Tempest

A great story about Pugachev's Rebellion
I remembered this movie from my youth and was glad to see it available at least on the Kindle. Can't tell anyone how glad I am to see it again. I have seen a lot of movies in my life, but this one stuck with me for decades. Viewing it again, I could see why that was so. Van Heflin is Pugachev who figures largely in this story of a guardsman who gets assigned to the frontier in disgrace. The period is pretty well represented (that of Catherine the Great in Czarist Russia). In fact, Catherine is seen in the end visiting Pugachev and learning that the guardsman was not a traitor. All ends well. It is also a movie that can be watched again for the military tactics used in that period, but the acting itself is a feast for the ears and eyes. Especially now in this era of comic book movies. Now if someone will put this on DVD again so I can get a one!

Sweeping Epic
Sweeping film that is much, much more than a costume-drama. It graphically portrays that vast gulf between the common people of Russia and the ruling nobility. Van Heflin straddles being a scary bully and a sympathetic personality. Agnes Moorehead does an impactful rendition of a wife of a commander of a remote fort.

I liked the film because our hero does a nice balance between being an outspoken rebel in a very hierarchical society and a human. The film contains hints of some of Pushkin’s passionate love of Mother Russia. It also gives an almost Tolstoyan view into the inner workings of Czarist Russia which was very top-down and hierarchical.

Another thing I liked about this movie was the sweeping epic narrative and scenery. Dino de Laurentis's hallmark are these types of films.



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