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LIED DER STRÖME (1954)

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Film details

Featuring

Claude Martin Ernst Busch Alex McCrindle
Country

German Democratic Republic
Year

1954
Type

Film
Category

Fiction

Alternative titles

UNITY Alternative
SEVEN RIVERS Alternative
PESNYA VELIKIKH REK Alternative
SONG OF THE RIVER Alternative
SONG OF THE RIVERS Alternative

Synopsis

Compilation film depicting industrial and social unrest in various parts of the world, with strong Communist bias. The seven rivers of one alternate title are six major world rivers (Mississippi, Ganges, Nile, Yangtse, Volga and Amazon) with, as the seventh, the international working-class movement as it converges on Vienna for the Third Congress of the World Federation of Trades Unions in 1953. It is dedicated "To the People Who Work on and Around the World's Six Great Rivers".

As well as footage shot by cameramen in 32 countries, it also includes footage from Ivens' own BORINAGE, INDONESIA CALLING and NEW EARTH and a film on dockers by Robert Menegoz (presumably VIVE LES DOCKERS!) (1950).

The film was produced in eighteen versions with different language sound-tracks.

Cast & Credits

Cast
- - Narrator (French version)
    
    Claude Martin
  - Narrator (German version)
    
    Ernst Busch
  - Narrator (English version)
    
    Alex McCrindle
  - Narrator (Spanish version)
    
    Alfredo Varela
  - Songs sung by
    
    Paul Robeson
  - music performance
    
    Leipzig Radio Choir
  - music performance
    
    Leipzig Radio Orchestra
Credits
- Unknown:
  - Director
    
    Joris Ivens
  - Production Company
    
    DEFA
  - Sponsor
    
    World Federation of Trade Unions
  - Executive Producer
    
    Hans Wegner
  - Assistant Director
    
    Robert Menegoz
  - Assistant Director
    
    Joop Huisken
  - Script
    
    Vladimir Pozner
  - Script
    
    Joris Ivens
  - Russian commentary by
    
    Boris Polevoi
  - Russian commentary by
    
    Yu. Karavkin
  - German commentary by
    
    Maximilian Scheer
  - Photography
    
    Sacha Vierny
  - Photography
    
    Erich Nitzschmann
  - Photography
    
    Anatoli Kolochin
  - Photography
    
    Maximilian Scheer
  - Photography
    
    Robert Menegoz
  - Editor
    
    Ella Ensink
  - Assistant Editor
    
    Trante Vishnevsky
  - Music
    
    Dmitri Shostakovich
  - Song lyrics
    
    Bertolt Brecht
  - Original Russian lyrics
    
    Semyon Kirsanov
  - Conductor
    
    Walter Raatke
  - Songs
    
    Ernst Busch
  - Sound
    
    Heinz Reisch
  - Lyrics translated into French by
    
    Léon Moussinac
  - Lyrics translated into French by
    
    Fernand Launy
  - Lyrics translated into Russian by
    
    Semyon Kirsanov

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