“The Queen of Screen” … Le Giornate del Cinema Muto 2026, Day Six

Vera Kholodnaya was ‘The Queen of Screen’ that most people haven’t seen. She was a sensation in pre-Revolutionary Russia making over 50 films of which, sadly, only some five remain extant. She has a unique screen presence being both enigmatic and – objectively - remarkably beautiful as well as being a fine naturalistic actor. Her expressive face – huge eyes shining through generous amounts of dark eyeshadow – is matched by a dancer’s poise (she had classical ballet training at the Bolshoi Theatre no less) and an expressive physicality. At one point in this film, she almost shivers with disgust – a violent shake of her shoulders – whilst at other times she is more understated than you’d expect: carrying a lot within even though in torment… she’s the story in this story.

 

This is the first of Yevgeni Bauer’s films I have seen on the big screen and the 35mm print was warm without being perfect but for an actor for whom we only have 10% of her output, that’s more than good enough. Bauer’s style is always a delight, his mise-en-scene is rich in detail and feels solidly part of the world. His characters move across these spaces in carefully choreographed movements – like figures on a chess board – and whilst the scenes are mostly tableaux there is a fair amount of camera mobility with one memorable pull-in on a dolly for a wedding banquet which is then pulled back. He was also a pioneer of montage. This was Tsarist Russia during the Great War, but it was far from isolated from European culture – indeed, the language of the royal court had been French and not Russian.

 

Vera Kholodnaya on a typical Yevgeni Bauer set

Based on the novel by French writer, Georges Ohnet, A Life for a Life (1916) is the story set firmly in the Russian upper-class set. Mrs Khromova (Olga Rakhmanova) is a wealthy industrialist who runs her factory very effectively – a strong female character and one you might not find in some other cultures at this time? She has a birth-daughter, Musya (Lydia Koreneva) and another she has adopted, Nata (Kholodnaya). Both girls are of marrying age and, whilst Nata has attracted the attention of the wealthy merchant Zhurov, (Ivane Perestiani) she does not love him. Into their lives comes the wastrel Prince Vladimir Bartinsky (Vitold Polonsky) who has no money and plenty of debts. He woos Musya as she is the only daughter who will inherit from their mother, yet, he has lost his heart to Nata who has no money nor, being adopted, the rights to any.

 

A bargain is struck between the two men and Zhurov offers to help the prince marry Musya in return for having a free run at Nata… thus do both men abuse the trust of the family. Zhurov makes the prince’s case to Madame Khromova but she is only finally swayed by the affection her daughter shows for this dubious character. Musya hardly knows what she’s getting into, and her mother warily takes the chance… which, as we already know will be a big mistake.

 

This is a not unfamiliar set up but the resolution, after so much bad behaviour from the Poncey Prince led to a ripple of applause and the odd whoop! A film that is of particular value for its period, its director and its star.

 

Accompaniment came from Daan van den Hurk who did all three proud.

Phantom Tram Ride of the Day: Promenading Rothesay (GB 1906-1909) was a lovely slide through the surprisingly beguiling Rothesay, packed with Glaswegian trippers no doubt unconvinced of the weather prospects on the nearby Isle of Arran. I’m sure you all know but the 13th-century Rothesay Castle is unique in Scotland for its circular plan. All the better for keeping the English out!

 

We also experienced A Ride on the Peak Tramway, Hong Kong (GB 1900) which had more gradient but less gravitas. Still, second place is no disgrace for what was a regular part of my sister’s old commute when she worked for HSBC.

 

Mary Pickford and Thomas Meighan

Now THIS is a Marshall Neilan film I can do business with:

 

It was time for an unseen-by-me Mary Pickford and as with her Doug, she’s a shot in the arm for any jaded festival-goer on Day Six of reading, watching and blogging. If only I had a tenth of her energy in M’Liss (US 1918) still it was the perfect caffeinated treat for the early session.

