Lyubov Malinovskaya Movies
A young and carefree Cossack competing with a neighborhood rival for the love of a beautiful girl is forced to grow up faster than expected when World War I breaks out in this romantic Russian war drama from director Viktor Tregubovich. Roman is a reckless adolescent living in the Baikal region in the waning days of the October Revolution. Thus far, Roman's biggest concern in life was whether he or his neighbor would win the love of ethereal village beauty Dashutka. When news of the war breaks out and Roman is forced to choose a side on which to fight, he soon finds out just how big of a place the world truly is. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arkadiy Trusov, Petr Shelokhonov, (more)
- 1966
Katerina Izmailova is a filmization of Dmitry Shostakovich's long-suppressed 1936 opera. Galina Vishnevskaya stars as Katerina, a bored 19th century farm wife. At the behest of her grungy lover, Katerina murders her husband and her father-in-law. She and her new beau are both sent to Siberia, where the lover almost immediately takes up with a younger woman. Banned by Stalin for its bleak portrait of Soviet life, Katerina Izmailova was not given a Russian staging for over 40 years; its Metropolitan Opera debut did not occur until 1994. Dmitri Shostakovich also wrote the screenplay for the screen version of Katerina Izmailova. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Galina Vishnevskaya, Artem Inozemtsev, (more)
- 1976
Warm and gracious, the young woman in this film is much disliked by the more rigid, ideologically oriented teachers at the school she works in. The key referred to in the title -- which she holds -- is the way into the hearts and minds of young people. When a tape made at a party her students attend reveals that their thought-processes are not firmly tied to the dominant dogmas of the Soviet system, she is called to account for their behavior by worried parents and teachers. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yelena Proklova, Alexei Petrenko, (more)
- 1973
The Russian-language title of this film based on Chekhov's short-story The Duel, translates as "The Bad Good Man." This film is treasured by Russian audiences because it contains one of the very few screen appearances of the beloved star Vladimir Vysotsky (he plays Von Koren). Boasting a fine cast, including Oleg Dal as Ivan Andreevich Laevsky and Anatoli Papanov as Samoilenko, the film concerns two intellectuals: Layevsky, a high-minded individual, full of love and ideals, who is all talk and no action; and Von Koren, a driven, ambitious zoologist who espouses a grim creed of Darwinian eugenics. Their encounters rob them of faith in their creeds, which were shallow enough to begin with. The director, Joseph Heifitz, is probably best known for his film The Lady With the Little Dog. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Oleg Dal, Vladimir Vysotsky, (more)
