Plot, roles and actors: "At the beginning of glorious deeds"

A historical and biographical film produced jointly by the USSR and Germany was staged by the outstanding director Sergei Gerasimov based on the novel by Alexander Tolstoy, Peter the Great. Tolstoy began to write the book in 1929 and worked on it until 1943, until his death. The first two volumes, the narrative of which described the adolescence and youth of the tsar, were completed and published in 1934. But the third part, which the writer planned to devote to the illumination of the mature period of the life of the autocrat, remained unfinished. In the film, Soviet and German actors were shot. "At the beginning of glorious deeds" by their presence was decorated by stage masters and filmmakers of the Im. Gorky. D. Zolotukhin, N. Bondarchuk, N. Eremenko Jr., O. Strizhenov, V. Spiridonov and M. Nozhkin performed the main roles.

Plot

The picture "At the beginning of glorious deeds", the actors and roles of which are familiar to every Russian kinogurman, narrates about Russia in the late 17th century. The young state, having no access to the Black Sea, suffers enormous economic losses. Young Russian autocrat Peter (actor Dmitry Zolotukhin), having conquered the Turkish fortress of Azov, begins the construction of the fleet. For the success of the project, he headed the "great embassy", sent to Europe. His entourage are natives of noble noble families who go abroad to learn shipbuilding, fortification, navigation, mathematics, astronomy and other sciences.

At this time, trying to keep the throne of Princess Sophia (actress Natalia Bondarchuk) and dissatisfied with the innovations of Petra boyars organize the Streltsi rebellion. The young king is forced to urgently return to Russia to quell unrest and ruthlessly punish riot instigators.

This story was embodied on the screen actors invited to the production of paintings. "At the beginning of glorious deeds" has a time horizon of 2 hours and 18 minutes. But for the director this was not enough. The destinies of certain secondary heroes are terminated as it is in the middle words (for example, the fate of the character of Gypsy, embodied on the screen by the People's Artist of the USSR P. Glebov).

History of creation

An interesting fact is that the premiere screening of the film was first held in Berlin in October 1980, in Moscow the film was shown in the first spring month of 1981. At the shows there were actors involved in the production. "At the beginning of glorious deeds" is the second part of S. Gerasimov's filmology devoted to Peter I. And the first episode of "Youth of Peter" was released in the same time as the second.

For the director, the dialogue became one of the last film projects. After him, Gerasimov put the biographical tape "Leo Tolstoy" in 1984, starring in the film. And in November 1985, Sergei Apollinarievich died suddenly. At his funeral were all the actors known in the USSR. "At the beginning of glorious deeds" and is still considered one of the best works in the filmography of the director.

Executive role

The role of Peter I in the films "Youth of Peter" and "At the beginning of glorious deeds" brought fame and national love to Dmitry Zolotukhin, a recent graduate of the Moscow Art Theater School. Coming to work on the image of an autocrat-reformer, a personality that is not ordinary, contradictory and complex, Dmitry spent a lot of time in the library, reading all the literary sources about the tsar and the time period of his reign, studying memoirs of contemporaries, historical documents in the archives. Nevertheless, according to the actor's recognition, creating an image, he preferred the novel, according to which the picture was staged. According to the actor, despite the fact that historians have made different judgments about the era of Peter's reign, he believes that the emergence of Russia as a power, the period of enlightenment began precisely with this king. Zolotukhin was impressed by the courage of Peter.

Hard work of the artist was not slow to bear fruit, according to the results of the poll of the readership of the magazine "Soviet Screen" Zolotukhin received the status of the best actor in 1980. The choice of the public was recognized by all the actors of the film "At the Beginning of Glorious Affairs".

Since 1983, the actor has continued to actively withdraw. Appeared in the cinema "Comet", "Know ours", "Vasily Buslaev", "Come free", "Lermontov", "Youth Bambi" and "Black Eyes".

Later Zolotukhin graduated from the directing department of VGIK, his debut as a director was the picture "Christians."

Since 1994, Dmitry Zolotukhin, to the sincere chagrin of fans of his talent, does not withdraw or withdraw, but his contribution to the development of Russian cinema remains invaluable.

Tsarevna Sofya and Menshikov

One of the most striking roles was performed by Natalia Bondarchuk. Actress to the beginning of filming in the dialog was already a star status due to participation in Solaris, Red and Black, and the Star of Captivating Happiness. The image of Princess Sophia, a woman of strong-willed, intelligent, energetic, but without a measure selfish, possessed by a thirst for power and vainglorious, does not resemble any role played by an actress before.

Actor Alexander Menshikov who acted as Actor Nikolay Eremenko jr. After the release of the dramatic mini-series "Red and Black," the telegram "June 31", the first adventure thriller "Pirates of the 20th century" in the USSR was at the peak of popularity. In the movie Gerasimov he had to play not a romantic superman, but a rogue and a scoundrel.

Cast

In the film "In the beginning of glorious deeds" the actors-filmmakers of the film studio. Gorky created a galaxy of unique, memorable images. From the roles of the second plan, the spectator will surely remember the image of the vicar of the autocrat Boyar Romodanovsky, whom Roman Filippov embodied . The actor is familiar to the audience by the legendary paintings: "Gentlemen of Fortune", "The Old Robbers", "The Diamond Arm" and "12 Chairs".

Lyubov Germanova, who began to withdraw from the age of 15, received invaluable experience, like others, taking part in the film "At the Beginning of Glorious Deeds", actors. Evdokia Lopukhina in her performance is a convincing, bright and memorable character. The actress is familiar to the viewer on the films "Physics or Chemistry", "Two Fates-2", "His Battalion", etc.

No less significant contribution was made by other Soviet actors: O. Strizhenov, M. Nozhkin, V. Spiridonov, A. Belyavsky, V. Shulgin, N. Grinko, P. Glebov, I. Lapikov, B. Khmelnitsky.