Nadezhda Kosheverova
Directing
Biography
Film director Nadezhda Kosheverova is mostly famous for her fascinating fairy tale movies, which have become classics of the Russian cinema. Nadezhda Nikolaevna Kosheverova was born in Saint Petersburg on September 23rd (Gregorian Calendar), 1902. In 1923 she graduated Actor's School at Petrograd Theater Free comedy and till 1928 performed as an actress on stages of Leningrad theaters, including the N. P. Akimov Leningrad Theater of Satire. The future film director also studied at the film studio of the Factory of Eccentric Actor from 1925 to 1928. Since 1929 Nadezhda Kosheverova worked at Lenfilm, where she started her career as the assistant of the film director Maxim Trilogy. She made her first debut as a director with the film Once in Autumn (Odnazhdy Osen’y) in 1937; the work has not been preserved, unfortunately. She gained her first success after the release of the lyrical comedy Arinka (1940) co-directed by her jointly with Yuri Muzykant in 1939. Before the beginning of the Second World War, the young film director managed to create a feature film about the Finnish war Galya, which was banned by the censor. For the first time Nadezhda Kosheverova resorted to the fairy tale genre, destined to become her major creative direction, in 1944. Her debut in this genre was the musical film Cherevichki based on Tchaikovsky’s opera with the same name and co-directed with Mikhail Shapiro. Her film Cinderella (Zolushka), released in 1947, was a wild success thanks to the brilliant scenario by Yevgeni Shvarts, design by Nikolai Akimov, and perfectly accurate casting brought the fairy tale recognition among spectators and critics. Continuing her work as a comedy dramatist with Captive Driver (Shofyor ponevole, 1958) and Be Careful, Grandma! (Ostorozhno, babushka!, 1960) Kosheverova tried to remain true to her favourite genre of the traditional children’s magic fairy tale. In 1968 Kosheverova released one of her best and most famous fairy tales - A Very Old Story (Staraya, staraya skazka) starring splendid Oleg Dal and the then unknown Marina Neyolova. Oleg Dal nicknamed Kosheverova “Kurosavochka” and later always agreed to play in her fairy tales. Fairy Tale about Enamoured House Painter (1987) became her last work as a film director. Nadezhda Kosheverova died in Moscow on February, 22nd 1989 and was laid to rest at the cemetery near Komarovo Settlement in the suburbs of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg).
Known For
A biopic based on the life of Russian literary critic Vissarion Belinsky (1811–1848). The production of the film was completed in 1951, but it was not released until 1953, following the reshooting of various scenes demanded by Stalin.
Belinsky
In the fairy kingdom live stepmother, her evil daughters — Anna and Maryana, a limp husband-forester and his daughter from his first marriage — Cinderella. The stepmother exploits the poor girl as a housekeeper. With the help of her godmother-fairy, Cinderella gets to the royal ball, where a beautiful and very kind prince falls in love with her. At midnight, the magic ends, and poor Cinderella has to return to her former life. But on the crystal shoe that Cinderella lost while fleeing the palace to the battle of the palace chimes, the prince searches for the bride.
Cinderella
A very sick girl asks her father to get her a live elephant. Based on the early stories by Alexander Kuprin.
And Then Came Bumbo...
The final part of trilogy about the life of a young factory worker, Maxim. Following the Russian Revolution, Maksim is appointed state commissar in charge of the national bank. With great efforts, he learns the complexies of the banking trade and begins to fight off sabotaging underlings. Dymba, now a violent enemy of the Republic, tries to rob a wine store but is arrested with Maksim's help. Maksim also exposes a conspiracy of a group of tsarist officers who prepare an attempt against Lenin. He then joins the Red Army in its fight against the German occupation.
The Vyborg Side
Zoya Vladimirovna Strelnikova, a famous operetta actress, quits the theater and gets a nanny in a military hospital. There she meets the wounded major Peter Nikolayevich Markov.
