Red Monarch - DaaVeeDee

Red Monarch (DVD) (*)

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Language Selections:
English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )

Product Origin/Format:
United Kingdom ( PAL/Region 0 )

Running Time:
101 min

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen

Special Features:
Interactive Menu
Scene Access
Short Film

Movie filmed in 1983 and produced in:
United Kingdom ( Great Britain, Ireland )

Directed By:
Jack Gold

Written By:
Yuriy Korotkov
Charles Wood

Actors:
Carroll Baker ..... Brown
Virginia Balfour ..... Housekeeper
Colin Blakely ..... Stalin
Susan Carpenter ..... Seraphima
George A. Cooper ..... Kaganovitch
George Costigan ..... Projectionist
Freddie Earlle ..... Mikoyan
Glynn Edwards ..... Vlasek
Bernard Gallagher ..... Vovka
Jane Galloway ..... Svetlana
Brian Glover ..... Nikita Kruschev
Gawn Grainger ..... Zamorsky
Eileen Helsby ..... Nina
Jean Heywood ..... Sopha
Ian Hogg ..... Shapochnikov

Synopsis:

Presented in a series of ostensibly farcical or irreverent episodes without any particular connection to each other, and based on short stories written by Yuri Krotkov's own personal knowledge of Stalin, the Red Monarch sketches the infamous Russian dictator as something of a buffoon suffering under the responsibilities of total power. Stalin's many purges of "undesirables" that amounted to millions dead by the end of his reign are not mentioned, and Beria, the chief of the Secret Police (NKVD) responsible for those deaths, is presented in his other notorious persona, that of a vulgar skirt-chasing lecher. Episodes cover a meeting of the Politburo to go over the USSR's loss at a major basketball tournament, and an arm-wrestling context with Mao Zedong. No matter how well Colin Blakely portrays Stalin, he cannot overcome the aspects of the script that trivialize Stalin's criminal record in this failed attempt at a Mel Brooks-style comedy.

In a Russia where fear has become the everyday currency, Stalin and Beria are the two double acts to end them all. With the Kremlin as their stage and the Politburo as their stooges, Stalin signs death warrants while Beria chases women. United by their Georgian heritage and moral depravity, they trust each other only as much as they have to. A humorous look at Stalin, dictator and family man.

Drama adaptation of short stories by Yuri Krotkov, scripted by Charles Wood. Concerns the last years of the life of Stalin.

This product was added to our catalog on Tuesday 06 September, 2011.