in the city" and "That's how Sovkino
promotes the bond between city and country."
Ironically, and tragically, in 1929 "Bed and Sofa" was
refused public exhibition in England, although it was shown privately
to the Film Society in London April 7, 1929.
Abram M. Room (1894-1976) was born in what is now Vilniuse,
Lithuania. After studying dentistry, he turned to journalism
in 1914, did amateur theater work, and in 1915-1917 was at the
Institute of Psycho-Neurology directing the Students Theater.
In 1923 he was invited by Veevolod M Eyerhold to join the Theater
Of The Revolution and became the director of the State Film School.
He was a pupil of Lev Kuleshov, taught and had his own studio.
In 1924 he entered films as an assistant director, then directed
two films and made several films of a Jewish Agricultural Projects
in Southern Russia.
He received notoriety with his "Bed and Sofa" and produced
the first Soviet sound film in 1930 using newsreel footage by
Esther Shub and Vertov. In 1932 his next film was stopped during
the filming. His next film, which was completed in 1934, was
banned because it dealt with the sensitive question of equality
in Soviet society. Although he continued making films, his career
as a teacher ceased. Room finished his career making films of
considerably less interest.
In 1996, "Bed and Sofa" was turned into a musical stage show by Polly Pen and Lawrence Klavan. It opened in an off-Broadway theater in January, 1996, and received very good reviews and a few awards.
Sources:
Movies For The Masses by Denise Youngblood
The Holt Foreign Film Guide by Ronald Bergan and
Robyn Karney
The Encyclopedia Of European Cinema by Ginette Vincendeau
The World Encyclopedia Of The Film by Smith and
Cawkwell
The Film Till Now by Paul Rotha.
copyright 2004 by John DeBartolo. All rights reserved.