Finist /Vyacheslav Voskresensky / - ploughman-bogatyr, defending the Russian land and people from the raids of evil spirits; strong, honest, brave, noble
Karthaus / Mark Pertsovsky / - the main villain who planned to conquer the Russian land and capture the Russian people, the sorcerer
Kastryuk /George Millar / - werewolf, servant of Carthaus
Alyonushka / Svetlana Orlova / - a girl who fell in love with Finista and went to the city to give him a hand-bound cloak
Voivode /Mikhail Pugovkin / - fair and far-sighted
Yashka /Mikhail Kononov / - scribe of the voivode, dreaming of military glory
Anfisa / Lyudmila Khityaeva / - a village woman, a merchant, a quarrelsome and greedy woman
Agathon /George Vitsin / - husband of Anfisa, peasant, meek and quiet
Which of us, at least in my generation, doesn’t remember or love the fairy tale films of our famous director Alexander Rowe? For me, these films are associated with a warm home, carefree vacation times and a pleasant sense of the coming magic.
This picture was shot by a student of Rowe - Gennady Vasiliev - and it is dedicated to the memory of Alexander Arturovich. Vasiliev tried not only to preserve the atmosphere of Rosov, but also worked on the records of the director himself, who planned to shoot this fairy tale himself.
What can I say about this film? As sad as it is to admit it – a girl, I grew up. And I didn't like that movie. I can now assume that if I hadn’t watched Roe’s fairy tales as a child, they wouldn’t have seemed as interesting to me today as they were then, and wouldn’t have appealed to my taste.
I have too many questions about the movie. A galloping script. Flat black and white characters. Illogical love line. Indistinct and unreasonably primal protagonist. But bright and charismatic secondary characters (which is generally characteristic of Soviet cinema). A huge number of songs that did not complement the story, but distracted from it and tired.
Yes, yes, it is difficult for me to talk about it, but this is how I perceived the tape, shot based on Russian fairy tales. I keep talking about the fact that fairy tales, in principle, we do not know how to shoot, that constantly their filmmakers have to stir up the unmixed and cram the unpumped and even modern. And here, please, a fairy tale-classic Soviet cinema, and all the same – past.
I understand that this is a fairy tale, that it is for children and everything should be more than simple. Well, not at that time, I probably saw it for the first time.
I liked the costumes. Good Millar, Khityaeva, Vicin and Pugovkin. And that's it.
The last film, to the creation of which Alexander Rowe had a hand, was released after the death of the director, at the end of 1975. And I must say that farewell to the master of fairy tales turned out to be great! Gennady Vasiliev so carefully approached the manner of shooting and character types that he managed to surpass the last two films of Rowe himself. "Finist" is definitely better than the controversial "Barbarian-beauty, long braid" and completely failed "Golden Horns" .
Reviewing this tape after the marathon of Row’s fairy tales, you understand that “Finist” in an easy form repeats the best elements of all the films of the recognized master. The absence of pretentiously pretentious scenes brings "Finist" closer to "Vasilisa the Beautiful" and "Kashchey the Immortal", and the ridiculous fright of villains and the presence of a werewolf-wolf - with such tapes as "Frost" and "Fire, water and ... copper pipes". Of course, "Finist" adorns with its presence George Millar. Werewolf Kastruk is a more insidious version of Koschei and Baba Yaga, which are openly mentioned in this film. Some of the other actors involved also had experience filming with Rowe. These are Mikhail Pugovkin, Lyudmila Khityaeva, Maria Barabanova, Lev Potemkin and Alexei Smirnov. Such a familiar company is pleasantly complemented by Mikhail Kononov and George Vitsin. I should note that the kind Alyonoshka, played by Svetlana Orlova, turned out to be more sincere than her namesake from Fire, Water and Copper Pipes. The Finist himself ("Vyacheslav Voskresensky"), when compared with Vasya or Andrei, also looks more open and natural. That is, making curts towards Roe, Vasiliev did not forget to correct something to his taste.
