Редактирование зарубежных фильмов в СССР как культурно- исторический феномен

Abstract

The powers of Soviet fi lm editing extended not only to the sphere of creating domestic fi lms, but also to such areas as the selection and distribution of foreign fi lms. The topic of the article is ideological and aesthetic criteria by which a foreign picture received the right to be shown in the USSR. Editor’s work aff ected all the elements of the cinema process: from the «little things in life» to the fundamental issues of confronting social systems. The rental of a foreign – especially «capitalist» fi lms, sometimes of the most innocent content, nevertheless assumed the presence of a certain ideological message (even if it was not originally intended). One way or another, an idea should have formed in the viewer’s mind: the bourgeois “foreign land” is inevitably inferior to the advantages of living in the country of “triumphant socialism”. The fi lm background of analysis is mainly the work of leading capitalist cinematographies: USA, France, Italy, Germany and Japan. The directions of editorial work related to the adaptation of foreign paintings for the Soviet screen are considered: “political” and “aesthetic” remounting; practice of the names and “renaming” of the fi lm; the reasons why the contents were cut; culture of Soviet film dubbing; the history of «shelf» foreign fi lms in the USSR.