 

Mary plays feisty underdog with quirky gimmick weapon (a sling and NO, this is not being written with AI…) Melissa 'M'liss' Smith, who lives in the mining town of Red Gulch in the High Sierra with her old man, John Benson "Bummer" Smith (Theodore Roberts) who spends his time bumming favours, drink and food after losing his fortune – a fool for gold. His estranged brother, who doesn’t have a nickname, does have a fortune and when he dies it’s headed out West but not if various interested parties have anything to do about it.

 

You can, of course, tell which way this one is going but if I add the words: Thomas Meighan plays school-teacher Charles Gray, to the mix, you can be sure that there’s going to be some Irish going down. I loved this one. Uncompromising fun the Mary way! YES. Oh and Tully Marshall’s in it as is Monte Blue as “Mexican Joe” (yeah, right!).

 

John Sweeney, cocked his ten-gallon hat to one side and road most excellent side-saddle on this from start to finish. A wild and western ride!

 

Irie Takako and Tokihiko Okada,

The Art of the Benshi: The Water Magician (JP 1933)

 

Kenji Mizoguchi’s film felt like a good book or a high-quality streaming series on Apple TV… there’s a deliberate and detailed logic driving every character and their actions with a narrative that also didn’t cheat. It fell as “full” and as rich as Bauer’s stage tableaux.

 

Irie Takako plays Tomo, a "mizugei" (water artist) touring with a circus troupe in Kanazawa. She meets a coach driver, Kinya (Tokihiko Okada) and encourages him to overtake the rickshaw that has just outpaced his one-horse power and whilst they win the race, he breaks his axle. This is the start of a love affair between the two that sees them battle to make a living during tough times for the Japanese economy. She funds his law studies but is eventually forced into making compromises that lead to tragedy…

 

I like the way that no compromises are made – as so often in Hollywood and the performances are top notch all round. A very mature film from the centre of silent film excellence at this stage in film history.

 

Our Benshi was Ōmori Kumiko who put in some shift over 120 minutes and dozens of characters and she was accompanied by the Matsumura Makia (piano), Katada Kisayo (percussion), Kiyomoto Nobuakira (shamisen). We could get used to this! But overall a fab discovery for me!

 

Brutus joins the assasination of Julius Ceasar...

Early Cinema: Greco-Roman Antiquities - Prog. 2

 

More swords and sandals with a collection of early Italian short films that would later be parts of feature films and starring some of the same actors. Most notably we find Amleto Novelli as Mark Anthony in Enrico Guazzonis Bruto (1911), and we know they will work together again as will the actor and Enrique Santos in whose Santa Cecilia (1911) he is also found. There was also Fernanda Negri Pouget – Ophelia in yesterday’s Hamlet – and future star of The Last Days of Pompeii (1913).

 

It's been a feature of the week that we’ve been seeing the pools of actors in Sweden, Italy and Germany who were often in films together. All part of growing familiarity but also a reflection of the relatively small groups involved in film at this stage.

 

Donald Sosin accompanied in classic style although not wearing a toga.

 

Firenze: Love isn't, apparently, all you need...

Weimar Uncensored: Pest in Florenz (1919)

 

As Michael Cowan and Anton Kaes point out in their catalogue essay, scriptwriter, 29-year-old Fritz Lang had seen so much death and destruction in the army and beyond that it’s no wonder it was an influence on his films throughout his career and especially in his early work. This is a large-scale big budget film in which as they continue “allegorical archetypes” do battle: Death, a seductive courtesan, tyrannical religious leaders and a would-be saviour/hermit. There’s very little of the personal relationships needed to really hold the attention and to power engagement. This might well explain why Lubitsch’s Madame Dubarry – released the same year and featuring Pola Negri wiped the floor with it at the box office.

 

Never-the-less this is some statement and one that I would happily watch again just not late night on the Thursday of Le Giornate! There are excellent performances from Marga von Kierska as the courtesan who leads a sexual revolution and then Theodor Becker as Medardus, a hermit who is almost the solution as he battles faith, reality, human nature and ultimately Plague, as personified by Julietta Brandt walking through the crowds like some 21^st Century sci-fi alien playing the violin. It’s clearly an important work in many ways sand is well directed by Otto Rippert.

