ILYA MUROMETS (THE SWORD & THE DRAGON), 1956, Mosfilm, 87 min.Legendary fantasy filmmaker Aleksandr Ptushko’s sweeping, visual F/X-filled epic is one of his most enchanting achievements:a stunning Cinemascope ballad of heroic medieval knights, ruthless Tugar invaders, wind demons and three-headed fire-breathing dragons.Based on one of the most famous byliny (oral epics) in Kievan Rus’ culture, the film stars Boris Andreyev as the bogatyr (warrior) Ilya, waging a decades-long battle against the Tugars who threaten his homeland, kidnap his wife and raise his own son to fight against him.Director Ptushko began his career in the 1930s and went on to become a combination of Walt Disney, Ray Harryhausen and Mario Bava for his dazzling, bejeweled fantasies including THE STONE FLOWER, SADKO, SAMPO and RUSLAN & LUDMILA.The first Cinemascope film produced in the Soviet Union, ILYA MUROMETS was released in a truncated, dubbed version in the U.S. as THE SWORD & THE DRAGON, downplaying the epic poetry and lyricism of the original.The film has been restored in 4K for its first-ever official U.S. release in its original form by Deaf Crocodile, in association with Seagull Films. In Russian with English subtitles.

FEATURES:
Region A Blu-ray
Audio commentary track by Steve Bissette
Remembering Russian Film Scholar Alan Upchurch by Dennis Bartok
Russian Fantastika Part One by Alan Upchurch
The Making of The Sword and the Dragon by Aleksandr Ptushko (translated by Alan Upchurch)
New restoration trailer
English SDH subtitles

SAMPO (THE DAY THE EARTH FROZE), 1959, Finland/USSR, 91 min. Dir. Aleksandr Ptushko. Based on the Finnish national epic “Kalevala,” Ptushko’s ravishing, mystical fantasy tells the story of a sinister witch Louhi (Anna Orochko) who covets the Sampo, a magical, rainbow-colored mill that can produce endless salt, grain and gold. When the hero Lemminkäinen (Andris Oshin) attempts to stop her, Louhi literally steals the sun, plunging the world into eternal darkness. Shot like its predecessor ILYA MUROMETS in gorgeous CinemaScope, SAMPO features some of Ptushko’s most surreal and fantastical imagery: a glowing red horse plowing a field of vipers; a boat of fire with a stag’s head; a weeping mother literally walking across the sea to find her lost son. With its witch’s incantations and repeated scenes of forging magical items – “Give me fire for the furnace from the nave of the sky!” – there is an almost “Macbeth”-like occult/supernatural force to the film as well, underscored by the raging blue-gray seas and rock-strewn landscapes. Released in the U.S. in a dubbed, butchered version as THE DAY THE EARTH FROZE (and later mocked on MST3K), SAMPO has been beautifully restored in 4K by KAVI – the Finnish National Audiovisual Institute for its first-ever release in its original Finnish-language version by Deaf Crocodile.(In Finnish with English subtitles.)

FEATURES:
Audio commentary track by Steve Bissette
Russian Fantastika Essay - Part Two by Alan Upchurch
New artwork by Tony Stella

THE TALE OF TSAR SALTAN - 1967, Mosfilm, 85 min. Based on a famous fairy tale in verse by Alexander Pushkin, THE TALE OF TSAR SALTAN is one of director Aleksandr Ptushko’s most sublime creations: a ravishingly beautiful fantasy about love, magic, betrayal and abandoned family. Driven from the Russian court by her sisters’ scheming, the young Tsarina (Larisa Golubkina) is thrown into the sea in a cask with her infant son. Surviving the storm-tossed voyage, the mother and her now magically-adult son (Oleg Vidov) land on a remote island where he falls in love with a Swan Princess in human form (Kseniya Ryabinkina), and longs for reunion with his estranged father, Tsar Saltan (Vladimir Andreyev). Like his earlier masterpieces SAMPO and ILYA MUROMETS (also released by Deaf Crocodile), TSAR SALTAN is filled with breathtaking imagery: carved wooden lions who shed tears; peasants in pagan ritual masks, dancing in the snow; the treacherous faces of conspirators bathed in red candle glow like the witches in Macbeth. Ptushko’s second-to-last feature, TSAR SALTAN has been gorgeously restored by Mosfilm and Deaf Crocodile for its first-ever Blu-ray release in the U.S., co-presented with Seagull Films.

FEATURES:
New hour-long video interview with legendary visual effects artist and film historian Robert Skotak (Academy Award-winner, Best Visual Effects for ALIENS and TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY) on Aleksandr Ptushko and the history of Soviet fantastika filmmaking, moderated by Dennis Bartok of Deaf Crocodile Films
New commentary track by comics artist (Swamp Thing), film historian, and author Stephen R. Bissette
New essay by film historian and professor Peter Rollberg (Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Cinema)
Blu-ray authoring by David Mackenzie of Fidelity In Motion
New art by Tony Stella

RUSLAN AND LUDMILA – 1972, Mosfilm, 145 min. The final film from Russian fantasy master Aleksandr Ptushko (ILYA MUROMETS, SAMPO), RUSLAN AND LUDMILA was a glorious and magical summation of his career: a 2-1/2 hour greatest hits package filled with the sweeping lyricism, bejeweled visual F/X and mythic storytelling that put him on par with Walt Disney, Ray Harryhausen and Mario Bava. Based on an epic fairy tale written in 1820 by Alexander Pushkin (Ptushko had previously adapted Pushkin’s THE TALE OF TSAR SALTAN, and half-jokingly said they were related), the film opens with the seemingly-joyous marriage of bogatyr (warrior) Ruslan (Valeri Kozinets) to Ludmila (Natalya Petrova), the daughter of Prince Vladimir. (Like his earlier ILYA MUROMETS, the action of the film is set during the legendary era of the Kyivan Rus’ culture that pre-dated both modern Ukraine and Russia.) On their wedding night, Ludmila is spirited away by the riotously long-bearded wizard Chernomor (Vladimir Fyodorov), and taken to his sinister palace where she’s held prisoner. On their epic quest to rescue her, Ruslan and his three rivals encounter some of Ptushko’s most unforgettable imagery: a giant’s monstrous, decapitated head slumbering on an open plain, magic rings and stone warriors, sorcery and sacrifice, all in the hope of reuniting lost lovers. Newly restored by Mosfilm for release by Deaf Crocodile. In Russian with English subtitles.

“One of Ptushko’s richest works, a compendium of all the techniques and special effects he had developed in previous films. His miniature work reached its peak here, especially in the model of Chernomor’s icy kingdom with its gloomy castle perched atop a craggy cliff. Just as memorable are the sequences of Ruslan riding through the haunted woodlands at sunset …” – Alan Upchurch, Video Watchdog.

FEATURES:
New 4K restoration from the original camera negative and sound elements by Mosfilm.
New commentary track by comics artist (Swamp Thing), film historian, and author Stephen R. Bissette.
New essay by film historian and professor Peter Rollberg (Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Cinema).
New video essay by film critic Walter Chaw (Film Freak Central).
Blu-ray authoring by David Mackenzie of Fidelity In Motion.
New art by Tony Stella