Behind the scenes of the movie "The Stone Flower": The Furor at the Cannes Film Festival and the Broken Fates of the Actors

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

August 13 marks the 113th anniversary of the birth of the famous actress and teacher, who raised several generations of actors at VGIK, People's Artist of the USSR Tamara Makarova. There are only about 30 film roles in her filmography, but most of them are the main ones. One of her most striking works was the role of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain in the film fairy tale "Stone Flower". Although this film received international recognition, none of the actors who played the main roles were able to take advantage of these privileges, and their creative destinies can hardly be called happy …

The film-fairy tale "Stone Flower" was shot by director Alexander Ptushko based on the tale of the Ural writer Pavel Bazhov "The Malachite Box". It was the first Soviet full-length film, shot on multilayer color film, and the director paid primary attention to the color scheme of the picture, about which he said: "".

Before filming began, artists Mikhail Bogdanov and Gennady Myasnikov made a study tour of the Urals together with writer Pavel Bazhov and made a series of color sketches: Ruby Grotto, Blue Grotto, Crystal Grotto and Malachite Grotto. In an essay about the work of the film artist Gennady Myasnikov, Tamara Tarasova-Krasina talked about the technology of working with color: "".

The costumes created by Olga Kruchinina were truly fabulous, and the actors in them looked like characters in the paintings of the Itinerant artists. Such painstaking work was not in vain - its results were appreciated both in the USSR and abroad. In the Soviet box office, the colorful movie fairy tale became the leader in box office in 1946, then it was watched by more than 23 million viewers. In the same year, the film was shown in France, Finland, Sweden, USA, Germany. The film made a real sensation in France: at the Cannes Film Festival in 1946, "Stone Flower" won the Jury Prize for the best color scheme. And in 1947 this film was awarded the Stalin Prize in Literature and Art.

The role of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain went to Tamara Makarova. At that time, she was already a real star, who was called the first lady of Soviet cinema, because her husband, director Sergei Gerasimov, then enjoyed great prestige and enormous influence in Soviet cinema. Makarova has acted in films since 1927, but real success came to her after she began acting in her husband's films. After the release of the film "The Seven Brave", all-Union glory fell upon her. And recognition abroad brought her the film "Stone Flower", filmed by another director. Some film critics drew attention to the fact that it was Alexander Ptushko who managed to reveal the true nature of her acting talent. So, Peter Bagrov wrote: "".

After Tamara Makarova appeared at the Cannes Film Festival, foreign producers drew attention to her, who called her the Russian Greta Garbo and the most sensual actress in the USSR. She was offered to star in the Hollywood film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina in the title role, but the Soviet actress could not even dream of that - consent would put an end to both her acting career in the USSR and her husband's directorial career. Therefore, she was unable to work with foreign directors.

Who knows how Tamara Makarova's career in the West could have turned out if she had played Anna Karenina in Hollywood then! The actress herself never regretted this and believed that at home she was fully able to realize herself in the profession. However, one can hardly agree with her words, because an actress with such creative potential and such external data could probably have starred much more.

Since 1945 Tamara Makarova began teaching at VGIK together with Sergei Gerasimov. Over time, she starred less and less, agreeing only to roles in her husband's films. In 1983, she played the writer's wife in her husband's last work, Leo Tolstoy, and soon Gerasimov passed away. Since then, Tamara Makarova did not appear on the screens and left teaching. In the 1990s. She lived on a modest pension, was ill a lot and hardly left home. Only the most devoted students remained with her. In January 1997, she was gone.

The main male role in the film - Danila the master - went to the young actor Vladimir Druzhnikov. Three years earlier, he was expelled from the Moscow Art Theater School for the fact that, as a student, he agreed to take part in the filming of the film "Guilty Without Guilt." But the actor did not regret his choice - after that his film career took off. In the movie fairy tale "Stone Flower" Druzhnikov played his first major role in a movie, after which he began to receive other proposals from directors. He was also invited to appear in Hollywood, but he was forced to refuse.

In the late 1940s. Druzhnikov played several main roles - in the films Our Heart, The Legend of the Siberian Land, and Konstantin Zaslonov. 8 films from among those in which Druzhnikov starred became laureates of the Stalin Prizes, which was an incredible success. However, the actor did not stay at the zenith of fame for long. In the 1950s-1960s. he was offered mainly supporting roles, and in the late 1960s. new proposals have ceased to arrive altogether. Druzhnikov toured the country with concerts, read poetry and prose, performed on the radio, voiced actors in foreign films, participated in several performances of the Film Actor's Studio Theater. From time to time, he continued to act in films, but not a trace of his former popularity remained - the time of his heroes is irrevocably gone. When Vladimir Druzhnikov passed away in February 1994, his departure went unnoticed for many.

The role of Danila's bride-master Katya was played by 19-year-old VGIK student Ekaterina Derevshchikova, who studied at the course of Sergei Gerasimov and Tamara Makarova. She began acting in films at the age of 12, her creative take-off was very rapid, after filming in "Stone Flower" directors bombarded her with new proposals. But after the filming was completed, she was expelled from the institute and struck off the lists for the Stalin Prize for her role in this film.

Later, the actress herself explained this by the fact that Tamara Makarova could not forgive her for the fact that her husband showed Derevshchikova attention and did not hide his special attitude towards her. Catherine soon married and left with her husband to Kiev, where she performed on the stage of the Russian Drama Theater. In the movie, she appeared several more times, but after that she disappeared from the screens forever. Returning to Moscow, she participated in performances in libraries, boarding schools, nursing homes, and later got a job in a puppet theater. In 2006, Ekaterina Derevshchikova passed away.

"Stone Flower" opened a series of colorful film fairy tales by Alexander Ptushko. After him he shot Sadko, Ilya Muromets, The Tale of Lost Time, The Tale of Tsar Saltan, Ruslan and Lyudmila. Unfortunately, many of the stars discovered by this director faded too quickly: Unfabulous destinies of the heroes of the movie "Sadko".