User Reviews

"Sumka Dipkuryera" ( Diplomatic Pouch ), directed by the great soviet film director Herr Aleksandr Dovzhenko, is based on the true-crime assassination of Soviet diplomat Teodor Nette, and it's an excellent spy thriller. It tells of the harrowing attempts to retrieve the slain envoy's pouch in order to return it by boat to Russia before it can be found it by the British secret police.

The pace of "Sumka Dipkuryera" is taut and the film is full of classic suspense situations typical of the detective /spy type genre. The varied and claustrophobic backgrounds enrich the story in a compelling way. Some longhaired critics claim that "Sumka Dipkuryera" was influenced by the German Expressionist film but this German Count sees the inspiration coming more from the different avant-garde European film movements, especially the Frenchified films.

Herr Aleksandr Dovzhenko , besides being one of the most important film directors in the history of the cinema ,was a ( Russian ) avant-garde pioneer and this film is a great example of this assertion. We can see Herr Dovzhenko's modern techniques in his use of the camera which creates some astonishing and remarkable moments. With great subtlety the camera becomes another character of the movie, moving in perfect coordination with the action of the boat crew (At one point, a sailor hoses down the camera and another one throws coal to it ) The camera-work is sometimes very stylish ( the port/train sequence ) and at other times experimental ( the accomplished sense of movement entwining shots of the power engine with sailors tap-dancing amidst the heaving of the sea ) This German Count has been always astonished too by Herr Dovzhenko's mastery in depicting human physical suffering in all its tragedy. The beginning of the film with the wounded Russian diplomat shows his pain and death in a direct way with powerful but stark imagery.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must hide something important in his particular diplomatic pouch that must be delivered secretly to a German fat heiress in the next soirée.