The Kreutzer Sonata is based on a novella by Leo Tolstoy, named after Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata. The work is an argument for the ideal of sexual abstinence and an in-depth first-person description of jealous rage. The main character, Pozdnyshev, relates the events leading up to his killing his wife.
This is a Russian silent feature film by Vladimir Krivtsov, which marked the beginning of the "Russian Golden Series". The film is lost.
The love story of young Countess Natasha Rostova and Count Pierre Bezukhov is interwoven with the Great Patriotic War of 1812 against Napoleon's invading army.
An adaptation of the novel by Leo Tolstoy. Anna Karenina is having an extramarital affair that causes her grave consequences.
A musical number based on Schubert's music.
Directed by Vladimir Gardin and Yakov Protazanov, this two-part epic was the most expensive Russian film at the time and smashed box office records. It is now considered lost, with only a 4 minute clip surviving.
An early film by Vsevolod Meyerhold.
A group of peasants comes to see Leo Tolstoy and his wife, the Countess, to request some land. Tolstoy must explain to them that it is his wife who has authority over their land-holdings, and she will not help them. Stung by their negative reaction to him, Tolstoy becomes increasingly preoccupied with the problems of the poor. This leads to a number of conflicts with his wife, and then to a deep despondency, as the noted writer continues vainly to search for answers to the sufferings he sees around him.
Based on the play Miss Julie by August Strindberg.
A corrupt young man somehow keeps his youthful beauty, but a special painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness to all.
