Global Audio/Visual Index

The Trotsky Encyclopedia

An On-Line Resource Center for the Study of the International Trotskyist Movement

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Visual and audio grouped according to subject, artist, character and or genre. For additions, corrections and comments, write sryan@marxists.org.

 

AUSTRALIA

Children of the Revolution (1996) Comedy. Political satire about a 1950s Australia woman who meets her idol, Joseph Stalin, has a brief affair with him, gets pregnant with a son, and then marries a fellow Australian. Though raised by leftists during the 60s, the boy goes his own way, nearly getting Australia torn apart by war.

The Year of Living Dangerously. (1983) An Australian journalist experience covering the 1965 coup of the Sukarno dictatorship in Indonesia.It is very anti-coup, but simultaneously repeats the U.S. State Department (or maybe it was Australian Foreign Ministry) myth about some Chinese ship full of arms standing off shore waiting to supply the C.P. If only!(TC)

 

BRITAIN/BRITISH COMEDY

Morgan 1960s British comedy

Monty Python's Flying Circus Epidode plotline (from memory): A riding tour of some region in Britain. The main character (played by Michael Palin) befriends a scientist trying to create bruise- proof fruit and vegetables. Along the way, the scientist gets a nasty hit on the head and thinks he's ... Leon Trotsky.
Immediately, he demands to be taken to Moscow (why?!). He makes as far as France on his own, where he runs into a KGB agent (how?!). He's whisked away to Moscow to a hero's welcome!
Midway through his speech on "permanent revolution" he begins to change again (thinking he's some singer, Clora something), breaking into a showtune.
Punchline: One of the CPSU muck-de-mucks asks another "Should we stop him?" The other replies, "No, this is an old Lenin number." (JP)
See Monty Python's Flying Circus — Just the Words, 2 vols, Methuen 1989, in paperback Mandarin 1990. The Trotsky sketch in vol 2 ch 34 The Cycling Tour p 148, the Trotsky bit proper begins on p 160. Episode 8 of third series broadcast on 7 Dec 1972, twenty-five years ago. (HR)

Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) A film obvious references to Trotskyist organizations, even though they're in the form of satirical caricature (and not merely of Trotskyist organizations but of the Marxist and solidarity left in general).(HR) For video clips and more see Hollywood on-line, http://www.hollywood.com/digital/titles/l/lifebrian/

Yes, Minister There was an episode of Yes, Minister or Yes, Prime Minister some years ago in which the (basically Tory) PM's daughter got herself a Trot boyfriend. Pretty indicative of a large-scale recognizable current in society. (HR)

The Party A British play which was a pretty accurate depiction of Gerry Healy's SLL/WRP. It actually made it to the scenes, and then to TV. The character of Healy was played by Lawrence Olivier. (LD)

A Very British CoupBBC. should be listed for general purposes. It's was made, or at least broadcast in the US in the late 80s. A Labour'Left gov't is elected to power. The PM, a "Left wing Socialist" head of the Miners union assumes the post andthe CIA and British rightwing does what it can to undermine the gov't and get it removed. In the PM's cabinet is "a few trots, a gay activst, etc.." from what I remember. Great drama and interesting politics, as well.(DW)

Ripping Yarns BBC Television comedy first airing in two series originaly airing in 1977 and 1979, written by Michael Palin and Terry Jones of Monty Python fame. The shows star Palin as a different main character in each episode in the style of the old British boys' adventure books. The third and last show of the second series (first broadcast on 24-Oct-79) was titled "Roger of the Raj", with Palin as "Roger", and also including Richard Vernon, Joan Sanderson, John LeMesurie, Jan Francis, Roger Brierley, under the direction of Alan J.W. Bell. The plot description is that "Roger and Miranda yearn to run away together and open a chemist's shop, but a native uprising interrupts their planned elopement." It in fact is a bit more complex, involving Roger's Russo-phile tutor and the family's move to India, whereupon the until-then grim tutor so perked up at being so much nearer Mother Russia that he "changed his name to Leon and bought a new hat," which looks like a Russian ushanka, and followed up by inciting revolution amongst the natives and shooting at Roger and his family. (JF)

The Big Flame Made for TV, scripted by Jim Allen, about a strike by Liverpool dockers which turns into an occupation, with them taking over and running the docks, until the army is sent in to evict them, by which time they have "lit the big flame" -inspiring other workers to follow. (The magazine Big Flame and grouping took it's inspiration and name from this picture). Ex-docker and Trotskyist militant Peter Kerrigan played a leading role in this film, and most of the cast were genuine dockers.(CP)

Leeds United TV, made by Roy Battersby, dramatising the true story of big strike by mainly-women clothing workers in 1970s. Again, acted out by people who had participated.(CP)

? Acted by actual participants, Roy Battersby's production about the strike of Pilkington's glass workers in St.Helens, which involved a struggle both against the company that dominates that Lancashire town and against the bureacracy of the General and Municipal Workers Union which had been functioning as a company union.(CP)

Days of Hope Jim Allen's historical series, mainly set in mining villages during the 1926 General Strike etc.(CP)

The Fall of Eagles? Series that covers the pre-WWI and War period, up to the failure of the 1918 German Revolution.

