Connoisseurs will rejoice at the discovery of fragments from a lost work by Yevgeny Bauer (1865-1917), the greatest Russian director of his age. Scholar Anna Kovalova has identified in the Bologna collection two (mostly decomposed) reels from an Italian distribution print of the Bauer thriller Pochoždenija Špejera i ego šajki “červonnych valetov. Now, while Italian films from the 1910s – comedies, diva films and colossal productions such as Quo vadis? – were exported worldwide, resulting in prints resurfacing in South America, Holland and Japan, it is quite extraordinary to find a trace of a pre-revolutionary Russian film distributed in Italy. A celebrated director; a historically interesting print – two good reasons to preserve fragments that are in bad shape. There is a third, and maybe the best reason: the real-life Son’ka zolotaya ruchka, a fascinating female master thief and con artist of undying fame in Russia, who inspired the film character Son’ka Golden Hand. Charming Sheindl Solomoniak, AKA Sofia Blyuvshtein (1846?-1902) would rob jewellery stores in daylight, hotel rooms in the early morning and bankers as they slept, after having become friendly with them in Odesa’s Café Fanconi. The thieves of St. Petersburg elected her queen and when arrested, she invariably managed to escape by seducing the guards. A popular idol in her lifetime, after her death she was immortalised in fiction, realm of Babel’s gangster king Benya Krik. The first serial starring Son’ka Golden Hand was produced in 1914 by Alexander Drankov; more adaptations followed, the most recent being a Russian TV series (2007). Criminals worship Son’ka in Moscow at what they believe is her grave, and in a part of the web that ignores the current Russian attacks on Odesa, tourists can book online a tour dedicated to legendary criminals in the Moldavanka; it includes a visit to the site of a thieves’ school run by the incomparable Son’ka.

 Mariann Lewinsky