''Vasilisa the Beautiful'' (russian: Василиса Прекрасная, Vasilisa prekrasnaya) is a 1940

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, ...

film produced by

Soyuzdetfilm Gorky Film Studio (russian: Киностудия имени Горького) is a film studio in Moscow, Russian Federation. By the end of the Soviet Union, Gorky Film Studio had produced more than 1,000 films. Many film classics were filmed at ...

and directed by

Alexander Rou Alexander Arturovich Rou (also, Rowe, from his Irish father's name) (russian: Александр Артурович Роу, – 28 December 1973) was a Soviet film director, and People's Artist of the RSFSR (1968). He directed a number of chi ...

. It was based on a traditional

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Plot

A desperate peasant demands that both of his two eldest, good-for-nothing sons use bow and arrow to seek a bride wherever the arrows fall. The arrow of the oldest brother Anton strikes at a snooty nobleman's daughter, while the arrow of the middle brother Agafon gets stuck in the vicinity of a food-addicted merchant's daughter. The youngest son, Ivan, wants to do the same as his elder brothers but shoots the arrow into a swamp, where he finds only an ugly toad. Once home, to see if they are worthy of a peasant, the old farmer tells the future wives to farm the land around the hut and himself goes off with his sons to mow fields. However, the two women have learned nothing and only throw the toad out of the house. Then, out of the toad skin a pretty girl emerges who starts to do the work of the women. They notice her singing and find the skin. In dispute, they tear it in half and throw the remains into the fire. When the men return home, the girl reveals herself as Vasilissa. She tells that she was transformed by a dragon because she refused to marry him. As a punishment, she was to live at the bottom of a lake for three years, and the due date was almost over, but as the two women burned her toad skin, she would now be fetched by the dragon's sister, an old witch. As the sky darkens, a terrible storm breaks out and Vasilisa disappears. The old man then gives his youngest son advice: "Far away from here in the dark spruce forest are three large, old oaks. Wait until the cuckoo calls three times, then you will find a well at the feet of the oak trees. At the bottom of this fountain, behind an oak fence and a castle that weighs a hundred quintal, lies a miracle sword of fine steel. If you find the key to the castle, you can defeat the dragon." The youth, therefore, sets out on a journey to seek the key. On his journey, he meets a blacksmith who tells him that the key is in a golden egg inside a duck sitting in a glass chest. However, this chest would be at the highest point of a tall pine. At the witches' house meanwhile, the witch suggests Vasilissa to marry her brother, she would live in a palace and be rich, but Vasilissa refuses again. In the meantime, the warrior has arrived in the forest, where the invisible witch gives him a beating, but he resists. Then she invokes an enchanted bear for him. Only barely can he escape its paws, but finally defeats it, spares it and thus becomes friends with the bears of the forest. In a third strike, the witch splits the earth to prevent the warrior from progressing, but Ivan finds a narrow path over which he tries to overcome the deep-roaring river. Arriving in the middle of the transition, the evil old woman brings him to collapse and the youth falls into the abyss under the sound of her loud laughter. Back home, she reveals to Vasilissa that her lover is no longer alive, but she still does not consent. Meanwhile, Ivan, with the help of the bears, succeeds to free himself from the torrent. He climbs up the ravine and reaches the high pine, which is climbed by the bears. At the top they throw down the glass chest. The chest shatters and the duck escapes. Then the youth shoots it with his bow and the egg falls to the ground. With the key in his luggage, he covertly seeks out his Vasilissa, which causes his attention to be drawn to a forbidden well. When the cuckoo sounds three times, he goes there, climbs down and finds a huge lock on the fence made of oak. He puts the key in the lock, whereupon it shatters and the door opens. He ends up trapped in a web of spiders, whose huge owner charges him with three puzzles that he must solve or that his life is forfeited. After answering the questions, he receives the sword and sets off for the three-headed dragon Zmey Gorynych who wants to marry his Vasilissa. A fight between the adversaries commences. The fire and water-spouting dragon stretches out menacingly, but unexpectedly he succeeds in a surprise strike against the monster, whereby the first head is knocked off. In the further course of the fight, the hero climbs a rock and pushes down from above on the dragon to take the second head. Meanwhile, Vasilissa fights the witch and she manages to throw her into a large pot of boiling water. The witch wants to escape from the cauldron, but because of the lid, the old woman is trapped inside. Finally, through a last powerful prank, the knight attacks the firestorming dragon's head and knocks it down. The survived two lovers then ride home.

Cast

Georgy Millyar Georgy Frantsevich Millyar, sometimes spelled Milliar (russian: Георгий Францевич Милляр; 7 November 1903 in Moscow – 4 June 1993 in Moscow), was a Soviet and Russian actor, best known for playing evil spirits in Soviet fai ...

as the father and as

Baba-Yaga In Slavic folklore, Baba Yaga, also spelled Baba Jaga (from Polish), is a supernatural being (or one of a trio of sisters of the same name) who appears as a deformed and/or ferocious-looking woman. In fairy tales Baba Yaga flies around in a ...

* Sergey Stolyarov as Ivan, the

youngest son The youngest son is a stock character in fairy tales, where he features as the hero. He is usually the third son, but sometimes there are more brothers, and sometimes he has only one; usually, they have no sisters. In a family of many daughters, ...

* Lev Potyomkin as Agaphon, the middle son * Nikita Kondratiev, as Anton the oldest son * Valentina Sorogozhskaya as Vasilisa the Beautiful ( Vasilisa the Wise) *

Irina Zarubina Irina Petrovna Zarubina (russian: Ирина Петровна Зару́бина; April 22, 1907 – May 20, 1976) was a Soviet and Russian actress. People's Artist of the RSFSR (1951). Biography She was born on April 22, 1907, in Kazan. In ...

as Malanya, the merchant's daughter *

Lidiya Sukharevskaya Lidiya Petrovna Sukharevskaya (russian: Ли́дия Петро́вна Сухаре́вская; 30 August 1909 – 11 October 1991) was a Soviet stage actress and playwright renowned for her work with Nikolay Akimov and Andrey Goncharov. H ...

as Belyandryasa, the aristocrat's daughter *

Tatyana Barysheva Tatyana Semyonovna Barysheva (russian: Татья́на Семёновна Ба́рышева; 31 December 1896 - 10 February 1979) was a Soviet stage and film actress. Life Barysheva was born in Moscow. From 1915 to 1918 she was an actress at th ...

as Malanya's mother *

Mariya Barabanova Mariya Pavlovna Barabanova (russian: Мария Павловна Барабанова) (November 3, 1911 in Saint Petersburg – March 7, 1993 in Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actress. People's Artist of the RSFSR (1991). Filmo ...

as Bell-ringer * L. Skavronskaya

References

External links

(English subtitles) * {{Alexander Rou 1940 films 1940s children's fantasy films Films based on Russian folklore Films based on Slavic mythology Films set in Russia Films shot in Crimea Soviet black-and-white films Soviet fantasy films 1940s Russian-language films Baba Yaga Russian black-and-white films Russian children's fantasy films Films based on fairy tales

Plot

Cast

See also

References

External links