Perhaps the main advantage of “Finist”, due to which this film even received a rating of 12+, is the presence of mysticism. The film feels a mysterious atmosphere on the eve of Ivan Kupala with numerous dances, dances and such an unscientific phenomenon as the flowering of a fern. But even this is small compared to the kind of witchcraft Kastryuk creates, trying to lure the hero into a trap. The shaggy and clumsy fang beast, which ironically interferes not only with the Russian people, but also with the invaders, resembles a hybrid of a bear and a lion-tailed macaque. As a compliment, I can say that such a monster turned out to be even more ferocious than Vii from the 1967 version. When a nightmarish transformation occurs, frightening statues flash in the frame, something like monsters from the card fantasy game “Berserk”.
Continuing to talk about mysticism, I can’t help but notice that throughout the film the symbolism of spiders flashes. If Rowe had a recurring theme of fishing or just water, in Finist it was spiders. More than once or twice we will see a huge web that can kill not only a person, but also a strong beast. In the form of a spider, a talisman of villains is made, and the scene with the call of the spiders themselves I honestly still do not fully understand. The tip of this mystical iceberg is, of course, Carthaus (Mark Pertsovsky) - the most unusual villain in Soviet fairy tales. Despite the fact that he commands the eastern nomads, he himself is clearly not from the east, since he is red like a fox. Ever since I was a kid, I've been wondering who Carthaus really is. The most logical assumption is the Khazars, in connection with the nationality of the actor. But it is more likely that we have a collective image with a speaking name (although the character is not so Kartvit) and a craving for darkness characteristic of fantasy villains. The same can be said about the funny Fingal. By the way, Carthaus and Fingal love an insidious laugh that brings them together with the later villains of world cinema.
A variety of music and uncomplicated songs are also the strengths of Finist. The nomads sing cheerfully at the fires, feeding the monkey, and the participants of the night carnival also famously sing. It is a pity that the words in this night song are too difficult to understand.
The disadvantages of "Finist" are mainly in the unsuccessful installation. Badly mounted almost all scenes that were shot by several cameras. When changing the frame, poses and even the location of the characters change, and their mouths do not have time to open. Curiously, all of these moments are just another reference to Rowe’s films, where the same problems often occur. In addition, poorly voiced animals that are not very eager to open their mouths and beaks in front of the camera. And even after watching, there is a slight disappointment from the fact that the falcon, which became part of the nickname of the main character, does not affect the plot from the word at all. It only appears a few times purely as a reminder of itself, and it's a bit sad.
But I have to say the most important thing. “Finist” became the last Soviet-Russian film fairy tale in the XX century, whose success and fame are absolutely deserved. After waving swords, fighting enemies and finally smiling at the audience, the characters leave the frame, leaving us with hope, pleasant as the rays of the sun. There is no doubt that a good and just world will come when the right day and time comes. It is important to remember this and always be ready. And as for the fabulous-fantasy genre in the USSR and Russia, the next forty-six years it was in an unbearable state. The situation changed only in 2021, when the Humpbacked Horse was released. But this is a different era with different values.
Another beloved childhood tale. I still watch it with a special trepidation in my heart. And although most modern children, she is not interesting, my daughter is the opposite. Together with us, she watches and perceives all our favorites, and the best Soviet fairy tales, on which we, her parents, grew up. What a good and warm impression such fairy tales leave on the soul! The more often we review them, the better and easier will be the perception of our real, unfortunately, not fairy-tale reality. How pleasant it is to look at well-mannered, courageous men, beautiful women, listen to beautiful Russian speech. Everything is so natural, guileless and soulful. In general, it is necessary to show modern children, no matter how they oppose it.
The film was created as a tribute to the memory of the wonderful director-fairytale writer Alexander Row, whose fairy tales are loved by more than one generation of children and adults. His works still amaze all foreign specialists from cinema, especially Hollywood! Yes! Alexander Arturovich wrote the script of this fairy tale in co-authorship with Lev Potemkin, who played Fingal, approved the cast and note, as always brilliant, that not a name is a legend! But he did not manage to make the film himself. And then his pupil, Gennady Vasiliev, did it, he was an assistant of Alexander Arturovich. Therefore, he and the wonderful actors created a beautiful fairy tale with a beautiful, melodic speech, music, songs, sparkling humor, as it did himself. Alexander Rowe, Ptushko and other great storytellers of that era disappeared and there were no good, wonderful fairy tales. Screens flooded crime series and silicone monsters.
A good movie. All the actors in this film are selected just great. Pugovkin Brave voivode - a real, Russian. Mikhail Kononov Such a cute, blond, blue-eyed, smart boy! It's charming. Svetlana Orlova is beautiful, very nice. Hityaeva is a beautiful wife, with a lousy husband, she is in the house and the owner. Well, himself George Vitsin ... there are no words, only feelings remained from his game. And the funny old ladies are just amazing. There's more grandma to look for. Blessings to the actors who played in this film!
That's how they beat the ravens and we will beat! Very relevant for our time fairy tale. They come to us with cunning and with sorcery, and we with their Russian ingenuity and nature. And a club. It's heavy. Russian. You can't chain us! Shish in your nose. The Union created a lot of bright, kind and wise cartoons and films, many of which are based on Russian folk culture. I was lucky to have grown up with them, not Harry Potter, etc., which celebrates everything that has always been condemned in our culture. Good and evil have changed places for the younger generation. What has always been considered evil is now presented as a role model. The same witchcraft, which has always been condemned in our culture, is now being raised into a cult. Our country today so much needs Finist-rich and Yashki-scribes. What do modern Russian boys do? The idols of modern boys are rappers-addicts. Girls imitate people like Buzova, or rather, the Buzov armies. It’s a shame what the kids are doing today! I also grew up and absorbed all sorts of d...mo, in the nineties, but the foundation was laid healthy - thanks to the Soviet Union and its cultural vector and heritage. My first heroes were the hero Finist and the scribe Yashka. As long as the child’s soul was pure, it accepted and loved such bright, healthy, pure images. And today, what flows into the pure souls of children? Even the filth that poured on us in the nineties - childish babble compared to today - cynical, lying, vulgar, cruel, selfish. . .
“Children are always children” is not true. Children also change with society. Even children are often cynical. How could they not be like this when their unprotected open soul is attacked every day! Nobody's protecting them. After all, parents are now tolerant! Red Mustache (conditionally I call it here, as if from a fairy tale) told them that it is good to be tolerant, they believed and played into tolerance. A tolerant person is one who does not distinguish between good and evil. So I am an intolerant person and I will never be one, as all our heroes and other heroes of these good and magical fairy tales were not. Maybe they can do something good now (if they want to), but I think others set goals. . .
The movie is gorgeous. Since childhood, one of my favorite movies. The cast is great. Unfortunately, nowadays there are almost no such actors and directors. There are almost no good movies. What they are trying to re-shoot is a pathetic parody. Probably because they don’t feel the theme and the material as the directors and actors of the time felt. I can't help it. Again and again I listen to this original Russian speech, turns, comparisons. I look at people, and I do not see actors in them, I see in them the characters of epics and fairy tales. As a person who grew up in the Soviet Union, of course, I am sorry that my childhood passed, but I am damn proud that I, an ordinary Soviet pioneer (or Soviet pioneer), had such a past. Our children should have such fairy tales, and ... it is important not the essence of fairy tales sometimes, but this is its performance, which will never be, because no one will ever be able to repeat such a masterpiece!
Oh, where are you Finist, good man? Where are you? Protect us from the evil, the evil, the evil. He brought us the Pechenegs and the Siratsyns of cunning and insatiable hoodies. And we are under the Orthodox laws of bondage. In this fairy tale "Forest Monster" symbolizes a defamed, slandered, innocent man. Alyonushka, risking her reputation as a decent girl, despite public opinion, stood up for the Monster and justified it.
The film looks like a single breath! Interesting for children and adults! Besides, everything there is our, Russian, native! The fairy tale is wonderful. Even though Finist and hero, this is a fairy tale, not a bylina. Children like it, and not just children. And more: if anyone and "choke", it is the authors of modern cartoons about the "rich". These cartoons should not be shown to children. A huge thank you to all the creators of this film!
Alexander Rowe participated in the creation of the script for this film for the young director Gennady Vasilyev. So you can feel the hand of the master. True, the film, as always, attracted me with grotesque secondary images (voivode Pugovkin, scribe Kononov, old lady-fun and the most brilliant Gergiy Vitsin in the small role of a man Agathon), as well as classic villains Cartaus Red Mustache (Pertsovsky), Kastruk (Millar!), Fingal (Potemkin). Definitely, in our fairy tales, the most wonderful and memorable characters turned out to be negative. As for the classic images of the hero and Alyonushka, now I, as in childhood, at the sight of them, the only desire is to rewind somewhere where it is more interesting.
