Tsirk (5.8/10) (1936) dir. Grigori Aleksandrov and Isidor Simkov

This strange Soviet musical epitomized the “cinema of attractions” with its eccentric circus acts and musical performances. It also exemplified the socialist realism style that was dominant in the USSR in which the glorification of socialist values is juxtaposed with realistic images. The film is about a circus performer who has a black baby and is subsequently chased away from the ‘racist’ United States. She becomes a circus performer in the USSR and when it is revealed there that she has given birth to a black baby, the Soviets reveal how accepting they are of people of all races. Then there is a grandiose multi-cultural parade with large banners of Stalin. The film both glorifies socialism and demonizes the United States, which was somewhat strange to see given that U.S. history classes taught me that the Soviet Union was the epicenter of all evil. Maybe those Russians were right about the whole socialism thing, but who knows.