Original title: Shchors, aka Shors (USA)
Copyright: the Kyiv Film Studi, 1939, 14 p.; the Mosfilm Studio, Moscow, 1964, 12 p. directed by Yulia Solntseva (re-cutting).
Format: narrative feature
Carrier: DVD
Color: black-and-white
Length:134"; 3912 m (1939) and 3224 m (1964)
Original language: Russian and some Ukrainian
English subtitles: yes

Film crew
Director: Oleksander Dovzhenko
Script writer: Oleksander Dovzhenko
Co-director: Yulia Solntseva
Cinematographer: Yuri Yakelchik
Production designer: Morits Umansky
Original music: Dmitry Kabalevsky

Film cast
Yevgeny Samoilov, Ivan Shkuratov, Luka Liashenko, Fedir Ishchenko, Nina Nikitina, R. Chalysh, Hanna Borysohlibska, Oleksander Khvylia, Sergey Komarov, Dmytro Miliutenko, Georgy Polezhaev, Mykola Komissarov, Yu. Bantysh, D. Barvinsky, Dmytro Kostenko, Petro Masokha,  P. Radetsky,  P. Tatarenko, O. Glazunov,  Hans Klering, Valentin Dukler, Dmytro Kadnikov, O. Levchenko, Oleksy Zahorsky, and others.

Synopsis
The year is 1919. German troops retreat from Ukraine. The Directory, the Ukrainian national government lead by Symon Petliura, takes control of Kyiv. Meanwhile, the Bolshevik division commanded by Mykola Shchors is marching on the capital. The Bolsheviks capture the cities of Vinnytsia, Zhmerynka, and others one by one, but lose Berdychiv to Petliura’s forces. They are demoralized by the defeat. By his personal example of courage and military skill, Shchors inspires the retreating Red troops and leads them to victory over the enemy.

This film was made as a Ukrainian answer to the Vasiliev brothers’ revolutionary epic, Chapaev, much praised by Joseph Stalin. Chapaev was considered the epitome of Socialist Realism, the new art aesthetic whose primary mission was to instill the dogmas of Communist ideology.  In an ironic twist of fate, Oleksander Dovzhenko, at Stalin’s personal instigation, glorifies the Bolsheviks, whose armies he himself fought during Ukraine’s wars of liberation.

Awards. The Stalin National Prize of the USSR of the First Degree (1941).