Breve Storia del Cinema - La scuola del montaggio sovietico http://brevestoriadelcinema.altervista.org/11-1.html This early Soviet animation enacts many of the diverse political and newsworthy events of the early 1920s, which appeared in the newspaper Pravda. The animation encourages citizens of the Soviet Union to join the Soviet worker, the Soviet peasant and the Red Army against the evil forces who are working with the NEPman (New Economic Policy) against the Soviet State. The Soviet worker and peasant battle the gluttonous behaviour of the NEPman, work together to control the two priests representing the schism in the Russian Orthodox Church and use a pair of scissors to represent the common man's triumph over the Scissors Crisis, a period in early NEP when there was a widening gap between industrial and agricultural prices. Soviet Toys also pays homage to the power of advertisement and the role of film advertising in saving the Soviet economy from NEPmen. Just before the ending of Soviet Toys the appearance of the advertising man forces the NEPman to shrink back down to size, so that advertisement of state goods is the ultimate destroyer of the NEPman's power. While demonstrating Vertov's early theory and cinematic techniques, Soviet Toys offers the viewer a greater understanding of the nexus between 1920s politics and agitational journalism. Like Vertov's Kinoprada, his early newsreels, Soviet Toys draws directly from the news of the day. The film uses current political events from the newspaper Pravda and the work of political cartoonist Viktor Deni as inspiration. Deni's political cartoons and Soviet Toys are strikingly similar in their depictions of the position of the so-called NEPmen and NEPwomen (products of the New Economic Policy), the schism in the Russian Orthodox Church, and the union of the peasant and worker. The image designs and animation in Soviet Toys have raised questions about the technical competence of these early Soviet animators. The image design for Soviet Toys deliberately alternates crude childish drawings and more elaborate iris shots. Despite the apparently incomplete and primitive quality of the animation for this time, Vertov is intentionally playing on viewers' familiarity of news print media. For example, there is very little depth or detail to the Red Army Soldiers, the Worker and the Peasant who look like caricatures from the newspaper. Early animators rely on an iris shot to economize the drawings and cut-outs and to effectively create more complete personalities for the characters. The iris shot, a transition analogous to the fade-in used in early silent film, forces the viewer to focus on something particular; the rest of the screen is blacked out. One of the most extensive uses of the iris shot is during the section of the film devoted to the Scissor Crisis, the period in early NEP when a widening gap between industrial and agricultural prices appeared. This gap reached a peak in October of 1923 when industrial prices were three times greater than agricultural prices. During this time peasants' incomes fell and it became impossible for peasants to buy manufactured goods. As a result NEPmen were subjected to various taxes and other restrictions on their ability to conduct commerce. In the film the worker and the peasant come together to crush the NEPman's stomach, which the priests are hiding behind. Money rolls out of the NEPman's stomach and straight into the People's Bank. Iris shots magnify the fear in the NEPman's face and in the faces of the Old and the New churchmen. The last iris shot in the scene is a close-up of the peasant's traditional blunt-pointed hand-woven bast shoe tearing into the NEPman's stomach as if he were made of newspaper like Deni's cartoons. Vertov's Soviet Toys is more than just an animated version of his newsreel featuring newsworthy events; it also pays homage to the power of advertisement and the role of film advertising in saving the Soviet economy from the NEPmen. Just before the ending the audience is once again reminded of the importance of film advertising. A man with a propeller for a mouth and camera lenses for eyes is shown with a sign for film advertisement within Goskino. The appearance of the Soviet advertising man forces the NEPman to shrink back down to size, so that advertisement of state goods is the ultimate destroyer of the NEPman's power. In Vertov's Soviet Toys the power of animation and advertisement bolster the Soviet economy through the advertising services of Goskino. In the last scenes of the animation the NEPman, the NEPwoman and the Russian Orthodox priests, who all represent the past, are shown hanging from a tree built from Red Army soldiers. http://worldcinemadirectory.co.uk/component/film/?id=434

• published: 12 Dec 2013
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