Georgiy Millyar Movies
In this film based on Russian fairy tales, a woman named Yevdokia goes off in search of her two daughters who were kidnapped by the evil Baba Yaga. Along the way, she finds help in the form of The Sun, The Wind, and the Deer with Golden Antlers. With such forces of goodness on her side, will Yevdokia be able to find her little girls? ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raisa Ryazanova, Volodya Belov, (more)
- 1969
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Magic, mystery, and mistaken identities are all part of this visually striking fantasy based on a well-known Russian fairy tale. While stopping at a well during a journey, Tsar Yeremey (Mikhail Pugovkin) is confronted by Chudo-Yudo the Lawless (Georgi Millyar), a ill-mannered enchanted creature who lives at the bottom of a lake. Chudo-Yudo refuses to release Yeremey without some sort of tribute, so the Tsar agrees that Chudo-Yudo is allowed to take possession of any of the valuables in his fiefdom that he doesn't know about. However, when Yeremey returns, he learns to his surprise that he has just become a father; terrified that his newborn son will be handed over to Chudo-Yudo, the Tsar makes a secret arrangement with a poor fisherman to exchange babies to keep his child from Chudo-Yudo's clutches. As the children grow to be men, Yeremey pays little attention to pudgy and self-centered Prince Andrei (Sergei Nikolayev), while from a distance he dotes on the strapping fisherman's boy Andrei (Andrei Katyshev); what the Tsar doesn't realize, however, is that there was a mix-up in the exchange of babies, and that his true son has been living with him all along. When Chudo-Yudo decides to claim Prince Andrei as a suitable fiancé for his lovely daughter Barbara (Tatyana Klyuyeva), the sullen young man is spirited away to Chudo-Yudo's underwater lair. Yeremey tells the fisherman's son of what he believes is his true parentage, and the young man sets out to rescue the Prince, little realizing the beauty and charm of Barbara. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mikhail Pugovkin, Georgiy Millyar, (more)
- 1968
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In this Russian fantasy for children, Vasya (Aleksei Millyar) is looking for firewood in the forest one day when he sees a beautiful girl named Alyonushka (Natalya Sedykh). Vasya is immediately smitten with Alyonushka, but the evil Kashchei (Georgi Millyar) spirits her away, and Vasya's strength, cunning, and intelligence are put to the test and he tries to find the woman of his dreams. Ogon, Voda I...Mednye Truby was released on video in the United States under the title Through Fire, Water, and Brass Pipes. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Natalya Sedykh, Alexei Katyshev, (more)
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, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lyudmila Savelyeva, Sergei Bondarchuk, (more)
