The film is on two dvds as many Rusico films are. (it has to be the extras) This is not always a bad thing...
Here its a bit of a help since the first half is better than the second. To that end a movie review in Two Parts
Part One: The film is the story of the title two characters who are in love. Ludmila is kidnapped on her wedding night and the king, angry at the loss of his daughter vows that she will be the bride of who ever returns her.
So off the suiters go along with Ruslan in the hope of rescuing the maiden.
The culprit is a dwarf with a forty foot long beard.
The final film by Aleksandr Ptushko is yet another fairy tale based up the writing of the poet Pushkin.Ptushko is a rather odd filmmaker who spent all of his career churning out odd fairy tales that sold one on the idea of grand Mother Russia.I've seen several of his films now and I'm of mixed opinion of him and his work.He makes films that look like grand fairy tales with lots and lots of everything you expect in said tales but tend to be a bit stilted in direction, coupled with the love of country nonsense he pours into the proceedings his films can be really tough to watch.
The first half of this film is one of his better films, very fantastical and fairy tale like.I was watching the film in English with the subtitles on and the dub is almost exactly what the subtitles are which is good. Interesting is the fact that the dub must be from a cut English version of the film since the English drops out periodically to be replaced by Russian.
I love the visuals of the film even if the effects leave something to be desired at times. The giants head, the fearsome forest and some of the evil dwarf's lair are beautiful to behold.
When the first DVD ended I was looking forward to the second part of the film.
Part two. Oh dear god this is horrible.
The first half is a decent film but the second half seems longer than its 70 minutes by six or seven hours.
The first half of the film ended with Ruslan getting the sword that could defeat the evil Dwarf. The second half is a bunch of beautiful to look at but badly acted tableaux of an evil witch attempting to stop Ruslan from getting to the dwarf's lair.
When he gets there and defeats the dwarf almost an hour remains...I think I was stunned into disbelief.
He then goes off with an unconscious Ludmila...
Then things get wonky as the Mongols attack and Ruslan dies... for awhile.
The Final attack on the castle is one of the wost battle scenes ever put on the screen ever. I MEAN EVER!!!!! Heads fly and people are cut in half and its badly acted as arrows go three feet, a cow is shot full of arrows and the dialog is laughably bad....
The second half of this film is an unmitigated bomb. Its one of the worst films ever made.
Watch the first half, avoid the second.
4 out of 10 over all
Here its a bit of a help since the first half is better than the second. To that end a movie review in Two Parts
Part One: The film is the story of the title two characters who are in love. Ludmila is kidnapped on her wedding night and the king, angry at the loss of his daughter vows that she will be the bride of who ever returns her.
So off the suiters go along with Ruslan in the hope of rescuing the maiden.
The culprit is a dwarf with a forty foot long beard.
The final film by Aleksandr Ptushko is yet another fairy tale based up the writing of the poet Pushkin.Ptushko is a rather odd filmmaker who spent all of his career churning out odd fairy tales that sold one on the idea of grand Mother Russia.I've seen several of his films now and I'm of mixed opinion of him and his work.He makes films that look like grand fairy tales with lots and lots of everything you expect in said tales but tend to be a bit stilted in direction, coupled with the love of country nonsense he pours into the proceedings his films can be really tough to watch.
The first half of this film is one of his better films, very fantastical and fairy tale like.I was watching the film in English with the subtitles on and the dub is almost exactly what the subtitles are which is good. Interesting is the fact that the dub must be from a cut English version of the film since the English drops out periodically to be replaced by Russian.
I love the visuals of the film even if the effects leave something to be desired at times. The giants head, the fearsome forest and some of the evil dwarf's lair are beautiful to behold.
When the first DVD ended I was looking forward to the second part of the film.
Part two. Oh dear god this is horrible.
The first half is a decent film but the second half seems longer than its 70 minutes by six or seven hours.
The first half of the film ended with Ruslan getting the sword that could defeat the evil Dwarf. The second half is a bunch of beautiful to look at but badly acted tableaux of an evil witch attempting to stop Ruslan from getting to the dwarf's lair.
When he gets there and defeats the dwarf almost an hour remains...I think I was stunned into disbelief.
He then goes off with an unconscious Ludmila...
Then things get wonky as the Mongols attack and Ruslan dies... for awhile.
The Final attack on the castle is one of the wost battle scenes ever put on the screen ever. I MEAN EVER!!!!! Heads fly and people are cut in half and its badly acted as arrows go three feet, a cow is shot full of arrows and the dialog is laughably bad....
The second half of this film is an unmitigated bomb. Its one of the worst films ever made.
Watch the first half, avoid the second.
4 out of 10 over all