Pavel Massalsky Movies
- 1961
This is the Russian version of Leo Tolstoy's classic tale of a young peasant woman Katya Maslova who is placed on trial for murder. On the jury is a young prince Nekhlyudov who suddenly remembers how he seduced her 10 years before when she was a servant in his aunts' house. When he impregnated her, he left her with his aunts while he returned to his profession. Meanwhile, the socially conscious aunts sent her away. The child died and the girl was forced to become a prostitute. At the trial she is found guilty and sentenced to four years hard labor; the prince invokes his power and demands an appeal. He then proposes to her, but she rejects him because she blames him for all her problems. After a while in prison, she decides she'd better be nice to the prince who gets her a lighter sentence. Soon she finds she likes the politics of prison and decides that she'd rather remain exiled than give up her new ideals. Originally shown in two parts, the first of which was released in 1960. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Yevgeni Matveyev, Tamara Semina, (more)
This "prince charming" tale is adapted from a novel by Alexander Grin about a little girl named Assol, who meets a wizard one day. He tells her that a ship with red sails will arrive -- sometime in the future -- to take her away to a new, happy life with a dashing young prince. She holds onto this prediction in spite of taunts and the ridicule of her neighbors. Meanwhile, the son of a local nobleman grows up to become a sea captain and falls in love with Assol. Sure enough, he decides the only way to win her heart is to unfurl red sails and head into port. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Anastasia Vertinskaya, Vasiliy Lanovoy, (more)
- 1949
The First Front was part one of Russian filmmaker Vladimir Petrov's two-part historical epic The Battle of Stalingrad. The hero of the piece is, of course, Josef Stalin (Alexei Dieky), who courageously (in this film at least) urges his countrymen to stand their ground as the Nazis lay siege to Stalingrad in 1941. One suspects that Petrov's positive portrayal of Stalin as a cunning, cool-headed military strategist would cause him no end of trouble during Khrushchev's de-Stalinization campaign of the 1950s. Other historical personages appearing in The First Front are generals Vasilievsky, Voronov, Rokossovsky, Yeremenko and Chukov--not to mention Roosevelt, Churchill and Hitler, all depicted according to the current Soviet party line. The film's vibrant musical score was composed by no less than Aram Khatchaturian. First Front was followed in 1950 by the second part of Petrov's Stalingrad saga, The Victors and the Vanquished. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Alexei Dikiy, Maxim Shtraukh, (more)
The second part of Sergei Eisenstein's baroque chronicle of the legendary Russian czar was originally planned as a three-part epic. But Eisenstein had battles with Russian censors over the second part of his trilogy, ostensibly because of a negative depiction of Ivan's secret police force (Stalin feared that Eisenstein was making a veiled reference to himself). Although filmed shortly after Part One in 1946, the film was suppressed and was not released until 1958. In the meantime, Eisenstein, who died in 1948, never completed his project, spending most of his time defending himself before Stalin and his censor boards. Part Two takes up the story of Ivan the Terrible (Nikolai Cherkasov) upon his return to Moscow from Alexandrov. Ivan must deal with a group of unfriendly boyars and becomes even more insulated after his mother is poisoned and an assassination plot is uncovered. The black-and-white film ends with a luminous color banquet scene. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Nikolai Cherkasov, Serafima Birman, (more)
Sergei Eisenstein's operatic saga of the 16th-century Russian hero Czar Ivan IV is given a charismatic performance by Nikolai Cherkasov and a brilliant score by Sergei Prokofiev. Part One deals with Czar Ivan's beginnings as the ruler of Russia, Ivan's coronation, and his marriage to Anastasia Romanovna (Lyudmila Tselikovskaya). Ivan suddenly becomes gravely ill and then mysteriously recovers. When a group of conspirators poison his wife, Ivan becomes more wary of his retainers and announces that the will of the people demands his return from Alexandrov to Moscow. Ivan endeavors to preserve his country in the face of all the internal and external conspiracies. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Nikolai Cherkasov, Lyudmila Tselikovskaya, (more)
- 1936
Love and circuses drive this melodrama hailing from Stalin-era Russia. Marion Dixon is an American vaudeville performer managed by dastardly German Von Kneischitz. Between target-shooting from her trapeze, she falls in love with a square-jawed member of the Soviet proletariat. Will the beautiful trapeze artist join the Communist cause or will the evil capitalist stain her good name? ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lyubov Orlova, Yevgeniya Melnikova, (more)
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