Admiral Ushakov

I thought his had quite a few similarities to C. S. Forester's maritime adventure stories, although this is based on a real Russian sailor who helped expand the empire of Catherine the (not yet) Great. He has a position on her yacht when he encounters her favourite minister Potemkin (Boris Livanov) and asks him for a job. Not a desk job, but an actual job working on the construction of a new fleet. This impresses the count and so Ushakov (Ivan Pereverzev) finds himself drafted into more active service. He turns out to have quite a knack for strategy and as the Russian's face the internecine plotting of the French, the British and the Ottoman's, they have to think quickly and creatively if they are to avoid a crushing defeat. Though he does have the protection of Potemkin, this upstart officer is not without his powerful detractors who would see him at the bottom of the sea, or hanged, if it served their purpose. They all know that the favour of the Empress could be fickle, and so it was an eggshell walk for this man at the best of times! Aram Kachaturian has created a suitably rousing, swirling, score here and the period naval costume and wig departments have gone into top gear to present us with a fairly authentic looking action-packed adventure of sea power, back-stabbing and glory. It does take it's time to get us into the thick of the action, indeed at times it is a little too stage bound, but the last fifteen minutes are lively and full of pyrotechnics and high spirits. I wouldn't say the acting is great, no, but the two men heading the history do well enough and are well complemented by Sergey Bondarchuk's malevolent Prokoviev and by occasional appearances from Olga Zhivneva as a woman who knew well how usurping worked. Though a biopic of sorts, it takes a very rose-tinted, pro-Russian, view of the conflict - but then that expression about history and winners springs to mind.

I was looking for this movie, which I saw as a little boy during the Cultural Revolution in China.

I cannot write a better review than what has been written here. I sincerely, wholeheartedly echo the reviewer's assessment. This is truly an epic film of all times, notwithstanding the intention ofr political propaganda behind the making of this film. Heck, all have tried to make such nationalistic films. The Soviets have done a better job than most others.

We were shown this film as part of Chinese government propaganda of revealing Soviet imperial designs. I was impressed, nevertheless, by the epic battle scenes and how Admiral Ushakov faded away (reminding an American perhaps General MacArthur).

How can we get to see more non-American/non-English epics?

Virtually unknown in the West, Admiral Ushakov was Rusia's great naval hero. In the late 18th. century he helped to defeat the Sultan of Turkey's fleet in the Black Sea to expand Russian influence in that area. Later on he co-operated with the British in the Mediterrean Sea to help organize and defeat Naploeon's advancing fleet until the combined French and Spanish fleet were defeated at Trafalgar by Nelson in 1805. This film, made at the end of the Stalinist era glorifies Russia's past much in the same way that Eisenstein's Alexander Nevski and the Ivan The Terrible films did some 16 to 10 years before this. Even though I have only seen this film once -and it was some time ago, it deserves to be better known. As with most Russian epics, it doesn't go cheap and scrimp on the sets,action scenes or on the politics of its era. It is quite epic in scope with well done sets and impressive crowd scenes .Figures like Catherine the Great, Horatio Nelson, and Prince Potemkin are accurately drawn. Where this movie really shines is in the naval battles with very accurate full size recreations of 18th century Russian fighting ships that do not look too different from the British, Spanish and French ships of the era.The sea battles are well staged and the miniature-model ships are very realistic looking. No expenses were spared in the making of this color film, and it shows. I really can't say too much about the acting because I saw it in the Russian language version, so I guess it's OK. The musical score was also excellent.From what I understand, it was composed by Khachaturian. All in all, I wish somebody would release it in the USA in either Russian or in an English dubbed version. It is an exciting film and it should please history buffs or fans of naval epics set in the days of sail. The present day Russian navy has an aircraft carrier named after Ushakov. It's a fitting tribute. Fine movie. PS-you can find snippets of this on You Tube, but it is in Cyrilic. Well worth the search.