Last night I had the great pleasure of watching, for the first time in its original anamorphic widescreen form, ILYA MUROMETS -- the classic Aleksandr Ptushko fantasy that was released here in America, in greatly hobbled and redubbed form, as THE SWORD AND THE DRAGON.
Some people rave about THE SWORD AND THE DRAGON, but I've always been lukewarm about it; the colors on every copy I ever saw seemed drab, and somehow it wasn't as juicy as the other Russian fairy tales films by Ptushko I had seen -- like SADKO (THE MAGIC VOYAGE OF SINBAD), SAMPO (THE DAY THE EARTH FROZE) and VIJ. Both SADKO and ILYA MUROMETS were recently released on DVD by Ruscico, the Russian Cinema Council, and ILYA MUROMETS is truly reborn. At the end of the film there is a card stating that the film was fully restored in 2001.
This was the first Russian film to utilize anamophic widescreen cinematography and stereo surround, and the disc is mixed in a delightful if ever-so-slightly primitive 5.1 sound that adds to the authenticity of the experience. The restored color is sumptuous. There is a wealth of language and subtitle options, so it can be watched in the original Russian with English subtitles, or in an English voiceover track (not the same thing as the English dubbing used on SWORD AND THE DRAGON, for you purists).
Evil Tartar invaders, wind demons, giants, literal mountains of people and gold coins, even a three-headed dragon who loses all three of its heads while besieging the city of Kiev!
Available (as is a new DVD of SADKO) from www.russiandvd.com. These can also be ordered through Amazon.com, if the Russian site proves a bit challenging to navigate.
Some people rave about THE SWORD AND THE DRAGON, but I've always been lukewarm about it; the colors on every copy I ever saw seemed drab, and somehow it wasn't as juicy as the other Russian fairy tales films by Ptushko I had seen -- like SADKO (THE MAGIC VOYAGE OF SINBAD), SAMPO (THE DAY THE EARTH FROZE) and VIJ. Both SADKO and ILYA MUROMETS were recently released on DVD by Ruscico, the Russian Cinema Council, and ILYA MUROMETS is truly reborn. At the end of the film there is a card stating that the film was fully restored in 2001.
This was the first Russian film to utilize anamophic widescreen cinematography and stereo surround, and the disc is mixed in a delightful if ever-so-slightly primitive 5.1 sound that adds to the authenticity of the experience. The restored color is sumptuous. There is a wealth of language and subtitle options, so it can be watched in the original Russian with English subtitles, or in an English voiceover track (not the same thing as the English dubbing used on SWORD AND THE DRAGON, for you purists).
Evil Tartar invaders, wind demons, giants, literal mountains of people and gold coins, even a three-headed dragon who loses all three of its heads while besieging the city of Kiev!
Available (as is a new DVD of SADKO) from www.russiandvd.com. These can also be ordered through Amazon.com, if the Russian site proves a bit challenging to navigate.
