Product Details

• Actors: Natalya Glan, Boris Barnet, Igor Ilyinsky, Vladimir Fogel, Sergei Komarov
• Directors: Boris Barnet, Fedor Ozep
• Format: Black & White, DVD, NTSC, Silent
• Language: Russian
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Flicker Alley
• DVD Release Date: December 15, 2009
• Run Time: 285 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002T4DTXK
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #152,066 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Miss Mend" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 1926 Soviet Serial Can't Make Up Its Mind., December 7, 2009

By 

Chip Kaufmann (Asheville, N.C. United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Miss Mend (DVD)

Of all the products issued by Flicker Alley, MISS MEND is certainly the most unusual so far. Intended by the Soviets as a satire of Western style entertainment, this movie has a little something for every silent film fan from the French serials of Feuillade to the American cliffhangers of Pearl White and Helen Holmes. Throw in a little Fritz Lang for good measure and you have a unique offering that can't quite seem to make up its mind as to what it wants to be. It starts off as a protest film with our heroine, a lowly typist, getting involved in a worker's strike at the "Rocfeller" plant. Three "intrepid" journalists enter the fray each one pining after the heroine. We are then introduced to an engineer who is more than he seems at first and a cute little boy with a dark secret. Finally we meet the nefarious villain, Chiche, a demented capitalist who will stop at nothing to destroy Soviet Russia. This he hopes to accomplish through an early form of germ warfare. Can our heroine/heroes stop him in time? Stretch this out over 4 hours and you have a film that remains fascinating to watch although it can be hard to follow.

Flicker Alley & Co. have done their usual fine job in bringing another silent offering to us. The film, transferred from 35mm material, looks very good especially considering its obscurity (it was panned by Soviet critics for incorporating the very things it was poking fun at although the masses loved it). I may have run across it in a reference book but if I did, I don't recall it so I am delighted to become acquainted with another title that I'm unfamiliar with. The movie has been given new English intertitles and is accompanied by another fine score from Robert Israel. Part of the fun for me is listening for the classical music and popular music of the day quotations that he uses. While I can't imagine people lining up to buy the DVD (even silent film enthusiasts), it is like all Flicker Alley offerings, a quality release worthy of our time and the extra cost. Just don't expect BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN or MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA or even THE PERILS OF PAULINE. This 2 DVD set also comes with a 15 page booklet that gives you the complete lowdown on the film and "Soviet Americanism".

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Comrade Mabuse, December 7, 2009

By 

M. Boxwood - See all my reviews

This review is from: Miss Mend (DVD)

In one of the most unusual hybrids of the silent era, Soviet filmmakers attempted to fuse American filmic dynamism with anti-capitalist rhetoric, and then threw in elements of German expressionism for good measure. The end result was 1926's "Miss Mend," a three-part, four-hour plus long serial chronicling the adventures of a quartet of Americans who unravel a diabolical scheme to destroy Bolshevism. Their investigations take them from America to the newly established USSR where the plot reaches its climax and resolution.
This film is notable for its depiction of 1920s America through a Soviet lens. More than one-half of the film unfolds in a U.S. replicated in Russia, a land of worker unrest, virulent racism and power-mad capitalists looking to destroy the Soviet workers' paradise. Interestingly, all of "Miss Mend's" protagonists are Americans, including the eponymous heroine, Vivian Mend, a typist for a company who ends up siding with striking workers at the film's start. She comes to the attention of a four rival suitors: brawny reporter Barnet (played by former boxer and co-director Boris Barnet); the slightly peevish photographer Vogel; buffoonish Tom Hopkins, a clerk at the company where Miss Mend works; and Engineer Johnson, a character who is not all that he seems.
All of the actors do a commendable job handling the numerous chases and fight scenes the plotline demands of them. The character who registers the most is the central villain, Chiche. Hovering somewhere between Dr. Caligari and Dr. Mabuse, the twisted and seemingly leprous Chiche intends to use a terrifying bacteriological weapon to destroy the Soviet Union, and is not above killing children to achieve his ends.
Such dark material is intermixed with much lighter fare, and presents the film with its underlying problem: a largely inconsistent tone. Reviewers of the period complained that the film attempted too much all at once, striving to be farcical, exciting and critical in equal measures. An example of this is the marked contrast between two scenes dealing with race. One scene involving an African American worker's murder coolly dismissed by the police is handled with striking sensitively. This is followed up by a later scene in which a newly disrobed Tom Hopkins covers his body in soot and then bounds along a bustling avenue dressed in only his undergarments. The reason for his bizarre decision is not fully explained and does not fully qualify as a critique of the use of blackface in American cinema.
Despite such missteps, Miss Mend is always engaging and improves as it moves along. It makes a fascinating companion piece to Fritz Lang's "Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler" from 1922. Both epics deal with master criminals using economic leverage to succeed in their diabolical schemes, but Lang's work contains a depth of characterization and mastery of technique that the Russian film does not quite match. It does feature some splendid footage of Leningrad's streets and waterfront locations.
As has been the case in earlier releases, Flicker Alley does a consummate job with its restoration and inclusion of accompanying materials, including two documentaries (one placing "Miss Mend" within a historical context, the other on the recording sessions of Israel's music) and a fifteen-page booklet. Robert Israel again proves himself to be one of the titans of silent film composing with an excpetional score that alternates between jaunty orchestral pieces and moody organ compositions. For connoisseurs of pulpy serials of the 1920s and anyone interested in Soviet films produced in the immediate aftermath of the Russian Revolution, Miss Mend is well worth the investment. I imagine it is a film that offers ample rewards upon subsequent viewings.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Believe it or not, Soviet film can be fun!, November 7, 2009

By 

calvinnme - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

In what has been a recent desert of rather uninteresting and uninspired classic film releases - boxed sets of classic films that are no more than repackaged stock, bare-bones DVD-R's at thirty dollars a pop, rereleases of the same old films with maybe one extra feature, etc. there have been a few gems pop up here and there. For example, there is the excellent silent Charlie Chase set, and now a Soviet dime-store novel as silent serial - Miss Mend. Not for those of short attention spans, this one clocks in at four plus hours in three parts. Made in Russia in 1926, it has to do with the heroine - Miss Mend - and her associates trying to stop a biological weapon attack on the Soviet Union planned by American businessmen. Before the stock market crash I guess they still had money to finance such gadgets.

The Soviet authorities didn't like the film because they thought it was too American in its sensational theme and pace, but it was very popular with Russian filmgoers. As mentioned in the press release "Though you'll find no tractors, capitalist oppression, or revolution, the film does manage a few jokes at the American characters' expense."

Bonus Features:
Miss Mend: A Whirlwind Vision of an Imagined America - A brand new, 25-minute documentary exploring the creative forces and cultural influences behind Miss Mend
Creating The Music of Miss Mend: Go behind the scenes of Robert Israel's brilliant new score in a new, 15-minute documentary featuring the actual Miss Mend recording sessions
Miss Mend and Soviet Americanism - A new booklet essay by historians Ana Olenina and Maxim Pozdorovkin