The Optimistic Tragedy
Cast & Crew
Samson Samsonov
Margarita Volodina
Boris Andreyev
Vyacheslav Tikhonov
Vsevolod Sanayev
Orko Byerninen
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
In 1917, shortly after the October Revolution, the Communist Party sends a former tsarist officer as commander and a pretty young woman commissar aboard the cruiser Emperor Paul to consolidate political power and convert the sailors, who have embraced anarchism, into an effective fighting force. Despite the opposition of the anarchist "Boss," the crew, who at first abuse the commissar, are gradually won over. The ship sails to the Black Sea. The woman's courage and the corrupt actions of the Boss and his mute henchman, "Husky," cause the crew to rethink their anarchism. The Boss's former ally Aleksey, who has grown to love the woman, shoots the anarchist leader, and the crew fight by the side of the commissar. Aided by Husky's treachery, the Whites carry out a raid and take prisoners, including the commissar and Aleksey. A counteroffensive is made to rescue them, but it is too late to save the woman, who is tortured and dies, a martyr to the revolution.
Director
Samson Samsonov
Cast
Margarita Volodina
Boris Andreyev
Vyacheslav Tikhonov
Vsevolod Sanayev
Orko Byerninen
Vsevolod Safonov
I. Zhevago
D. Netrebin
Grigoriy Mikhaylov
P. Sobolevskiy
Erast Garin
Oleg Strizhenov
Gleb Strizhenov
A. Glazyrin
V. Belokhvostik
I. Vankov
V. Nedobrovo-buzhinskaya
V. Shulgin
I. Bychkov
I. Bondar
V. Grave
V. Demidovskiy
V. Zabavin
Ye. Zosimov
Yu. Kireyev
L. Knyazev
N. Kondratyev
P. Kononykhin
A. Milyukhin
V. Novikov
D. Orlovskiy
V. Prikhodko
A. Sakhnovskiy
S. Svashenko
V. Skuridin
A. Stroyev
N. Khryashchikov
Crew
L. Berlin
I. Bogdanov
E. Borkman
Vasiliy Dekhteryov
V. Dudarova
I. Felitsyn
N. Glagoleva
S. Kalinin
A. Kamagorova
A. Klimenko
M. Koldobskaya
Grigoriy Korenblyum
S. Kornilov
M. Matusovskiy
N. Molotkov
Vladimir Monakhov
I. Novoderezhkin
Lyutsiya Okhrimenko
N. Oslikovskiy
V. Perepyolov
Samson Samsonov
Ye. Shvedov
N. Smirnov
N. Solovyov
Sofiya Vishnevetskaya
Sergey Voronkov
A. Yablochkin
V. Zakharchuk
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Released in the U.S.S.R. in June 1963 as Optimisticheskaya tragediya. Shown at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival in 70mm Kinopanorama. Soldiers from the Kiev military district and sailors from the Black Sea fleet participated in the production.
