The film was made on the basis of the literary version of events in the life of the famous Russian ethnographer, anthropologist, biologist and traveler who studied the indigenous population of South-East Asia, Australia and Oceania.
Production
Gloriously fake tropical sets shot in Soviet studios.
Acting
Kurilov's wide-eyed scientist sells the colonial gaze critique.
Director
Aleksandr Razumnyj
Sergei Kurilov
Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay
Galina Grigoryeva
Margaret Robertson - wife of Miklouho-Maclay
Mikhail Astangov
Brandler - Doctor
Aleksey Maksimov
Robertson
Georgiy Budarov
Thomson
Valentina Kuindzhi
Lawrence
Lev Fenin
Governor
Robert Robinson
Malu
Emmanuil Geller
Kafa
Arkadiy Arkadyev
Episodic role
Nikolai Volkov St.
Correspondent
Aleksey Zubov
Chairman of the Geographical Society
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during Zhdanov's cultural crackdown, this slipped through as 'educational'—sneaky subversion of the era.
The real Miklouho-Maclay's 1871 diary entry about 'going native' was censored from Soviet editions; the film hints at it anyway.
SU
