Emmanuil Geller Movies
- 1977
This film, by Byelorussian director Valeri Rubinchik, won the Grand Prize of the All Union Film Festival in 1977. It humorously recounts the story of two teenaged buddies who try to get to the frontlines during World War II, mostly on a lark. They are intercepted and put in an air force band. Despite the war, they have a number of adventures and romantic liaisons. Finally escaping their musical captivity, they eventually resume their journey to the front. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Igor Merkulov, Sasha Zhukovsky, (more)
Sent to the mountain region of Caucasus to study the local folklore, Shurik (Alexander Demyanenko) falls for beautiful student Nina (Natalya Varley). Then some crooks persuade him that she is already engaged to another man and, according to the ancient tradition, she should be kidnapped by the groom. Only later does Shurik realize that he has inadvertently become part of a plot to force Nina to wed a corrupt local bureaucrat (Vladimir Etush). He and his friend then devise an ingenious plan to rescue the girl. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Alexander Demyanenko, Natalya Varley, (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)
- 1958
There have been several film versions of Feodor Dostoyevsky's tale of an obsessed elite and a Prince with a destructive passion for one woman. This interpretation by director Ivan Pyriev features Yuri Yakovlev as Prince Myshkin and Y. Borissova as his love, Nastassia. The tale opens with the impoverished, epileptic Prince returning to St. Petersburg in 1860, after a stay in a Swiss mental hospital. He restricts his activities and interests to the social circle of the aristocracy and his family, and their multitude of petty problems. When he falls in love with Nastassia, she returns his feelings but is also pursued by Rogogine (L. Parkhomenko), a classic villain. Given the Prince's mental weaknesses and his inexplicable, self-destructive love for Nastassia, his prognosis does not look good. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Yuri Yakovlev, Yulia Borisova, (more)
- 1952
Young Tolya Bovkin plays the title character in the Russian Maximka. Based on a story by K. Stanyukovich, the film traces the life of a cheerful black orphan who is adopted by a band of Russian sailors. The boy's presence has a very positive effect upon these rough-and-tumble guys. None is more profoundly affected than hard-drinking deckhand Luchkin (Boris Andreyev), whose regeneration takes up most of the film's running time. Of interest is the art directors' concept of what such port cities as Havana and Hong Kong must have looked like in 1864 (by 1959, of course, the Soviets would have a pretty good grasp on the topography of Cuba!) ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tolya Bobykin, Boris Andreyev, (more)
- 1946
If Russian filmgoers happened to have a yearning for a musical prize-fighting picture, their appetites could be satiated with 1947's The Winner. Siberian pugilist Nikita Krutikov (Ilya Perevetsev) is being groomed for the championship by manager I. V. Privalov (played by musical-comedy favorite Vladimir Volodin). As Krutikov prepares for a return match with the reigning champ, he falls in love with the intimidatingly healthy female swimming star Nina Grekova (Irina Cheredniachenko). It all boils down to the old cinematic dilemma of the Big Time versus Home Town Values. Though laid low by a few dull stretches, The Winner springs back to life during the boxing-ring finale. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Vladimir Volodin, Anastasiya Zueva, (more)
- 1943
The fifth War-Loan Drive was drawing to a close in late 1944, but Russian films like Two Soldiers still made the rounds in America to raise extra funds. The title characters are an Odessan seaman and a Ural blacksmith, played by Mark Bernes and Boris Andreyev, respectively. Though they enjoy squabbling over their social and ethnic differences, the two comrades stick together like glue whenever a crisis looms. Ultimately, the soldiers are united once more on the battlefield, proving with finality their fidelity to one another -- and to the Soviet cause. The film is enhanced by several lively musical interludes, spotlighting traditional ethnic and military songs. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mark Bernes, Boris Andreyev, (more)
- 1943
Originally titled Nasreddin v Bukhare, this was the last filmic effort of veteran Soviet actor/director Yakov Protazanov, who died two years after its completion. Essentially a swashbuckler, the story concerns Nasreddin (Lev Sverdlin), a Slavic Robin Hood who does battle with the despotic Emir of Bokhara. Not only does he make the wicked ruler look stupid at every opportunity, but he also makes off with the Emir's prize harem girl. Nasreddin even manages to trick the villain into freeing a group of political prisoners. If only Stalin had been so easily fooled. American prints of Adventure in Bokhara ran 85 minutes, suggesting that the film had been radically cut before its non-Russian release. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lev Sverdlin, Konstantin Mikhailov, (more)
- 1941
Valentina Serova, one of Russia's favorite postwar leading ladies, heads the cast of Four Hearts. Serova and Ludmilla Tselikoskaya play Galina and Shura, giddy young sisters who fall in love with each other's boyfriends. Dozens of song numbers later, the tangled romantic webs are straightened out. On the whole, the ladies are more appealing than their male counterparts (Eugene Samoilov and Peter Springfield), who seem stiff and self- conscious. The sheer ebullience of Four Hearts compensates for the muddled plotline, which was reportedly just as confusing to Soviet audiences as it was to American filmgoers. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Valentina Serova, Lyudmila Tselikovskaya, (more)
Rating Systems
Blockbuster
BLOCKBUSTER name, design and related marks are trademarks of Blockbuster L.L.C.
2013 Blockbuster L.L.C. All rights reserved.
Portions of Content Provided by Rovi Corporation. 2013 Rovi Corporation.