Storm Over Asia

Vsevolod Pudovkin's 'Storm over Asia' is regarded as a major film of Soviet silent cinema and one that works on many levels.  Released in 1928, it is a rallying cry for the revolution, an adventure film, and an intriguing and moving document of a vanished way of life.  Its hero Bair is often praised as the model action hero.  It takes place on the Mongolian frontier in 1918, where the descendents of Ghenghis Khan are now Mongol herdsmen, their land occupied by the British.  It relates what happens when a young Mongol - played by Mongolian Valeri Inkizhinov - rebels against these double-talking Westerners.  Amy Sargeant is an authority on the cinema of Pudovkin, and her companion to the film throws new light on Pudovkin's art in making it, as well as its text and the story of its distribution.  She concludes with a discussion about how the film was received within Russia and celebrated by critics and audiences overseas.