THE NEW BABYLON (1929) David Gutman, Yelena Kuzmina & Andrei Kostrichkin |Drama|B&W|Vintage Cinema

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The New Babylon (Russian: Новый Вавилон, romanized: Novyy Vavilon alt. title: Russian: Штурм неба, romanized: Shturm neba) is a 1929 silent historical drama film written and directed by Grigori Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg. The film deals with the 1871 Paris Commune and the events leading to it, and follows the encounter and tragic fate of two lovers separated by the barricades of the Commune.

Composer Dmitri Shostakovich wrote his first film score for this movie. In the fifth reel of the score he quotes the revolutionary anthem, "La Marseillaise" (representing the Commune), juxtaposed contrapuntally with the famous "Can-can" from Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld.

Footage from The New Babylon was included in Guy Debord's feature film The Society of the Spectacle (1973).

Kozintsev and Trauberg found some of their inspiration in Karl Marx's The Civil War in France and The Class Struggle in France, 1848–50.

Synopsis

The film is set in the spring of 1871 during the time of the Paris Commune, immediately after the end of the Franco-Prussian War. Louise is employed as a salesperson in a wholesale store in Paris named "The New Babylon". She is involved in the Commune, against which Jean, a young man from the countryside with no political affiliations, has to fight as a soldier in the army controlled by the French government. Louise and Jean are in love with each other although they are on opposing sides, but their love has no place in a time of political turmoil. At the end of the film, Jean is ordered to dig a grave for Louise, who has been sentenced to death by the court.

Cast & Crew

Arnold Arnold – deputy
Sergei Gerasimov – journalist Loutro
David Gutman – owner of the shop "New Babylon"
Oleg Zhakov – member of the Paris Commune
Yanina Zhejmo – milliner Teresa
Andrei Kostrichkin – bailiff
Elena Kuzmina – saleswoman Louise
Sofiya Magarill – actress
Tamara Makarova – cancan dancer
Vsevolod Pudovkin – bailiff
Lyudmila Semyonova – cancan dancer
Pyotr Sobolevsky – soldier Jean
Eugene Chervyakov – soldier of the national guard

Directed by: Grigori Kozintsev, Leonid Trauberg
Written by: Grigori Kozintsev, Leonid Trauberg, P. Bliakin (idea)
Cinematography: Andrei Moskvin, Yevgeny Mikhailov
Music by: Dmitri Shostakovich
Production company: Sovkino
Release date: 18 March 1929
Country: Soviet Union