 

Günter Buchwald (piano and fiddle) and Frank Bockius (percussion) played their socks off and I loved the almost heavy metal tone of the introductory section but once again both men proved that the Devil doesn’t necessarily have all the best tunes, Pordenone’s accompanists do!

 

Vera and Yevgeni join the party… Children of the Age (1915)

Vera Kholodnaya

This is the most overtly political of the films I have seen directed by Yevgeni Bauer and clearly shows his involvement in the contemporary Russian discourse on social equality and unprincipled capitalism. Children of the Age (Deti veka) may not be a long film but it packs a lot into its 38 minutes: class conflict, sexual violence, corruption… and the human misery derived from all.

Bauer’s trademark touches are all in evidence with the backdrop to every scene beautifully constructed not just for the interiors but also with locations showing Moscow and its surrounding countryside. Deti veka is a feast for the eyes throughout with perfectly judged camerawork and cutting allowing an expressive cast to flourish.

Vera Kholodnaya and V. Glinskaya

Two old friends run into each other in Moscow’s Gostinnyi Dvor, a chic shopping arcade off Red Square – the Petrovskii Passage. One is the happily married Maria Nikolaevna (panda-eyed Vera Kholodnaya) who lives in a modest apartment with her baby and husband: a junior bank clerk (Ivan Gorskij). The other is Lidija Verkhonskaja (V. Glinskaya) a woman of means who feels that her friend could have done better. She decides to help her and with friends like these, Maria won’t need any enemies…

Members of the revolutionary garden party...

Lidija invites her beautiful friend to meet her wealthy social set and to enjoy their parties and other pleasurable past-times – picnics, boating and gypsy concerts (gypsies were all the rage at the time!). It’s obviously a good time to be young and wealthy in Moscow and the consumption is conspicuous… so far away from the conflict with Germany (Russia's Great Retreat stared in July 1915 and Kholodnaya's husband had been drafted in 1914) and the suffering of large sections of society.

Mr Nikolaevna fits less easily in with his wife’s new associates and after the first garden party in which his ignored whilst Maria attracts all the attention, he leaves her to it. From the first event onwards, she falls under the gaze of the acquisitive and unprincipled industrialist Lebedev (Arseniy Bibilov) who determines to have her for himself… and friend Lidija is all too willing to help matters along: is she also under the rich man’s control?

Bauer's typically lavish set design: Lebedev pursues his prey...

Lidija arranges for Lebedev to be alone with Maria in a park but she evades his leacherous advances, quickly walking back to Lidjia. But this is only a temporary respite as the elder man reaches in to affect Maria’s life in ways she cannot begin to understand, arranging for her husband to lose his job so as to try and persuade him into giving up his wife and child in exchange for money.

Lebedev is not to be denied and pursues Maria at a picnic after getting her drunk: we are left in no doubt as to the outcome as the two are driven back to Moscow in the old letch’s chauffeur-driven limousine.

No escape for Maria...

This sequence is still harrowing and as Lebedev is mauling Maria, she manages to escape but no one will help her especially after his monied molester plays it all down by claiming that she’s “having hysterics…” Thus the word of the rich counts for all and Maria slumps back into the car defeated –  it’s quite genuinely horrible and not something you’d expect to see in an American film perhaps.

Her will is broken and she returns home dishevelled and ashamed. But that’s not the end and she is about to have her last avenue of escape closed off… Her husband is called to a meeting with Lebedev’s attourney, ostensibly to discuss a new job but when he arrives it is only to offered money to leave his wife and child in exchange for a fee. He refuses and rushes to return home…his world closing down on him.

Ivan Gorskij and Vera Kholodnaya

Spoilers: As he heads home in a defeated daze, Bauer intercuts with scenes of Maria taking their baby away to a life with Lebedev and his strange acolyte Lidija… The car stalls but it won’t offer a reprieve… young Nikolaevna arrives home to find everyone gone…with no future left he writes a note and shoots himself…

So complete is Lebedev’s victory that the viewer’s mind inevitably slips forward a couple of years to when Russian society finally snapped. This is not to say that Bauer was a communist sympathiser or any shade of revolutionary, but the revolution had been building for decades and all walks of life had their own sense of injustice, including bourgoise film makers.

