AKA: Ruslan i Lyudmila
Country and Year: Russia (1972)
Director: Aleksandr Ptushko
Starring: Valeri Kozinets, Natalya Petrova, Vladimir Fyodorov, Mariya Kapnist

Review By: David Austin
Rating: 3 ½ out of 4 stars (very good)

[Ruslan and Ludmila played at the recent Russian Fantastik Cinema festival at the Walter Reade Theater in Lincoln Center]

Ruslan and Ludmila is a magnificent fairy tale, a mythic epic with a nominal basis in historical events but featuring witches and wizards, giants and dwarves, heroes and villains. Part epic mythology, part tongue-in-cheek fantasia, the film delivers on all scores – it’s a true crowd-pleaser in the best sense of the term. Director Aleksandr Ptushko, the master of Soviet fantasy, pulled out all the stops for this, the last film (in fact, a film in two parts that took four years to film) that he would make before dying in 1973.

For those who ask what happened to the Russian period spectacular after the death of Sergei Eisenstein, Aleksandr Ptushko is the answer. However, Ptushko was the heir to the spectacle and costumery of later Eisenstein films like Alexander Nevsky and Ivan the Terrible, rather than the frenzied, rhythmic montage and political conscience of films like Battleship Potemkin and Strike. Ptushko’s métier was not politics and revolution but fantasy, horror and the supernatural. His background in animation and puppeteering led directly to series of phantasmagorical special effects extravaganzas, like Viy (for which he wrote the screenplay and assisted with the visuals), with its creeping army of malevolent devils, and sword and sorcery films like Sadko and Ilya Muromets.

The story is (very) loosely based on a famous epic poem by Pushkin, most beloved of Russian writers, and the action is set sometime in the 9th or 10th century. Ruslan (Valeri Kozinets ) is a great knight - defender of the medieval Russian principality of Kiev. As a reward for his bravery in crushing the Pecheneg Tartars, Ruslan is given the hand of the Grand Prince’s daughter, Ludmila (Natalya Petrova), in marriage (good thing too, as they love each other). However, she is mysteriously abducted on the night of their wedding and the Grand Prince, consumed with grief, declares that whomever is able to restore her to him may be her new husband.

Along with Ruslan, there are several other disappointed suitors ready to try their hands at a rescue. They are Rogdai of Kiev (Oleg Mokshantsev), a patently villainous type who all but twirls his moustache, Ratmir (Ruslan Akhmetov), the heroic prince of the Khazars, and Farlaf (Vyacheslav Nevinnyy), a cowardly, gluttonous, drunken oaf who is clearly better off with his cheerful, chubby girlfriend. Ruslan is further assisted by a sorcerer, who tells the tragic history of his rise from Finnish shepherd, to Viking raider, to lonely hermit, all in the vain pursuit of a woman named Naina (Mariya Kapnist).

In the meantime, Ludmila finds herself trapped in the fortress of the dwarf wizard Chernomor (Vladimir Fyodorov). Chernomor is an inspired piece of work - petulant yet threatening, he sports a nigh-invulnerable magic beard so long that four henchmen must carry it before him when he walks. While Ludmila defends her honor against the wizard, Chernomor’s ally Naina (now an embittered witch) tries to block the progress of the suitors and destroy Ruslan with the aid of an assortment of goblins, spirits and, of course, sexy dancing girls. And all the while, Ruslan’s enemies are conspiring against him and Kiev with the vengeful Pechenegs.

While some of the special effects are dated, Ptushko achieves miracles through practical effects, set dressing, matte paintings, and make-up. Chernomor’s fortress in particular is stunning, featuring an overgrown coral garden, an ice pavilion, and upside-down water fountains. In one odd scene, Ludmila must traverse a series of loose ice platforms hanging suspended before a waterfall, evoking nothing so much as the Super Mario Brothers games which the film predates by some twelve years. Two of the most impressive scenes make masterful use of blue-screen techniques to create size contrasts. In one, Ruslan faces a gigantic, disembodied head – when it sneezes entire flocks of birds are unsettled. And in what may be the most stunning visual of the entire film, showing an artistry that today’s CGI technicians have yet to match, Ludmila explores a cavern full of chained titans, their muddy flesh perfectly matching the walls about them.

Not content to simply create pretty pictures, Ptushko fills Ruslan and Ludmila with action, casting hundreds of dancers, acrobats, horsemen, and even oxen, culminating in a tremendous siege sequence. At one point, Ruslan even wrestles a tiger – a real tiger – in a sequence that drew a round of applause from an appreciative audience 35 years after the fact. Having seen more than my fair share of stuffed tigers thrown at game actors, it was nice to see someone go the extra mile. These sequences can even be informative, for example, who knew that medieval nomads entertained themselves by playing Buck Buck.

Unfortunately, like so many great films, Ruslan and Ludmila has one great flaw - in this case, Ruslan. Through no apparent fault of Valeri Kozinets - who has the requisite good looks and heroic posture - Ruslan comes off as something of a drip. Perhaps it was inevitable, surrounded as he is by tragic giants, evil dwarves and villainous Tartars, but Ruslan is basically the dull straight man in a room full of comedians.

Fortunately, Natalya Petrova makes up for the absence of a strong leading male presence by carrying all of her scenes with charm and vivacity. Ludmila is an absolute doll – she is gorgeous, tough, smart, everything you could ask for in a fairy tale princess. After briefly losing her composure on being confronted by the wonders of Chernomor’s palace (and being mocked by his parrots), she rallies admirably. When Chernomor and his army of Kabuki-painted goons try to take advantage of her, she holds them off single-handedly with a sword and a barrage of pillows, and soon has the upper hand. It is not hard to understand why so many heroic armored types are running around trying to win her hand – she’s worth it.

Recommended? Absolutely. Enjoy the adventure, glory in the visuals. Ruslan and Ludmila also ably demonstrates that even post-Eisenstein and Dziga Vertov, Soviet films were not all about farmers and class struggle.

If you like this, you might like: The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, Conan the Barbarian, Murnau’s Faust, Tarkan vs. the Vikings, The Viy, Sadko, Ilya Muromets, Excalibur, Lord of the Rings, The Vikings

[Ruslan and Ludmila is out on all-region DVD from Ruscico (the Russian Cinema Council), which has made many of Ptushko’s films available in the last few years. You can find a link to Ruscico in our “Links” section.]

© David Austin