My Iron Curtain Genre Movies - Fantasy, Animation, Sci-Fi and Osterns
by bertramprodutora | created - 21 Jan 2023 | updated - 1 month ago | PublicQuite insane list with genre films made in Eastern Europe from the Interwar Period until the end of the Cold War (divided by genre, then chronological order).
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1. The New Gulliver (1935)
75 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
While hearing the story of "Gulliver's Travels", a young Russian boy dreams that he is the title character on the island of Lilliput.
Director: Aleksandr Ptushko | Stars: Vladimir Konstantinov, Ivan Yudin, Ivan Bobrov, Fyodor Brest
Votes: 379
FANTASY: USSR - from the "the Soviet Walt Disney" Alexandr Ptushko adapting The Voyages of Gulliver.
2. The Golden Key (1939)
70 min | Animation, Family, Fantasy
The adventures of a wooden boy.
Director: Aleksandr Ptushko | Stars: Aleksandr Shchagin, Sergey Martinson, Olga Shaganova-Obraztsova, Georgiy Uvarov
Votes: 251
USSR - Alexandr Ptushko brings a Pinocchio adaptation before that from the "american Alexandr Ptushko" Walt Disney.
3. The Stone Flower (1946)
89 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
Obsessed with perfecting his craft, young gemcutter Danilo visits the mystical Copper Mountain to uncover the secret behind its infamous attraction - the Stone Flower, a stone carving so captivating that no one can leave after seeing it.
Director: Aleksandr Ptushko | Stars: Vladimir Druzhnikov, Yekaterina Derevshchikova, Tamara Makarova, Mikhail Troyanovskiy
Votes: 508
USSR - one more from the master Alexandr Ptushko, this time with a more traditional fairy tale.
4. A Journey to the Beginning of Time (1955)
Not Rated | 83 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
One day a young boy finds a fossil of trilobite. Together with his three friends they set off on an adventurous journey through prehistory, up to the beginning of time.
Director: Karel Zeman | Stars: Vladimír Bejval, Zdenek Hustak, Josef Lukás, James Lucas
Votes: 2,505
Czechoslovakia, by the "Czech Méliès" Karel Zeman.
5. The Sword and the Dragon (1956)
83 min | Adventure, Fantasy
A mythical knight goes on an epic journey and fights barbarian hordes in an ancient land.
Director: Aleksandr Ptushko | Stars: Boris Andreyev, Shukur Burkhanov, Andrei Abrikosov, Natalya Medvedeva
Votes: 1,372
USSR - Ptushko entered the 50's invested in more fairy tale narratives. This is one of them, heroic and theatrical (run from the American butchered dubbed version).
6. The Day the Earth Froze (1959)
Not Rated | 67 min | Adventure, Fantasy
The evil witch Louhi kidnaps Lemminkäinen's sister to build for her a Sampo, a device that creates salt, grain, and gold. When Lemminkäinen fails to recover the Sampo, Louhi steals the sun, plunging the world into frozen darkness.
Director: Aleksandr Ptushko | Stars: Urho Somersalmi, Anna Orochko, Ivan Voronov, Andris Osins
Votes: 1,465
Finland and USSR - there are multiple versions of this internartional production helmed by Ptsushko. And it seems that none of them are particullary good. It gets to heavy in Finnish folklore, without translating it to wider audiences.
7. The Tale of Tsar Saltan (1967)
Not Rated | 87 min | Family, Fantasy
The envious sisters of the young queen stand in the way of her happiness. A fairy tale based on Alexander Pushkin novel.
Director: Aleksandr Ptushko | Stars: Vladimir Andreyev, Larisa Golubkina, Oleg Vidov, Kseniya Ryabinkina
Votes: 489
USSR - one more from the impressive fairy tale cicle from Alexandr Ptushko, and this one is perhaps his best achievement.
8. Viy (1967)
Not Rated | 77 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A young priest is ordered to preside over the wake of witch in a small old wooden church of a remote village. This means spending three nights alone with the corpse with only his faith to protect him.
Directors: Konstantin Ershov, Georgiy Kropachyov, Aleksandr Ptushko | Stars: Leonid Kuravlyov, Natalya Varley, Aleksey Glazyrin, Nikolay Kutuzov
Votes: 9,353
USSR - a classic. This time, Alexandr Ptushko helmed the impressive visual effects.
9. Ruslan i Lyudmila (1972)
150 min | Adventure, Fantasy, Mystery
The valiant Ruslan, who went in search of the kidnapped bride, overcomes cunning, deception, evil sorcery - and, in the end, defeats Chernomor the Wizard in a fierce battle.
