Sturm im Osten

There has been not many films on Russian historical events (other than local products). "Tempest" is a co-production (French, Italian and Yugoslavian) that deals with a cossack uprising against empress Catherine II's ruling in Russia. It is in my opinion a very acceptable movie rather accurate to facts in its underground and with a fine screenplay in the surface.

The plot is interesting and precisely managed by Italian Director Alberto Lattuada. The film doesn't lack spectacle and intensity with fine battle scenes and action sequences that could qualify it as a true epic. Wide open outdoor color shooting and good interior settings also help the product.

But what really hurts the picture, and badly, is the important role of Russian officer Grinov played by a completely miscast-ed Geoffrey Horne. He just doesn't fit at all as the man who unknowingly saves the rebels leader life and from then on is the character that allows viewers to know about Pugachov's reasons and ideas that led him to raise against the empress in an almost impossible task. Horne's acting is definitely poor and he lacks the strength and passion his role demands. On the other hand, Van Heflin does a very good work and plays most convincingly Emelyan Pugachov the man who dared to challenge the powerful Catherine (in fact I can't recall a bad performance from Heflin in films). The rest of the cast is correct, mainly Agnes Moorehead, Oskar Homolka, Silvana Mangano (you just can't understand how she could fall in love with Horne's dull and inexpressive character) and Viveca Lindfors as the empress.

But all in all "Tempest" is a watchable and most entertaining film in its genre.

I first saw Tempest as an 8-year-old; I was also an altar boy in my Russian Orthodox parish in Pennsylvania. While others watched a story on a large screen, I found myself pulled into the action, and to be honest, I did not sleep well for the next two weeks. But this attests to the movie's impact in an ultimately affirmative way. One week later we visited the Gettysburg Battlefield, and my father's unspoken wish that I fall in love with history came true.

I cannot overstate the film's influence on my life - I taught history for three decades and earned my PhD in education while doing so. 28 years later I was asked to recount the key points of the story and I spent nearly thirty minutes doing so in incredible detail. I became a devoted fan of Van Heflin and Agnes Moorehead. I also began to probe in depth the complex history of my mother's homeland and began to admire Alexander Pushkin's genius. I spent years trying to obtain a copy of the film and finally did so only last week; I found a wealth of material for psychological studies simply in comparing my recollections with what the film actually presented.

I did not expect to find such fidelity to historical and even cultural accuracy, and I regret that many movie-goers at the time were probably not prepared for the insights that Pushkin, via Tempest, offered them. The climactic battle scene illustrates the division of the Cossacks, especially on the eve of the faraway American Revolutionary War, into factions: one of these supports the crown, even if it rests on the head of an Austrian-born czarina, another reacted to the evils of czarist autocracy, and yet another wished only to live undisturbed and draw upon its traditions to assuage the misery of struggling to survive in equally hostile natural and political environments.

Perhaps only the diminished quality of my copy impels me to rate the film 8 instead of 10; certainly a production which so influenced my life, and therefore quite possibly many others, deserves respect equal to the very simulated but overwhelming post battle impact it had upon me.

Check out the cast. Van Heflin is always worth watching. If you like historical drams, you will probably like this movie. I certainly did. Also, Lindfors, whom I've always liked, Homolka, etc. Give it a try. While it has been many years since I have seen this movie, I remember it well enough to want to buy a copy. I am a sucker for epics and will sit through some that others might not want to, but I do think this one is good enough to recommend. As I remember, the Catherine is quite good and lovely. And I have been a fan of Viveca Lindfors since the fifties. It was great to see her again in Stargate. Do you remember The Story of Ruth? Tempest is kludgy perhaps in places, but good.

Dino DeLaurentis produced this fine film, Tempest, of Alexander Pushkin's novel set during the reign of Catherine the Great starring Van Heflin as the rebel pretender Pugachev who said he was really Czar Peter III who was Catherine's husband and whom she overthrew several years earlier. Viveca Lindfors plays a cool and calculating Empress Catherine.

But the thing to remember is that this is not a work of history. Pushkin did write history as well, but this film is not history as such. It is based on Pushkin's novel The Captain's Daughter and the protagonists are Geoffrey Horne and Silvana Mangano. It is through their eyes that we see both their love and the background that led to this attempted revolution against Catherine.

Young Horne for an indiscretion is sent in exile from Catherine's court to a frontier outpost commanded by Captain Robert Keith. With a little matchmaking help from her mother Agnes Moorehead the two are fated to be mated, eventually.

But in the meantime the revolt of Pugachev is growing. As it turns out Horne and his servant Oscar Homolka saved the life of a frozen peasant on the way to the outpost. When Pugachev overruns their outpost, Horne's life is saved by the fact it's none other than Van Heflin now styling himself as Czar Peter.

Heflin who was a consummate actor playing all kinds of everyman roles as an American transfers well as a Russian peasant. A whole lot better than Henry Fonda did as a Russian in War And Peace.

But that's not the end for Horne. For his warnings about the growing discontent of the peasantry and Heflin's popularity with them, he gets himself into a nice little jackpot. Aided and abetted by the dying words of Helmut Dantine, another officer who actually did turn traitor to Catherine. Dantine also had eyes for Mangano.

Pushkin was a romantic writer and Tempest first and foremost a love story just like Gone With The Wind against the epic background of a great war. As far as the novel goes, Tempest sticks fairly close to the plot of The Captain's Daughter. And the spirit of those times of Catherine the Great are captured in the novel and in this film.

Tempest is a good historical epic which is sadly neglected today. I'm sure the Russians have adapted this same story, maybe better. But this is a fine version as is for the English speaking world.

thousands "epic" AND, largely through the excellent acting of Van Heflin, Agnes Moorehead, and a couple other real actors and intelligent segments of the script, one of the better historical films. Van Heflin is totally believable as the pretender to the throne and is quite charismatic. If only, say, El Cid's Anthony Mann had directed, with Yakima Canutt as battle scene director, this movie could have been fantastic. As it is, the first battle scene, the storming of a fort, is largely wasted by thousands of ill-directed extras slogging forward. The last battle scene, however, has a certain sweep and indication of tactics that make it quite effective. Personally I think it Van Heflin's finest performance. A very much underrated actor.