Lev Perfilov Movies

Financed in West Germany and filmed in the Soviet Union, Hard to Be a God (Es Ist Nicht Leicht Ein Gott Zu Sein) is set some thousand years or so in the future, when all forms of hostility and aggression have been purged from the earth. A group of space travellers stumble upon an alien civilization that seems mired in the Middle Ages. Astronaut Edward Zentara is sent out to explore this primitive land, and in so doing he becomes involved in war and bloodshed for the first time in his life. Eventually, he leads the downtrodden local citizens into battle against his fellow Earthlings. Produced on an epic scale over a six-year period, Hard to Be a God is stronger in its action sequences than in its ponderous dialogue exchanges. Watch for German director Werner Herzog in a brief opening-scene bit. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

While Mark Twain's classic The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is regarded as one of the true classics of American literature, it has also become a favorite in many other countries around the world and this lengthy screen adaptation of Tom Sawyer was originally produced as a miniseries for Russian television. Tom Sawyer faithfully follows the narrative of the book as Tom (Fedya Stukov) and his friend, Huck Finn (Vladik Sukhachev), find adventure along the Mississippi River and Tom finds first love with Becky Thatcher (Mariya Mironova). For its American release on home video, Tom Sawyer was dubbed into English and the names of most of the cast and crew were Americanized; Fedya Stukov became Fred Stack and director Stanislav Govorukhin is credited as Stan Govorkin. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi