"Viewed as a visual poem, or as an early example of the inventive (even experimental) talkie, By the Bluest of Seas is a wonderful experience."
About the series:
"By the Bluest of Seas has been released by Ruscico (the Russian Cinema Council) as part of their Hyperkino series. Six of the series have been picked up MovieMail to distribute in the UK, the others in the series being Eisenstein’s Strike and October, Lev Kuleshov’s Engineer Prite’s Project and The Great Consoler, and Alexander Medvedkin’s Happiness. (Click here for further information.) The format is a simple one, but effective. Essentially the films come in two-disc editions, one of which presents the main feature with a variety of the subtitle options, whilst the other contains an annotated edition in either English or Russian. These annotations are available throughout the film and signified by a number appearing in the corner of the screen. Press the ‘enter’ button on your remote at this point and some relevant information appears onscreen. These are mostly text-based, but occasionally will involve facsimiles of original documentation, a short clip or two, even a full-length documentary (Engineer Prite’s Project contains an hour-long doc on Kuleshov, for example, amongst its annotations). In the case of By the Bluest of Seas, all additional notes were text only, but that doesn’t prevent a wealth of information being revealed. Here we find anecdotal notes taken from cast and crew reminiscences and biographies, not to mention analysis of key moments, a highlighting of technical devices and reference to the reaction of critics, audiences and Barnet himself, who reportedly hated all of his films and apologised for them regularly!"