 

BUKHARIN

Vrag naroda - Bukharin aka Public Enemy Bukharin (1990)102 minutes. Russian language, directed by Lenid Maryagin.

 

CHINA/CHINESE

Crows and Sparrows, 1948-9 film made by a Shanghai left wing film collective which gives a very good insight into urban society at the time of the revolution. (HK)

Hibuscus Town, a good portrayal of the Cultural Revolution with convincing portrayals. And a splendid film. (HK)

The True Story of Ah Q, The famous Left wing writer Lu Xun has had many of his stories made into film, the best of which is "The True Story of Ah Q" which is both a marvelous story, only in Chinese unfortnately (HK)

Ba Wang Bie Ji (1993) aka Farewell My Concubine. Powerful condemndation of Maoist Stalinism - "Cultural Revo" (HK)

The Last Emperor (1987) This movie (again by Bertolucci) is very good in depicting China's times through the revolutions/wars era. Also important for its anti-Stalinism. (LD)

Huozhe(1994) aka Lifetimes; Living; and, To Live Set in 40s China following the life of a gambler turned puppeteer over four decades.

Lan feng zheng (1993)aka The Blue Kite

 

GERMANY

Hitlerjunge Salomon (1990) aka Europr Europa The story of a Jewish boy pretending to be an Aryan German during WWII and joins the Hitler Youth.

 

INDONESIA

The Year of Living Dangerously. (1983) An Australian journalist experience covering the 1965 coup of the Sukarno dictatorship in Indonesia.It is very anti-coup, but simultaneously repeats the U.S. State Department (or maybe it was Australian Foreign Ministry) myth about some Chinese ship full of arms standing off shore waiting to supply the C.P. If only!(TC)

 

THE INTERNATIONALE

The rise of communism OPAL CD 9856, Total time: 64:36
contents:
I. extracts from speeches etc.
II. songs:
an assortment of songs, including "The Internationale", recorded by Rufus John (John Goss) in 1926, some russian songs - a couple about Stalina "song of the collective farm" etc, a song recorded in Russian by Paul Robeson, a couple of songs in German ("Lied der arbeitslosen"- song of the unemploye· and "Lied der Bergarbeiter" - song of the miners) and three more in English (Love on the Dole, the red flag, song of the hunger marchers). (list by Alphonsos Pangas)

Reds Movie Soundtrack. The Internationale by the Moscow Chorus.

http://www.uv.es/~pla/red.net/intsong.html A midi file and the words to the Internationale in many languages.

 

ITALY

1900 (1976) The lives of two Italian men from different class backgrounds are followed from the turn of the century through the rise of Fascism in Europe.
This is a movie where the ability of the director (Bertolucci) to depict reality made him show his hero-party, the PCI (exemplified in the main character Olmo), as the villain which stopped the revolution. Not a Trotskyist movie, but definitely worth seeing.(LD)

 

LABOR

Worker's education :Film and Video http://garnet.berkeley.edu:3333/.labor/.labororg/ifw/ifwwe08.htm.html includes a comprehensive list of labor films and video, a guide in using them and where to find them.

The LaborFilms Guide http://garnet.berkeley.edu:3333/.labor/.resource/.films.html has a list of labor films. "LaborFilms is an unmoderated, uncensored e-mail discussion group for the discussion of labor films and the production of this Network Guide to Labor Films. This Guide collects information presented to the LaborFilms discussion group, and is available as a file for network access. This information can be useful to those organizing a showing of a labor film for a local union, labor film club or other setting."

 

V.I. LENIN

The Marx/Engels Internet Archive on CD-ROM. Contains Lenins' texts available at MEIA and an audio file of his speech, "What is the Power of the Soviets?". For more info contact Alphonsos Pangas alf@marxists.org.

