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| Images courtesy of Mosfilm |
Renowned Russian fantasy novelist Alexander Grin remains one
of the most influential and inspiring figures in contemporary world literature. An important contributor of the neo-romanticist
movement alongside colleagues such as Eugene Berman and Pavel Tchelitchew, the author’s
work has been adapted to the silver screen a total of nine times including his
most beloved 1923 fantasy epic Scarlet Sails which was made into a film
by Russia’s greatest fantasy director Aleksandr Ptushko and again in 2022 by Italian
director Pietro Marcello currently in theaters.
Seemingly in anticipation of the remake and in line with the Scarlet
Sails celebrations in St. Petersburg which are now a regular part of Russian
tradition, the country’s oldest film studio Mosfilm has restored the Sovscope
35mm widescreen epic in a 4K upload to their YouTube channel.
In a small unnamed fishing village likely somewhere in the
west as Grin’s stories always took place on a fictional faraway land, widower former
seaman Longren (Ivan Pereverzev) concedes to raising his young daughter Assol while
making ends meet selling toy boats hand carved out of wood. One day when wandering off by herself, Assol
crosses paths with an elder claiming to be a wizard who promises her one day
when she’s grown up that a prince will sail ashore in a ship of scarlet red
sails to carry her off to paradise.
Local villagers invariably balk at her claims but Assol, now an adult
played by Anastasiya Vertinskaya in her screen debut, remains undaunted.
Meanwhile a young wealthy nobleman’s son named Arthur Grey
(Vasily Lanovoy) dreams of becoming a captain of a merchant vessel much to his
domineering father and equally cruel governess’ chagrin. Growing up to become a successful seaman and
leader, he docks port at Assol’s village and catches a glimpse of the sleeping
beauty in the forest. Eager to find out
who she is, he learns from the locals of her dreams of Scarlet Sails swooping
in to whisk her away and proceeds with all of his faculties available to make
that fleeting romantic vision a tangible manmade reality.
Made during the Khruschev Thaw though not nearly as
psychedelic or flashy save for one or two scenes of multicolored dioramas of Captain
Grey’s ship wading through the winter northern lights or witnessing a volcanic
eruption, Ptushko’s immediate follow up to his Finnish film project Sampo is
curious for how much more restrained it is compared to his previous works. Clearly by the same cinematographers behind Sampo
and Ilya Muromets Gennadi Tsekavyj and Viktor Yakushev who lens the
Sovscope 35mm sets largely in soft grays and overcast ocean skies, the film was
actually shot twice in Crimea and Georgia with an academy ratio camera
alongside the Sovscope one ala Oklahoma! which also used two cameras
side-by-side to accommodate theaters with more vintage technologies. Ordinarily entrenched in fantasy surrealism, Scarlet
Sails represents a brief time when Ptushko pumped the brakes on his
phantasmagorical visuals.
Soundwise, this is the third work of Ptushko’s composed by
Igor Morozov, also behind Ilya Muromets and Sampo and the results
are sweeping epic romantic fare. There’s
also on the soundtrack the use of crashing waves for when the new Captain Arthur
Grey out on the sea, searching for port to dock. The ensemble cast of characters is generally
good with some of Ptushko’s recurring character actors showing up though the
real star of this loose “fairy tale” of sorts is the ship itself. Appearing onscreen in full size as a real ship
which was actually the training ship Alfa from the Rostov Naval School, outfitted
with 2,500 meters of scarlet parachute silk for the film’s grand titular image,
it is as astonishing of a site to behold on film as it was for the cast and
crew when it was first unveiled.
Released initially in Sovscope widescreen in June 1961 with
the academy ratio version airing two months later, the film went on to become a
major hit in the USSR, garnering some 22.6 million ticket sales and further
cemented Scarlet Sails not just as an important literary and cinematic
work but a tradition to be celebrated annually.
Fostered in 1968 after the film helped boost popularity in the novel,
the Scarlet Sails tradition in conjunction with the White Nights
Festival every summer is a major social event now replete with fireworks,
concerts, water shows and drawing large crowds including celebrities such as
Antonio Banderas and Cirque du Soliel.
Even during COVID-19 with the pandemic shuttering events, people
participated in the celebration online anyway.
Seen now decades later on the cusp of the 2022 film Scarlet,
it represents a unique chapter in Ptushko’s filmography with the director
mostly winding back his fantasy elements that so directly characterized his work. Though a bit more down-and-dirty realistic save
for certain scenes that lean on the fantastical and supernatural, Scarlet
Sails nevertheless is an indelible entry in the director’s illustrious
filmography and helped foster an indigenous social tradition that’s still being
celebrated by millions to this very day.
Not my favorite Ptushko (presently that honor goes to The Tale of
Tsar Saltan) but clearly an important entry in the great director’s canon.
--Andrew Kotwicki
