Optimistic Tragedy (film)
Encyclopedia
Optimistic Tragedy is a 1963 Soviet
film
directed by Samson Samsonov
. It is based on the eponymous play by Vsevolod Vishnevsky and was entered into the 1963 Cannes Film Festival
.
Optimistic Tragedy was a Soviet blockbuster of 1963 with 46 millions tickets sold. The film was named Best Film of the Year and Margarita Volodina was named Best Actress of the Year by readers of the Soviet film magazine Sovetsky Ekran.
The film was shot in Sovscope 70 on black and white film stock. The prints were split into three films for exhibition in Kinopanorama 70 in some theatres.
leader Vozhak (Boris Andreyev
) starts the revolt. The Central Committee of the Bolshevik
Party sends a woman Commissar
(Margarita Volodina) to form Red Army
battalion from the marines to take part in the Russian Civil War
.
Cinema of the Soviet Union
The cinema of the Soviet Union, not to be confused with "Cinema of Russia" despite Russian language films being predominant in both genres, includes several film contributions of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union reflecting elements of their pre-Soviet culture, language and history,...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
directed by Samson Samsonov
Samson Samsonov
Samson Iosifovich Samsonov was a Soviet and Russian film director and screenwriter, he was granted the honorary title of People's Artist of the USSR in 1991....
. It is based on the eponymous play by Vsevolod Vishnevsky and was entered into the 1963 Cannes Film Festival
1963 Cannes Film Festival
-Jury:*Armand Salacrou *Rouben Mamoulian *Jacqueline Audry *Wilfrid Baumgartner *François Chavane *Jean De Baroncelli *Robert Hossein...
.
Optimistic Tragedy was a Soviet blockbuster of 1963 with 46 millions tickets sold. The film was named Best Film of the Year and Margarita Volodina was named Best Actress of the Year by readers of the Soviet film magazine Sovetsky Ekran.
The film was shot in Sovscope 70 on black and white film stock. The prints were split into three films for exhibition in Kinopanorama 70 in some theatres.
Plot
During Russian Revolution of 1917, the Marine squad, led by anarchistAnarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
leader Vozhak (Boris Andreyev
Boris Andreyev
Boris Fyodorovich Andreyev was a Soviet actor. He appeared in 51 films between 1939 and 1982.-Biography:Boris Andreyev was born 9 February 1915 in Saratov, Russian Empire to a family of workers. His childhood and youth years were spent in Atkarsk, Saratov Governorate...
) starts the revolt. The Central Committee of the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
Party sends a woman Commissar
Commissar
Commissar is the English transliteration of an official title used in Russia from the time of Peter the Great.The title was used during the Provisional Government for regional heads of administration, but it is mostly associated with a number of Cheka and military functions in Bolshevik and Soviet...
(Margarita Volodina) to form Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
battalion from the marines to take part in the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
.
Cast
- Margarita Volodina as Commissar
- Boris AndreyevBoris AndreyevBoris Fyodorovich Andreyev was a Soviet actor. He appeared in 51 films between 1939 and 1982.-Biography:Boris Andreyev was born 9 February 1915 in Saratov, Russian Empire to a family of workers. His childhood and youth years were spent in Atkarsk, Saratov Governorate...
as Vozhak - Vyacheslav TikhonovVyacheslav TikhonovVyacheslav Vasilyevich Tikhonov was a Soviet and Russian actor whose best known role was as Soviet spy Stirlitz in the television series Seventeen Moments of Spring. He was a recipient of numerous state awards, including the titles of People's Artist of the USSR and Hero of Socialist Labour .-...
as Aleksey - Vsevolod Sanayev as Sipliy
- Erast GarinErast GarinErast Pavlovich Garin was, together with Igor Ilyinsky and Sergey Martinson, one of the leading comic actors of Vsevolod Meyerhold's company and of the Soviet cinema. He was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1977....
as Vozhachok - Oleg StrizhenovOleg StrizhenovOleg Aleksandrovich Strizhenov was a Soviet and Russian film actor and a People's Artist of the Soviet Union.-Filmography:...
as First officer