''Amphibian Man'' (russian: Человек-амфибия, translit. Chelovek-amfibiya) is a 1962

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

romance film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

starring

Vladimir Korenev Vladimir Borisovich Korenev (russian: Влади́мир Бори́сович Ко́ренев; 20 June 1940 – 2 January 2021) was a Soviet and Russian film and theatre actor and teacher, known for '' The Amphibian Man'' (1962). He was awarded P ...

and directed by

Vladimir Chebotaryov Vladimir Aleksandrovich Chebotaryov (russian: Влади́мир Чеботарёв) (16 August 1921 – 4 March 2010) was a Soviet and Russian film director and screenwriter. Honored Artist of the Russian Federation (1994). Early years Vladimir ...

and

Gennadi Kazansky Gennadi Kazansky (1 December 1910 – 14 September 1983) was a Soviet film director of the Soviet era.Goble p.355 Life and career Gennadi Kazansky was born on 18 November 18 or December 1910 in Voronezh. He studied art history at the Leningrad ...

. The film stars

and

Anastasiya Vertinskaya Anastasiya Alexandrovna Vertinskaya (russian: link=no, Анастасия Александровна Вертинская, born 19 December 1944, Moscow, Soviet Union) is a Soviet and Russian actress, who came to prominence in the early 1960s ...

in the lead roles. It is an almost fable-like story based upon the eponymous 1928 novel by

Alexander Beliaev Alexander Romanovich Belyaev (russian: Алекса́ндр Рома́нович Беля́ев, ; – 6 January 1942) was a Soviet Russian writer of science fiction. His works from the 1920s and 1930s made him a highly regarded figure in Russia ...

. It focuses on a youth named ''Ichthyander'' (russian: Ихтиандр, Ichtiandr) (from Greek: fish+man) who was surgically altered to survive under the sea. Unlike traditional science fiction movies of the time the film focuses much more on the concept of love won and lost. It was given the name of ''

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

des Mers'' before the estate of

Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American author, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best-known for creating the characters Tarzan and John Carter, he ...

took exception. The film was the leader of Soviet distribution in 1962, with 65.5 million admissions during its initial run that year. It later sold up to 100million admissions including re-runs, the highest for a

Soviet film The cinema of the Soviet Union includes films produced by the constituent republics of the Soviet Union reflecting elements of their pre-Soviet culture, language and history, albeit they were all regulated by the central government in Moscow. M ...

up until ''

The Red Snowball Tree ''The Red Snowball Tree'' (russian: Калина красная, Kalina krasnaya) is a 1974 Soviet drama film written and directed by Vasily Shukshin. It was the most successful film of that year. In total, the film sold an estimated 140million ti ...

'' (1974).Interview with Boris Pavlenok, deputy director of the USSR GosKino
/ref>

Plot

The story is set in a seaside port in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

(but filmed in

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

Azerbaijan SSR Azerbaijan ( az, Азәрбајҹан, Azərbaycan, italics=no), officially the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (Azerbaijan SSR; az, Азәрбајҹан Совет Сосиалист Республикасы, Azərbaycan Sovet Sosialist R ...

), largely among a community of

pearl A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carb ...

fishers. The protagonist is the adopted son of a doctor/scientist who was sometime in the past forced to save the boy's life by implanting him with shark

gill A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...

s. Thus he is able to live under water, but must keep his secret from the world. The conflict arises from his falling in love with a pearl-fisher's beautiful daughter. His secret is discovered and the girl's husband Pedro attempts to exploit Ichthyander for his ability to find pearls easily. Due to being kept caged under water, his ability to breathe in the open air is affected, and he must now live in the sea for several years. Although set free, the lovers are permanently separated from each other. Although ostensibly a lost-love-tragedy like ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...

'', the film has a significant focus on greed and commercial exploitation (of the pearl-greedy fishermen), possibly under the influence of

Socialist Realism Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is ch ...

.Новости NEWSru.com :: 45 лет назад на киноэкраны вышел «Человек-амфибия», собравший 60 млн зрителей
/ref>

Cast

Home media

''The Amphibian Man'' made its debut on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

on August 21, 2001 where it was released by

Image Entertainment RLJ Entertainment (formerly Image Entertainment) is an American film production company and home video distributor, distributing film and television productions in North America, with approximately 3,200 exclusive DVD titles and approximately 340 ...

. It was later re-released by VFN on July 9, 2015.

Western world

''Amphibian Man'' is little-known in the West, but has become a cult classic. Hollywood filmmaker

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...

cited ''Amphibian Man'' as one of his favourite

Russian films A list of the most notable films produced in the Cinema of Russia. Russia, since beginning to produce films in the late 1890s, has experienced three political regimes; the Russian Empire, Pre-1917; the Soviet Union, 1917–1991; and the Russian Fe ...

, stating that he grew up watching an English dubbed version often shown on American television in the 1970s. There have been accusations that the 2017 Hollywood film, ''

The Shape of Water ''The Shape of Water'' is a 2017 romantic fantasy film directed by Guillermo del Toro and written by del Toro and Vanessa Taylor. It stars Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Octavia Spencer ...

'', plagiarised ''Amphibian Man''. ''Indie Cinema Magazine'' noted that both have a similar plot, the use of the name "Amphibian Man" in both films, the Soviet connection in both stories, and the 1962 setting.

References

* Wingrove, David.

Science Fiction Film Source Book ''The Science Fiction Film Source Book'' is a book by David Wingrove published in 1985. Plot summary ''The Science Fiction Film Source Book'' is a book consisting of list of science fiction film plot summaries, with information about producers, di ...

(Longman Group Limited, 1985)

Notes

Sources

External links

* * *
Amphibian Man (with English subtitles)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amphibian Man, The 1962 films 1960s science fiction films Lenfilm films 1960s Russian-language films Soviet science fiction films Films shot in Baku Transhumanism in film Films directed by Gennadi Kazansky Films scored by Andrey Petrov Films based on Russian novels Films based on science fiction novels Films shot in Crimea