Alexei Konsovsky Movies

A fictionalization of a true event, this is the story of the tragic nuclear power disaster that occurred in the Soviet plant at Chernobyl when it exploded and burned, spreading contaminants over half the surrounding countryside. ~ Tana Hobart, Rovi

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

Heavily influenced by Hollywood musicals, the Soviet tunefest Spring won several awards for its director, the prolific Grigory Alexandrov. Not surprisingly, the leading role went directly to Alexandrov's wife, popular film personality Lyubov Orlova. Actually, Orlova essays the leading roles, since the story is a mistaken-identity affair involving a female scientist named Irina and her lookalike, a Bolshoi dancer named Vera. When a Russian film studio announces plans to film Irina's life story, Vera is chosen to play the role, leading to a wacky comedy of errors. Though unimpressed by Spring, American reviewers were at least grateful that the film wasn't a podium for Communist ideology. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Leon Feuchtwanger's all-too-prescient 1930s novel The Oppermann Family was retitled The Oppenheim Family for this Russian screen treatment. The names have been changed, but the story remains the same, as the Jewish Oppenheim clan are subjected to endless persecutions in Hitler's Germany. The film's depiction of concentration-camp brutality was considered pretty grim stuff in 1939, but it paled in comparison to the actual atrocities, which would not become common knowledge to the rest of the world for several years. Certain American critics of the period complained that the Nazis were depicted as two-dimensional villains, without a shred of humanity; complaints of this nature would evaporate once the U.S. itself was drawn into WWII. A better and more thorough version of The Oppermann Family was made for German television in 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This Russian propaganda film examines the effects of Hitler's regime upon communism and the Worker's Party. Much of the story centers upon the secret underground meeting system which laborers used to escape the terrorism of the Nazis. In the climax, workers at a German airplane factory revolt and go on strike after the government tries to regiment production in accordance to military standards. The workers are assisted by red Russians who defeat the Nazi military. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi