Made during the Soviet era, this propaganda / news film starts with the high treason criminal case against Oleg Penkovski, looks into the ravages of alcoholism, the penal system and the rehabilitation and isolation of criminals. It also examines the inevitable question– why some USSR salaries are higher than others? It does this by discussing the difficulty of various jobs and the living environment of the workers. The next section explains the importance of electricity in production and the leading role of the government in planning the economy, as well as the importance of grouping similar types of production in general. Like most propaganda films, the argument at work is that Soviet economy and social system are better than Western counterparts.
Highlights:
00:09 Criminal case against Penkovski O.V. and Wynne G.M. concerning unlawful acts described by Articles 64, Article 65 of the USSR’s RSFSR Criminal code. Article 64 is Treason, Article 65 is Espionage. This is the 30th of November 1962. Oleg Vladimirovich Penkovsky codenamed HERO, was a Soviet military intelligence (GRU) colonel during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Penkovsky is known for informing the UK about the Soviet emplacement of missiles in Cuba. He was arrested in October 1962 and tried and executed the following year.
00:15 The Supreme Court of the USSR
00:20 Penkovski
00:23 Greville Wynne. Wynne was a British engineer and businessman who was recruited by MI6 because of his frequent travel to Eastern Europe. He became known for acting as a courier to transport top-secret information to London from Penkovsky. He was sentenced to eight years at Lubyanka prison.
00:27 A camera team and the court audience, most certainly all are from the military and KGB.
00:30 Prosecutor, presumably V.V. Borisoglebsky “Were you a member of the two (opposing) intelligence agencies, simultaneously?” Penkovsky: “I decided to not make a choice, and worked with both intelligences.”
00:43 The attorney, presumably, A.K. Apraksin. A detailed description of the court appearance.
00:48 Man, sucking on a thumb, in the audience.
1:00 footage of an American street with the voiceover “with the suppression of the capitalist exploitation, there’s no need for active suppression of the worker …”
1:05 footage of a Soviet street
1:10 An arrest
1:24 Alcoholics at the Soviet Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg) city police-managed rehab. Soviet PSA against public drunkenness with a bottle transforming into a noose.
1:44 Footage of an interrogation with the voiceover: “lately we listen and re-educate”.
2:10 Police van.
2:30 footage of metalworkers in a factory. Narrator:”The formation of the salary depends on the produced quality and quantity, which is why, the salaries of highly qualified professionals… “
3:30 Footage of the Ural-2 computer and possibly Bashir Rameev, Soviet inventor and scientist, one of the founders of Soviet computing.
3:35 Surgery.
3:52 Parasols, designed by George Nelson and MIT Albert Dietz’s and produced by Vitra Inc. for the American stand at the 1959 Exhibition in Moscow, seen here in Aleksandrovsky Square in Yalta. The parasols outlived the USSR and replaced by an identical copy in 2002.
3:55 Port of Yalta
4:00 USIS road roller and SS Admiral Nakhimov in the b/g. (In 1986, Admiral Nakhimov collided with the Pyotr Vasev in the Tsemes Bay, and quickly sank. 423 of the 1,234 people on board died).
4:05 Beachgoers
4:11 Workers in the polar night
4:40 Industrial diver, miners, narrator: ” those working in difficult and dangerous jobs also receive an increased pay for their efforts”.
5:00 Feliks pinwheel calculator, mechanical calculator or Odhner Arithmometer
5:20 Ural-4 computer (produced from 1961)
5:24 Control room for a power station
5:25 various heavy industry, chemical plant, steel mills , dairy plant, GAZ car factory. Narrator: “The most important function of the government is to coordinate and plan the production…”
6:44 Moscow First Watch Factory, initially equipped by Hampden Watch company
7:00 Power line interruptor manufacturing
7:26 Electronics manufacturing
7:42 AN-22 registry number СССР-46191 landing. A famous airplane, it has participated in a few Le Bourget international Air Expos.
7:52 ZIL trucks and Belorus tractors unloading. Voiceover: “This is an example of such achievement – the giant Antei airplane capable of moving much more cargo, than its predecessors”
8:20 Pervouralsky Pipe Factory. “There’s nothing surprising in the fact that all the factory is automated. This is the rationale behind grouping and concentrating production.”
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