The rise of communism OPAL CD 9856, Total time: 64:36
contents:
I. extracts from speeches etc.
1) Lenin: "what is the power of the soviets?", 1919
2) Trotsky: Part 1 of "Speech on occasion of 10th anniversary of the left opposition", recorded in English in Mexico, 1938.
3) Kollontai: "to the workers", early 20s
4) Petrovsky: "About Vladimir Ilyitch Lenin", early 20s
5) Lunatcharsky: "The masses are thirstying for knowledge"
6) Krilenko: "we have begun to build our state", early 20s
7) Stalin: Extract from speech on 1 July 1941
8) Molotov: Extract from speech, 1936
9) Brezhnev: Extract from speech on the 5th congress of the United Polish Workers' Party
II. songs:

 

KENNETH LOACH

The Flickering Flame (1997)

Carla's Song aka Canción de Carla, La (1996)(1996)

Tierra y libertad (1995) Also known as Land and Freedom.
Messidor Films, Kenneth Loach, director. 109 minutes. Music by George Fenton. Spanish Civil war.

Ladybird Ladybird (1994)(1994)

Raining Stones aka Lloviendo piedras (1993)

Hidden Agenda(1990)

Riff-Raff(1990)

Fatherland aka Singing the Blues in Red(1986)

Which Side Are You On?(1984)

Looks and Smiles(1981)

The Gamekeeper(1980)

Black Jack (1979)

Family Life aka Wednesday's Child (1972

Kes (1969)

Poor Cow (1967)

Cathy Come Home TV (1965)

Up the Junction TV (1965)

 

MINNEAPOLIS TEAMSTERS STRIKE

Labor's Turning Point: The Minneapolis Truck Strikes of 1934: A Rank and File Story[videorecording]. St. Paul:
John De Graaf, Twin Cities Public Television, I98I. 1 videocassette, 44 min.

[Newsreels], Paramount, I934 – 49. 2 reels, 15 min.,30 min.
This collection of newsreels from the 1930s includes:
I) “Farmers Threaten Strike,” five Midwest governors call on president, Governor Olson speaks, calling for fixed prices on agricultural goods (1935?); 2) “Political Pot Comes to a Boil,” former President Hoover speaks against federal programs, Floyd B. Olson calls for a national third party in I936; 3) “Farmer-Labor Group Enters as Third Party,” F-L convention, I936; 4) “A City Ruled by Troops,” Minneapolis truckers’ strike, National Guard marching in city, I934; 5) “Strike Outbreak Fatal,” scenes of violence and conflict between strikers and deputies, Minneapolis truckers’ strike, 1934; 6) “Move for Labor Peace,” fighting and shooting between strikers and deputies, Minneapolis truckers’ strike, I934; 7) “Security for Americans,” unemployment compensation, Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, and Floyd B. Olson; 8) “Meat Strike, St. Paul, I948,” scenes at stockyards with strikers and National Guard.

 

MCCARTHYISM

Mission to Moscow: One American's Journey into the Truth , (1943).
Mission to Moscow was made at the behest of F.D.R. in order to garner more support U.S. Ambassador To Russia. The movie covers the political machinations in Moscow just before the start of the war and presents Stalin's Russia in a very favorable light. So much so, that the movie was cited years later by the House Un-American Activities Commission and was largely responsible for the screenwriter, Howard Koch being Blacklisted. (From Internet Movie Database.)

Citizen Cohn (1992) TV movie. The life of Roy Cohn, chief counsel to Senator McCarthy as he's dying of AIDS.
Maybe the reds McCarthy was hunting included some Trotskyists — certainly the broader government net did, although McCarthy was so focussed on the Moscow menace it's hard to believe that Trotskyism would enter his worldview. (TC)

Concealed Enemies (1984)TV movie. The story leading to the conviction of U.S. government official Alger Hiss of perjury.

 

GEORGE ORWELL

Animal Farm(1955)Britain's first animated feature, which, despite the title and Disney-esque animal animation, is in fact a no-holds-barred adaptation of George Orwell's classic satire on Stalinism, with the animals taking over their farm by means of a revolutionary coup, but then discovering that although all animals are supposed to be equal, some are more equal than others (by Michael Brooke taken from the Internet Movie Database).

A magyar származású rajzfilmrendezö, John Halas 1936-tól haláláig Angliában élt és dolgozott. Most látható Orwell- adaptációja kemény politikai szatíra. Minden állat egyenlö, de mint az emberi társadalomban, néhányan itt is 'egyenlöbbek' és erösebbek a többinél. (by Steve Varadi taken from the Internet Movie Database).

1984 (1955) Based on the Orwell novel. Fascist state of Oceania is ruled by Big Brother.

