Page "Sergei Eisenstein" Paragraph 22

The thing which appeared to save Eisenstein's career at this point was that Stalin ended up taking the position that the Bezhin Meadow catastrophe, along with several other problems facing the industry at that point, had less to do with Eisenstein's approach to filmmaking as with the executives who were supposed to have been supervising him.

Ultimately this came down on the shoulders of Boris Shumyatsky, " executive producer " of Soviet film since 1932, who in early 1938 was denounced, arrested, tried and convicted as a traitor, and shot.

( The production executive at Film studio Mosfilm, where Meadow was being made, was also replaced, but without further executions.