
Mikhail Zharov
Actor · 1899 – 1981 · Moscow, Russia
Mikhail Ivanovich Zharov is a Soviet theater and film actor. People's Artist of the RSFSR (1944) and People's Artist of the USSR (October 26, 1949). In 1920, he graduated from the studio at the theater of the Artistic and Educational Union of Workers' Organization. He acted in theaters No. 1 of the Revolutionary Military Union of the Republic, the Safonov Theater, the Baku Workers' Theater, the Realistic Theater, and the Moscow Chamber Theater. From 1938, he was an actor and director at the Maly Theater. He made his film debut in 1915 with a tiny, practically unnoticeable role as an oprichnik in the film "Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible." He played his first major role, that of Red Army soldier Yegor, in 1925 in the film "The Road to Happiness." In those years, Zharov was considered an unrivaled master of the episodic genre (Don Diego and Pelageya, The Man from the Restaurant, The White Eagle, The Living Corpse, Outskirts, and Puppets). He found expressive, distinctive details and rich, vibrant colors for his characters, imbuing them all—both villains and heroes—with a common quality: they are all great lovers of life, charming, confident, and in control of life. His heroes know how to enjoy everything: food, billiards, wine, women, the simple songs they often hum, a sunny day, or an unexpected win. Zharov combined absolute authenticity and vivid psychological characterization with a sometimes grotesque portrayal of the role, enlivening any plot, even the most serious, with his presence. In the 1930s, thanks to cinema, Zharov achieved national popularity. The artist was in great demand. He was invited by the most famous directors. With Nikolai Ekk he played one of his most famous roles - the bandit Zhigan (A Start in Life), with Grigory Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg - the smug clerk Dymba (The Return of Maxim and The Vyborg Side), with Vladimir Petrov - the cheerful prankster Kudryash (The Storm) and the good-natured, cheerful courtier Menshikov (Peter the Great), with Isidor Annensky - the loud, healthy landowner Smirnov (The Bear), the cheerful teacher Kovalenko (The Man in the Case) and the carefree landowner Artynov (Anna on the Neck), with the Vasiliev brothers - the daring Cossack Perchikhin (The Defense of Tsaritsyn), with Sergei Eisenstein - Malyuta Skuratov, a cunning, cruel, "smart" peasant, who managed to become the Tsar's right hand ("Ivan the Terrible"). In 1944, he was awarded "For successful work in the field of Soviet cinematography during the Patriotic War and the release of highly artistic films." In total, M.I. Zharov starred in more than 60 films. Over the years, the courage of his characters diminished; they became calmer, wiser, and more grounded. His last film character was the rural policeman Aniskina ("The Village Detective," "Anikina and Fantomas," "And Again Aniskina"). The role was a signature one for the actor: his Aniskina is a village philosopher, a sage, insightful, unfussy, and attentive to all matters. A hero who affirms the belief that our lives depend on our own decision to live correctly and wisely. As a film director, Zharov made three films: “Troublesome Economy”, “Aniskine and Fantomas” (together with V.A. Rappoport), “And Again Aniskine” (together with V.I. Ivanov).
Movies24
Movie7.3DramaHistorySet during the early part of his reign, Ivan faces betrayal from the aristocracy and even his closest friends as he seeks to unite the Russian people. Sergei Eisenstein's final film, this is the first part of a three-part biopic of Tsar Ivan IV of Russia, which was never completed due to the producer's dissatisfaction with Eisenstein's attempts to use forbidden experimental filming techniques and excessive cost overruns. The second part was completed but not released for a decade after Eisenstein's death and a change of heart in the USSR government toward his work; the third part was only in its earliest stage of filming when shooting was stopped altogether.
Movie7.4HistoryDramaThis is the second part of a projected three-part epic biopic of Russian Czar Ivan Grozny, undertaken by Soviet film-maker Sergei Eisenstein at the behest of Josef Stalin. Production of the epic was stopped before the third part could be filmed, due to producer dissatisfaction with Eisenstein's introducing forbidden experimental filming techniques into the material, more evident in this part than the first part. As it was, this second part was banned from showings until after the deaths of both Eisenstein and Stalin, and a change of attitude by the subsequent heads of the Soviet government. In this part, as Ivan the Terrible attempts to consolidate his power by establishing a personal army, his political rivals, the Russian boyars, plot to assassinate him.
Ivan the Terrible, Part II: The Boyars' Plot
Иван Грозный. Сказ второй: Боярский заговор
1958 · 178 votes
Movie4.5DramaHistoryDon Cossack Stepan Razin vowed to take revenge on the boyars for his tortured friends. Having led the rebellious peasants, he becomes the leader of an entire army. Humiliated and insulted people flock to him from all over the Russian land.
Movie5.3ComedyA funny comedy about a lost twins and a lot of good people who are involved in a search for twins' parents.
Movie4.2DramaWarDocu-drama about political and military conflict during the Russian Civil War in 1918, from an orthodox pro-Communist viewpoint.
Movie4.7ComedyDramaThe vain station master of a Russian train station out in the sticks has a quarrel with an old peasant woman and has her thrown in jail. The local party youth organisation finally manage to get her released, after having to cut through lots of red tape.