1984 (1984) Remake

 

RUSSIA/RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

Russian History Audio Archive. From the home page [no longer active]: National Public Radio and the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies are pleased to announce the establishment of an audio archive of Soviet and Russian history. The archive consists of recordings dating back to the earliest years of the Soviet state. Included are the voices and speeches of key political figures, including Lenin, Kerensky, Kirov, Beria, Stalin, Gorbachev and others. Among the recorded interviews are Anna Larina (Bukharin's widow); Valentin Berezhkov, Stalin's wartime interpreter; Yelena Bonner, Sakharov's widow; and Lev Pevsner, a survivor of the Leningrad Blockade. There is also on-the-scene recorded sound of many events in Soviet history, including: the Russian and American armies meeting at the Elbe; Stalin's funeral; the August, 1991 coup against Gorbachev.

Ten Days that Shook the World nar. Orson Wells

Russian Revolution Site http://maddenenterprises.com/Russian_Revolution/Core_Page.html contains sections of photos, book lists and more. [No longer on the internet]

Rasputin (1996) TV movie.

Staroe i novoe (1929) aka The General Line; Generalnaia Linnia; Generalnaya Liniya; Old and New.

 

DIMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH

Music Under Soviet Rule http://www.siue.edu/~aho/musov/musov.html This site is an ongoing collection of documents for the study of classical music made in the former Soviet empire, or by composers and musicians who were active within its borders between 1917 and 1991, such as Shostakovich, Vainberg, Prokofiev, Kancheli and Ustvolskaya.

 

SOCIALIST WORKERS PARTY (US)

"Rasberry festival", [motion picture]. 1941, 1944. 6 min.
Filmed footage shows Socialist Workers party members at their 1941 and 1944 annual rasberry Festivals at the home of Howard carlson, 6500 15th Avenue South, Richfield. Party members shown include Oscar Coover, Sr., Carl Skoglund, Vincent Dunne, Grace Carlson, Jake Cooper, Harry DeBoer, Clarence Hamel, Goldie Cooper, Winifred Chelstrom, Oscar Schonfeld, and Howard Carlson. (all three 8mm SWP films listed here are available in the Minnesota Historical Society Collections, see http://www.mnhs.org/library/index.html)

[Socialist Workers Party Activities, motion picture, 1957]",. 1 reel, 13 min.
Filmed footage shows members at a 1957 St. Patrick's Day celebration at the party offices at 322 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis. Also includes footage of members at the party camp in Los Angeles, Calif.

Socialist Workers Party Activities, motion picture, I956-57]",[ 1 reel, 25 min.
Filmed footage features a welcome home celebration for Vincent R. Dunne and housewarming for new party headquarters at 322 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, Jan. 19, 1957; a rummage sale on May 12, I956, at 2700 Riverside Avenue, Minneapolis; a May 19, 1956, songfest with the Minnesota Militant Chorus; a I956 Memorial Day picnic at Parker's Point; a speech by Myra T. Weiss on June 8, 1956; the 1956 Annual Strawberry Festival at Bill and Jean Brust's house, 715 South Lexington, St. Paul; a campaign dinner for Farrell Dobbs on Oct. 6, 1956; and other activities.

 

SPAIN

Tierra y libertad (1995) Also known as Land and Freedom.
Messidor Films, Kenneth Loach, director. 109 minutes. Music by George Fenton.

 

LEON TROTSKY AND FAMILY

The Marx/Engels Internet Archive on CD-ROM. Contains Trotsky's texts available at MEIA and an audio file of his speech, "What is the Power of the Soviets?". For more info contact Alphonsos Pangas alf@marxists.org.

Zina, (1985) (UK)
Ken McMullen. Cast includes Domiziana Giordano as Zina Bronstein and Philip Madoc as Leon Trotsky. Zina, the daughter of Leon Trotsky by his first wife, is undergoing freudian analysis in Vienna in the 'thirties. Meanwhile Trotsky is in exile in Alma Ata having been driven from power by Stalin. The Nazis rise to power in Germany and Austria and Zina commits suicide.
Summary written by chris bright from Internet Movie Database.

Reds, Paramount Pictures. 3hrs ?minutes. (1981)
Directed, written and produced by Warren Beatty, Music by Stephen Sondheim. Cast includes Warren Beatty as John Reed, Diane Keaton as Louise Bryant, Edward Herrmann as Max Eastman, Jerzy Kosinski as Grigory Zinoviev, Jack Nicholson as Eugene O'Neill, Maureen Stapleton as Emma Goldman, Roger Sloman as V.I. Lenin, Stuart Richman as L. Trotsky.
The story of John Reed's experiences in the US and Russia that led to the writing of Ten Days That Shook the World, published in 1919.

