Documentary film about early years of Russian cinema: its first directors, cameramen, producers and actors. Includes rare fragments of pre-revolutionary feature films, newsreels and Starewicz's animation.

From his early silent works, the great Russian film director, Herr Yakov Protazanov, made literary adaptations from equally great Russian writers, as is the case with "Chiny I Lyudi" ( Ranks And People ) (1929) in which three short stories by Chekhov, "Anna On The Neck", "Death Of A Petty Official" and "Chameleon" were assembled for the silent screen.

A small town postal official allows a military officer to take his lovely daughter away to St. Petersburg, assuming the man will do the right thing and marry her.Instead, a future of scandal and tragedy await her.

A short movie based on Anton Chekhov novels.

"Polikushka" was the only film directed by Aleksandr Sanin, one of Moscow Art Academic Theatre's founders, and is based on Lev Tolstoy's homonym short story. In spite the many differences between the literary oeuvre and its film adaptation it is a remarkable work that is outstanding for its depiction of the cruel realities of Russian society -the harsh life condition of its main character and his family in contrast to the wealth of his mistress;

An overview of the 75-year history of the Moscow Art Theatre containing unique historical footage, including rare excerpts from various stage productions.