That this all plays out against a backdrop of Bauer’s typically opulent stages somehow makes everything worse. Wealth doesn’t bring true class or happiness and Lebedev having everything, simply wants more.

Maria is betrayed by her old friend and swept up into a world of manipulation in which neither she or her husband has a chance: the kind of hopeless, almost casual injustice that drives desperate solutions. She fights all along the way but in the end is sucked in as a means of securing the welfare of her child… and we can only guess at what lies she has been told about her husband’s response to his pay off. Maybe this is the only way she can think of protecting him too?

Arseniy Bibilov plays the villain with aplomb and Ivan Gorskij is good as the hapless husband. But it’s The Queen of Screen you watch, Vera Kholodnaya, who has a very modern beauty as well as a dancer’s grace (she trained as a ballerina) and an acting style perfectly suited to the screen. Her premature death from flu in 1918 rocked Russia and robbed them of one of their greatest actors.

Sadly only one of her films is currently available commercially – A Life for a Life, also directed by Bauer, which is reviewed elsewhere on this blog – it is to be hoped that Deti veka and her other surviving films are given a western release at some point. Only five survive out of at least fifty features...

For the moment, a fair copy of Children of the Age is available on youtube.

Vera Kholodnaya ‘The Queen of Screen’ … A Life for a Life (1916)

Yevgeni Bauer was the leading film director in pre-revolutionary Russia and it’s a joy to uncover more of his work. He operated on a similar level to the Scandinavians and Americans of this period in terms of setting out and defining film language with increasing depth and sophistication.

Watching A Life for a Life ( Zhizn za zhizn) from 1916 it doesn’t appear initially to be that ground-breaking or much different from many melodramas from the period but… the more you watch the clearer it becomes that Bauer is controlling almost every aspect of what you see with vision and verve.

Now this sounds obvious (and maybe it is) but I’ve rarely been as conscious of the actors acting when not centre stage - or of their movement and positioning indicating important issues of character or plot. The spaces they are in seem to be indicators both of emotion as well as circumstance.

As with the earlier After Death Bauer builds real spaces in which to act his dramas – they are spacious sets and built to the very edge of his relatively fixed camera frame and filled to brimming with flowers and ornaments. The actors use every inch of the stage and move around each other to be revealed in different parts of the set – reinforcing the impression of depth, solidity and the “real”.

The actors are in nearly constant motion and move back and forth and across the screen to signify different moods or developments in their relationships… I suppose you could call Bauer economical: no space goes unfilled and the actors’ movements not only tell the story they also create its rhythm.

Based on the novel by French writer, Georges Ohnet, Bauer sets the story in the Russian upper class set. Mrs Khromova (Olga Rakhmanova) is a wealthy industrialist who runs her factory very effectively – a strong female character and one you might not find in some other cultures at this time? She has a birth-daughter, the winsome but naive Musya (Lydia Koreneva) and another she has adopted, the beauteous Nata (played by Vera Kholodnaya famously Russia’s first film star ) .

Both girls are of marrying age and, whilst Nata has attracted the attention of the wealthy merchant Zhurov, (Ivane Perestiani) she does not love him. Into their lives comes the wastrel Prince Vladimir Bartinsky (Vitold Polonsky looking a little like an over made up Peter Capaldi…), who has no money and plenty of debts. He woos Musya as she is the only daughter who will inherit from their mother, yet, he has lost his heart to Nata who has no money nor, being adopted, the rights to any.

A bargain is struck between the two men and Zhurov offers to help the Prince marry Musya in return for having a free run at Nata… thus do both men abuse the trust of the family. Zhurov makes the Prince’s case to Madame Khromova but she is only finally swayed by the affection her daughter shows for this dubious character. Musya hardly knows what she’s getting into and her mother warily takes the chance.

