Young Maxim grows up under the czarist regime with his grandparents as guardians. Continually demeaned by his martinet grandfather, Maxim is drawn to his warm-hearted grandmother, who instills in him the willingness to pursue his writing muse.
A life-long story of a romantic school teacher who left imperial St. Petersburg for teaching country children. Driven by noble intentions to enlighten people and examples by 1880s revolutionary "People's Will" member teachers, a young woman spent her life in a village and evidenced the changes a Russian village has undergone from pre-revolutionary tsarist times to late 1940s.
Adapted from four different Russian folk-tales, this early Soviet fantasy film tells the story of Emelya the Fool, who, fishing one day, catches a talking pike who pleads for his life and in return grants Emelya wishes for a life spared.
Two look-alike boys, one a poor street kid and the other a prince, exchange places to see what the other's life is like.
Two six-graders are trying to find the Stalin's pipe and return it to the owner.
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.
A classic movie based on a famous "Dick Sand, A Captain at Fifteen" novel by Jules Verne.
Based on a Russian folk tale, Vasilisa Prekrasnaya (Vasilisa the Beautiful) is about a father whose three sons go out to finds themselves brides. Two of the boys come home with perfectly normal girls, but the youngest brother, Ivanushka, brings home a frog from the marshes. His father finds this most curious, but what he does not know was that the frog was actually a beautiful girl named Vasilisa who was cursed by a magical serpent whom she refused to marry. Now Ivanushka must overcome tremendous obstacles to restore Vasilisa to her true form and free her from the serpent's spell.
My Universities (Moi universiteti) is the last installment of Russian director Mark Donskoy's "Maxim Gorki" trilogy. Having endured a painful youth in My Childhood and a torturous sojourn as a serf in My Apprenticeship, future writer Gorki reaches maturity with an insatiable desire for personal and artistic freedom. The "university" of the title is actual the school of Hard Knocks, as Gorky goes to work in the shipyards and commisserates with the hard-drinking, philosophical dockworkers.
A few very hard days from the life of Kositsyn - the sailor from the coast guard ship.
The true story of one of Russia's most beloved national heroines. During the Nazi siege of Moscow, a fearless 18-year-old girl named Zoya risked her life as a partisan fighter. Captured by the Germans, Zoya endured unspeakable tortures at the hands of the Gestapo but still refused to betray her comrades. Even on the gallows, Zoya defiantly spoke out against the Nazis and everything they stood for. In a series of flashbacks, this film re-creates not merely Zoya's death, but also her life.
An adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" with drastic changes to the plot. A group of English rebels searches for pirate's treasures to buy weapons for the civil war.
The New Adventures of Schweik adopted to the WWII reality.
A story about two teenagers and their life during WWII in Urals district of Russia.
While a factory director is distracted by production problems, his adolescent son suffers from loneliness. His mother is dead, and the father – a kind man and exemplary communist, winner of a Lenin Prize – is unable to find the time to educate his son, or a way to express his feelings. After an argument, the young boy runs away and, at his own risk, joins a band of criminals.
A story about Nasreddin - a funny and adventurous hero of many Mid-Asian tales.
After graduation, Nadia Kulagina comes to work in a school where she once studied. After her appearance, the most hopeless student Dimka Lopatin, who was even wanted to be expelled from school, becomes one of the best students and a faithful friend of the new class teacher.
