Customer Reviews

Ilya Muromets

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This DVD of ILYA MUROMETS is long awaited by fans who've seen the film in its English-dubbed U.S. release version, SWORD AND THE DRAGON. This 1956 Soviet spectacle, based on the legend of Ilya Muromets, a Russian folk hero who defended Kiev from the Tartar hordes, was released in the U.S. in 1960 and has come out on VHS in various full-screen versions, including one framed by a badly-shot tacked-on prologue and epilogue involving a little boy who finds a book in a library that tells the story. It's also been ridiculed on "Mystery Science Theater 3000." Here we finally get to see it in a restored print in its proper widescreen dimensions and in Russian with English subtitles.

It follows the rise of Ilya Muromets from his helpless status as a crippled onlooker who watches Tugar raiders invade his village and kidnap his devoted wife, Vassilisa, to a hero of the people who, upon being awarded a magic sword by traveling minstrels, finds he can walk and ride and sets out to capture a wind demon who's been robbing passersby and thus prove to Prince Vladimir at Kiev that he deserves a special place in court. He rescues his wife, but is discredited by a traitor at court and imprisoned only to be called on when the Tugars, under their chief, Kalin, prepare to invade Kiev. Meanwhile his wife has been recaptured by the Tugars and gives birth to Ilya's son, who will not meet his father for several years. It all culminates in a big battle with the Tugars outside of Kiev (employing thousands of extras) and a final showdown with a flame-spewing, three-headed dragon.

This is not SPARTACUS or BEN-HUR or BRAVEHEART. Or even TROY. The Russians call it a fairy-tale film. The whole thing is painted in very broad strokes and the filmmaker, Alexander Ptushko (SADKO), keeps the characters at a distance from us. It's like a storybook come to life, less of an epic and more of a pageant. The characters and their relationships are deliberately dwarfed by the spectacular production design as seen in a series of magnificent locations, lavish indoor sets and massive outdoor sets representing old Kiev and the immediate environs. With the exception of a couple of miniatures and double exposures, all the special effects are created in real time on camera with life-size props. The wind demon, "Nightingale," is particularly grotesque and--dare I say it?--looks real. The dragon is a giant mechanical model sharing the space with the actors on the battlefield outside the castle walls of Kiev. It's none-too-convincing, but it comes at the tail end of an otherwise satisfying large-scale battle and doesn't hurt the film too much.

Fans of SWORD AND THE DRAGON will want to see the full glory of the widescreen imagery for the first time since its theatrical release. The original cut is also about four minutes longer than the American release version, which shaved short bits from various scenes in the interest of speeding things up. Fans of epic fantasy will at the very least enjoy the beautiful production values, even if the story offers less action and fewer narrative twists than such beloved Hollywood counterparts as THE SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINBAD (1958), JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS (1963) and THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (1940 version).

If you ever saw this movie on TV decades ago and you liked it, just remember
that most of the time it was not in widescreen and after comparing both
versions...you missed a lot.
Now after viewing the film on vhs which is cropped to fit the tv screen, i
got mad and finally found this version. Restored and beautiful musiccal
numbers that were deleted and now available for your enjoyment.
I am now smilling...A great tale for young and old.
A keeper.

Ilya Muromets is the most famous of the legendary heros of Russia. The acting in this film is stilted, but it is not intended to be a realistic depiction of early Russia. The film is retelling an old legend, and it does so with energy, beauty and imagination. This film will be enjoyed by those with an interest in Russia, folk tales, and good old fashioned heoric adventure.

If you like seeing noble Knights of Kiev skewering wild
Asiatic Tugars three at once like human shish ke-babs,
here's your dream picture. Also fun is a three-headed, scaly
fire-breathing dragon, "Gorynych," (years before King Ghidorah)!
The wind-demon, ironically called Nightingale, is windier
than a U.S. congressman. Did you know that stout Russian
fighters, whilst hurling big rocks with a sling, exclaim
"Better my arm dislocated than Tugars in Kiev located!"

In short, this movie is a riot. No shortage of rubles was
spared making it, and the panoramas of fur-clad Tugars and horses
marching for Kiev will astound you. If you relish campy Russian
medieval dialog, "Ilya" has plenty to spare. Upon gaining his
battle sword, Ilya is instructed, "May it slay the man who is up
and spare the man who is down!" The use of colorful settings
and costumes delights the eye. The characters are motivated by
devotion "to Holy Rus" and to each other. The Tugar chief, Tsar
Kalin, is like Edward G. Robinson playing a gangster in Mongol
makeup. And there's a stirringly Russian music score too!

