AllMovie

No fewer than seven directors contributed to this 90-minute Russian documentary. On closer scrutiny, USSR Today turns out to be two separate entities -- a full-color travelog and a black-and-white musical short -- bundled together as one attraction for international consumption. Objectivity is not the film's strong suit: it was calculated to present the Soviet Union in the best possible light, and it succeeds in doing so. Happy peasants, euphoric folk dancers, bustling big cities, thriving collective farms, genius-level schoolrooms, sunny vacation resorts -- they're all here, and more besides. Alas, the film's pacing is almost dirgelike; could this have been a subliminal message to the West that all was not rosy in Russia?