Yuri TARICH
Юрий ТАРИЧ
Youri TARITCH
USSR, 1926, 79mn 
Black and white, silent, fiction
The Wings of a Serf
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Крылья холопа

 

 Les Ailes du serf

 Krylya kholopa

 
Directed by : Yuri TARICH (Юрий ТАРИЧ)
Writing credits : Konstantin SHILDKRET (Константин ШИЛЬДКРЕТ), Viktor SHKLOVSKY (Виктор ШКЛОВСКИЙ), Yuri TARICH (Юрий ТАРИЧ)
 
Cast
Ivan KLIUKVIN (Иван КЛЮКВИН) ...Nikishka
Leonid LEONIDOV (Леонид ЛЕОНИДОВ) ...Ivan the Terrible
Safiyat ASKAROVA (Сафият АСКАРОВА) ...Ivan the Terrible's wife
Vladimir KORSH-SABLIN (Владимир КОРШ-САБЛИН) ...tsarevich Ivan
Tatyana BARYSHEVA (Татьяна БАРЫШЕВА)
Vasili BOKAREV (Василий БОКАРЕВ)
Nikolay PROZOROVSKY (Николай ПРОЗОРОВСКИЙ)
Nikolay VITOVTOV (Николай ВИТОВТОВ)
Aleksandr_2 ZHUKOV (Александр_2 ЖУКОВ)
 
Cinematography : Mikhail VLADIMIRSKY (Михаил ВЛАДИМИРСКИЙ)
Production design : Vladimir YEGOROV (Владимир ЕГОРОВ)
Production : Goskino
 

Plot synopsis
XVI century. Reign of Ivan the Terrible. The young serf Nikishka, from his childhood, peered at the flight of birds and harbored a dream of learning to fly. To this end, the genius mechanic tried to make wings for human flight. One day, to celebrate after a successful trade deal, the king decided to give the guests some fun and ordered Nikishka to prepare for the flight. He jumped from a high bell tower and made a successful flight on wings. The king decided, however, that “it was none of God’s business” and ordered Nikishka’s head to be cut off and his wings to be burned. Tsarina Marya Temryukovna took a liking to the inventor and on the night before his execution she entered the dungeon where he was imprisoned. Oprichnik Drutskaya, the former lover of the queen, found her there. Drutskoy rushed at Nikishka, and Marya hit Drutskoy with a dagger and ran away. Her servant took Nikishka away through a secret door. The guardsmen who ran in found Drutsky still alive, and he denounced the queen. The king strangled her with his own hands, and the palace guards managed to capture and kill Nikishka.
 

Commentaries and bibliography
Les origines du cinéma soviétique : un regard neuf, Myriam TSIKOUNAS, Cerf, 1992
 

Selected in the following festivals or events :
- The Golden Age of Soviet Cinema : 1924-1930, kinoglaz.fr (France), 2023
- Moscow International Festival of Archival Films (Formerly "Belye Stolby"), Moscow (Russia), 2023
- Fondation Jérôme Seydoux. La figure mythique du savant fou, Paris (France), 2021
- Talents soviétiques - Collection Arkeion, Paris (France), 2019
- The USSR of filmmakers at the Cinémathèque française. 1917-1945 : first and second part, Paris (France), 2017

Photos and videos