This movie was produced by Zoyuzkinokronika (later known as Central Studio) and features footage from 1935 spliced with additional footage shot in 1937-38. (At the time there was a showcase celebrating Chkalov’s first successful non-stop flight to USA.) The film portrays the Central Park of Rest and Recreation of Maxim Gorky in Moscow, now known as Gorky Park, and its highlights. It contains a rare glimpse @2:40 at the early Soviet advertisement culture, much deplored by the contemporary writers, which aggressively featured slogans and mascots, and which was unknown and forgotten by the postwar USSR.
0:10 – 1:10 Panorama of the Moscow park of culture, parachute jump tower (built 1929), cinema building with a portrait of Maxim Gorky OR Joseph Stalin pan towards the “Oriental carpet” flowerbed, Maxim Gorky’s silhouette portrait and along the main axis of the park towards the tents of the amusement .
1:18 Card: The park is a scene of constant activity available at all times to Moscow’s 4 million inhabitants
1:29 – 1:36 Holidaymakers
1:36-1:43 Radio and local sound system loudspeakers at the park, which usually played music during the opening time and served as a main source of radio news for a number of neighbors.
1:44 Public holiday. A horse parade float and some masked and disguised people
1:51 dummies of “capitalists” Alexander Kerenski and a taller unidentifiable person possibly prince Lwoff
1:54 dummies of an “Old peasant couple”
2:02 The summer “chamber theater”‘s back wall.
2:05 Card: Despite the many visitors it is never overcrowded
2:11 – 2:32 Ubranites on holiday, a group of clowns walking on stilts
2:34-2:39 Mirrored mobile sculpture. The Gorky Park continues to serve as a temporary expo grounds for contemporary art to the day.
2:40- Crowds at the park. Couple of bakers’ sculptural mascots with an ad slogan printed underneath the first
2:55 Doughnuts
3:03 Greek vases, police in pre-1939 white summer uniforms
3:17 Second version of the much-installed Romuald Yodko’s “Diving woman” sculpture, installed 1930, removed and replaced by the a bronze version seen here, in 1935, which was moved to its current position in Neskuchny Park sometime in 1937 or 1938.
3:25 Card : Red Army men and workers in every industry and profession may be seen here at all times
3:35 Crowds of people at the park
3:45 A merry-go-round
3:58 Volleyball players. As previously mentioned volleyball was one of the USSR’s national sports
4:23 Chess. Alexander Alekhine was still somewhat a national treasure, but bitterly resented after leaving USSR, and there was competition against the “Germans”(Bogoljubov) in the air, still, a peaceful competition so far.
5:07 Card: In addition to recreation there are many lectures and demonstrations in various arts and sciences
5:16 Scientific demonstrations of centrifugal force, photoelectric effect
6:04-6:30 A militaryman explaining the record-setting direct flight from USSR to USA of Chkalov Baidukov and Belyakov in june 1937
6:20 Young Pioneers by the looks of it, listening to the aeronautical adventure, “Cinema, Latest news” in the background
6:32 Card: One of the park’s theaters with its 20,000 seats, is the largest in the world
6:40 The abovementioned theater
6:47 Card: The Sorochinsk Fair
6:50 Here we see a Mussorgsky’s piece which is a re-enactment, however the fair of Sorochinsk was a famous Russian imperial fair, held in Sorochintsy, Ukraine five times a year and, on a much lesser scale in USSR, yearly, until the start of WW2, which put it into a 50-year hiatus.
7:20 – 8:25 Traditional Ukrainian dances
8:48 Card: “Visitors from sunny Tadjikistan demonstrate their national folk art.”
9:15 -9:49 Traditional Tajik men’s dance with the batons “Padida”
9:52-10:22 Traditional Tajik women’s dance continued
10:25-10:31 , followed by an applause
10:49 Card : “And at night — “
10:53 Sailing and kayaking at dusk
11:00 Couples and the mirror palm tree moving sculpture again
11:35 Card : “One of the Park’s popular cafes”
11:41 People at the cafe, ordering, talking, waitress getting fruit for the clients.
13:03 Young woman eating either whipped cream or ice cream
13:25 Fountain with the “Girl with an oar”
13:39 Closeup.
13:53 Closing shot with the statue and the fountains bathed in the soft rays of the setting sun.
14:00 The Grand Kremlin Palace at night zooming out to a 5-pointed star cutout
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
