"You have no right to have any doubts!" says the factory's Communiust Party secretary at one point. Elsewhere he says "There are times when scientific objectivity is politically wrong." As well as Shostakovich's music -and the interaction of music and sound- factory whistles, the noises as a turbine builds up to top speed, the sound of machinery; it'd be interesting to know how composer, directories and sound technicians worked together- it's an interesting film because it has to reflect those viewpoints and at the same time try to be or seem truthful. Thus, the CP secretary is a Latin-seducer type, bullying and wheedling people to do what he wants but- for all his power- so ignorant he cannot get an engineer a slide-rule when asked; the engineer is willing to dismiss workers with essential skills for petty offences; the worker may be skilled and dedicated but he is a drunk who measures by guess and god and gets it wrong. There may be a sabotage plot, but considering the things that go wrong without sabotage- misjudgement of measurement by the drunk, a forge collapsing- it doesn't work and- ironically- it is revealed by a man the saboteur has been teaching. The alleged saboteur is taken away by the K.G.B. but his colleagues petition successfully to have him released and the turbine works perfectly bringing respect to the face of the sceptical English expert who is to assess it and all ends happily with two more characters joining the C.P. We never see the sequel when they are in the Gulag, of course.
2 Reviews
Contains Shostakovich's biggest hit!
tcushion19 November 2005
Vstrechnyy, usually interpreted as Counterplan, also known by the alternative titles Passer-by, Encounter and Turbine No. 50,000 was made for the Leningrad Rosfilm studio and co-directed by Fridrikh Ermler and Sergei Yutkevich.
The plot concerns the foiling of an attempt by 'wreckers' to sabotage the Leningrad turbine factory in which they work, though on the evidence of this film, there is more talking, vodka consumption and meetings than actual work taking place.
Interest today will mainly lie in the music score to the film, composed by Dmitri Shostakovich, his fourth effort in the genre and following on from New Babylon, Alone and The Golden Mountains, this last also directed by Ermler and Yutkevich and also co-starring Boris Tenin.
Two songs were especially composed, 'Song of the Meeting initially played over the film's opening credits and 'How Long will my Heart Ache'. 'Song of the Meeting' proved enormously popular, equally so in the West as well as the Soviet Union and it was later arranged as 'United Nations on the March' with new words by Harold Rome and climaxed the Hollywood film 'Thousands Cheer' (MGM, 1943).
Shostakovich recycled the tune in a number subsequent compositions, including the films Michurin (1949) and Moscow, Cheryomushki (1962). 'Song of the Meeting' has been recorded (Delos DE 3313, Mikhail Lukonin, baritone and Yuri Serov, piano - 2004) also the three known orchestral excerpts (Russian Disc RD CD 10 018, Byelorussian Radio & TV Symphony Orchestra conducted by Walter Mnatsakanov - 1997).
For a more detailed discussion on this and other films with music by Shostakovich, see Dmitri Shostakovich: A Life in Film, written by John Riley and published by I. B. Tauris, London and New York in the series Kinofiles Film Companion, 2004.
The plot concerns the foiling of an attempt by 'wreckers' to sabotage the Leningrad turbine factory in which they work, though on the evidence of this film, there is more talking, vodka consumption and meetings than actual work taking place.
Interest today will mainly lie in the music score to the film, composed by Dmitri Shostakovich, his fourth effort in the genre and following on from New Babylon, Alone and The Golden Mountains, this last also directed by Ermler and Yutkevich and also co-starring Boris Tenin.
Two songs were especially composed, 'Song of the Meeting initially played over the film's opening credits and 'How Long will my Heart Ache'. 'Song of the Meeting' proved enormously popular, equally so in the West as well as the Soviet Union and it was later arranged as 'United Nations on the March' with new words by Harold Rome and climaxed the Hollywood film 'Thousands Cheer' (MGM, 1943).
Shostakovich recycled the tune in a number subsequent compositions, including the films Michurin (1949) and Moscow, Cheryomushki (1962). 'Song of the Meeting' has been recorded (Delos DE 3313, Mikhail Lukonin, baritone and Yuri Serov, piano - 2004) also the three known orchestral excerpts (Russian Disc RD CD 10 018, Byelorussian Radio & TV Symphony Orchestra conducted by Walter Mnatsakanov - 1997).
For a more detailed discussion on this and other films with music by Shostakovich, see Dmitri Shostakovich: A Life in Film, written by John Riley and published by I. B. Tauris, London and New York in the series Kinofiles Film Companion, 2004.
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