Yuri Chekulaev Movies

Boris Rytsarev directed this sweeping 1976 Russian adaptation of the fairy tale classic The Princess and the Pea. Part of the Russian Cinema Council Collection, Printsessa Na Goroshine stars Alisa Frejndlikh and Andrei Podoshyan, and retells Hans Christian Anderson's beloved story of the prince who places a pea under the mattress of his would-be wives, in hopes of someday finding a woman who proves herself to be a real princess. With original dialogue in Russian, the film is available dubbed in English and French, and subtitled in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

Russian director Sergei Bondarchuk's epic version of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace (Voyna i Mir) was the most expensive European film ever made for many years. It certainly had one of the longest gestation periods, with Bondarchuk spending seven years filming the project (the actors noticeably age from scene to scene). In relating Tolstoy's complex tale of Napoleon's invasion of Russia, Bondarchuk helmed some of the most graphic battle scenes ever seen, one of which runs nearly 45 minutes. So many horses were killed in these sequences that the film was loudly boycotted in some American cities by the ASPCA. While Bondarchuk is slavish to the source material, he does make a few Hollywood-like concessions to popular appeal; his leading lady Lyudmila Savelyeva looks exactly like Audrey Hepburn, the star of King Vidor's 1956 filmization of the Tolstoy novel. Originally clocking in at 507 minutes, War and Peace was pared down to 373 minutes for American consumption. It became a surprise theatrical hit, and a ratings bonanza when it was telecast on the ABC network in four parts from August 12 through 15, 1972. A big film, to be sure -- but few modern critics consider Bondarchuk's War and Peace a great film, citing its many deadly dull passages and its sappy, operatic finale. The dubbed American version is narrated by Norman Rose. The full Russian-language version with English subtitles is now available on video. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In a series of strange encounters with the magical and the supernatural, a beautiful, abused girl named Nastenka, and Ivan, a strong, proud young man, find each other and fall in love. Nastenka lives in a tiny house on the edge of the forest, where her wicked stepmother treats her horribly while doting on her own fat, worthless daughter, whom she hopes to marry off to a wealthy family; Ivan, from another part of the forest, goes off seeking adventure, but he is too proud for his own good and must learn humility -- he does this with the help of a strange old man, who casts a spell on him giving him the head of a bear. He gets back his own face only after he performs a good deed for the sheer goodness of doing it, and is soon worthy of marrying Nastenka -- but first the two of them must overcome the evi lmachinations of a witch who tried to cook Ivan, and Nastenka's stepmother, who is still doing her best to thwart the girl's happiness. They get unexpected help from Father Frost, a St. Nicholas-like figure with his magic carriage and his icy staff. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi