A little girl Assol met a wizard and it has been foretold: "... it will be a fine sunny day when a beautiful ship under scarlet sail comes and the noble prince will take you away from here. He'll take you to the world of your dreams, where you will be loved and happy." The neighbours told jokes about her, children teased her, but she waited for her prince. She trusted in the miracles and waited. Arthur Gray's rule was "if you can make a miracle, do it!". And he made a miracle for the wonderful romantic girl.
Production
Ptushko's miniature ships and painted skies—Soviet spectacle on a shoestring.
Costume
Those scarlet sails: cinema's greatest use of fabric as emotional weapon.
Acting
Vertinskaya's face—half porcelain, half storm—carries the entire metaphor.
Director
Aleksandr Ptushko
Anastasiya Vertinskaya
Assol
Vasili Lanovoy
Arthur Grey
Ivan Pereverzev
Longrene
Sergei Martinson
Filipp
Nikolai Volkov St.
Aglie
Sergei Romodanov
Captain Gop
Oleg Anofriev
Letika
Pavel Volkov
Poldishok
Zoya Fyodorova
Governess
Yevgeni Morgunov
Policeman
Pavel Massalsky
Arthur's father
Emmanuil Geller
Zimmer
Grigoriy Shpigel
Menners Jr.
Gemma Firsova
Arthur's mother
Anna Orochko
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Based on Alexander Grin's 1923 story—required Soviet reading that somehow survived Stalin's purge of 'bourgeois fantasy.'
Ptushko had already made 'Ilya Muromets,' the most expensive Soviet film ever. This was his 'one for me'—shot in Crimea with stolen Navy cooperation.
SU
