CHILDHOOD OF MAXIM GORKY

Original 1954 Contemporary Films Release 8 1/8 inch by 6 inch Still of ALEKSEI LYARSKY, MIKHAIL TROYANOVSKIY & VARVARA MASSALITINOVA in the 1938 Mark Donskoy Biographical Drama THE CHILDHOOD OF MAXIM GORKY (DETSTVO GORKOGO), based on the book “Out in the World” by Maxim Gorky.

The Childhood of Maxim Gorky (Detstvo Gorkovo) was the first of Russian director Mark Donskoy’s trilogy based upon Gorky’s memoirs. Alexei Lyarsky plays the young Maxim, who grows up under the czarist regime with his grandparents as guardians. Continually demeaned by his martinet grandfather, Maxim is drawn to his warm-hearted grandmother (Varvara Massalitinova), who instills in him the willingness to pursue his writing muse. Gorky’s (and Donski’s) deep abiding love for Russia is conveyed through the film’s remarkably romanticist landscape shots along the Volga River. The still is in very good condition with a cast list tacked to the reverse.