Oct. 28th, 2009

shewhomust: (mamoulian)
I justify my insistence on skimming through the piles of (very) old newspapers before I recycle them with the argument that all sorts of treasures lurk within. Today brings an example, a review of East Side Story, which saw and loved, presumably about the time of this review (October 1998). Occasionally I try to tell people that there is a documentary about Eastern bloc musicals, and that not only is it wonderful, some of the featured extracts make you want to see the films they are taken from, too - and they give me that tolerant 'she's delirious again' look.

Now, armed with title, date, and the names of directors Andrew Horn and Dana Ranga, not to mention the wonders of the internet, I can track it down: here's the IMDb listing. There are copies for sale, though not affordably so, on Amazon.UK and Amazon.com. The Guardian review hasn't made it onto the internet (yet?) but but there's a review from the New York Times on open access.

What's more, some of those featured movies are still extant, too: the University of Massachusetts has a copy of Midnight Review, Amazon has Stalin's favourite, Volga, Volga (though only in the US). The Jolly Fellows (Vesyolye rebyata) sounds to be of historical interest only (there aren't many films which can boast the endorsement 'Anyone who dares to make a movie as humourous as this must be a brave man - J. Stalin'), but it can be found on Amazon, albeit in VHS.

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