By the Law

Lev Kuleshov's 1926 Soviet film adapts Jack London's story The Unexpected. When one member of a five-person gold prospecting team in the Yukon kills two of his companions, the two survivors keep him in the cabin for months, trying to hand him over to the law. They cannot go anywhere until the thaw, and three people remain in one room. Kuleshov is known as a theorist of montage; here he does the opposite, building tension with almost no cutting in a fixed space. The film's real subject is the idea of justice itself: two people try to behave like the law in a place the law cannot reach, and it rots them. Alexandra Khokhlova's performance is among the hardest women's roles in Soviet silent cinema. Who it's for: viewers interested in Soviet silent cinema, Kuleshov's work and single-location thrillers. Who it's not for: anyone wanting fast narrative, or unfamiliar with the expressive manner of silent film.