Little Red Devils (Ivan Perestiani; USSR, 1923)

(Tsiteli eshmakunebi/Krasnye d’iavoliata, a.k.a. Red Imps). Jay Leyda considered Little Red Devils “the first Soviet (Georgian) film to compete successfully with all foreign products on the country’s screens.” Set in the Ukraine during the Civil War, the film adopts the styles of American adventure films à la Douglas Fairbanks (and D. W. Griffith) in narrating the exploits of two daredevil teenagers (brother and sister) and a young black acrobat who volunteer as scouts in the Red Cavalry. V. Sutyrin gives an interesting portrayal of the anarchist leader Makhno, whose band of “bandits” is pursued by Budyenny’s cavalry in the film’s freewheeling recreation of historical events.

• Written by Pavel Blyakhin, Perestiani. Photographed by Alexander Digmelov. With Pyotr Yesikovsky, Sofia Zozeffi, Kador Ben-Selim, V. Sutyrin. (100 mins, Silent with Russian intertitles and simultaneous English translation, B&W, 35mm, BAM/PFA Collection)