Lev Kuleshov’s directorial debut is a landmark work of Russian cinema, being the first film to use what came to be known as ‘Soviet montage’. Although Kuleshov is little known outside of his native country, he was a true film pioneer, and his students included such great directors as Pudovkin and Barnet.
In Engineer Prite’s Project a young, dynamic engineer, whose talents have helped him rise above humble origins, is pitted against an entrenched capitalist whose oil company’s profits are threatened when Prite develops a plan to turn peat into energy.
Also included is an important 55-minute documentary, The Kuleshov Effect (1969), which provides a helpful overview of the director's career, with clips from his major films up to The Great Consoler, along with interviews with Kuleshov, scenarist and Russian Formalist critic Viktor Shklovski and others.
The film is presented as a 2-disc 'hyperkino edition'. Disc 1 contains the standard film in the best available print, with optional subtitles. Disc 2 contains the film, plus numerous scene-specific annotations, video clips and documents (in Russian and in English). These can be viewed on screen, contextualising the film and enhancing the viewer’s understanding. This innovative format works extremely well and is one of the most exciting developments in DVD for years. It is especially valuable for important works of world cinema whose historical contexts crave further exploration.
