The Devils Wheel

Typically of the heady days of early Soviet cinema this is constructed according to the fast sharp editing principles advocated by Eisenstein complete with symbolic inserts but in terms of subject matter its much less explicitly political than most movies emerging from Russia in the 20s Chronicling a young sailors descent into a murky treacherous underworld of pimps and thieves after having encountered a Louise Brooks lookalike at a fairground and missed his departing boat its a lively moral fable that delights in vivid visual effects and quirky characterisations If the plot occasionally reveals gaping holes and the tackedon ending urging the clearance of the Leningrad slums seems to be rather gratuitous theres enough going on to keep one attentive and amused