Pilgrim's Captain (1987) User Reviews

Watchable but the book is much better

[depont03 · 6/10 · 11 January 2017]

This is a Soviet adaptation of Jules Verne's novel "Un capitaine de quinze ans" (Dick Sand, A Captain at Fifteen). It starts fairly close to the book and gradually diverges, ending like a western in a desert chase and shootout on the ship. Both scenes are cliché and have nothing to do with the book. The Negoro character is made even more dangerous than he is in the book, that actor who plays him however gives a good performance.

I don't agree with the other reviewer, this adaptation is not more violent than an average western movie. I think the positive side of the film is that casting is done well and characters look recognizable. Some actors play well. The main drawback is that the script diverges too much away from the book, especially at the end.

Other Soviet adaptations of Jules Verne like "Captain Nemo (Vingt mille lieues sous les mers)" or "In Search of Captain Grant (In Search of the Castaways)" are much better and closer to the books than the Hollywood/Disney ones.

very violent and not very interesting

[amir_e_a · 1/10 · 28 September 2003]

This is a Soviet movie version of Jules Verne's "Un Capitaine de quinze ans" (A Captain of Fifteen Years). Actually, it's the second Russian movie version of that novel! In case you didn't know, the Soviet movie industry produced a lot of adaptations of non-Russian books, and French adventure epics like those of Jules Verne and Alexander Dumas were particularly popular.

I haven't read the original novel, but i have seen the older Russian black-and-white version and it is far better and entertaining. This version is very grim and violent - a lot of characters, good and bad, are killed in very vicious ways. This adds nothing to the plot, but eliminates the entertainment value completely. Maybe it is closer to the book, but i've got a hunch that it is not. Most probably, the producers were just enjoying the loosening of Soviet censorship and tried to make a American-like action movie. I guess that they imagined that a good action movie has to be scary and violent. Well, they were wrong. Scary it is - but unimaginably boring.