Shame (1932) review - Weirdly gripping Soviet propaganda

If you have a soft spot for dusty, old Soviet propaganda that actually tries to have a beating heart, Shame (1932) is worth a watch on a rainy Tuesday. Anyone who hates heavy-handed industrial politics and old men crying over giant metal turbines should stay far, far away.

The movie is set during the first Five Year Plan. It is basically about this elderly worker in a Leningrad factory who gets tricked by a sneaky saboteur. ⚙️

Honestly, the plot is a bit like a cartoon safety video about watching out for bad guys at work. But the way they shoot the factory? Man, it looks amazing.

There is this one scene where the camera just stares at the giant spinning metal gears. It goes on for like, a whole minute, and you can almost smell the machine oil.

You can tell the directors—Fridrikh Ermler and Sergei Yutkevich—were totally obsessed with the machines. It almost feels like a sci-fi movie at times, like The Sign of the Cross but with steel instead of Romans.

The old guy, Babchenko, is played by Vladimir Sladkopevtsev and he is so tragic. He just wants to drink his tea and do his job, but this sleek, bad-guy engineer keeps whispering in his ear.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Shame (1932) through its definitive frames.

The bad guy has this hilariously evil mustache. You know he is the villain the second he walks on screen because he doesn't wear worker clothes. 🥸

Some of the acting is... well, it is very theatrical. Lots of wide eyes and holding hands to foreheads like they are on a theater stage.

But then there is a scene where they are testing the turbine. The noise is incredible—well, as incredible as 1932 sound design can be.

It is mostly just loud humming, but everyone in the room looks like they are about to explode from stress. I found myself holding my breath.

It is silly because we know how these Soviet films have to end. Still, the tension in that sweaty room is very real.

Also, Nikolay Cherkasov is in this! He plays a minor role as a postman, I think? He is so young here, it is wild to see him before he became Ivan the Terrible.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Shame (1932) through its definitive frames.

The movie does drag in the middle. There is a lot of meetings.

Oh my god, the meetings. People sitting around tables arguing about percentages and production quotas.

I almost fell asleep during the second meeting about the blueprint errors. It felt like being at a real, boring office job.

But then they play this upbeat, triumphant music and everyone starts cheering. The mood swings in this film are incredibly fast.

If you've seen other films from this era, like maybe Silent Sanderson, you know how dry these old black-and-whites can get. But Shame has some genuine soul hidden under the cold concrete.

A few things I wrote down while watching:

• The sound of the steam whistle is loud enough to wake the dead.
• Why does the main villain look like he belongs in a spy movie?
• The montage of the workers moving in sync is actually pretty cool.
• I wish I cared about turbine efficiency as much as these guys do.

It is not a masterpiece, and the message is shoved down your throat with a shovel. But it has a weird, clunky charm that I kind of loved.