Adventures from the Tsarist era with John Derek and Elsa Martinelli
Russia around 1890: The honest Captain Alexej (John Derek) marries the beautiful Irina (Dawn Addams), but soon discovers that she has been seduced and impregnated by her nasty brother-in-law General Gorew (Wolfgang Preiss). Because of this blatant crime, Alexei takes a hard look at his abusive superior and is banished to Siberia for it. The beautiful Irina follows her husband there and is able to help him escape, but is killed in the process. Now Alexei is on the run from Gorew's nasty henchman Lisenko (Rik Battaglia), but finds refuge with the Volga boatmen around the "Professor" (Gert Fröbe). He also meets the beautiful Masha (Elsa Martinelli) there...
An upright officer of the tsar learns about the dark side of rule and the everyday needs of the common people. Although this production is a thoroughly Western European one, it still breathes in a lot of the Russian soul, like Carlo Ponti's large-scale production "Doctor Zhivago" a few years later. Wonderful!
The film was directed by Viktor Tourjansky and written by Damiano Damiani and Salka Quarter, who worked very closely with super star Greta Garbo in the 1930s.
The American actor John Derek (1926-1998) shines in the male lead role. After he had already attracted positive attention in "The Ten Commandments" (1956), he went to Rome to play leading roles in Cinecitta. In his private life, John Derek was married to a number of the most beautiful actresses: Ursula Andress, Linda Evans, Bo Derek. As a director in the 1980s, he staged the latter in such a piquant and provocative way (Tarzan / Bolero / Ghosts Cant Do It) that both repeatedly found themselves in the headlines. Regularly nominated for the Golden Raspberry, these films found their mostly pubescent audience ;-)
The leading female roles include the charming actresses Elsa Martinelli (Hatari!) and Dawn Addams (Come Dance With Me!). Since German production companies, Regina Film and Rialto Film, were also involved in this co-production, you can also see some German actors - as already mentioned. Ingmar Zeisberg, born in Danzig in 1933, deserves special mention as the humiliated wife of the bitter general. The impressive actress could later be seen in the well-worth seeing classic "Schwarzer Kies" (1960) and in the West German horror thriller "Das Wirtshaus von Dartmoor" (1964).
The French veteran Charles Vanel (1892-1989), who wrote many classics such as "Le Salaire de la Peur" (1953), "Les Diaboliques" (1954) and "La Verite" (1960), also plays a smaller role as barkeeper ) has refined with his presence.
Clear recommendation!
