Wings of a Serf

Synopsis

This SovKino production was a major early experiment in Soviet historical film about the oprichnina period of Muscovite history, combining the costumed drama and Gothic thrills of the genre with historical materialist commentary on the dialectical collision of scientific progress and patriarchal religious tyranny under Tsar Ivan the Terrible. It follows a self-taught inventor from the serf class Nikishka, whose efforts to build a flying machine incite accusations of witchcraft. Nikishka and his beloved Fima are persecuted by the feudal lord Kurlyatev, who took their village in a petty land squabble. They’re rescued when Kurlyatev’s lands are taken by the Tsar in his autocratic campaign against the feudal system. Ivan puts Nikishka to work in his linen mill, where the young serf is coveted by Tsarina Maria Temryukovna, who the Tsar’s been ignoring in favor of his cupbearer Feodor. A series of harrowing intrigues wind a bloody dance through bedchamber, feast hall, cathedral and dungeon.

Main Cast

Ivan Klyukvin

Nikishka

Age : N/A | Popularity : 2%

Leonid Leonidov

Tsar Ivan the Terrible

Age : N/A | Popularity : 2%

Safiyat Askarova

Maria Temriukovna

Age : N/A | Popularity : 0%

Vladimir Korsh

Tsarevich Ivan

Age : N/A | Popularity : 1%

Nikolai Prozorovsky

Feodor Basmanov

Age : N/A | Popularity : 4%

Sofya Garrel

Fima

Age : 86 | Popularity : 0%

Crew

Department	Role	Name
Directing	Director	Yuri Tarich
Writing	Writer	Yuri Tarich Viktor Shklovskiy
	Novel	Konstantin Schildkroet
Editing	Editor	Esfir Shub
Art	Art Direction	Vladimir Egorov
Camera	Director of Photography	Mikhail Vladimirsky
Department	Role	Name

Join the discussion