How Czar Peter the Great Married Off His Moor

Plot#

The beginning of the film contains some animations depicting Abram’s acquisition from his native land and eventually we find him in the courts of Paris. He gets himself in trouble when a French countess, whom he had had a romance with, bears a black child. Abram is challenged to a duel which is played out humorously in a sped up timeframe. He leaves Paris shortly thereafter to return to his home in St. Petersburg where his godfather, and czar of Russia Peter the Great enthusiastically awaits his return. Upon arriving Abram expresses he is done with love, as his lover denounces him as a savage and his son is never fated to know his father. In an attempt to help Abram, as well as tie him into the nobility of Russia, Peter announces Abram and Natasha Rtishcheva are to be wed, to the despair of the family and her current suitor. Abram, however, refuses the marriage on the grounds that he believes Natasha is in love with another. This angers the czar who in turn begins to alienate both Abram and Natasha’s family from his favor. The conundrum plays out in humorous and dramatic ways and eventually resolves in a pleasant and light-hearted manner.

See also#

• Vladimir Vysotsky in movies

Cast#

• Vladimir Vysotsky as Abram Petrovich Gannibal
• Aleksei Petrenko as Peter the Great
• The Rtishchevs:
• Ivan Ryzhov as Gavrilo Afanasievich Rtishchev
• Irina Mazurkevich as Natasha Rtishcheva
• Mikhail Kokshenov as Sergunka Rtishchev
• Yevgeny Mitta as Vanechka Rtishchev
• Semyon Morozov as Mishka Govorov
• Valeri Zolotukhin as Filka
• Mikhail Gluzsky as Jester Balakirev
• Oleg Tabakov as Pavel Ivanovich Yaguzhinski