The historical and biographical film of the joint production of the USSR and Germany was directed by the outstanding director and director Sergei Gerasimov based on the novel by A. Tolstoy “Peter the Great”. Tolstoy began to write a book in 1929 and worked on it until 1943, until his death. The first two volumes, the narrative of which described the king’s adolescence and youth, were completed and published in 1934. But the third part, which the writer planned to devote to coverage of the mature period of the autocrat’s life, remained incomplete. The film starred Soviet and German actors. "At the beginning of glorious deeds" with their presence were decorated by stage masters and filmmakers of the Film Studio named after Gorky. D. Zolotukhin, N. Bondarchuk, N. Eremenko Jr., O. Strizhenov, V. Spiridonov and M. Nozhkin performed the main roles.
Plot
The painting “At the Beginning of Glorious Deeds”, whose actors and roles are familiar to every domestic film lover, tells the story of Russia in the late 17th century. The young state, having no access to the Black Sea, suffers enormous economic losses. The 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, heading the "great embassy", goes to Europe. His surroundings are immigrants of noble families who go abroad to study shipbuilding, fortification, navigation, mathematics, astronomy and other sciences.
At this time, Princess Sophia (actress Natalia Bondarchuk) trying to hold the throne and the boyars dissatisfied with Peter's innovations organize a streltsy revolt. The young tsar is urgently forced to return to Russia in order to suppress the unrest and ruthlessly punish the instigators of rebellion.
This story was embodied on the screen by actors invited to the production of the picture. “At the beginning of glorious deeds” has a time of 2 hours 18 minutes. But this was not enough for the director. The fates of certain minor heroes break off as they say half the word (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 of the film took place first in Berlin in October 1980, in Moscow the film was shown in the first spring month of 1981. The shows were attended by actors involved in the production. “At the Beginning of Glorious Deeds” is the second part of the film codilogy of S. Gerasimov, dedicated to Peter I. Moreover, the first episode of "Youth of Peter" was released at the same time as the second.
For the director, dilogy has become one of the latest film projects. After him, Gerasimov directed the biographical tape “Leo Tolstoy” in 1984, playing the main role in the film. And in November 1985, Sergei Apollinarievich died suddenly. At his funeral was attended by all the famous actors in the USSR. "At the beginning of glorious deeds" is still considered one of the best works in the filmography of the director.
Lead actor
The role of Peter I in the films “Youth of Peter” and “At the Beginning of Glorious Deeds” brought fame and popular love to Dmitry Zolotukhin, a recent graduate of the Moscow Art Theater School. Starting to work on the image of the autocrat-reformer, an extraordinary, controversial and complex personality, Dmitry spent a lot of time in the library, re-reading all the literary sources about the king and the time period of his reign, studying the memoirs of his contemporaries, historical documents in archives. Nevertheless, according to the recognition of the actor, creating the image, he preferred the novel, according to which the picture was set. According to the actor, despite the fact that historians made a different opinion about the era of the reign of Peter, he believes that the formation of Russia as a power, the period of enlightenment began with this tsar. Zolotukhin was impressed by the courage of Peter.
The painstaking work of the performer was not slow to bear fruit; according to a survey of the readership of the magazine "Soviet Screen" Zolotukhin received the status of best actor in 1980. The choice of the public was recognized as deserved by all the actors of the film "At the Beginning of Glorious Deeds."
Since 1983, the actor continued to actively act in films. Appeared in the movie "Comet", "Know Ours", "Vasily Buslaev", "Come Free", "Lermontov", "Youth Bambi" and "Black Eyes".
Later, Zolotukhin graduated from the directing department of VGIK, his film debut was the painting “Christians”.
Since 1994, Dmitry Zolotukhin, to the sincere chagrin of fans of his talent, has not and will not be removed, 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. The actress at the beginning of filming in the dilogy already had a star status thanks to her participation in Solaris, Red and Black, and The Star of Captivating Happiness. The image of Princess Sophia, a strong-willed, intelligent, energetic woman, but without a measure of selfish, obsessed with a desire for power and conceited, does not look like any role played by the actress earlier.
Acting Nikolai Menshikov actor Nikolai Eremenko Jr. after the release of the dramatic mini-series “Red and Black”, the television musical “June 31”, the first adventure thriller in the USSR “Pirates of the 20th Century” 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 "At the Beginning of Glorious Deeds", film actors of the film studio named after Gorky created a galaxy of unique, memorable images. From the roles of the second plan, the viewer will definitely remember the image of the governor autocrat boyar Romodanovsky, who was embodied by Roman Filippov. The actor is familiar to the audience from the legendary paintings: “Gentlemen of Fortune”, “Old Robbers”, “Diamond Arm” and “12 Chairs”.
Lyubov Germanova, who began acting in 15 years, 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, vivid and memorable character. The viewer is familiar with the actress by the films "Physics or Chemistry", "Two Fates-2", "His Battalion", etc.
Other Soviet actors made an equally significant contribution: O. Strizhenov, M. Nozhkin, V. Spiridonov, A. Belyavsky, V. Shulgin, N. Grinko, P. Glebov, I. Lapikov, B. Khmelnitsky.