The World and the Flesh
Cast & Crew
John Cromwell
George Bancroft
Miriam Hopkins
Alan Mowbray
George E. Stone
Mitchell Lewis
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
In 1917 Russia, in the midst of the revolution, aristocrats Dmitri Rostoff and his friends, and famous ballerina Maria Yaskaya flee to Sebastopol disguised as peasants. After the train line to Sebastopol is cut, however, they force the engineer to head the train for Theodosia, still a free seaport on the Black Sea. Not long after their arrival, however, they are captured by the Red faction, led by seaman Michael Petrovich Kylenko, a brute. Kylenko admonishes Maria for consorting with aristocrats, as she originated from the working class. Kylenko and his men are captured by cossacks in the White faction, and they are forced to work in the stokehold of the White faction's ship. He and his comrades successfully take over the ship, in which Maria, Dmitri and their friends are passengers. In a plot to take control of the ship, Maria seduces Kylenko, but she sincerely falls in love with him. The overthrow plot fails, and the ship returns to Theodosia, where Maria and her friends are sentenced to death by the committee that directs Kylenko. Kylenko fights for Maria's life, but the committee allows him no favors. On the eve of her execution, Kylenko helps her escape, then turns himself in to the committee. To everyone's surprise, Maria returns to save Kylenko with his powerful army, and with Maria on his arm and flanked by his loyal men, they are free to return to the main headquarters.
Director
John Cromwell
Cast
George Bancroft
Miriam Hopkins
Alan Mowbray
George E. Stone
Mitchell Lewis
Max Wagner
Harry Cording
Emmett Corrigan
Oscar Apfel
Reginald Barlow
Ferike Boros
Major Nicholai Kolovaloss
Lieutenant George Blagol
George Polonsky Lieutenant
Nicholas Vehr Lieutenant
Alexander Woloshin Lieutenant
Alexander Novinsky
General Alexander Ikonikoff
Theodore Lodijensky General
Carrie Daumery
Nina Miatleva
Nadja Efron
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working titles of the film were On the Black Sea and Red Harvest. The pressbook indicates that the film is based on a story by Polan Banks, which appeared in Liberty magazine, although the AMPAS story files and the film credit Philipp Zeska and Ernst Spitz's play as the source. Banks' contribution to the final film has not been determined. The film used exiled Russian aristocrats as extras, including Alexander Novinsky, once the commander of the ports of Theodosia and Archangel, according to New York Times. According to copyright records, some scenes were filmed in San Pedro Harbor, CA, aboard the Army transport ship, Playa De Ensenada.
