Le village du peche (1928)
Directors:
Ivan Pravov, Olga Preobrazhenskaya
Writers:
Boris Altshuler, Olga Vishnevskaya
Stars:
Kuzma Yastrebitsky, Olga Narbekova, Yelena Maksimova
Village of Sin was one of several Soviet films of the 1920s which pointed out the hypocritical behavior of "the older generation." Chaffing under the domination of her puritanical father, the heroine goes to live with her blacksmith lover, whereupon she is immediately disowned. Meanwhile, the father arranges a loveless but wealthy marriage for his son. Left alone with his new daughter-in-law, the father rapes the girl -- and when she bears his child, he refuses to acknowledge that the baby is his. The father's unreasonable behavior drives his own wife to suicide, and it is only after his son returns from WWI that the nasty old man is forced to account for his miserable behavior.