ILYA MUROMETS (1956)

ILYA MUROMETS is a fantasy based on Russian folk epics about the famous hero, who embodied the best features of the Russian people. Ilya Muromets, along with Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Popovich, are favorite characters in Russian folklore. Ilya Muromets is a Russian and Ukrainian hero who managed to protect the Rus' land from evil enemies, defeating their army of many thousands. He saved Rus' from various monsters: the Nightingale the Robber and the Serpent Gorynych. This was the first Soviet widescreen film. 106,000 extra soldiers took part in the filming, as well as 11,000 horses. Ilya was probably a real person who is honored among Eastern Slavs as a saint and is is interred in the Kiev Pechorskaya Lavra (Monastery of the Caves).