The Devil's Wheel (1926): cast, story & where to watch

Released in 1926, The Devil's Wheel is an action and crime film directed by Grigori Kozintsev, running about 40 minutes.

What it’s about. Typically of the heady days of early Soviet cinema, this is constructed according to the fast, sharp editing principles advocated by Eisenstein, complete with symbolic inserts; but in terms of subject matter, it's much less explicitly political than most movies emerging from Russia in the '20s. Chronicling a young sailor's descent into a murky, treacherous underworld of pimps and thieves, after having encountered a Louise Brooks lookalike at a fairground and missed his departing boat, it's a lively moral fable that delights in vivid visual effects and quirky characterisations. If the plot occasionally reveals gaping holes, and the tacked-on ending urging the clearance of the Leningrad slums seems to be rather gratuitous, there's enough going on to keep one attentive and amused.

Who’s in it. The Devil's Wheel stars Lyudmila Semyonova as Valya, Emil Gal as Vaudeville Performer, Pyotr Sobolevsky as Vanya Shorin and Antonio Tserep as Tavern Owner, among others.

How it landed. With an audience score of 6.8/10, The Devil's Wheel has drawn a solid, mixed-to-positive response.

Where to watch. Streaming options change often. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch The Devil's Wheel page.

If you liked it. Fans of The Devil's Wheel tend to enjoy The Dark Knight, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Inception and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.