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The Devil's Wheel Poster
5.7 0h 40m

The Devil's Wheel

Typically of the heady days of early Soviet cinema, this is constructed according to the fast, sharp editing principles advocated by Eisenstein, complete with symbolic inserts; but in terms of subject matter, it's much less explicitly political than most movies emerging from Russia in the '20s. Chronicling a young sailor's descent into a murky, treacherous underworld of pimps and thieves, after having encountered a Louise Brooks lookalike at a fairground and missed his departing boat, it's a lively moral fable that delights in vivid visual effects and quirky characterisations. If the plot occasionally reveals gaping holes, and the tacked-on ending urging the clearance of the Leningrad slums seems to be rather gratuitous, there's enough going on to keep one attentive and amused.

Top Cast

  • Pyotr Sobolevsky

    Pyotr Sobolevsky

    Vanya Shorin, Red fleet sailor

  • Lyudmila Semyonova

    Lyudmila Semyonova

    Valya

  • Sergei Gerasimov

    Sergei Gerasimov

    The Question Man

  • Emil Gal

    Emil Gal

    Koko, vaudeville performer

  • Antonio Tserep

    Antonio Tserep

    Tavern Owner

  • Nikolay Gorodnichev

    Nikolay Gorodnichev

    House manager

  • V. Lande

    V. Lande

    Cafe dancer

  • Sergei Martinson

    Sergei Martinson

    Orchestra conductor

  • Yevgeniy Kumeyko

    Yevgeniy Kumeyko

    Hooligan

Overview

Typically of the heady days of early Soviet cinema, this is constructed according to the fast, sharp editing principles advocated by Eisenstein, complete with symbolic inserts; but in terms of subject matter, it's much less explicitly political than most movies emerging from Russia in the '20s. Chronicling a young sailor's descent into a murky, treacherous underworld of pimps and thieves, after having encountered a Louise Brooks lookalike at a fairground and missed his departing boat, it's a lively moral fable that delights in vivid visual effects and quirky characterisations. If the plot occasionally reveals gaping holes, and the tacked-on ending urging the clearance of the Leningrad slums seems to be rather gratuitous, there's enough going on to keep one attentive and amused.

Rating

5.7 / 10
9 Reviews
1 Popular

Recommendations

The Major

On a cold winter’s day Sergey Sobolev, a major at the local police office, is driving to the hospital where his wife is about to give birth to their child. High from happiness, he’s driving too fast and runs down a boy on a passage walk, who dies. Now the major has only two options: go to prison or conceal the crime. Sobolev decides to compromise with his conscience and calls on a colleague to help him out. But the case turns out to be messy and when Sobolev finally changes his mind and tries to make up for his deed, it’s already too late…

The Major

6.7 2013