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A propaganda film disguised as a prison drama, Convicts begins as a train of convicts arrives at a gulag in the north of Russia. Although the prison warden is portrayed as a nice enough guy, he has a hard time winning over a hardened criminal (Mihail Astangov) and his ex-moll (Vera Yanukova, the longtime love of Sergei Eisenstein). According to legend, director Evgeni Chervyakov) was reluctant to make the film, but agreed to do so after the studio promised to let him direct a more liberal-minded pet project in exchange. First released in 1936, Convicts was screened as part of the Soviet Retro series at the 2000 Locarno Film Festival.