Chapaev

            Chapaev is a film that was created in 1934 and it was the first Soviet blockbuster movie. The film was directed by the Vasilev brothers. Chapaev concerns General Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev and the fighting that occurred between the Red Army and the White Army during the Civil War that took place from 1917-1923. I think that Chapaev succeeded with the public due to different factors in the film. Having sound present in the film probably drew people to Chapaev as sound was a relatively new revolution in film. The content of the film is entertaining. There are likable characters and there is action and adventure. The viewer can actually hear the dialogue between characters, so the film is easier to understand as nothing is missing from the dialogue. General Chapaev is a character that Russians would enjoy seeing as well. He is seen as a hero from the civil war. The war had great impact on Russia, so the subject matter of the film would be of interest to the Russian public. 

            The director made excellent use of sound. Characters had emotion when they spoke, which helps the viewer understand the character and what motivates them. The battle scenes in the film sounded and felt like real battles. In Battleship Potemkin, the lack of sound seemed to hurt the battle scenes. They did not feel as intense as they did in Chapaev. 

            Sound is not the only way that Chapaev differed from Battleship Potemkin. Chapaev had more variety than Battleship Potemkin. There were drama scenes, action scenes, songs, and different characters and storylines. Battleship Potemkin remained serious throughout the course of the film, and there were not many characters. In Battleship Potemkin, there would be many people on screen, but few of them were actually given names or lines. Chapaev characters are fully developed by the end of the film. This helps draw the viewer into the film because the viewer becomes attached to the characters in Chapaev and cares about what happens to them. In Battleship Potemkin, the lack of sound results in a lack of dialogue. This makes the characters in the film static characters. Battleship Potemkin also suffers from the lack of a constant character in the film. Vakulinchuk is killed after the mutiny, and the film then switches to the citizens of Odessa. Once the section of the film concerning the citizens of Odessa is completed, the film goes back to the sailors on the ship. This makes it difficult for the viewer to sympathize with a certain character, because characters quickly enter and exit the film.