Boris Godunov [Salzburger Festpielhaus] 1998

Boris Godunov 1954

Russian filmmaker Vera Stroyeva specialized in cinematic adaptations of famous operas. One of the most successful of these was her 1955 film version of Mussorgsky and Pushkin's Boris Godunov. Stroyeva's adaptation deftly streamlines the story of a Russian czar whose life is placed in jeopardy by a pretender to his throne. A. Pirogov sings the title role, while G. Nellep provides vocal and visual menace as the "False Dmitri". The use of a color process known as Magicolor adds just the right touch of theatrical artificiality to the pomp-and-splendor proceedings.

The Slippers 1945

Film-opera based on Tschaikovsky's adaptation of Gogol's story, 'Noch' pyered Rozhdestvom.'

Ivan the Terrible, Part I 1944

Set during the early part of his reign, Ivan faces betrayal from the aristocracy and even his closest friends as he seeks to unite the Russian people. Sergei Eisenstein's final film, this is the first part of a three-part biopic of Tsar Ivan IV of Russia, which was never completed due to the producer's dissatisfaction with Eisenstein's attempts to use forbidden experimental filming techniques and excessive cost overruns. The second part was completed but not released for a decade after Eisenstein's death and a change of heart in the USSR government toward his work; the third part was only in its earliest stage of filming when shooting was stopped altogether.

Concert for the Front 1942

A musical film dedicated to the soldiers fighting at the front line.