Bezhin Meadow is a 1937 Soviet film, directed by Sergei Eisenstein, which is renowned for having been suppressed and believed destroyed before its completion. It tells the story of a young farm boy whose father attempts to betray the government for political reasons by sabotaging the year's harvest, the son's efforts to stop his own father to protect the Soviet state, and culminates in the boy's murder and a social uprising. The film draws its title from a story by Ivan Turgenev, but is based on the life of Pavlik Morozov, a young Russian boy who became a political martyr following his death in 1932, after he denounced his father to Soviet government authorities and subsequently died at the hands of his family. Commissioned by a Communist youth group, the film's production ran from 1935 to 1937, until it was halted by the central Soviet government for alleged artistic, social, and political failures in the film's content. Some, however, blamed the failure of Bezhin Meadow on government interference and policies, extending all the way to Joseph Stalin himself. Bezhin Meadow was long thought lost in the wake of World War II bombings. In the 1960s, however, cuttings and partial prints of the film were found; from these, a reconstruction of Bezhin Meadow, based on the original script, was undertaken. In spite of the failure of Bezhin Meadow, Eisenstein would rebound to win Soviet acclaim and awards, and become artistic director of a major film studio.
Read the rest of this article: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bezhin_Meadow> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 238: Because of his advanced age, both Gordian I and his son Gordian II were proclaimed Roman Emperors. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordian_I> 1622: The Powhatan Confederacy under Chief Opchanacanough killed almost 350 English settlers around Jamestown, a third of the Colony of Virginia's population. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_massacre_of_1622> 1765: The Parliament of Great Britain passed the Stamp Act, requiring that many printed materials in the Thirteen Colonies in British North America carry a tax stamp, adding fuel to the growing separatist movement in the area. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamp_Act_1765> 1849: First Italian War of Independence: After capturing the fortress town of Mortara, forces led by Austrian General Joseph Radetzky von Radetz routed Sardinian troops at the Battle of Novara. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Novara_%281849%29> 1945: Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Transjordan, and Yemen founded the Arab League, a regional organization that facilitates political, economic, cultural, scientific and social programs designed to promote the interests of the Arab world. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_League> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: protean (adj): Exceedingly variable; readily assuming different shapes or forms <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/protean> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day: Music and silence... combine strongly because music is done with silence, and silence is full of music. --Marcel Marceau <http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marcel_Marceau> _______________________________________________ Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list. To unsubscribe, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l Questions or comments? Contact [email protected]
