Komsomolsk or The Frozen North (also known a City of Youth) is a 1938 Soviet drama film directed by Sergei Gerasimov. Made by Lenfilm, it is a propaganda work set against the backdrop of the construction of the new city of Komsomolsk. Although the film portrays this as the work of the Young Communist volunteers, it was in reality built largely by Gulag prisoners.
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Plot
The year is 1932, and the Soviet state is developing at an exceptionally rapid pace. Numerous young men and women, who have joined the Komsomol, travel to the Amur region to build a new, vibrant city named in honor of their organization. However, not everyone shares the enthusiasm for strenuous labor based on unconditional trust into authorities. Among them is a saboteur determined to disrupt the construction plans.
Cast
Pyotr Aleynikov as Pyotr
Sergei Gerasimov
Yevgeniya Golynchik as Cossack Woman
Bari Haydarov as Kilia
Leonid Kmit
Stepan Krylov as Subotin
Nikolay Kryuchkov as Andrei Sazanov
Viktor Kulakov as Chekanov
Ivan Kuznetsov as Butsenko
Tamara Makarova as Natasha Solovyeva
Aleksandra Matveeva as Klavka
Zula Nakhashkiyev as Kilia's Father
Ivan Novoseltsev as Vladimir Solovyev
A. Polibin as Organizer of Construction
G. Shenov as Mavrin
Valentina Telegina as Motya
Pavel Volkov as Stepan Nikitich
Georgi Zhzhyonov
Western reception
The movie played at the Cameo in New York City. The New York Times reported: "The story itself, in detail, is as bewildering as the Siberian night. This observer uncertainly believes that it has something to do with a young wife who joins her recalcitrant husband at Komsomolsk, quarrels with him, works in the kitchen, bears a child, and eventually captures the inevitable saboteurs. Who the latter are and why, goodness only knows! The only certainty is that the power plant gets build, the ship launched (What ship? Don't ask) and the husband and wife are reunited."