Fedor Nikitin, Emil Gal, Sergei Gerasimov, Yakov Gudkin, Ursula Krug, Varvara Myasnikova, Lyudmila Semyonova. Restored by Eye Filmmuseum, Gosfilmofond of Russia, and the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Title from original title frames. Film accompanied by a choice of two musical scores: a new score composed and performed by Stephen Horne and Frank Bockius and an adaptation of Vladimir Deshevov's 1929 original piano score performed by Daan van den Hurk. Originally produced as a motion picture in 1929. Bonus features: Restoring Fragment of an empire: a demonstration of the film's restoration produced by film restorer Robert Byrne; narration track: commentary track featuring Russian film historian and curator Peter Bagrov and film restorer Robert Byrne; poster gallery: original poster artwork and vintage marketing materials; and souvenir booklet: featuring an essay by Russian film historian and curator, Peter Bagrov, on the historical importance of this film in Soviet cinema.
Summary:
The film was Fridrikh Ermler's last silent feature and last of four productively contentious collaborations with the method actor Fiodor Nikitin. To prepare for his part as Filimonov, a soldier suffering from total amnesia due to shell shock from the Great War, Nikitin apparently disguised himself as a doctor's assistant in the Forel Psychiatric Clinic to study actual amnesia patients. Meanwhile, Ermler creates a profoundly realistic and moving portrait of a man whose memories begin to awaken.
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