Stachka (1925)

Director:

Sergei M. Eisenstein

Writers:

Grigori Aleksandrov (writer)
Sergei M. Eisenstein (writer)

Release Date:

28 April 1925 (Soviet Union)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

In Russia's factory region during Czarist rule, there's restlessness and strike planning among workers; management brings in spies and external agents...

Plot Keywords:

Factory | Cult Director | Water | Public Domain | Experimental Film

Cast

Maksim Shtraukh	...	Police Spy
Grigori Aleksandrov	...	Factory Foreman
Mikhail Gomorov	...	Worker
I. Ivanov	...	Chief of Police
Ivan Klyukvin	...	Revolutionary
Aleksandr Antonov	...	Member of Strike Committee
Yudif Glizer	...	Queen of Thieves
Anatoli Kuznetsov
Vera Yanukova
Vladimir Uralsky		(as V. Uralsky)
M. Mamin
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Boris Yurtsev	...	King of Thieves

Also Known As:

Стачка (Soviet Union: Russian title)
Gapitsva (Soviet Union: Georgian title)
Strike
La grève (Belgium: French title) (Canada: French title) [fr]
La huelga (Argentina) (Spain) [es]
A Greve (Portugal) [pt]
Grev (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
I apergia (Greece) [el]
Lakko (Finland) [fi]
Sciopero (Italy) [it]
Strajk (Poland) [pl]
Streik (Germany) [de]
Strejke (Denmark) [da]
Strejken (Sweden) [sv]

Runtime:

82 min | Spain:81 min | UK:95 min | Spain:94 min (DVD special edition)

Country:

Soviet Union

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Portugal:M/12 | Argentina:13 | Spain:18

Company:

Goskino

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Bronenosets Potyomkin (1925)

Pre-Potemkin

It takes place during the 1912 Factory Strike in Russia. This was the brilliant debut of Sergei Eisenstein which introduced the idea of montage. Done before Potemkin, Stachka/Strike(1925) is a film about the struggle of the working class against the Tsar. The film showed of things to come for the career of Eisenstein. This was to be part of a series of films concerning the events that led to the 1917 Revolution. He shows the working class as the main protagonist in Strike. Was co-written by frequent co-writer Grigori Aleksandrov.

Stachka and Battleship Potemkin would be the only films in which Eisenstein would have complete artistic control. Like Potemkin, it also features a grand massacre sequence. Eisenstein's direction is nothing short of first class. October(1927) can be looked upon as a sequel to Strike. The images of this is an example of why the silent period was the last truly great era of visual filmmaking. Strike would be the first of many great movies from a master artist. A fine scene is the superimposition of a slaughtered bull over a scene of massacred workers.