In pre-revolutionary Russia, land baron Oliver Reed (heavily bearded, bellowing and cruel) hires a deceptively simple young man with a streak of bravado to be his servant, not expecting the boy to have ulterior motives--or for the other servants to follow his lead. Italian-made melodrama, also known as "Il giorno del furore" and "One Russian Summer", was adapted from the novel "Vadim" by Mikhail Lermontov, but is saddled with a vengeance story older than the Russian fields. The basic relationships and conflicts are confusing, there's no one here for us to sympathize with, yet the film has some oddly entrancing sequences. It's perfect for movie masochists: there's a flogging scene on a shirtless man which seems to last an eternity, and Reed gives a seething, intimidating performance, his eyes full of lust and contempt, his strong voice booming across the countryside. *1/2 from ****
Review of One Russian Summer
