STORM OVER ASIA Movie Review

The Heir to Genghis Khan

In Central Asia in 1920, a wounded Mongolian trapper is discovered to be a descendent of Genghis Khan, and he is placed in the position of puppet emperor of a British-controlled Mongolian province. As he regains his health, the evil designs of the oppressive, would-be colonialist rulers—in league with treacherous White troops—becomes clear to him, and he turns his anger and his soldiers against them in a great “storm” of Mongolian military might. Soviet filmmaking pioneer Vsevolod Pudovkin created an overwhelming, exhilarating visual spectacle in his 1928 silent masterpiece Storm over Asia. Using actual locations and stunning, documentary-like photography, Pudovkin assembled the film using the sophisticated, multiple-story, cross-cutting techniques that seem bold and breathtaking even today.

NEXT STOP … Mother (l926), Strike, Kagemusha

1928 70m/B RU I. Inkizhinov, Valeri Inkizhinov, A. Christiakov, A. Dedinstev, V. Tzoppi, Paulina Belinskaya; D: Vsevolod Pudovkin. VHS IHF, FST, VYY