East Side Story (1997)

East Side Story is a 1997 documentary directed by Dana Ranga. The film documents the Soviet Bloc musical genre, which first appeared under Stalin and spread to Soviet-occupied Eastern Europe. The film features interviews with actors, film historians, and audience members who reminisce on these unlikely films and their impact on Soviet Bloc life.

Synopsis

The film first looks at Grigori Alexandrov, a director who made his career in the 1930s musicals. He directed the unlikely hit Jolly Fellows (1934), which had the backing of Maxim Gorky and the personal approval of Stalin. Alexandrov went on to create other propagandistic musicals, including Volga, Volga (1938), which details the story of peasants who boat to Moscow on the River Volga to become singers. These musicals starred his wife, Lyubov Orlova.