Kashchey the Immortal (1944)
A beautiful maiden, Marya Morevna, gives her prospective husband, the mighty warrior Nikita Kozhemyaka, three riddles to solve before she'll marry him. Before he can tell her the answers, the Russian land is invaded by the armies of Kashchei the Immortal, in whose footsteps death and destruction follow. Marya is abducted by Kashchei, and Nikita finds his home in ashes. Nikita meets a kindly wizard who gives him a cap of darkness. With it, the hero will find a way to save his bride and rout Kashchei.
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Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike
A brilliant film that helped define a genre
what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Black-and-white cinematography of 1944 brings us a fairy tale about love, friendship, and magic powers.Some negative points of the movie are well justified. For instance, the fire scene is prolonged. It seems to last forever. But if the year of production is taken into account - it fits the historical background all right (deserted and burnt lands of Russia). Another one is, perhaps, simplicity of the effects and stunts. The emotional acting cures it all, though. The energetic scene with balalaika has the energy and magic to enchant the viewer. Then goes the grainy image of the picture, which is well below average quality even in the DVD release. It is not so bad after all - it ads some spooky atmosphere, everything seems to be "not of this world". Finally, the movie introduces one of the scariest creatures of Russian folklore - Kashchey Bessmertnyy (a thin man-like undead that can be killed only by destroying some estranged secret object) and one of the toughest Russian "bogatyrs" (i.e. unnaturally strong men) - Nikita Kozhemjaka. All in all, it is a good family feature with its magic moments. The outlook of the main villain and the chopping down of its head can scare some children away, but the whole story is original enough to spend about 64 minutes concerned in a very good way (for children and adults). It's just a one-hour feature, which is also very good for those who don't like to spend half of the day before a TV-set.On the international level it is 7 out of 10. Thanks for attention.