Mazepa

A historic milestone in Russian cinema, recognized as the very first film adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky's famous 1869 novel.

Film adaptation of excerpts from Nikolai Gogol's novel of the same name. Only two episodes are recreated faithfully: Chichikov's visit to Sobakevich and Chichikov's visit to Plyushkin. These episodes are followed by a series of scenes in which other characters appear without any connection with the plot. In the finale, everyone is photographed next to the bust of Gogol.

Marianna advertises for work as a reader and is employed by the reclusive millionaire Dymov. Appreciative of her sensitive, artistic nature, and of her youthful innocence and purity, Dymov is protective of Marianna and shields her from the attentions of his philandering playboy son. Marianna confesses to her fiancé Sergei that, at times, she feels deeply conflicted, drawn by the seductive lure of wealth and luxury. When her protector Dymov dies, his son begins to pursue her. Can Marianna resist her attraction to the opulent lifestyle that Dymov's son offers?

A tragic story of a ballerina.

A female doctor is so busy with her work that she has too little time for her fiancé. He falls in love with a waitress and the two have a child. Though considered by some to be a proto-feminist yarn, the film dwells on the consequences that equal rights for women may generate rather than openly champion suffrage. Similar in to Ibsen's The Doll House in many ways, the film provides mannered, solemn melodrama, ably acted by Mosjoukine and Yureneva.

Based on Pushkin's short story: When his friends play faro, Hermann always enjoys watching, but he never gambles himself. One day, as he is watching their game, he learns that an elderly countess staying nearby is said to possess a secret for winning a fortune at the game. Hermann is determined to learn this secret from her, and he initiates a romance with her granddaughter Liza, in order to improve his chances.

About a young pretty bride, who cannot choose between all the grooms that circles around her...

Lost film based on Leo Tolstoy's story from War and Peace novel.

The old nunnery owns the best lands. Nuns rent out the land to local rich men, and exploiting peasants they have a wealthy life. The peasants live in misery. Especially, the family of the peasant named Levin. He is forced to give away his last horse, his son Andrii is imprisoned, his daughter Nastia becomes a maid of a rich landlord. Trying to prevent the master’s harassment, Nastia escapes and gets to the nunnery. She can see the other life of the nuns who manufacture false relics, drink alcohol and kill children. Nastia ends up in the basement for resisting one of the “spiritual pastors.” Meanwhile, her brother Andrii escapes from prison. He stirs up a rebellion and saves his sister. The film is lost.

The film adaptation of Taras Shevchenko’s biography of 1925 is the first Ukrainian biopic. At that time, it was one of the most expensive films, as for the first time experts in history, ethnography, and literary studies were involved in pre-production. Consisting of numerous short stories, the film that shows the life of Shevchenko as an adolescent, a soldier, a poet, was successfully demonstrated in Ukraine and abroad and became the most acknowledged cinema project of 1926.

To justify the fantastic adventures of the blacksmith Vakula, the authors of the film “simplify” Gogol’s plot: Vakula, having drunk too much at Patsiuk’s place, falls asleep. And he sees this dream where the devil takes him to the palace of Catherine II in Saint-Petersburg; and there Vakula takes off the little shoes of the Russian empress to give them to his fiancée Oksana. And, really, drunk Vakula takes off the shoes while sleeping… but from Patsiuk. Later, when Vakula unwraps the package with the “royal slippers” in front of Oksana, he finds only Patsiuk’s dirty shoes there.

Continuation of Chardynin's drama By the Fireplace. Lost film.

It's the 17th century, when social antagonism is at its peak. The poverty of peasants and poor Cossacks is opposed to the lavish lifestyle of the Ukrainian and Polish noblemen, priests, and Cossack officers. Cossacks fight off Tatars’ attacks, however, they start to realise that the real enemy is much closer. Taras Triasylo raises Cossacks to help the rebellious peasants.