In the Days of Struggle (1920)

An agit-film about the struggle of Ukrainian peasants against the White Poles. A young woman, the daughter of a blacksmith taken prisoner by the White Poles, and a Red commander organise a partisan unit. One scene depicts the capture of a Polish landowner attempting to elude capture. He had been hiding from the Red Army soldiers in a barrel. The peasants nailed the barrel shut and, having inscribed the words: ‘To Warsaw – to Mr Piłsudski’, threw it into the Dnieper. The role of the Red commander was V.I. Pudovkin’s first film role. The production was carried out by a group of students from the State Film School as part of a competition organised by the All-Union Film and Cinematography Committee (VFK). Lost film.