User Reviews

I've never had so much high-brow fun watching a movie. More operas should be made into movies. This was at its earthy best, and the Borodin music was just so right for story of more primitive times. It was sort of like a spaghetti western set to music, and I mean that in a good way. Think what some of the opera-composing greats could have done with "A Fistful Of Dollars" and you have some of the feel of this spectacle, though of course the story was far different. The acting wasn't all that great, but that isn't the most important aspect of an opera, even one put on film. The music, the passion, the spectacle, those are what I look for. I mean, this had Mongol hordes in full regalia, horses, horses and more horses. Much better than seeing it on a stage. This was a lot of fun to watch.

Prince Igor is not one of the Russian masterworks, but it still has a simple but decent story and beautiful music(the Polovtsvian dances and Vladmir's recitative and aria being the most well known, and deservedly). This Prince Igor film from 1972 directed by Roman Tikhomirov is excellent, if not quite as good as The Queen of Spades and especially Eugene Onegin. The acting is not as subtle or incisive as that of Eugene Onegin, but Igor and Vladmir are commanding and very little feels out of place. Visually, it is just splendid, high on spectacle but never feeling overstuffed. There are so many standouts, but the staging with archers and spear-men on horseback in the Polovtsvian dances really worked well, as did having Fly away on the Wings of the Wind set at dusk under torchlight and Vladimir's and Konchakovna's love-duet filmed absolutely beautifully on a moonlit riverbank. The scenery, photography and costumes are all wonderful. The drama is never dull either, while musically it is vigorous, powerful and sensitive all when needed with well judged tempos, great orchestral playing and robust chorus singing. The dancers are excellent too. There are some cuts to the music, but the crucial parts are still intact and very well performed. Igor, Vladmir, the Khan and Konchakovna are all convincingly sung and acted. Overall, a must see still though I do recommend Queen of Spades and Eugene Onegin over it. 9/10 Bethany Cox

This is the third and last of Roman Tikhomirov's epoch-making filmed operas, all three focussed on consistent realism, which is the more spectacular here, since this opera is set in the early middle ages (around 1100), providing very remarkable settings for an opera. The story is equally sensational, as it deals with wild and barbaric Tartars, giving virtuoso performances as both singers and dancers. Contrary to the two previous Tchaikovsky operas, this is a basically very cheerful and positive story, filled with festivities and impressing mass scenes, including several battle scenes, there are even two buffoons here, while the highlights are the gorgeous popular festival at home in the beginning preparing for the war, and of course the Polovtsian dances, which dominate the later part of the film. Like in the previous opera films, the characters and actors are perfect and couldn't be better. Prince Igor's son , who shares his captivity, is the only real tenor and provides a very fitting romantic ingredient to match the heroism and macho bravura. While his father manages to escape their captivity, the son remains and marries the Khan's lovely daughter. The enmity is not very serious here, the Khan and Prince Igor get along fairly well, and the Khan promises to give him free if he doesn't make war any more. That sounds like a rather fair deal and very reasonable diplomaoy.

The impressing mass scenes with brilliant cinematography actually makes this opera film the technically and cinematographically most interesting of the three, although the story is the thinnest, as it was not written by Pushkin and completely lacking his interesting psychology. On the other hand, Borodin's music crowns the charm, being more lyrical than Tchaikovsky's and providing tunes and melodies you will never forget, for both their beauty and dashing splendour.

In brief, Roman Tikhomirov's three opera masterpieces on film are all outstanding to the highest degree and very different from each other, thus complimenting each other.