THE WINGS OF A SERF (1926):

In the latter half of the 16th Century, during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, a jack-of-all-trades, Nikita, who is the serf of the nobleman Kurlyatev, makes a pair of wings, by which he is able to fly. Unfortunately, he is captured by the Oprichnina for alleged pact dealing with Satan. He is shackled and sent off to their dungeons. However, from time to time, he's remembered as a man whose crafts amazed everyone and is frequently invited to the Tsar's court to fix broken machinery and amuse the boyars. Afterwards, however, he is always sent back to prison.

DVD-r has Russian intertitles with switchable English subtitles. Approx. 73 mins. See film sample for audio and video quality!

FOREST STORY (1926):

It is 1920, and Poland's forces have invaded Belarus to take advantage of the civil war in Russia to expand and establish the kresy's borders. In the story, they are encamped on the estate of Drabowski, a member of the landed gentry. Under the command of Colonel Yazstremski, the troops are ordered to arrest all suspicious looking characters. In the field, the old shepherd, Grishki, calls on his 20-something year old son, Grishka, to help conduct the Bolshevik, Stepan, to the blacksmith, Andrei. Stepan hopes to organize local resistance to harass the Poles while waiting for an attack by Red Army forces. The movie --- though far from being in good condition and missing parts of it --- is nonetheless of great interest to those interested in the history and culture of the region not only for covering a topic rarely seen on the screen, but for providing shots of Minsk, which, thanks to German racial and economic policies, and the battles to reclaim the city in 1944, are forever lost to the world.

DVD-r has Russian intertitles with switchable English subtitles. Approx. 84 mins. See film sample for audio and video quality!