User reviews

The 40th- yearly 50th years of the soviet cinema were very difficult due to severe censorship. Official propaganda didn't pass movies which didn't glorify Stalin and communist party. Moreover WWII damaged cinematography seriously. That's why release of Svadba(aka Marriage) is the enormous success for cinema fans. Great directing, great plot/dialogs, great actors(Garin,Fedorova,Ranevskaya,Gribov,Abdulov) turned this movie into the real masterpiece. Even now,60 years after Svadba's appearance, this movie remains the greatest classic production of the Russian cinema.

My rate:9/10

In the West, sometimes the number of stars employed in a picture is used as a measure of the merits of a film. If this criterion could be applied to the "Marriage", it would probably be recognized as one of the most worthy films of the century. In fact, the film features: 11 people's artists of the USSR, 2 people's artists of the RSFSR, 4 honored artists of the RSFSR. Moreover, not all were indicated in the credits. Of course, at the time of the film's creation, many of its actors did not yet have all the regalia that they had been awarded for their entire creative lives. But we are not talking about official ranks and awards, but about the highest level of talent of the star collective assembled by Isidor Annensky. This team, combined by a talented director with the genius of Chekhov, ensured the creation of a film masterpiece for centuries. A masterpiece in which each frame, each episode, each replica is a separate work of art. Due to the historical features of the moment the picture was released, it did not participate in film festivals. What festivals in 1944?! Judging by the lack of reviews of professional Western film critics, the picture is poorly known in the West. Perhaps only in 1945, in the wave of the allied mood, it was shown in the United States and some European countries. And that's it. So, once again, you can sympathize with the audience of Western countries, which, due to the most severe censorship, are deprived of the opportunity to see some Soviet film masterpieces.