Nikolai Ekk: Road to Life (1931)
Starring Ivan Kyrlia, Nikolai Batalov, Mikhail Zharov
Description: Devoted to the reforging of homeless children into socialist citizens, this film begins with a classic scene taken from the life of the Moscow street gangs in 1923, at the height of NEP. The film offers a fine record of the street culture of the bezprizorniks: the petty crime, the slang, even "Gop so smykom" [a gop is a thief; smyk is slang for pat down. Thus a gop so smykom is pickpocket or heist]. The film is historical for a number of other reasons, these connected with the cinema business. It is the first Soviet talking film, using the tagephone technology developed in the Soviet Union. It was also one of the final Russian-language films released by Mezhrabpom-Rus, a joint German-Russian studio and the last private movie-maker in Soviet Russia.