The Russian Revolution -- September 29, 2017

Moving Picture World, 08-September-1917

The Russian Revolution was a hot topic by September, 1917.  Czar Nicholas II and his family were already dead, but most people didn't know that.  Some years ago I worked with an older man who had grown up in the Soviet Union.  He was surprised that I remembered when Alexander Kerensky had died.  He said they called Kerensky something like "The man of five minutes." 

Herbert Brenon's The Fall of the Romanoffs (sic - JT)  featured a Russian clergyman called Iliodor, who wrote a book about Rasputin.  His real name was Sergei Mikhailovich Trufanov. 

Moving Picture World, 08-September-1917

 I'll bet the movie required some reshooting because of current events. 

Moving Picture World, 15-September-1917

Among the characters in this ad is Kaiser Wilhelm II, a cousin of Czar Nicholas. 

Moving Picture World, 22-September-1917

The review by Edward Weitzel says that the movie reflected "the swift onrush of events" and that Iliodor "was surprisingly excellent before the camera." 

Moving Picture World, 29-September-1917

This two-page spread is flanked by Czar Nicholas and Kaiser Wilhelm. 

Moving Picture World, 01-September-1917

"The only official motion pictures of the Great Russian Revolution." 

Moving Picture World, 08-September-1917

"Presented by the Skobeleff Committee for the relief of Russian Wounded and Disabled Soldiers."  I have not been able to learn anything about the committee. 

Moving Picture World, 29-September-1917

"joined the advancing hosts of democracy" -- didn't work out.