(aka ILJA MUROMETS , THE EPIC HERO AND THE BEAST, ILYA MUROMETS)
(1956, Soviet Union) color widescreen 87/95 minutes
Ministry of Culture of the USSR /
Sovexportfilm / Kinostudiya / Mosfilm
Screenplay: Mikhail Kochnev
Music by Igor Morozov
Cinematography by Yuli Kun, Fyodor Provorov
Special Effects Cinematography: Aleksei Renkov, Boris Travkin
Art Director: Yevgeni Svidetelev
Produced by D. Vyatich-Berejnikh
Directed by Aleksandr Ptushko
English-Language Version:
(1960) Vitalite Films / Valiant Films 83 minutes
Produced by Joseph H. Harris, Sig Shore
Directed by James Landis
Voices: Marvin Miller (Ilya Muromets), Paul Frees (Kalin), Mike Wallace (Narrator)
With: Boris Andreyev (Ilja Muromez / Ilya Muromets), Shukur Burkhanov (Kalin), Andrei Abrikosov (Prince Vladimir / Prince Vanda), Natalya Medvedeva (Princess Apraksia( (as "N. Medvedeva"), Yelena Myshkova (Vasilisa / Vilya) (as "Nelli Myshkova"), Sovol Martinson (Mika, the traitor), Georgi Dyomin (Durbar Muromets), Aleksandr Shvorin (Sokolnichek)
***
Synopsis (by Alan Upchurch): After many years of brave service to Russia, the giant bogatyr Svyatogor (whose name means 'Holy Mountain') grows weary and leaves his sword with a group of passing pilgrims before turning into stone. The pilgrims pledge to pass the sword on to the bravest and boldest of all bogatyrs.
In the village of Karacharovo, the strong but lame Ilya Muromets sits helpless at his window as his townsfolk are attacked by the cruel invaders known as the Tugars. The Tugars abduct Ilya's beloved, Vasilisa.
Later, the pilgrims come to Ilya's house and give him a magic potion which cures him of his lameness. Ilya takes the sword of Svyatogor and swears to defend his country against the hated Tugars.
On the way to Kiev, where he plans to offer his services to the wise and beloved Prince Vladimir, Ilya encounters the dreaded Nightingale the Robber (called 'The Wind Demon" in the American version), whose loud and powerful whistling has claimed many Russian lives. Ilya captures the Nightingale and presents him as a gift to Prince Vladimir.
In Kiev, two other famous bogatyrs, Alyosha Popovich and Dobrynya Nikidch, join forces with Ilya to fight the Tugars. Ilya finds his beloved Vasilisa and frees her from her captives. He takes her as his wife and asks her to name their first born Little Falcon.
Ilya sets out on adventures and his wife is again abducted by the Tugars, this time to become the object of desire of Kalin, the evil Tugar leader. Because of lies told him by the scheming court nobles - who are in league with the Tugars - Prince Vladimir believes Ilya to be a traitor and has him imprisoned in the palace's dungeon.
Word reaches Kalin that Ilya is no longer a threat and he decides that the time has come to attack Kiev. He is aided by Vasilisa's son, Little Falcon, whom he has raised as his own to hate the Russians. As the Tugars approach Kiev, Prince Vladimir is convinced of the noblemen's treachery and begs Ilya to defend the city.
After slaying Gorynych, the three-headed dragon set loose by the Tugars, the Russians meet their enemy on the field of battle and rout the Tugar invaders. Little Falcon is told of his true parentage and Ilya and Vasilisa are reunited.
***
THE SWORD AND THE DRAGON is surely one of our favorite fantasy films, yet it is a film which is difficult to assess objectively. It is an epic saga, covering a great deal of literal and figurative territory. Locales, characters, even time periods change often and abruptly. This may certainly be due to the various modifications needed to craft THE SWORD AND THE DRAGON into acceptable kiddie fare. Thus, it seems that without seeing the original production, Aleksandr Ptsuhko's magnificent ILYA MOROMETS, it may be impossible to judge the film fairly. As all we have for the moment is the rather grainy, colorless, truncated US TV version, we will refrain from getting too critical.
Suffice it to say we love this film, and are sad that it has earned merely fringe notoriety in cultfilm circles. Obviously, the original Russian production was considered a major, big-budget epic, indeed one of the first Russian productions to be filmed in glorious widescreen.
Sadly, what we received here, on TV at least, was a cramped and claustrophobic full-screen version, where main characters are unceremoniously cropped off the very edge of the world!
Also, the US dubbing tends towards the hammy and overdramatic, making the august proceedings it intends to annotate take on an almost comic air. Marvin Miller (voice of "Robby the Robot" and TV's "The Millionaire") voices hero Ilya as a pompous boar. Even worse, star voice stylist Paul Frees voices the evil Mongolian warrior Kalin like another of his other creations, Boris Badenov, from "Rocky & Bullwinkle"!
Thus, unintentional laughs accrue where wonder and awe should bloom. Sad again, because ILYA MOROMETS is undoubtedly a grand adventure and a sweeping epic. What we have to feast on are the amazing natural landscapes, the well-mounted and intricately-choreographed battle sequences, and of course, a veritable cornucopia of amazing and delightful visual effects from Ptushko and gang.
As some of Ptushko's other films, such as SAMPO (aka THE DAY THE EARTH FROZE) and SADKO (aka THE MAGIC VOYAGE OF SINBAD) are more easily accessible, one is tempted to say that Ptushko was overall more successful with smaller films, in which he could yield a manageable palette. But this may be unfair. Again, seeing the original ILYA MOROMETS on the big, wide screen, in all its glory and splendor was likely a far cry from our experience on the other side of the world. (On our "To Do" list is a purchase of the recently-released Ruscico DVD of the film to give it a fair trial; also, we can then "borrow" some better images for this web page! The original U.S. producer, Sig Shore, has also released a DVD of the U.S. version in 2004, which we also intend to obtain.)
To recap, ILYA MUROMETS, dealing as it does with sovereignty and the rising up of crippled nations to regain lost glory, deserves a better fate than THE SWORD AND THE DRAGON gives it. But for now, let us enjoy what we can of this curious and wonderful film.
Based on the popular Russian folk tale, Ilya Muromets (literally, "Ilya of Muromets") is one of the classics of Russian folk literature, and Ptushko's cinematic rendition is a breathtaking national treasure of fantasy cinema. We start with a marvelous theme music against gorgeous natural vistas, which soon segway into some profound drama and battle.
And then there are, amidst much battling and human drama, those magical f/x we have come to know and love. A giant warrior and his horse walk proudly through the Russian countryside; a horrible wind demon creates a vile hurricane with his breath; a magical tablecloth turns into a bounty for our imprisoned hero; through clever mirrorwork, an "ocean" of rampaging warriors; a wonderful three-headed dragon (a design concept obviously stolen lock, stock and barrel for Toho's GHIDRAH, THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER a few years later). We were especially gratified that the dragon Gorynych was created as a full-scale mechanical beast, and not with jerky, Harryhausian stop-motion nonsense. Those Russians sure knew what they were doing!
In addition to whimsical, magical and humorous scenes, there are some unsettling ones as well, such as the evil Kalin molesting Valia in front of her young son, and a slow pan of a battlefield littered with fresh corpses, suggesting that indeed, this film was originally intended as a frank yet fantastic entertainment for all ages, not just the wee tykes who were targeted in the US release.
Truth be told, Ilya, as played by Boris Andreyev is a fairly lackluster hero. Perhaps its Marvin Miller's dubbing as mentioned before, but comes across as quite humorless and simple. Shukur Burkhanov's Kalin is far more charismatic. Luckily, a few of the original songs remain in the US version, in their native tongue, giving these scenes a truly romantic and evocative flavor.
Ptushko's large cast is admirably choreographed in sweeping human canvases, showing off the director's inarguable knack for juggling complex foreground/background compositions to gripping, highly theatrical effect. Battle scenes are complicated and extensive. Ptushko seems to have conquered the "adventure-fantasy" genre long before super-hack Peter Jackson gave us the dreary, bloated LORD OF THE RINGS eulogy, er we mean trilogy!
In fact, Ptushko is a good example of the metaphor of a filmmaker who, as an artist, functions almost as a lower god; he oversees a large group of people, working in a wide variety of mediums, to create a unique work of art, hopefully with appeal to a wide audience.
In sum, THE SWORD AND THE DRAGON may be an epic masterpiece which suffered fatally in its translation to a foreign audience. Overall a disappointment, the film may be too episodic and plot heavy for real mass appeal, but with its breathtakingly large canvas, great battle sequences, and superlative visual f/x, it is a film which deserves a bigger audience.
Video footnote: Super-collector Jeffrey C. Hogue bought the rights to THE SWORD AND THE DRAGON in the 1980's, added 3 minutes of new footage, and released it to home video in a United American Video version which has become exceedingly rare.
Video/DVD availability: VHS (United American Video, Sinister Cinema, Nostalgia Family Video, Video Yesteryear, oop); DVD (Ruscico, Sig Shore Entertainment)
Links of related interest:
The following websites all contain information about the Russian folk tale known as "Ilya Muromets":
SHSU
Pantheon
Wikipedia
Lacquerbox