Director: Aleksandr Ptushko | Stars: Valeri Kozinets, Natalya Petrova, Vladimir Fyodorov, Mariya Kapnist
Votes: 484
USSR - another nice fairy tale from Ptushko and his last work.
10. The Snow Queen (1957)
Unrated | 74 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
When the Snow Queen, a lonely and powerful fairy, kidnaps the human boy Kay, his best friend Gerda must overcome many obstacles on her journey to rescue him.
Director: Lev Atamanov | Stars: Vladimir Gribkov, Yanina Zheymo, Anna Komolova, Mariya Babanova
Votes: 3,026
ANIMATION: USSR - Hayao Miyazaki's favorite film, some say.
11. A Thousand and One Nights (1974)
91 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
Stories from the three-year journey of the world-famous Sinbad.
Director: Karel Zeman | Star: Jan Tríska
Votes: 280
Czechoslovakia - Karel "Czech Méliès" Zeman also made animations.
12. The Tale of Tales (1979)
29 min | Animation, Short
Distant, well-worn memories of childhood are inhabited by a little gray wolf. Through astonishing imagery, the memory of all of Russia is depicted.
Director: Yuri Norstein | Star: Aleksandr Kalyagin
Votes: 4,135
USSR, by the genius couple Francheska Yarbusova and Yuri Norstein.
13. Dimensions of Dialogue (1983)
12 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
Three surreal depictions of failures of communication that occur on all levels of human society.
Director: Jan Svankmajer
Votes: 4,889
Czechoslovakia, by genius Jan Švankmajer. Not exactly a genre film, but it is animation and it's terrific.
14. Alice (1988)
Not Rated | 86 min | Animation, Adventure, Fantasy
A surrealistic revision of Alice in Wonderland.
Director: Jan Svankmajer | Stars: Kristýna Kohoutová, Camilla Power
Votes: 13,991
Czechoslovakia - Jan Švankmajer brings his particular take on Alice in Wonderland classic story.
15. Darkness/Light/Darkness (1989)
Not Rated | 8 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
A human body gradually reconstructs itself as its various component parts crowd themselves into a small room and eventually, after much experimentation, sort out which part goes where.
Director: Jan Svankmajer
Votes: 4,874
Czechoslovakia, another experimental animation by genius Jan Švankmajer.
16. Cosmic Journey (1936)
70 min | Sci-Fi
In 1946, the Soviet space program is undergoing turmoil. Professor Sedikh, who is planning to lead the first manned exploration to the moon, is denounced by his rival Professor Karin as ... See full summary »
Director: Vasily Zhuravlyov | Stars: Sergey Komarov, Ksenia Moskalenko, Vassili Gaponenko, Nikolay Feoktistov
Votes: 504
SCI-FI USSR - Wait, what? 1936? Yeah. And it's scientifically accurate for that time!
17. First Spaceship on Venus (1960)
Unrated | 79 min | Sci-Fi
When an alien artifact discovered on Earth is found to have come from Venus, an international team of astronauts embarks to investigate its origins.
Director: Kurt Maetzig | Stars: Yôko Tani, Oldrich Lukes, Ignacy Machowski, Julius Ongewe
Votes: 3,145
East German and Poland - The low ranking on IMDb is because of the USA recuted version, that turned this gem into trash cinema. Look for the original spoke in German.
18. Planeta bur (1962)
78 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
Cosmonauts land on the planet Venus. However, they find themselves in danger from the voracious monsters they find on it.
Director: Pavel Klushantsev | Stars: Vladimir Emelyanov, Georgi Zhzhyonov, Gennadi Vernov, Yuriy Sarantsev
Votes: 1,477
USSR - Very influential movie, that is kind of a perfect gig: space voyage, dinosaurs, robots, ancient civilizations and (maybe) aliens. The ending is magical.
19. Mechte navstrechu (1963)
64 min | Sci-Fi
A rocket from a distant planet approaching Earth must land on Mars due to a technical defect, thus the inhabitants of the Earth rush to their help.
Directors: Mikhail Karyukov, Otar Koberidze | Stars: Larisa Gordeychik, Boris Borisyonok, Otar Koberidze, Peeter Kard
Votes: 283
USSR - The title translates to "Dream Come True". A rare film that takes place in the Mars moons.
20. Solaris (1972)
PG | 167 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A psychologist is sent to a station orbiting a distant planet in order to discover what has caused the crew to go insane.
