Azerbaijan mobilized all possibilities to fulfil the duties assigned by the party. In late 20s and early 30s, the Soviet system gradually annihilated manufacturers, landowners and national management structure. Since the second half of the 30s, the Soviet Government had started total repression towards intellectuals, political and military figures. At that time along with outstanding writers, such as H. Javid, Y.B. Chamanzaminli, M. Mushfig, U. Rajab and others, the first national film-maker and a mighty actor A.M. Sharifzade , the first art director Sh. Mahmudbeyov, very many men of art and culture became the victims of severe repression. The regime wasn't even gracious to its own trained people, A. Garayev, A. Sultanova, R. Akhundov, etc.

In 1936, a newly established body started its activity on implementing duties assigned by the political-ideological authority. The list of planned films to be shot included:  'Foggy Tabriz', 'Bolshevik Hasan', 'Valley of Death',  Happy Valley' ('Jeyhun and Ulchar'), 'The Deads', 'The Champions', 'A Blind Musician', 'Black Gold', 'Sailor Sindbad', 'Baku', 'The Deceived Stars', 'Flowers of Shiraz City', 'Telli', 'The Three Brothers', 'Accident', 'The Bolsheviks', 'Fame' and 'Goychay'. Only 'Valley of Death' and 'Jeyhun and Ulchar' were shot.

During the first years of sound film shooting unfinished films were usual case in Azerbaijani cinematography. The main reason of it was, of course, K.I. Tomsky, the head of the Department on Feature Film Productions at 'Azerfilm' Studio.  In 1934, K.I. Tomsky was invited to 'Azerfilm' Studio and signed a labour contract for three years. He was responsible for the production and quality of films, but through his fault the film 'Love Play' underwent many changes after shooting, its artistic level was very low, and it was met with sharp criticism by media. Besides, the trailer film 'The Sixth Sense' was not accepted by the Main Directorate of Cinematography of the USSR; 'A Directive Bow' semidocumentary and 'Abbas's Misfortune', cartoon film were negatively met by the authority and audience. K.I. Tomsky didn't seriously sum up the situation, continued his destructive activity at the studio, and the creative staff became indifferent to their duties. K.I. Tomsky demonstrated carelessness to the scenarios of the films 'Jeyhun and Ulchar' and   'Valley of Death', and the shooting process of these films was delayed. Because of continuous complaints of 'Azerfilm' artistic staff, K.I. Tomsky  left his post and ran to Moscow; he didn't answer the telegrams sent by Azerbaijan Office of the Photo-Cinema and refused to return to Baku. In 1936, he was thrown out of his job and a criminal case was opened against him.

The shooting process of the film 'Jeyhun and Ulchar' was temporarily stopped in October, 1936, as only 63 cinema shots were made, and 2000 metres of film stock were used. The filmmaker, the operators, the film director and the adviser couldn't fulfil their duties. Therefore G. Aleksandrovsky was appointed the new film director, and B. Tatishvili was obliged to make considerable changes in the scenario; the actors were replaced by new ones, but anyway it wasn't possible to turn the tide. Although, a commission was formed to investigate the case, no progress was achieved. S. M. Eisenstein was appointed the new film director, and he couldn't save the film either.  

The film 'Valley of Death' shared the same fate. Gilman Musayev was the film writer, but the Directorate of the Azerbaijan Office of the Photo-Cinema saw that the film hadn't been a success and decided to ask Milkin to work on the scenario. But Milkin was interested only in the financial aspect of the job, and his quick and dirty job didn't satisfy the Directorate. Then G. Braginski was appointed a responsible person for the shooting.  The second attempt wasn't successful either. On October 8, 1936, a decision was made on finishing the shooting process and on the dismissal of the company once and for all.  

NARIMAN