Merry Fellows was the first Soviet musical comedy. Set in Odessa and Moscow in the 1930's. Shepherd Kostya Potekhin (Utyosov) is mistaken for an international concert star. He falls in love with Anyuta (Orlova) and plays the "star" for her. In a cascade of comic musical numbers he becomes the leader of a Jazz-Band and gives a hilarious show at the Odessa Music Hall. Now he is destined to perform at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Written by Steve Shelokhonov

Начальник управления мелкой кустарной промышленности Бывалов мечтает о службе в Москве. Он получает распоряжение подготовить к всесоюзному смотру участников художественной самодеятельности. Бывалов считает, что посылать в Москву некого, несмотря на то, что в городе есть два творческих коллектива. В конце концов каждая группа отправляется по Волге в столицу своим путем.

影片叙述了俄国伟大的作曲家格林卡自1828年起，在沙皇尼古拉一世黑暗的统治下的创作活动。由于格林卡不断的战斗并与人民密切联系，因而创作出富有民族形式的音乐，给俄国音乐开辟了一条宽阔胜利的道路。为俄国民族音乐奠下巩固的基础。被人民尊敬的称为俄国音乐之父。影片还表现了格林卡与俄国当代伟大的艺术家诗人普希金，作家果戈里之间的亲密友谊。

This short film shows the contrast between the good conditions in which a rich woman makes a abortion and the miserable and dangerous condition in which a poor woman has to do an abortion.

Eisenstein shows us Mexico in this movie, its history and its culture. He believes, that Mexico can become a modern state.

Due to some common interests between German and Russian aristocracy ( the Russians even had aristocrats in their past not to mention they had an Empress called Catherine the Great, as great as this German count's heiresses… ), it is not strange that this Teutonic count has understood and even enjoyed Herr S. M. Eisenstein's "Staroye I Novoye".
It is not very usual that for the aristocracy to enjoy Bolshevist films full of proletarian demands that put private property at risk or as it happens in this case, a film about the Communist Party's policy on the subject of the collectivization of the Soviet agriculture. Normally this would be perfect gibberish for this German count, but thanks to Herr Eisenstein 's greatness and directorial talent, the hardships of the heroine of the film, Dame Marfa ( Dame Marfa Lapkina ) breached even the thick aristocratic Schloss walls.
And that's one of the first remarkable aspects of this oeuvre; in spite of the political subject of the film, the powerful images and lyricism ( astonishing and beautiful shot compositions ), especially during the first part of the movie, preserve the artistic merits entirely while serving a propaganda purpose. The second remarkable aspect of the film is the dichotomy between the old and new, the fight to improve the lot of Dame Marfa and her countrymen. There are many discussions because it is not easy even in Russia to change ancient and conservative customs. There are superb metaphors and social criticism ( illiteracy, bureaucracy, religiosity ) which perfectly fit the film, and last but not least, "Staroye I Novoye", is a kind of archaic documentary about ancient customs established deeply in old Russia, those ones that our heroine must fight against. And there is also a lot about agriculture ( very enlightening for this German count), especially about harvesting and how to fatten Russian cows or pigs ( literally, no pun here… ).
Herr Eisenstein had to bear during the last era of his film career, unbelievable censorship and mutilation of his work, as happens with "Staroye I Novoye". The film was reedited and Eisenstein accused of sympathizing with Trostky's policies but fortunately the film was restored and showed by the German-frenchified t.v. channel "ARTE", natürlich!, including an evocative music score by Herr Taras Bujewski, that fits superbly Herr Eisenstein primal artistic interests.
And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must buy a tractor for one of his Teutonic heiress.

Footage of the aftermath of the January 14 1931 earthquake in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Eisenstein's first sound film, shot in Paris, "built around an old Russian love song sung by the wife of the man who commissioned the film. The song is paralleled by an intercutting of shots of nature, beginning with a storm at dusk, dissolving into a moody rain at night, and jubilantly bursting through the next morning's daybreak in the resplendent sunlight. The black grand piano the singer played now is a white one ... her sadness is now joy, and no longer is she in that closed-in chateau, but out in the open, in a field rapturous with grain swaying heavily in the wind as the song ends."
"Romance Sentimentale," which Eisenstein created with collaborators Alexandrov and Tisse in 1930, just prior to making Que Viva Mexico! In some respects it's an Eisensteinian Fantasia, combining image and music (a famous Russian love song) to create a visual tone poem. Even more impressive, in terms of Eisenstein's passion as a political storyteller, is the rare 20-minute excerpt from Misery and Fortune of Woman, which dramatizes the plight of European women seeking abortions under oppressive conditions. It's a small, gut-wrenching masterpiece, and hasn't lost a bit of its relevance.

Workers in a factory in pre-revolutionary Russia go on strike and are met by violent suppression.

Sergei M. Eisenstein's docu-drama about the 1917 October Revolution in Russia. Made ten years after the events and edited in Eisenstein's 'Soviet Montage' style, it re-enacts in celebratory terms several key scenes from the revolution.