I watched the film thanks to the program “Visiting a fairy tale” in the spring of 1983, as a junior schoolboy. I well remember the delight, it is so pleasant when fabulous images from Russian fairy tales appear on the screen, running, jumping, wizarding and fighting. And they sing! "Finist-Clear Falcon" is notable primarily for its wonderful songs. Most of all, I love the song "Orphan, I, orphan, orphan." I often sing it myself. Also remarkable is the optimistic song of old cheerful women, Kononov the scribe and the Carthaus gang. There is something charming and authentic about them, someone wrote, for example, from the heart of poetry. “They don’t pay the king taxes.”
"Finist-Clear Falcon" is interesting only to us, oh, old uncles and aunts, no exhortations to save their native land from the monster of the filthy and special effects, when Vicin fell through the ground, today's children to watch it is not tempting. So let's drink to cybernetics.
And the director shot another beautiful film “While the clock strikes” based on the fairy tales of the now living (90 years old) Sofia Leonidovna Prokofieva.
It happened so that on Russia-mother fell into various kinds of thieves and likhodei. Then the Nightingale-Robber will start to arrange checks on the roads, then Baba-Yaga will once again commit some depravity, or even Koschei the Immortal, paired with the Snake Gorynych, will steal the daughter of the king and remember what the name was. And more recently, a villain appeared, of which the light of the white has not yet seen - the powerful charoplet Cartaus the Red, that together with his army the busurman thirst for Russian lime. Why would they? Lesha knows them! Carthaus probably sticks to the rule because I can! The Ancients are with him. Much more important is that as soon as the villain-likhods appeared, since here appeared the defender of the common people and the winner of the evil spirits of the forest, mountain, swamp... yes, everything. And this was the advantage of Soviet ... and not only Soviet, but in general all fairy tales. For every yin there is a yang, for every evil there is a good, and it is also true that even on the most cloudy and gloomy of days a rainbow can appear in the sky, which causes a weak, but still a smile. And that's beautiful.
So, the defender of the offended and oppressed becomes a powerful hero with a golden heart, who was called the Finist - a clear falcon. They called him so for a reason, but because the young hero had a best friend and comrade - a falcon with a crown on his head. And... I know that Lady Hawk will come out much later, but when I watched this fairy tale as a child, and even now, I always felt that the falcon is not as simple as it may seem at first glance and that there is an interesting story behind it. Maybe it’s just my rich imagination? Who knows. In any case, having given a worthy rebuff to the troops of Carthaus, Finist directs his feet to the voivode in order to join forces and drive the yoke of black from his native land. Is it any wonder that Carthaus does not like this alignment of forces, and therefore, with the help of the servants of his faithful, vile, he decides to destroy a good fellow. And turns Carthaus Finista into a forest monster, but such that it is not in a fairy tale to say a pen to describe.
An unexpected start to a fairy tale, isn't it? After all, we are all used to how the main character copes with obstacles that stand in his way keeping his way to the den of the villain, and here on you - good is defeated and evil triumphs. How come? But do not panic ahead of time, my friends, because the Soviet storytellers knew what they were doing, especially in light of the fact that the film is dedicated to the memory of the great Alexander Rowe, without whom my childhood would be half as bright. So no, we do not say goodbye to Finist, just his story will resemble a fairy tale about the Scarlet Flower, well, or his foreign counterpart in the person of Beauty and the Beast. But wait a minute? The fairy tale of a beautiful girl who fell in love with a monster is fine, but what about Carthaus, who is clearly not going to sit in the shadows? And then the creators of the fairy tale fussed and a hero from the people comes to the fore - scribe Yashka. A resourceful and intelligent guy who prefers to act with cunning and wit. And you know, that storyline looks great. And no, here the point is not that I love Soviet cinema (Although not without it) and is ready to sprinkle enthusiastic epithets about and without, here the point is that having made a hero Yashka creators as it were say - any person can be a hero / rich man, not only Ivan Tsarevich and Soldier. Each person can be a hero and give a worthy rebuff to evil, if not brute force, then crushing them with intelligence.
