''Silva'' (russian: Сильва) is a 1944 Soviet

musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks ...

directed by

Aleksandr Ivanovsky Aleksandr Viktorovich Ivanovsky (; November 29, 1881 – January 12, 1968) was a screenwriter and film director in Soviet Union. He was awarded the USSR State Prize, Stalin Prize in 1941, for his work on the 1940 film ''Musical Story''. His 1944 o ...

and starring Zoya Smirnova-Nemirovich and

Sergei Martinson Sergey Alexandrovich Martinson (russian: Серге́й Александрович Мартинсон; – 2 September 1984) was a Russian eccentric comic actor, the master of pantomime, buffoonery and grotesque. He became People's Artist of th ...

. It was part of a cycle of

operetta films Operetta films (German: Operettenfilm) are a genre of musical films associated with, but not exclusive to, German language cinema. The genre began in the late 1920s, but its roots stretch back into the tradition of nineteenth century Viennese ope ...

made in European cinema during the era.

Cast

* Zoya Smirnova-Nemirovich as Silva Varescu * Niyaz Dautov as Edvin * Margarita Sakalis as Stassi *

Sergey Martinson Sergey Alexandrovich Martinson (russian: Серге́й Александрович Мартинсон; – 2 September 1984) was a Russian eccentric comic actor, the master of pantomime, buffoonery and grotesque. He became People's Artist of the ...

as Boni * Sergey Dybcho as Leopold Volyapyuk *

Nina Dintan Nina may refer to: * Nina (name), a feminine given name and surname Acronyms *National Iraqi News Agency, a news service in Iraq *Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, on the campus of Norwegian University of Science and Technology *No income, n ...

as Julianna Volyapyuk * Georgiy Kugushev as Ferry *

Vladimir Taskin Vladimir may refer to: Names * Vladimir (name) for the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak and Slovenian spellings of a Slavic name * Uladzimir for the Belarusian version of the name * Volodymyr for the Ukra ...

as Rons Volyapyuk *

Aleksandra Korvet Alexandra () is the feminine form of the given name Alexander (, ). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; GEN , ; meaning 'man'). Thus it may be roughly translated as "defender of man" or "pr ...

as the maid * Aleksandr Matkovsky as assistant director *

Glikeriya Bogdanova-Chesnokova Glikeriya Vasilyevna Bogdanova-Chesnokova (russian: Глике́рия Васи́льевна Богда́нова-Чесноко́ва) (born 13 (26) May 1904 Saint Petersburg 17 April 1983 Leningrad) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film act ...

as Princess Weglersheim

Production

The film is an adaptation of the 1915

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

Die Csárdásfürstin ' (''The Csárdás Princess''; translated into English as ''The Riviera Girl'' and ''The Gipsy Princess'') is an operetta in 3 acts by Hungarian composer Emmerich Kálmán, with libretto by Leo Stein and Bela Jenbach. It premiered in Vienna at the ...

'' (also known as ''Silva'' after its title character) composed by Emmerich Kalman with a

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

by Leo Stein and

Bela Jenbach Bela Jenbach, real name Béla Jacobowicz (1 April 1871 in Miskolc, Kingdom of Hungary – 21 January 1943 in Vienna) was an Austrian actor and operetta librettist of Hungarian origin. Jenbach was of Jewish origin and the brother of the screenwri ...

. The first staging of the operetta took place in Russia in 1916 in St. Petersburg during the war with Germany, but patriotism required to change the title of operetta from ''Queen of Czardas'' to the neutral ''Silva'' in Russia. The Soviet movie ''Silva'' was made at the

Sverdlovsk Film Studios Sverdlovsk Film Studio (russian: Свердловская Киностудия) is a Russian film studio based in Yekaterinburg (formerly Sverdlovsk). It is a regional studio, that was established on 9 February 1943 in the midst of World War II. ...

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg ( ; rus, Екатеринбург, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk), alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( rus, Свердло́вск, , svʲɪrˈdlofsk, 1924–1991), is a city and the administra ...

Popularity

The film proved a major success with Soviet audiences, who during the later stages of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

sought escapist entertainment and largely rejected films with war themes. The money it earned per copy of the film issued exceeded even that of the most popular films of the year ''

Guilty Without Fault Guilty or The Guilty may refer to: * Guilt (emotion), an experience that occurs when a person believes they have violated a moral standard Law *Culpability, the degree to which an agent can be held responsible for action or inaction *Guilt (law) ...

''.Spring / Taylor p.50

References

Bibliography

* Egorova, Tatiana K. ''Soviet Film Music: An Historical Survey''. Psychology Press, 1997. * Spring, Derek / Taylor, Richard. ''Stalinism and Soviet Cinema''. Routledge, 2013.

External links

* 1944 films Soviet black-and-white films 1944 musical films Operetta films Films based on operettas 1940s Russian-language films Films directed by Aleksandr Ivanovsky Films set in Vienna Films set in Hungary Films set in the 1910s Soviet musical films {{musical-film-stub