And Quiet Flows the Don (Tikhiy Don)

SYNOPSIS

The complete 5½ Hour Epic on 4 DVDs

Based upon Mikhail Sholokhov's Nobel Prize winning novel, Quiet Flows the Don is a spectacular, sprawling epic of the Russian Revolution and an honest, intimate drama of two lovers lost in the storm of history. Though internationally praised as "the Soviet Gone With the Wind," this 1957 crowning achievement of popular Soviet filmmaking was gutted by its US distributor when released here in 1960. For the first time on US DVD, Kino offers the full-length cut of director Sergei Gerasimov's legendary masterpiece.

Within the sylvan hills of Russia's Don River valley, Grigori, a fiery and cruel young Cossack, takes up with Aksiniya, the wife of a fellow warrior. The brawling beauty of Cossack village life and the violent upheaval of World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution form a spectacular backdrop for a romance as real as it is tragic. Driven to deception and disgrace, the two lovers battle the condemnation of the old order and the dangers of a dawning new world.

After a year and a half before the cameras, director Gerasimov forged more than 60 hours of footage into a social realist epic that is as meticulous in depicting passionate human nature as it is in recreating WWI combat, the storming of the Winter Palace in old St. Petersburg and the Red Army's bloody and ruthless drive to the sea. This four disc package has been re-mastered to preserve Quiet Flows the Don's breathtaking color photography and Shostakovich disciple Yuri Levitin's lush, haunting score.

1957. Russia. 330 min. Color.
Original Aspect Ratio (1.33:1).
In Original Russian with Optional English Subtitles.

MOSCOW M. GORKY FILM STUDIO presents
A film by SERGEI GERASIMOV
QUIET FLOWS THE DON (TIKHIY DON)
PYOTR GLEBOV, ELINA BYSTRITSKAYA, ZINAIDA KIRIYENKO, LYUDMILA KHITYAYEVA, NIKOLAI SMIRNOV NATALYA ARKHANGELSKAYA, and ALEKSANDR ZHUKOV
Production Design BORIS DULENKOV
Editing NINA VASILYEVA
Music YURI LEVITIN Cinematography VLADIMIR RAPOPORT
Written by SERGEI GERASIMOV
From the Novel by MIKHAIL SHOLOKHOV
Directed by SERGEI GERASIMOV
Copyright 1957 MOSCOW M. GORKY FILM STUDIO

DVD Features

• "The Truth About Quiet Flows the Don"
• "The Making of Quiet Flows the Don"
• "The Presentation of the Nobel Prize to Mikhail Sholokhov"
• Video Interviews with two actresses in the film, and with an historian about the background of Quiet Flows the Don
• Cossack Songs and Dances • Trailer Gallery of Russian Films
• Two Stills Galleries • Cast/Crew Filmographies
• Languages
  Spoken: Original Russian (Mono)
  Original Russian (5.1)
  English Voice Over (5.1)
  French Voice Over (5.1)
  
• Optional Subtitles: Russian, English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Hebrew, Swedish, Chinese, Arabic, and Italian