I had a ball watching "Ilya Muromets" and want other people
to know that it's a fabulous epic, like Michael Powell's "Thief
of Bagdad." Every so often, a zesty song is performed, once with
accompaniment by wild birds, squirrels, foxes, etc. Hilarious!
There's humor both intended and accidental. You have to remember
it's an old Russian movie, from a much different land and era, and
should not be judged by our modern American notions of hip irony.

There are always reasons to love and dislike films. However, some of them are borderline - we often do not know why a certain film is found appealing, or appalling. With this one the message is clear, its a tale of Russia's Hercules.

The story with "Ilya Murometz" is such that there a few films that can depict a Russian Spirit, Russian Soul - and that I think is what the character of this "bogatir" (a tatar word meaning "a stout, near perfection man, a hero") is all about. Ilya Murometz is a rural man, who is long paralyzed - with the help of travelling healers - he is healed and becomes a hero the world has never seen.

The movie is colorful, playful and is just very enjoyable in its naivete. Plus I had revealed absolutely nothing of the storyline, which is pretty architypically complicated - we encouter Ilya's tender relationship with his parents, his son, his wife. A relatinship between Ilya and his buddies - the other bogatirs who unlike him come from aristocratic families. And finally, Ilya's immense love for his homeland and its nature, and the liberating spirit which has brought him to life.

I've been looking for this movie for years. I saw it as a child, never forgot it and wanted to share it with my grandson. I got lucky when during a search someone emailed me with the correct title. The DVD is exactly as I remember it. The quality was great and it was delivered immedietely. Thank you!

THIS IS A MOVIE THAT I HAVE BEEN WAITING TO GET FOR ABOUT 40 YEARS. I SAW IT AT THE THEATER WHEN IT SHOWED IN THE U.S. BACK IN 1962. IT'S PRETTY CORNY COMPARED TO FANASY MOVIES NOWDAYS, BUT I LOVE IT ALL THE SAME. FROM THE VERY BEGINNING, WITH THE HERO TURNING TO STONE, THE EVIL WHISTLER, THE TARTAR RULERS ON HUGE DISCS SUPPORTED ON THEIR BACKS BY SLAVES AND OF COURSE THE THREE HEADED DRAGON. ONE OF THE OTHER OUSTANDING ASPECTS OF THE MOVIE IS THE SCENERY AND PHOTOGRAPHY. THE SOVIETS COULD DO SOME THINGS RIGHT. IT IS A CLASSIC.

I first saw this amazing film as, of all things, a Mystery Science Theater episode. They made a humorous mess of it but regardless the film was impressive as heck and I hoped someday to see it without the undeserved (but still funny) wisecracks. It's a magnificent epic set in Medieval or so Russia with gorgeous sets, nifty effects work, spectacular battles, and some enjoyable over-the-top acting. Great fun.

I'm hoping for a Soviet-Era film revival sometime soon--the pop stuff not the artsy material (I like that too though). The Commies had some great actors and actresses, terrific art directors and lots more going for them. It's time we appreciated this stuff. The dealer offering this seems to have a number of classics including the stunning Stalinist musical comedy Volga-Volga which is a hoot-and-a-half! It's interesting to note that even historian Paul Johnson, in his recent history of art, has accepted the fact that some of the best visual artists of the last century were in the USSR doing Socialist-Realist work. The ideology may be bad but that didn't prevent the art from being good. A lot of those wonderfully noisy upbeat symphonies (I'm listening to #3 by Khachaturian as I write this and I expect the cops at any minute) are really enjoyable to listen to these days.

Director Alexander Ptushko goes overboard in this slow, draggy film about a legendary Ruasian hero. It is killed by a laughable dragon and as unattractive a hero as has ever appeared on film. The spectacle is there but there is too much of everything. Ptushko's best is the romantic Scarlet Sails which is far superior.

Too much story, too many people and way too much plot - plus some of the worse acting ever make this famous film a disaster. If you must have an Alexander Ptushko film try the much simpler and far better Scarlet Sails.