Soviet propaganda? Ukrainian epic? History written by whoever's in charge.
648. Ukraine under the oppression of Poland. Polish nobility committing outrage, burning villages one after another. Hetman of Zaporozhian Cossacks Bohdan Khmelnytskyi gathers the army of defenders of the motherland.
Production
Massive battle scenes with thousands of actual Soviet soldiers as extras.
Acting
Mordvinov's booming Hetman—part Shakespeare, part party-line obedience.
Director
Ihor Savchenko
Nikolai Mordvinov
Hetman Zynovii-Bohdan Khmelnytskyi
Borys Bezhin
Colonel Ivan Bohun
Mykyta Ilchenko
Colonel Maksym Kryvonis
Mikhail Zharov
cantor Havrylo
Garen Zhukovskaya
Helena Chaplynska, the Hetman's wife
Mykhailo Vysotskyi
Tuvka, Lizogub henchman
Kostiantyn Mukhutdinov
Tugai-Bei, murza of Perekop
Borys Andreiev
Cossack Dovbnia, Shaitan's son / boyar Pushkin, Moscow ambassador
Vitali Politseymako
Clerk Lyzohub
Dmytro Kapka
cossack Kozhukh
Aleksandr Khvylia
kobzar
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shot during the Nazi invasion, the film's release was delayed until 1941's chaos passed—making its patriotic message accidentally urgent.
Director Savchenko was arrested in 1937, released after petition, then made this—navigating Stalin's taste for heroic history while Ukraine itself faced new invaders.
SU
