St. Jorgen's Day


St. Jorgen's Day, is a 1930 Soviet, partly silent comedy film by Yakov Protazanov and starring Igor Ilyinsky.
Uncredited are the original novel by Harald Bergstedt, and the cues written by Ilf and Petrov.

Plot summary

Before the church holiday celebrating St. Jorgen, the thief Korkis escapes from prison and mingles with the gathering celebrants. He sees the large amounts of money being made by those hosting the celebration, who are mainly clergy. Korkis cannot refrain from getting involved in this venture. Together with an accomplice they conceive and realize a way to fraudulently extract at least a small part of the money flowing into the hosts' coffers.

Cast

Films from this period often combine silent and sound sequences.
Most of St. Jorgen's Day was shot without recorded sound. These sequences have Russian intertitles, an orchestral and choral score, and occasional sound effects or added dialogue. A specific scene can use sound effects and intertitles together. The often-impressive exterior scenes were shot silent on location. Interspersed throughout the film are short indoor scenes with recorded sound. The opening credit sequence uses sound, with the principal performers speaking in costume as their characters.

Quotes

- And how about ascendables?