But in addition to Yashka, there are also three heroines who are also quite non-standard characters for Soviet fairy tales. And yes, we are talking about old cheerful women who love to sing chaptushki and who always have a parting word and a sincere smile. But what makes them unconventional is not even this, but the fact that they are good wizards who take the most active part in the narrative. As usual, we had in Soviet fairy tales? A good wizard gave advice or guided on the right path. Sometimes they gave a thing with which the hero could defeat the evil forces, but they did not engage in open confrontation with Koshchei or Baba Yaga. In general, this is correct, since in such a simple way we were shown that a purposeful person with kindness in his heart is able to withstand all sorts of intrigues and misfortunes. But I always wanted good and bright wizards to be not just bystanders, but to help the hero with word and deed. And here on you - cheerful old ladies are ready to help the main characters cope with Karthaus.
Most importantly, all aspects of the painting work. Characters, even minor ones, turned out bright and memorable. The same Agathon played by Georgy Vitsin, which appears in the film for literally ten minutes, is sympathetic. After all, despite the fact that he sings a sad, sad song, in the eyes of Vicin no, no, but still flashing cheerful sparkles-mixtures. There is nothing to say about the other heroes and you just have to see them. Carthaus, although a typical villain that sows chaos and devastation in the surrounding lands, but he is not a fool and if there is a threat on the horizon, no matter in the person of Finist, his lover or scribe Yashka, he attracts all the forces. To get rid of this threat. And his Basmachi turned out quite well - typical bandits / barbarians / Tatar-Mongols who prefer to take, take and take. Unpleasant guys, yes. The dialogues were memorable. The scenery is colorful. Humor is quality. And the story itself is fascinating. This fairy tale really pays tribute to the memory of Alexander Rowe, as it demonstrates all that the films of this beautiful Soviet storyteller were famous for. Honor and praise to Gennady Vasilyev, as well as all those who took part in the creation of this fairy tale. And you, dear viewer, I recommend to get acquainted with the "Finist - a clear falcon" at leisure, if you suddenly did not see it, and if you saw it, why not reconsider?
8 out of 10
“Finist – Clear Falcon” – without exaggeration, my favorite cinematic fairy tale of childhood. I still remember how, as a primary school student, I tried to find out (passion I like to dig into the truth) – the prototype of what such an unknown enemy of Russia, the director Gennady Vasilyev planned a dark ruler, the robber Carthaus and his army in horned headdresses? If, for example, in Alexander Ptushko’s Ilya-Muromets the allegorical image of Kalinov’s kingdom as the prototype of the well-known two-hundred-and-forty-year yoke was clear to me, then the Caucasoid Carthusians did not allow me to reveal this very intriguing cryptological subtext. They don't look like crusaders. The Vikings wore horned helmets, not fur hats. I remember even after listening to a very funny song of cartesian warriors “We were born with a checker to wave...” put forward a false hypothesis that this is the personification of loose Cossacks, which quickly shrugged off (well, how can our Cossacks fight with the Russian squad, i.e. against their own?). Since school history textbooks, in addition to the traditionally extensive information about the Horde yoke, had extremely scant information about the Khazars, Pechenegs, Polovtsy and other peoples who fought with us in ancient times, I came to the opinion that this was just an artistic fiction, or simply a collective image of an insidious external enemy. It is not always a lie, but a hint in it. However, only later, after looking at the "Rus original" of the same Vasilyev, the solution was found.
It's a beautiful story. Despite the fact that the film was shot by Gennady Vasilyev, it truly reproduced the magical cinema aesthetics of Alexander Rowe, whose memory the picture, in fact, was dedicated. Baba-Yaga of all times and peoples Millar, this time playing the role of the werewolf-sorcerer Kastryuk, hilarious "goremyk" Agathon Vitsin, charming voivode Pugovkin, funny scribe Yashka Kononov, cheerful old women, beautiful Knight Voskresensky, twice saved by the miraculous power of Love. The fairy tale is replete with good humor, a bright outlook and a healthy patriotic pathos. I recommend it to everyone, from small to large.