Childhood Of Maxim Gorky

5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
This haunting, unforgettable film, based upon Maxim Gorky's 1913 autobiography, shows a twelve-year-old's journey in life against the tumultuous backdrop of 19th century Russia. With tableaux beautifully vivid and forceful, it recounts the touching relationships which develop when Gorky is put into custody at his grandparents' home. His grandmother, a ... simple woman who knows how to make people laugh, represents optimism in the direst situations, honesty in a world of deceit. Gorky's poverty-stricken childhood formed his life-long compassion for the underdog, and the film is filled with powerful portraits of lower class people whose qualities of integrity and dignity shine through their hopeless circumstances. Among many others are the half-blind Grigory, who works at the grandfather's dye factory, and Gorky's little orphaned friends, who live out of garbage cans, dreaming of a utopian neverland. From these portraits come an inspiring, panoramic view of human conditions and conflicts.
  • Starring: Aleksei Lyarsky, Varvara Massalitinova
  • Directed by: Mark Donskoy
  • Runtime: 1 hour 39 minutes
  • Release year: 1938
  • Studio: Egami
 
  
 
 

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Synopsis: This haunting, unforgettable film, based upon Maxim Gorky's 1913 autobiography, shows a twelve-year-old's journey in life against the tumultuous backdrop of 19th century Russia. With tableaux beautifully vivid and forceful, it recounts the touching relationships which develop when Gorky is put into custody at his grandparents' home. His grandmother, a simple woman who knows how to make people laugh, represents optimism in the direst situations, honesty in a world of deceit. Gorky's poverty-stricken childhood formed his life-long compassion for the underdog, and the film is filled with powerful portraits of lower class people whose qualities of integrity and dignity shine through their hopeless circumstances. Among many others are the half-blind Grigory, who works at the grandfather's dye factory, and Gorky's little orphaned friends, who live out of garbage cans, dreaming of a utopian neverland. From these portraits come an inspiring, panoramic view of human conditions and conflicts.
Starring: Aleksei Lyarsky, Varvara Massalitinova
Supporting actors: Mikhail Troyanovsky, Yelizaveta Alekseyeva, Vasili Novikov, Aleksandr Zhukov, K. Zubkov, Daniil Sagal, S. Tikhonravov, Igor Smirnov, E. Mamaev, V. Korochentchikov, A. Korneyev, A. Lebedev, V. Maslakov, Nikolai Pogodin, B. Radkevich
Directed by: Mark Donskoy
Genre: Biography, Drama
Runtime: 1 hour 39 minutes
Release year: 1938
Studio: Egami
ASIN: B000RGVSXK (Rental) and B000RGVSYE (Purchase)
Rights & Requirements
Rental rights: 7 day viewing period Details
Purchase rights: Stream instantly and download to 2 locations. Details
Compatible with: Mac and Windows PC online viewing, compatible instant streaming devices, TiVo DVRs. System requirements
Format: Amazon Instant Video (streaming online video and digital download)
Also available on DVD

The Childhood of Maxim Gorky DVD ~ Aleksei Lyarsky

5.0 out of 5 stars (2) $19.99
Theatrical Release Information
  • US Theatrical Release Date: September 27, 1938
  • Production Company: Soyuzdetfilm
  • Also Known As: My Childhood / The Childhood of Maxim Gorky
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5.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Deeply moving film that doesn't betray its Soviet origins, August 2, 2002
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This review is from: The Childhood of Maxim Gorky (DVD)
Even good early Soviet films, like Storm Over Asia, often betray some sign of their propagandistic intentions (and the lesser ones have nothing but such intentions). That's not the case with this deeply moving account of the early childhood of the writer Gorky, which (probably because it was based on a well-loved book) simply captures the joys and sufferings of simple people with scarcely a hint of political intent. (An anarchist turns up toward the end, but only as a sort of harbinger of what would supposedly end the miseries of Tsarist Russia and usher in a new age.)

The pictures of the Russian character-- emotional, willful, self-destructive-- are as vivid as anything in Doestoevsky or Tolstoy, and the performances throughout are powerfully affecting-- you are not likely to forget wise Grigori,... the grandfather's King Lear..., or most of all the wonderfully warm and loving grandmother,...

The print is in excellent shape, with very good contrast, and the disc includes a short newsreel with scenes of pre-Revolutionary Moscow. This is one of those movies that was often talked about as being one of the best of all time, but then was so little seen for so long that it was easy to think it no longer deserved its reputation. It does, and it's remarkable that we can now have it in such a worthy edition.

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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A truly great movie, November 30, 2006
This review is from: The Childhood of Maxim Gorky (DVD)
This is the first part of a trilogy based on Gorky's autobiography directed by Mark Donskoi. It is totally free of Soviet propaganda, but the commissars moved in on Parts 2 and especially 3, so that there is a significant falling-off in the rest of the trilogy. I confine myself to review of the Childhood. The acting is astonishing for its emotional depth and the human feeling that derives from Gorky's sympathy for the poor and downtrodden. Maxim is 12 at the outset, left by his widowed mother to the care of his grandparents. The grandmother is everybody's grandmother (you should be so lucky!) and the grandfather is a reckless and volatile character who, together with the idiot uncles, reduces the family from fair prosperity to utter poverty. There is a gallery of other characters to add local color and an authentic sentiment that sweeps the viewer away. I've seen this movie many times since its 1938 release; newly released in 2002 we have the benefit of a clearer soundtrack, coherent subtitles; the music is deeply touching. Having been a moviegoer for over 70 years I rank this one among the greatest I have ever seen, in a league with the Eisenstein movies, the Jean Gabin movies of the 30s, and American movies like Of Mice and Men or the Ox-bow Incident. I've just watched the 2002 re-release on DVD and cried all the way through.
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