
The Devil's Wheel
Action · Crime
Overview
Typically of the heady days of early Soviet cinema, this is constructed according to the fast, sharp editing principles advocated by Eisenstein, complete with symbolic inserts; but in terms of subject matter, it's much less explicitly political than most movies emerging from Russia in the '20s. Chronicling a young sailor's descent into a murky, treacherous underworld of pimps and thieves, after having encountered a Louise Brooks lookalike at a fairground and missed his departing boat, it's a lively moral fable that delights in vivid visual effects and quirky characterisations. If the plot occasionally reveals gaping holes, and the tacked-on ending urging the clearance of the Leningrad slums seems to be rather gratuitous, there's enough going on to keep one attentive and amused.
Top Cast


Pyotr Sobolevsky
Pyotr Sobolevsky
Vanya Shorin, Red fleet sailor
Pyotr Sobolevsky
Vanya Shorin, Red fleet sailor


Lyudmila Semyonova
Lyudmila Semyonova
Valya
Lyudmila Semyonova
Valya


Sergei Gerasimov
Sergei Gerasimov
The Question Man
Sergei Gerasimov
The Question Man


Emil Gal
Emil Gal
Koko, vaudeville performer
Emil Gal
Koko, vaudeville performer
Antonio Tserep
Antonio Tserep
Tavern Owner
Antonio Tserep
Tavern Owner


Nikolay Gorodnichev
Nikolay Gorodnichev
House manager
Nikolay Gorodnichev
House manager
V. Lande
V. Lande
Cafe dancer
V. Lande
Cafe dancer


Sergei Martinson
Sergei Martinson
Orchestra conductor
Sergei Martinson
Orchestra conductor
Yevgeniy Kumeyko
Yevgeniy Kumeyko
Hooligan
Yevgeniy Kumeyko
Hooligan
I. Berezin
I. Berezin
Hooligan
I. Berezin
Hooligan
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