Generalissimus Stalin's Homepage

[CZ]

If someone is interested in the ultimate and true biography of comrade Stalin and the history of his age - he is the guy, who stands behind most of the orders and medals we collect - he will find it at historian Ludo Martens' website "Another View of Stalin".

Regards from Vienna

[Frieza]

When Josef Stalin was on his deathbed he called in two likely successors, to test which one of the two had a better knack for ruling the country.

He ordered two birds to be brought in and presented one bird to each of the two candidates.

The first one grabbed the bird, but was so afraid that the bird could free himself from his grip and fly away that he squeezed his hand very hard, and when he opened his palm, the bird was dead.

Seeing the disapproving look on Stalin's face and being afraid to repeat his rival's mistake, the second candidate loosened his grip so much that the bird freed himself and flew away.

Stalin looked at both of them scornfully. "Bring me a bird!" he ordered.

They did.

Stalin took the bird by its legs and slowly, one by one, he plucked all the feathers from the bird's little body.

Then he opened his palm. The bird was laying there naked, shivering, helpless.

Stalin looked at him, smiled gently and said, "You see... and he is even thankful for the human warmth coming out of my palm."

[Art]

Or for more "tales from the crypt".....

Revelations from the Russian Archives

[CZ]

You think this nice guy was ever an evil man?

[Art]

Looks like a nice guy! if this image was an accurate summary of his personality. He was probably a very personable guy. Remember the movie "Circle of Terror", which told the story of Stalin from the point of view of Stalin's personal movie-projectionist? I remember a part where Stalin was getting ready for his nightly movie..the boss of the projectionist was hurrying because Stalin was getting restless. Stalin wanted to watch his movie. The projectionists boss broke a crucial spring in the projectors mechanism. He knew his career and maybe life were over. Stalin goes to him "Comrade don't be nervous"..the projectionist-boss knew how scared he should be..the less experienced student projectionist was asked by Stalin, (knowing he would give an answer that wasn't purely made to give Stalin what Stalin wanted to hear) "Comrade, how do you think the problem might be solved"? the nervous student-projectionist smiled thinking he was being helpful and said "comrade Stalin, the Soviet projector is an inferior copy of a German projector. We made the spring of poor quality metal". Of course, if the boss-projectionist said that, he'd be dead for admitting Soviet inferiority in the design of countless projectors. Stalin then looked at the boss-projectionist and said "comrade, imagine if all the fighters on the all the fronts couldn't watch their movie, all because of one small spring". The boss-projectionist dissapears at that point in the movie. It is excellent I recommend it.

Art

[CZ]

Dear Art,

it's one of my favorite movies. I have the orginal - english - and german version on video. The accurate title of the film (not the Baltic- or CIA-title) is "The Inner Circle" (meaning the inner circle around Stalin) and it was the 1st western movie, which was shot inside the Kremlin. You described one of the many great scenes of the movie. Poor soldiers at the front, if they can not watch their Eisenstein-movies .....

A must seen movie.

Regards from Vienna

The Inner Circle
Release Year: 1991
Cast: Tom Hulce, Lolita Davidovich, Bob Hoskins, Alexander Zbruyev, Feodor Chaliapin, Jr., Irina Kupchenko
Director: Andrei Konchalovsky
Categories: Drama
Rated: PG13 (Violence, Adult Situations, Questionable for Children, Profanity )
Running Time: 122 minutes

Bob Hoskins is playing Berija, Andrei Konchalovsky is the brother of Nikita Michalkov (just for distinction he took the mother's name) and their father was Stalin's poet (beautyful lyrics, always with comrade Stalin in the centre) and wrote the text of the hymn of the Soviet Union. Brother Nikita Michalkov made an other interesting film about one day (1936) in the live of civil-war-hero General Kotov (3 orders of Red Banner), who was executed by the NKWD. This film won the Oscar as best foreign film, won the European Film Prize and is regarded as the masterpiece of Michalkow. The title of the film is: "Burnt by the Sun" (Sun = Stalin)
Michalkow is playing General Kotov himself and his daughter is playing Kotov's daughter. This is my absolute favorite movie. Some critics mentioned, that this film gives a too positve picture of the Stalin aera - but Hollywood was fascinated.

Cover of "The Inner Circle" - video.

Cover of "Burnt by the Sun" - video.

[Art]

Christian,

You are correct. I was unsure of the name of the movie..it was always ( well whenever I saw it ) called The Inner Circle. An excellent movie. But very very depressing..remember when the projectionist was out for a midnight stroll and happened to bump into Stalin who was taking a similar walk? spooky. especially when Stalin says to the guy "so where is your wife?"..the projectionist hesitates and says, "Oh comrade Stalin, she is sleeping at home"..and Stalin says "no, she hung herself, she is dead"..the projectionist wakes up..it was all a dream. Weird.

That was one of very many unnerving scenes in the movie. The tension in Stalin's private screening room when that spring broke was almost unbearable. The midnight stroll in Red Square was another memorable scene..I'm going to buy that "Burnt by the Sun"..sounds excellent.

Art

Originally posted by Christian Zulus
Dear Art,

it's one of my favorite movies. I have the orginal - english - and german version on video. The accurate title of the film (not the Baltic- or CIA-title) is "The Inner Circle" (meaning the inner circle around Stalin) and it was the 1st western movie, which was shot inside the Kremlin. You described one of the many great scenes of the movie. Poor soldiers at the front, if they can not watch their Eisenstein-movies .....

A must seen movie.

Regards from Vienna