The Great Citizen

The Great Citizen is a 1938 Soviet biopic film directed by Fridrikh Ermler. A fictionalized biography of Sergei Kirov (the character's name is Shakhov), the film was intended as ideological support for the Great Purges; it depicts life in USSR during the 1920s and 1930s. Stalin made direct interventions in Mikhail Bleiman and Manuel Bolshintsov's screenplay. During the making of The Great Citizen four people associated with it were arrested. In the press Ermler and his screenwriters were obliged to condemn the "wrecker" leadership of Lenfilm, most importantly Piotrovski. Cast Nikolay Bogolyubov - Shakhov - the great citizen Ivan Bersenev - Kartashov - the conspirator Oleg Zhakov - Borovsky - the accomplice Zoya Fyodorova - Nadya Boris Poslavsky - Sizov Aleksandr Zrazhevsky - Dubok Boris Chirkov - Maksim, the investigator Pyotr Kirillov - Briantsev - the assassin Yefim Altus - Katz - Shakhov's helper Yelena Yegorova Yevgeni Pankov Yevgeni Nemchenko - Dronov Georgi Semyonov - Kolesnikov V. Kiselyov - Gladkikh A. Polibin - Solovyev Sergei Kurilov N. Raiskaya-Dore - Shakhov's mother Natalya Rashevskaya - Olga K. Ryabinkin - Kryuchkov