Actress
A 1935 USA trade-paper reviewer called it... "an impressive and technically outstanding historical drama dealing with czarist terrorism and revolutionary boiling in the days of 1907. Picture is one of the Soviet prize winners and has particular merits in realistic performance, photography and movement, plus some musical touches in way of folk songs." Written by Les Adams
The Youth of Maxim
Based on the famous fairytale "The Tinderbox" by Hans Christian Andersen. The main character of the film is a puppeteer who lives in a poor and gray world. He composes a fairy tale in which he himself, in the guise of a brave soldier, finds a flint and is helped by a kind wizard. The soldier falls in love with a spoiled, capricious princess who, as befits a princess, poses riddles to her numerous suitors. Her father, the king, is eager to see the soldier as her husband, as he believes the soldier has a great deal of gold. In the fairy tale, everything ends well, but in real life, not so much. "But life is not a fairy tale," his beloved girl says to him as she bids him farewell.
A Very Old Story
The second part of trilogy about the life of a young factory worker, Maxim. In July 1914, the Bolsheviks and Mensehviks compete for representation of the working-class in the Duma. Maksim, who just returned from exile, calls the workers to strike as a protest against the firing of six of their colleagues. The traitor Platon Dymba assaults Maksim, wounding him severely. When the strike unfolds the workers demonstrate by the thousands, the news of the outbreak of World War I suddenly arrives. Maksim gets drafted.
The Return of Maxim
A traveling musician falls in love with a princess who is betrothed to a dictator planning to defeat his enemies with the help of an exploding mutant mosquito.
Cain the XVIII-th
Young Lena becomes a chief manager of a workers' club. The problem is this club is not constructed yet and finishing it takes too much effort from a young girl. The solution is found by her grandmother and her 'old guards'. Look out Lena's enemies. Here's her grandma coming!
Be Careful, Grandma!
Based on Hans Christian Andersen's The Emperor's Nightingale and The Emperor's New Clothes.
The Nightingale
A new girl becomes circus star despite her husband objective.
New Attraction Today
Arinka, a young girl who lives near the railroad, discovers a ring of spies who are preparing the terror act.
Arinka
At the festivities marking the christening of princess Theresa, daughter of King Gaston IX, a wicked fairy made a mysterious prophecy about the girl's life. Seventeen years later, Theresa falls in love with a poor prince named Jacques. Then the prophecy starts coming true...
Donkey's Hide
Once upon a time, a young and cheerful painter named Makar was invited to the king's palace... There he saw a beautiful woman trying on a crown. Makar fell in love, but was expelled from the palace. After undergoing all kinds of trials and heroic deeds, the former painter came to the palace to ask for the princess's hand in marriage, but saw before him a capricious ugly woman—and realized that he had been enchanted by the servant Katya.
The Tale About the Enamored Painter
A driver of a big manager is hospitalized with his boss's documents and adventures start...
Driver Involuntarily
A graduate of medical school, wanting to stay in Leningrad , Leningrad married - an engineer who designs bridges - Alexis. It was a marriage of convenience. However, Lyudmila, a capable student, the committee on the distribution of reserves in Leningrad, and in that time, Alex agrees to the construction of a bridge in Siberia, and demands that his wife was riding with him ...
Honeymoon
No description available.
Tsarevich Prosha
The story is about heiress of the circus family who organizes show "Let's get married" right in the cage for the tigers. Famous motorcyclist Fedya Yermolaev is invited to the circus for a ‘death-defying number’ – to perform a jump on a motorcycle under the big dome! Lena, a custodian at the circus, dreams of becoming a tiger tamer. Stray tigers growl and frighten. Lena enters the cage and...
Tiger Girl
The good-natured scholar Christian-Theodore arrives in a small country where miracles occur. He falls in love with the beautiful Princess, whose marriage is a matter of national importance, because her husband will become the new king. But unlike many “suitors”, selfish thoughts are alien to Christian-Theodore. He is sincerely fascinated by her beauty and releases his Shadow, hoping to get a faithful helper in his quest to marry the Princess. But the Shadow is the embodiment of egoism, greed and meanness. Quickly betraying the scholar, he marries the Princess himself and takes the royal throne.