Video: Behind the scenes "Legends of the Siberian Land": Why Stalin decided to give a prize to student Vera Vasilyeva
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
September 30 marks the 95th anniversary of the famous theater and film actress, People's Artist of the USSR Vera Vasilyeva. All-Union popularity came to her at the age of 22, when she starred in the film by Ivan Pyriev "The Legend of the Siberian Land." While still a student, the actress received the Stalin Prize, and Stalin himself insisted on this. True, an early triumph did not guarantee her success in the future and deprived her of many roles …
The musical film "The Tale of the Siberian Land" became the first post-war work by director Ivan Pyriev and the third color film released in the USSR. A star cast gathered on the set - Boris Andreev, Vladimir Zeldin, the young but already very popular Vladimir Druzhnikov, the brilliant Marina Ladynina, who at that time was the director's wife and starred in many of his films. The only debutante among the recognized masters was a theater school student Vera Vasilyeva, who was not yet known to anyone, who had previously played only in an episode of one film, where her name was not even mentioned in the credits.
For the actress herself, Pyriev's proposal was a complete surprise. Years later, she recalled: "".
Surrounded by stars on the set, the debutante was lost and behaved very modestly and fearfully. There were plenty of reasons for self-doubt - it turned out that even her appearance did not quite suit the director - not a real Siberian woman, not "blood and milk." Vera Vasilyeva told: "".
Then Vera Vasilyeva did not even hope that someone would notice her in this film. But this role became fateful - "The Legend of the Siberian Land" overnight turned her whole life upside down. The actress was not only noticed, but also invited to the Satire Theater, where she was immediately offered several major roles. This film was enthusiastically received by viewers not only in the USSR, but also abroad. It became one of the leaders in film distribution in 1948, when it was watched by almost 34 million people. The picture was shown in 87 countries of the world and enjoyed particular success in Japan. But Pyryev's colleagues did not like his work, some of them spoke very harshly - so, Sergei Eisenstein called "The Legend of the Siberian Land" "Russian popular print in Czechoslovakia" (part of the film was filmed in Czechoslovakia).
Nevertheless, the picture was appreciated at the highest level - it was awarded the prize for the best color film at the International Film Festival in Marianske Lazne (Czechoslovakia), the main prize at the International Festival of Workers, and the director, screenwriters, cameraman, composer and actors who played the main roles, received the Stalin Prize.
True, initially the name of Vera Vasilyeva was not included in the lists submitted for the award. She said: "".
Interestingly, after Stalin's death, shots with portraits of the leader were cut out from the film, which made it necessary to shorten some of the dialogues. As a result, the new version of the film was 10 minutes shorter. In addition, the text of the oratorio was changed: instead of the words "Towards the great Stalinist plans, golden Siberia rises", the phrase "Towards the great Leninist plans" sounded. And the actress herself neither the Stalin Prize, nor the early success did not bear fruit in the future.
Vera Vasilieva was identified with her heroine, and other directors saw her only in the form of a simple village girl. She herself believed that her "ordinary appearance" was to blame for this. She was offered the role of chairwoman of the collective farm and ordinary workers, but the matter did not go beyond testing. When the actress appeared on the set, the directors saw in front of them a refined, intelligent girl with the manners of an aristocrat and sighed in disappointment: " She played many roles in theater and cinema, but at the same time did not fully realize all her creative potential, because all her life she felt like a heroine of another time, the 19th century.
The incredible inner intelligence, feminine charm, self-esteem, elegance of this actress cannot but cause admiration. She still looks great today - just like the ladies in the portraits of the 19th century: The secret of youth from Vera Vasilyeva.
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