Movie6.0Science FictionDramaA young man travels to Mars in a rocket ship, where he leads a popular uprising against the ruling group with the support of Queen Aelita, who has fallen in love with him after watching him through a telescope.
Movie5.4DramaA group of Ukrainian women are forced to work in the mine under the supervision of cruel enemy soldiers. When the soldiers are forced to retreat and decide to blow up the mine, the women organize a guerrilla action to stop them.
Movie6.2DramaThe first Russian talking picture which won a prize at the 1st Venice IFF. The action is set in 1923. The USSR is struggling with hunger and economic ruin. It is a story of homeless teenagers for whom a work commune is set up with the idea of uniting and reforming them.
Movie10.0DramaThe main protagonists of the film are Katya (Varvara Popova), the daughter of a factory worker and Andrey (Ivan Koval-Samborsky), the son of the former owner of the factory who illegally returns to the USSR to find treasures hidden by his father. The film title refers to the Communist party's appeal, after Lenin's death, to enlarge its membership.
Movie5.3DramaThe central character of the play, Fedor Protasov, is tormented by the belief that his wife Liza has never really chosen between him and the more conventional Victor Karenin, a rival for her hand. He wants to kill himself, but doesn't have the nerve. Running away from his life, he first falls in with Gypsies, and into a sexual relationship with a Gypsy singer, Masha.
Movie5.3RomanceComedyA romantic story about the girl working in the musical instruments store.
Movie5.4RomanceAdventureA traveling musician falls in love with a princess who is betrothed to a dictator planning to defeat his enemies with the help of an exploding mutant mosquito.
Movie4.0DocumentaryHistoryAtlantic Ocean, off the coast of Iceland, July 9, 2016. The surprising discovery of a canister —containing four reels of The Village Detective (Деревенский детектив), a 1969 Soviet film—, caught in the nets of an Icelandic trawler, is the first step in a fascinating journey through the artistic life of film and stage actor Mikhail Ivanovich Zharov (1899-1981), icon and star of an entire era of Russian cinema.
The Village Detective: A Song Cycle
2021 · 3 votes
Movie5.7ComedyRomanceA musical romantic comedy set in Soviet Union during the first years of WWII.
Movie5.6DramaAbout the life of the Russian biologist Ivan Michurin. 1912 year. Having rejected American offers to work abroad, Michurin continues his research in the Russian Empire, despite the fact that his ideas are not perceived by the tsarist government, the church and idealistic science. Michurin is supported by prominent scientists of the country and he continues to work hard. After the October Revolution, a small Michurin garden in the city of Kozlov (the biologist's homeland) becomes a large state nursery.
MovieDramaTV MovieBased on Leo Tolstoy's drama "The Power of Darkness, or the Claw is Faded, the whole bird is lost" staged by the State Academic Maly Theater of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Movie8.0ComedyTwo business travelers, Laptev and Rusakov, staying at a small town hotel, were surprised by the care that the service staff showed them. It turns out that the hotel administrators, lazy and bureaucratic, accepted the new guests as capital auditors. But it soon turns out that the real auditor has been living in one of the rooms for three days and has already started working as a hotel staff member.
Movie5.2DramaWarThis, the first Soviet depiction of Peter the Great, set the stage for what would become the post-Revolutionary line concerning the early Romanovs. Rulers like Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great were widely admired for their dedication to Russia and their absolute determination to enhance her position in the world. But praise for the hated later Romanovs conflicted too heavily with the very beliefs that had brought about the Revolution in 1917.
Movie6.2ComedyMysteryPolice officer Aniskin lives with his family in a rural Russian village whose inhabitants admire his gentleness and wisdom. When an accordion is stolen from the local clubhouse, he begins to investigate.
Movie5.6DramaJacob, a farmer, returns from the war to his wife Marie and begs the landlord baron for a plot of land to rent. The Baron grants the request, but only for a barren, rocky, useless acreage. The pair struggle to make do on this land, but then the Baron demands that Maria leave her husband to serve as wet nurse to his married daughter Anya's new baby, on threat of eviction. While nursing the daughter's baby, Maria receives unwelcome attentions from the daughter's husband, and a scandal erupts, ruining Maria in her husband's eyes. When she escapes from her employers and seeks to return home, the police give her the yellow passport signifying a prostitute, further degrading her. She approaches home, unsure of the reception that awaits her.
Movie5.3DramaThe second part of trilogy about the life of a young factory worker, Maxim. In July 1914, the Bolsheviks and Mensehviks compete for representation of the working-class in the Duma. Maksim, who just returned from exile, calls the workers to strike as a protest against the firing of six of their colleagues. The traitor Platon Dymba assaults Maksim, wounding him severely. When the strike unfolds the workers demonstrate by the thousands, the news of the outbreak of World War I suddenly arrives. Maksim gets drafted.
Movie3.8DramaHistory648. Ukraine under the oppression of Poland. Polish nobility committing outrage, burning villages one after another. Hetman of Zaporozhian Cossacks Bohdan Khmelnytskyi gathers the army of defenders of the motherland.
Movie7.8DramaA father and son, both clowns, are to perform together for the first time, but the civil war separates them, and the elder Buldy, tempted for a moment to acquiesce to the White forces, casts his lot with the revolution.
Series1
TVMysteryCrimeA second story about countryside cop named Aniskin.