Ilya Muromets
Deaf Crocodile
•
1h 31m
Directed by Aleksandr Ptushko • Drama • With Boris Andreyev, Shukur Burkhanov, Ninel Myshkova • 1956 • 92 minutes
Legendary fantasy filmmaker Aleksandr Ptushko’s sweeping, visual F/X-filled epic is one of his most enchanting achievements: a stunning Cinemascope ballad of heroic medieval knights, ruthless Tugar invaders, wind demons and three-headed fire-breathing dragons.
The film stars Boris Andreyev as the bogatyr (warrior) Ilya, a mythic figure in the Kyivan Rus’ culture that pre-dated both modern Ukraine and Russia (much of the film’s action is set in Kyiv, and Ilya’s relics are held today in the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery).
Based on a series of famous byliny (oral epics), the film follows Ilya as he wages a decades-long battle against the Tugars who threaten his homeland, kidnap his wife and raise his own son to fight against him. The film has been restored in 4K for its first-ever official U.S. release in its original form by Deaf Crocodile, in association with Seagull Films.
Up Next in Deaf Crocodile
-
Ruslan and Ludmila
Directed by Aleksandr Ptushko • Drama • With Valeri Kozinets, Natalya Petrova, Vladimir Fyodorov • 1972 • 145 minutes
The final film from Russian fantasy master Aleksandr Ptushko (ILYA MUROMETS, SAMPO), RUSLAN AND LUDMILA was a glorious and magical summation of his career. Based on an epic fairy...
-
Sampo
Directed by Aleksandr Ptushko • Drama • With Anna Orochko, Urho Somersalmi, Andris Osins • 1959 • 91 minutes
Based on the Finnish national epic "Kalevala," director Aleksandr Ptushko's ravishing, mystical fantasy tells the story of a sinister witch Louhi (Anna Orochko) who covets the Sampo, a ma...
-
The Savage Hunt Of King Stakh
Directed by Valeri Rubinchik • Drama • With Elena Dimitrova, Boris Plotnikov • 1980 • 127 minutes
Part folk horror, part supernatural mystery, the long-unseen THE SAVAGE HUNT OF KING STAKH is a melancholy, chilling mixture of Terry Gilliam, Italian Gothic Horror, 1960s Hammer Films and THE WICKE...
