Behind the scenes of the movie fairy tale "Barbara-beauty, long braid": What Mikhail Pugovkin taught young actors

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Exactly 50 years ago, the premiere of the film "Barbara Beauty, Long Braid" took place. The old Soviet movie fairy tales have long become the same invariable New Year's attribute on television as "The Irony of Fate" and "Blue Light". The director Alexander Rowe was called the main wizard of Soviet cinema, because it was he who created the most famous fairy-tale films. He was able to select the cast so well that he had a "team of his own", with which he worked for decades. It also included Mikhail Pugovkin, who on the set could give odds to many of his young colleagues …

The script of this film was written based on V. Zhukovsky's ballad “The Tale of Tsar Berendey, the Good Tsar Eremey and the Evil Miracle Yuda, and the Love of Barbara the Beauty for the fishing son Andrei”. It was the fifteenth (penultimate) film work by director Alexander Rowe, who by that time was already called the main master of the film fairy tale genre in the USSR.

Almost the entire cast was watched by the director during the filming of the previous film - "Fire, Water and Copper Pipes." It was with Rowe that Mikhail Pugovkin made his debut in the genre of cinematic fairy tales, who played the role of the tsar. He got the same image in "Barbarian Beauty". On the very first joint filming, the actor was amazed at how the director works. "", - Mikhail Pugovkin shared his impressions.

Pugovkin was surprised that Rowe never suggested, let alone imposed his opinion on the artists about how and what to play. That is why he selected the team so carefully - it was important for him to work only with professionals who immediately entered the role and subtly felt their image. During filming, he could explain to the actors their task in this way: "". And that's it! To the puzzled looks and clarifying questions, he answered: "" Pugovkin understood the director at a glance, and after filming in the fairy tale "Fire, Water and Copper Pipes" Rowe told him: "".

In the movie fairy tale "Barbara the Beauty, Long Braid" Mikhail Pugovkin found useful not only his previous experience of working with Alexander Row, but also the skills he gained during the filming of the film "Kuban Cossacks". One of the scenes of the movie was filmed in the Crimea on Mount Ai-Petri, and the actors had to get on their horses and ride on horseback. None of the young people could decide to do this, and 46-year-old Pugovkin suddenly jumped into the saddle and rode as if he did it every day. Later he said: "". Seeing this, the director exclaimed: "". Working with Pugovkin became a real school for young artists - he really had a lot to learn.

The director did not like working with newcomers, but if he invited someone to his team, they, as a rule, became its permanent members. This happened with the young actor Alexei Katyshev. Before meeting Rowe, he worked as an assistant sound engineer and did not even dream of filming a movie. He did not have an acting education, but he got on the set … for beautiful eyes! Once Rowe ran into him by accident at the Yalta film studio and exclaimed: "".

He really looked like a fairytale hero, and thanks to Rowe, his fate changed dramatically, because the director immediately entrusted him with the main role in the film "Fire, Water and Copper Pipes." And then he invited him to the next movie tale - "Barbara-beauty, long braid", where Katyshev again played the main role - the fishing son Andrey. When Rowe started filming this film, Alexey was serving in the army in the Far East. And the director made sure that he was transferred to Leningrad, where he only spent the night in the barracks, and spent all the days on the set. Unfortunately, after that, the actor starred in only two films, and with the departure of Alexander Rowe, his acting career ended: Why the hero of the famous movie fairy tales disappeared from the screens.

Rowe has always looked after the actors on his team, and has a fatherly attitude towards young people. For many young actors, he became the godfather in cinema. The director noticed the young actress Tatyana Klyueva while working on the fairy tale "Fire, Water and Copper Pipes". She starred in films from the age of 13 and by that time had already played in several films. Later she said: "".

The 18-year-old beauty charmed all the men of the film crew. Mikhail Pugovkin recalled: "". The director was very strict and demanding in his work: he immediately warned the actress that during the filming there should be no romances and dates. The result of their cooperation was very successful - the role of Varvara brought her all-Union popularity and became her hallmark. The actress was supposed to star in another of his films, but this was not destined to come true. Rowe invited her to read the script on January 2, but on New Year's Eve 1974 he passed away. Soon Tatyana Klyueva left the acting profession. Barbara-beauty on the screen and in life: how was the fate of a beauty from a movie fairy tale.

Thanks to Alexander Rowe, another young actor made his film debut: the role of the tsar's son Andrey, “well-fed, but ill-mannered, was played by Sergei Nikolaev. For him, this tale was the start of an acting career, and although he later starred in more than 50 films, this work has remained the most famous and striking: Glory and oblivion of the hero of Soviet cinema fairy tales.