The Cinematheque

Pioneering film theorist Lev Kuleshov lampoons Western stereotypes of Soviet life in this fresh, frenetic satirical comedy, inspired by American slapstick cinema. The madcap plot has Mr. West, a gullible American executive, and Jed, his cowboy bodyguard, visiting Moscow. Expecting to find a land of brutes and bandits, the two quickly fall prey to a criminal gang of con artists quite happy to exploit their prejudices. After several misadventures, the visitors discover the ​“real” USSR. Kuleshov—whose famed ​“Kuleshov Effect” advanced the then-radical idea that meaning in cinema is created through montage, the juxtaposition of images—was a mentor to Eisenstein, Pudovkin, and other Soviet greats. This intelligent, gag-filled farce, the first feature from his seminal Kuleshov Workshop, was a hit at home in its day and has proved a lasting classic of silent comedy.