Saint Petersburg, 1858. A group of composers known as The Five meet at Balakirev's. Young Modest Mussorgsky, both a civil servant and a musician, has become a fixture there. He tells about the first opera he plans to compose. Then he goes to the country where he discovers the lowly conditions of the peasants and the bloody conflicts with the rich land owners. He works on Gogol's 'The Marriage', trying to render into music the natural accents of the play's naturalistic dialogue. But his efforts do not pan out. On the other hand, he starts writing his opera on the story of Boris Godunov. The Marinsky Theatre refuses to stage the work. The Five, and Mussorgsky among them, are libeled and the group starts disintegrating. When 'Boris Godunov' is finally performed in 1874, it is a popular success.
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Cast
21 people
Aleksandr Borisov
Modest Petrovich Moussorgsky
Known for
War and Peace, Part II: Natasha Rostova
Nikolai Cherkasov
Vladimir Stasov
Known for
Alexander Nevsky
Ivan the Terrible, Part I
Vladimir Balashov
Mily Balakirev
Known for
Ivan the Terrible, Part II: The Boyars' Plot
Yuri Leonidov
Alexander Borodin
Also in
Wow, Butter Week!
Shadows of the Old Castle
Andrei Popov
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Known for
Oblomov
Bruno Frejndlikh
Cesar Cui
Also in
Russia Is Young
The Dead Season
Fyodor Nikitin
Alexander Dargomyzhky
Also in
Fragment of an Empire
The Parisian Cobbler
Lyubov Orlova
Yuliya Platonova
Also in
Volga - Volga
Circus
Lidiya Shtykan
Aleksandra
Also in
The Living Corpse
In the Town of S.
Valentina Ushakova
Nadezhda
Known for
Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears
Lidiya Sukharevskaya
Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna
Also in
Vasilisa the Beautiful
The Star
Oleksandra Vasylieva
Mussorgsky's mother
Also in
Nightingale
Abrek Zaur
Grigoriy Roshal Director · Anna Abramova Writer Dmitri Kabalevsky Composer
First release November 27, 1950 · Produced in Russia, Russia · Original title Мусоргский
Production
Lenfilm
Production
Russia · Russia
Produced in
Languages
Original title
Мусоргский
Original language
Russian
Spoken on screen
Russian
Release dates
Russia · November 27, 1950
Theatrical
No release date listed for United States.
XC
October 5, 1951 · Theatrical
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Some details come from TheTVDB.