There’s a superb set piece at the wedding when Bauer swoops the camera towards the wedding banquet and then out again after the speech: this is the heart of the story and we can only guess how things will now unfold. The omens are not good as Nata breaks down and confesses her true love to her mother who asks her to never put Musya’s happiness under threat.

These scenes are well worked with the characters moving on and off the dance floor and a breeze gently blowing Nata’s wedding viel across her face… ‘tis and ill wind…

The Prince and Musya go off on an extended honeymoon and on their return it is clear that the Prince has continued his wayward lifestyle and is gambling his wife’s dowry away. To make matters worse, the Prince is soon reunited with Nata in spite of her protestations that she now hates him. She can’t resist him and begins to help him defraud her husband. This Prince is something like the male version of a “vamp” bringing destruction to all those he touches…

There’s an horrific moment in which he re-encounters Nata and she gives in once again to his advances. Musya opens a curtain to recoil in horror as the two make love. It’s a great reaction from Lydia Koreneva.

Spoilers ahead: Zhurov uncovers the fraud and quickly sees the truth of his wife’s relationship with the Prince. He and Madame Khromova agonise over what course of action to take. She wants the Prince disposed of and he wants to tell the police but this course will only bring shame on them all.

No one seems capable of resolving the situation and the Prince prepares to brazen his way out by saying that there is no way to prove his guilt. But he reckons without the superior moral courage of Madame Khromova who taking the gun intended for his suicide, shoots him dead from across the room and then has the presence of mind to plant the weapon in his dead hands.

My teenage daughter and I were high-fiving at this point, possibly inappropriately, but in recognition of Khromova’s strength of character and willingness to act. Her daughters are both distraught but the evil in their lives has been removed. Not such a morally-questionable resolution in Russia in 1916...and it's difficult to not see political overtones.

It is also really striking to find such a strong female character in a story from this period and to find none of the men heroic.

The five leads all play well, especially Olga Rakhmanova as the matriarch, whilst Vitold Polonsky is wonderfully weasily as the pointless Prince.

The stand out though has to be the powerfully-enigmatic Vera Kholodnaya who is remarkably beautiful and also a fine naturalistic actor. Her expressive face – huge illuminated eyes – is matched by a dancer’s poise (she had classical ballet training at the Bolshoi Theatre no less) which suited Bauer’s mobile agenda, and an expressive physicality. At one point she almost shivers with disgust – a violent shake of her shoulders – whilst at other times she is more understated than you’d expect: carrying a lot within even though in torment.

A Life for a Life was the film which inspired the actor/singer Alexander Vertinsky to dub her ‘the Queen of Screen’ – he was besotted along with many of his countrymen, and she went from strength to strength as world war gave way to revolution in Russia.

Kholodyana made over 50 films but sadly only five remain. She died in the spanish flu pandemic in early 1919 and the Milestone DVD I watched has footage from her funeral in Odessa; a sad coda to a film that shows her in such vibrancy. The attendance at her passing was huge and she was much loved yet by the mid-twenties the communist regime had ordered the destruction of most of her films. We are lucky that enough remains to show us her talent and to enable her to live on as an artist.

Vera’s other extant work is difficult to find but there are reasonable copies of the following on youtube…it may be a good time to learn Russian though…
Children of the Age - Deti Veka (1915)
Be Silent, My Sorrow, Be Silent - Molchi, grust... molchi (1918)
The other titles¸ The Mirages - Mirazhi (1915) and A Corpse Living - Zhivoy trup (1918), are proving harder to track down!

A Life for a Life is available direct from Milestone as Volume 9: High Society of their Early Russian Film collection. It is based on the BFI restoration from the early 1990s and features a stirring piano accompaniment from Neil Brand. In addition to the main feature there’s also a winsome short comedy, Autosha Ruined by a Corset … proof that the Russians were equally capable of laughing as crying.

Immensely spirited, Bauer and Kholodyana are deserved of more attention. Overcome by events and ill-health they were major figures of world cinema at a time of great advances as well as social and political instability.