What is this? Only six reviews on the Internet Movie Database for this work of art? It only goes to show how few of the eastern classics got attention in the rest of the world, even to this day. This is based on the works of the legendary epic poet Alexander Pushkin. I admit I don't know a lot about Pushkin, other than that he is a precursor to Gogol and his short stories which have the mien of dark folk tales, and this film reflects a similar kind of storytelling.Mind you, this isn't terribly accessible to a non-Russian audience, in one sense. But, I think, if you are able to really sink into the mood of things, and maybe if you have a background in some of the more fantastic realms of 18th/19th century literature, you will be able to enjoy this elaborate, musical, grandiose tour de force. It's like a massive fantastical opera. Think Mozzart's The Magic Flute, maybe. Everyone is larger than life, and always declaiming, and wearing exuberant, wild costumes. There are ice palaces, sorcerers, evil dwarves, wild carousing, violence, the kind of passionate, wailing love you'll only see in stories, drunkenness. You'll find this has the logic of a fairy tale. It is huge and epic and absurd, and looks beautiful, and although it doesn't rock or swing or have the funk, the music is really cool.Even the english subtitles seem to be doing their best to contribute to the madness. Watch as the translators scramble and twist themselves into all sorts of contortions to make the text rhyme in some semblence of the original poetry. I swear if you watch this with your loved one, you'll be uttering bizarre exclamations and phrases in public for months afterwards, and everyone will be completely nonplussed. Seriously, I'm not really adequate to describing what this thing is like. Just give it a try.

The film is on two dvds as many Rusico films are. (it has to be the extras) This is not always a bad thing...Here its a bit of a help since the first half is better than the second. To that end a movie review in Two Parts Part One: The film is the story of the title two characters who are in love. Ludmila is kidnapped on her wedding night and the king, angry at the loss of his daughter vows that she will be the bride of who ever returns her.So off the suiters go along with Ruslan in the hope of rescuing the maiden.The culprit is a dwarf with a forty foot long beard.The final film by Aleksandr Ptushko is yet another fairy tale based up the writing of the poet Pushkin.Ptushko is a rather odd filmmaker who spent all of his career churning out odd fairy tales that sold one on the idea of grand Mother Russia.I've seen several of his films now and I'm of mixed opinion of him and his work.He makes films that look like grand fairy tales with lots and lots of everything you expect in said tales but tend to be a bit stilted in direction, coupled with the love of country nonsense he pours into the proceedings his films can be really tough to watch.The first half of this film is one of his better films, very fantastical and fairy tale like.I was watching the film in English with the subtitles on and the dub is almost exactly what the subtitles are which is good. Interesting is the fact that the dub must be from a cut English version of the film since the English drops out periodically to be replaced by Russian.I love the visuals of the film even if the effects leave something to be desired at times. The giants head, the fearsome forest and some of the evil dwarf's lair are beautiful to behold.When the first DVD ended I was looking forward to the second part of the film.Part two. Oh dear god this is horrible.The first half is a decent film but the second half seems longer than its 70 minutes by six or seven hours.The first half of the film ended with Ruslan getting the sword that could defeat the evil Dwarf. The second half is a bunch of beautiful to look at but badly acted tableaux of an evil witch attempting to stop Ruslan from getting to the dwarf's lair.When he gets there and defeats the dwarf almost an hour remains...I think I was stunned into disbelief.He then goes off with an unconscious Ludmila...Then things get wonky as the Mongols attack and Ruslan dies... for awhile.The Final attack on the castle is one of the wost battle scenes ever put on the screen ever. I MEAN EVER!!!!! Heads fly and people are cut in half and its badly acted as arrows go three feet, a cow is shot full of arrows and the dialog is laughably bad....The second half of this film is an unmitigated bomb. Its one of the worst films ever made.Watch the first half, avoid the second.4 out of 10 over all

Those who order this film expecting faithfulness to the Pushkin mock folk-epic should be aware that the structure owes more to the ancient bylina tradition than to Pushkin's sophisticated play with language and literary tradition. Here Ludmila is the daughter of Prince Vladimir of Kiev, and Ruslan is a more successful version of Prince Igor of the medieval tale. While it is a good "also-ran" in the folk-tale- fairytale film market, it is a long way from capturing the kind of following that, say, the "Wizard of OZ" has in film. A modern viewer will find it difficult to overlook the dated techniques of the film's special effects.

Wow. What a film. The more I see of Ptushko's work, the more I admire his wild imagination. There are beautiful visuals throughout such as the wizard's crystal garden or the upside down ceiling mounted fountains spewing multicolored water. There are also bizarre scenes such the gigantic head that advises Ruslan or the climactic duel where Ruslan hangs from the 30 foot long beard of a flying midget. A must-see for any fan of The Day the Earth Froze (Sampo) or Magic Voyage of Sinbad (Sadko) This came highly recommended to me by a friend who'd seen it at a film festival, and I was not disappointed.