Vasilisa prekrasnaya (1939)

Director:

Aleksandr Rou

Writers:

O. Nechayeva, Vladimir Shvejtser,

Stars:

Georgiy Millyar, Sergei Stolyarov, Lev Potyomkin

Cast

Cast overview:
Georgiy Millyar	...	Baba Yaga and Father
Sergei Stolyarov	...	Ivan
Lev Potyomkin	...	Agafon (as L. Potyomkin)
Nikita Kondratyev	...	Anton (as N. Kondratyev)
V. Sorogozhskaya	...	Vasilisa
Irina Zarubina	...	Malanya
Lidiya Sukharevskaya	...	Belendryasa (as L. Sukharevskaya)
Tatyana Barysheva	...	Malanya's mother
Mariya Barabanova	...	Bell-ringer
L. Skavronskaya

Storyline

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Genres:

Family | Fantasy

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Details

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian

Release Date:

2 March 1941 (Finland)

Also Known As:

Den smukke Vasilisa

Company Credits

Production Co:

Soyuzdetfilm

Technical Specs

Runtime:

72 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

User Reviews

Weird, Wild Russian Fantasy, the early years

I gather from looking at the IMDb that I am not the only one who got into Russian Fantasy Films from seeing them ridiculed on MST3K, and at some point years ago I bought the Russico version of this movie. Unlike other releases by Russico, it only has English on the subtitles.

Anyway, if you are really into "Sampo" or "Father Frost" you may want to chase this down. It's much like those later, rather striking films and the Rusicco Print is flawless. It has comedy much like "Father Frost." It's kind of cool seeing this all done in Black and White, and it comes in at a snappy 70 minutes. The evil Witch character, a Russian staple (and seemingly always played by a man) captures the beautiful Vasilisa and wants her to marry a Dragon. It is left up to the handsome Son of three brothers (the other two are dolts) to save her.

There is a good commentary on the disc where the traditions of Russian Fantasy are explained.