The Assassination of Trotsky, (1972) Richard Burton as Leon Trotsky.
The 1st salient trait is the almost comical miscasting, for, as is common knowledge, Trotsky is played by Richard Burton, Ramon Mercader by Alain Delon, and Silvia Ageloff [ called "Gita" in the movie] by Romy Schneider[?!]. The political point is entirely missed; it is noteworthy to point that Stalin's face or portrait doesn't even appear. In fact, Losey takes the plot as an opportunity to show a typical Antonioni-like 60s psychological drama, where Trotsky and Ageloff, on one said, Mercader, on the other, stand for different varieties of fanaticism, with no communication possible between them- a trait stressed most desagreeably by the fact that Delon and Schneider chose to cast their roles in a hysterical mood.Burton, as Trotsky, is better, but acting the whole time as if he was looking for some more pressing concern.Also, it's important to point that the film takes as granted that Robert Sheldon Harte was an Stalinist in disguise and guided Siqueiros's men into Trotsky's house during the May 1940 attempt on his life. (CR)

Stalin, (1992) (TV) Nikolai Lazarev as Trotsky's son, Daniel Massey as Trotsky
American TV-series turned movie for video rentals *Stalin*, with the title role played by Robert Duvall, Lenin- portrayed as a benevolent chap and mild reformist that falls victim of his generosity with Stalin - played by Maximillian Schell and Trotsky - played by someone I don't remember the name - portrayed as an armchair nervous Jewish intellectual (straight from a Woody Allen movie) trying to look rough from his cabinet (Trotsky's role as Comissar of War is never mentioned, and Stalin - blamed by Trotsky for executing former tzarist officers - is made to look as the actual builder of the Red Army).But then *Stalin* is almost a Bukharinite movie, since Bukharin is played by a very handsome actor (no baldness) as shown as a Lenin in the bud. (CER)

Nicholas and Alexandra, (1971) Brian Cox (III) as Leon Trotsky. The life and execution of Tsar Nicholas II and family in 1904.
Trotsky receives more favourable treatment in *Nicholas and Alexandra*, but as a young and anti-leninist Trotsky, whose argument about "The party taking the place of the class, the CC taking the place of the party...and so on 'til the General Secretary" is quoted with approval in a depiction of the II Congress of the RSDP where Stalin appears and introduces himself in English to an American journalist [?!].

The Dangerous Moment (1921) Brodwitch Turner as Trotsky

Oktyabr(1927) aka October; Oktiabr; Ten Days That Shook the World.
There is a brief cameo appearance by an actor playing Trotsky in Eisenstein's film "October", which was produced for the tenth anniversary of the revolution. Stalin intervened in the editing and made sure LT didn't have a major role. He appears only once, urging the workers to keep calm during the July days (a very ambiguous appearance), then his face is covered by flying banners.(TC)

Trotsky, (1993)98 minutes. Directed by Leonid Maryagin. Russian Language, produced by: Zhanr / Deva Film / Forpass Ltd. / Galactica Films S.A. / Lestez Films / Pandora Films S.A. / Mosfilm [ru] (From the Internet Movie Database.)

The rise of communism OPAL CD 9856, Total time: 64:36
contents:
I. extracts from speeches etc.
1) Lenin: "what is the power of the soviets?", 1919
2) Trotsky: Part 1 of "Speech on occasion of 10th anniversary of the left opposition", recorded in English in Mexico, 1938.
3) Kollontai: "to the workers", early 20s
4) Petrovsky: "About Vladimir Ilyitch Lenin", early 20s
5) Lunatcharsky: "The masses are thirstying for knowledge"
6) Krilenko: "we have begun to build our state", early 20s
7) Stalin: Extract from speech on 1 July 1941
8) Molotov: Extract from speech, 1936
9) Brezhnev: Extract from speech on the 5th congress of the United Polish Workers' Party
II. songs:

 

VIETNAM/60's MOVEMENTS

The War at Home About anti-war movement in the 1960s and 1970s. I think it focusses on Madison, Wisconsin. Lot of live coverage from the period. Directed by Barry Brown & Glenn Silber. 100 minutes. Available on video from First Run/Icarus Films.(TC)

Disobeying Orders: G.I. Resistance to the Vietnam War Produced in 1990 by Pamela Sporn 29 minutes Filmakers Library, 120 E 40th St., Ste 901, New York, NY 10016

Les fils de Karl Marx et de Coca-Cola aka "The sons of Karl Marx and Coca-Cola". This made by the french television I suppose. They speak in this about Prague Spring too and the movements in the USA against the Vietnam war. (MP)