Alexandr Novikov Movies

In 18th century Russia, Catherine is now the reigning Empress in a country which does not accept primogeniture (rule by the oldest born) but requires that the oldest born be male. It has taken quite a lot of almost supernatural scheming to remain on the throne which, by an accident of fate, is more or less legitimately hers. When she hears that a Polish princess is claiming to be a descendant of a Russian queen, she is quite naturally concerned for the future of her hold on the throne. The overweight, sexually insatiable monarch sends one of her loyal aides and lovers to seduce the foolish young woman and lure her into Russian territory, where the threat she represents can be eliminated in an efficient way. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Coming as it does from the depths of the Stalinist regime, the Russian Road to Life is a remarkably optimistic film. A host of nonprofessional children are cast as Moscow street kids, left homeless by the Bolshevik revolution. They get into all sorts of melodramatic scrapes until they're rounded up by kindly, altruistic Soviet functionaries. The children are reformed (in the nicest possible way) and made useful members of society. Road to Life is simplistic in its solutions to society's problems, albeit no more so than the usual Hollywood product from the same period. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi