Volga in Flames (1934)
"Volga en flammes" (original title)

Director:

Viktor Tourjansky

Writers:

Jacques Natanson, Alexander Pushkin (novel),

Stars:

Albert Préjean, Valéry Inkijinoff, Raymond Rouleau

Cast

Credited cast:
Albert Préjean	...	Orloff
Valéry Inkijinoff	...	Silatschoff
Raymond Rouleau	...	Schalin
Danielle Darrieux	...	Macha
Nathalie Kovanko	...	Olga
Henri Marchand	...	Ivan
Jacques Berlioz	...	Le colonel
Marcelle Worms	...	His wife
Josef Zezulka	...	Guardsman
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Vladimír Borský
Charles Camus
Ladislav Hemmer
Antonín Jirsa
Josef Kytka
F.X. Mlejnek

Storyline

---

Plot Keywords:

based on novel

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Details

Country:

France Czechoslovakia

Language:

French

Release Date:

9 February 1934 (Czechoslovakia)

Also Known As:

Olga in Flames

Company Credits

Production Co:

AB, Films Charles Philipp, Omnia Paris

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Tobis-Klangfilm)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Remade as The Captain's Daughter (1947)

User Reviews

From Russia with love.

A permanent feature of the French cinema of the thirties (particularly the first half) is a Russian story.Most of the time,it was a chocolate box country :we knew it was Russia cause they paid in roubles.

Victor Tourjansky was himself a Russian director.The Revolution drove him away from his land and he used to work in France in the thirties."Volga en Flammes" was the first of three "Russian" movies which build some kind of trilogy;for the record,the others are "Les Yeux Noirs" and "Le Mensonge de Nina Petrowna " .

Unlike his French colleagues (Lherbier:"La TRagédie Impériale" ;Dréville:"les Nuits Blanches de Saint-Petersburg" ) the director knows ,and for a good reason,how to recreate a Russian atmosphere ,with the songs,the settings and the impressive scene where the characters are lost in the snow.

But it's difficult to believe Albert Préjean(!!) and Danielle Darrieux are Slavs!Raymond Rouleau was even less lucky:to portray the villain,he was made up as a "cosack" .Only Valery Inkijinoff is convincing (and again for a good reason) but his character (a man who wants to overthrow the czar )is cardboard.Although short,the movie is labored ,and the musical sequences,although fine,are mostly filler.

We feel a certain nostalgia for czarism.