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky | Stars: Natalya Bondarchuk, Donatas Banionis, Jüri Järvet, Vladislav Dvorzhetskiy
Votes: 98,295
USSR - Well, need to put Tarkovsky here, right?
21. Stalker (1979)
Not Rated | 162 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
A guide leads two men through an area known as the Zone to find a room that grants wishes.
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky | Stars: Alisa Freyndlikh, Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy, Anatoliy Solonitsyn, Nikolay Grinko
Votes: 144,813 | Gross: $0.23M
USSR - And here as well.
22. Pilot Pirx's Inquest (1979)
95 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
Humanlike robots replace humans on space missions. Test flight with robots and human crew, including commander Pirx unaware of robots' identities, evaluates robot performance/interactions. UN organizes mission to assess robot capabilities.
Director: Marek Piestrak | Stars: Sergei Desnitsky, Boleslaw Abart, Vladimir Ivashov, Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy
Votes: 1,033
Poland and USSR - before Blade Runner, there was the Commander Pirx trying to discover androids perfects as humans among his spaceship crew.
23. The Forty-First (1956)
88 min | War, Drama, Romance
An unexpected romance occurs for a female Red Army sniper and a White Army officer.
Director: Grigoriy Chukhray | Stars: Izolda Izvitskaya, Oleg Strizhenov, Nikolay Kryuchkov, Nikolai Dupak
Votes: 1,720
RED WESTERN USSR - more a romance than a Red Wester, but the setting during the Russian Civil War makes it count as one.
24. Miles of Fire (1957)
85 min | Adventure, History, War
A group of train passengers are thrown together an actor A doctor young women and a Bolshivic commander trying to Get to the city. They have to run the gauntlet of the White Russians Who have cut off most of the roads.
Director: Samson Samsonov | Stars: Igor Savkin, Margarita Volodina, Vladimir Kenigson, Mikhail Troyanovskiy
Votes: 88
USSR - the Ostern genre, or Red Western, is the "soviet western". The plots are set usually during the Russian Civil War (1917-1923) with style influenced by the USA classic westerns.
25. Neulovimye mstiteli (1967)
78 min | Action, Adventure, Western
Teenagers take revenge on cruel chieftains during the civil war. Soviet blockbuster in the best traditions of the western
Director: Edmond Keosayan | Stars: Vasiliy Vasilev, Viktor Kosykh, Valentina Kurdyukova, Mikhail Metyolkin
Votes: 1,989
USSR - Another fun Red Western.
26. Novye priklyucheniya neulovimykh (1968)
82 min | Action, Adventure
Young heroes hunt for a secret map behind enemy lines. The second part of the film cycle, filmed at the request of the audience
Director: Edmond Keosayan | Stars: Mikhail Metyolkin, Vasiliy Vasilev, Viktor Kosykh, Valentina Kurdyukova
Votes: 1,194
USSR - Sequel to the "Elusive Avengers"
27. White Sun of the Desert (1970)
Not Rated | 84 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
At the end of the Russian Civil War, Red Army soldier Fyodor Sukhov is ordered to guard the harem of a Caspian Sea guerrilla leader.
Director: Vladimir Motyl | Stars: Anatoliy Kuznetsov, Pavel Luspekayev, Spartak Mishulin, Kakhi Kavsadze
Votes: 7,839
USSR - the most famous ostern and very popular at that time with the russian audiences.
28. Aelita, the Queen of Mars (1924)
Not Rated | 111 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Engineer Mstislav Sergeyevich Los travels to Mars where he leads a popular uprising against the ruling group of Elders with the support of Queen Aelita who has fallen in love with him after watching him through a telescope.
Director: Yakov Protazanov | Stars: Yuliya Solntseva, Igor Ilyinsky, Nikolai Tsereteli, Nikolay Batalov
Votes: 2,891
Had to mention it: considered to be the first sovietic sci-fi, but the plot actually happens in the protagonist's imagination. And it's less fantasy and more political propaganda without charm, aesthetic and power.
29. Fantastic Planet (1973)
PG | 72 min | Animation, Sci-Fi
On a faraway planet where blue giants rule, oppressed humanoids rebel against their machine-like leaders.
Director: René Laloux | Stars: Barry Bostwick, Jennifer Drake, Eric Baugin, Jean Topart
Votes: 36,845 | Gross: $0.19M
French-Czech animation that have a LOT of Eastern Europe feel to it. It was actually animated in Czechoslovakia, thou the director and writers are French.
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