Admiral Ushakov (1953)

By CinemaSerf

I thought his had quite a few similarities to C.S. Forester's maritime adventure stories, although this is based on a real Russian sailor who helped expand the empire of Catherine the (not yet) Great. He has a position on her yacht when he encounters her favourite minister Potemkin (Boris Livanov) and asks him for a job. Not a desk job, but an actual job working on the construction of a new fleet. This impresses the count and so Ushakov (Ivan Pereverzev) finds himself drafted into more active service. He turns out to have quite a knack for strategy and as the Russian's face the internecine plotting of the French, the British and the Ottoman's, they have to think quickly and creatively if they are to avoid a crushing defeat. Though he does have the protection of Potemkin, this upstart officer is not without his powerful detractors who would see him at the bottom of the sea, or hanged, if it served their purpose. They all know that the favour of the Empress could be fickle, and so it was an eggshell walk for this man at the best of times! Aram Kachaturian has created a suitably rousing, swirling, score here and the period naval costume and wig departments have gone into top gear to present us with a fairly authentic looking action-packed adventure of sea power, back-stabbing and glory. It does take it's time to get us into the thick of the action, indeed at times it is a little too stage bound, but the last fifteen minutes are lively and full of pyrotechnics and high spirits. I wouldn't say the acting is great, no, but the two men heading the history do well enough and are well complemented by Sergey Bondarchuk's malevolent Prokoviev and by occasional appearances from Olga Zhivneva as a woman who knew well how usurping worked. Though a biopic of sorts, it takes a very rose-tinted, pro-Russian, view of the conflict - but then that expression about history and winners springs to mind.