"Actor: Nikolai"

• Plisetskaya Dances | DVD | (05/04/2004) from £22.89   |  Saving you £0.10 (0.44%)   |  RRP £22.99

  Maya Plisetskaya a prima ballerina of Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet is the subject of this documentary. Containing some rare footage of her as a child it covers the development of her career and shows highlights from some of her greatest roles. Included in this film are scenes from Swan Lake Sleeping Beauty Spartacus The Little Humpbacked Horse Raymonda The Stone Flower Romeo and Juliet Don Quixote and others.A fascinating look at a world famous dancer Plisetskaya Dances chronicles the life and work of a performer who bridged the worlds of strict academic classicism and free expressivity. The wonder and excitement of her work is everywhere evident in this award winning film.

• The Fall Of The Romanoff Dynasty | DVD | (22/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  No revolution has been portrayed on screen more vividly than St Petersburg (Petrograd) in October 1917, and if what we see in Soviet films of the 1920s is not exactly the truth as it happened, The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty confirms that even fact can be reinterpreted. Esfir Shub’s 1927 documentary uses a wealth of archive footage--beginning with Romanov tercentennial celebrations in 1913, and ending with the Bolshevik takeover four years on. Here truth really is fashioned into myth: it’s good to have Oleg Donskikh's introduction and continuous commentary as to what actually happened, pointing out economies with the actualité on a scene-by-scene basis. The musical score consists of a medley of Russian favourites, pounded out on an electric piano, making for a rather limited, though not inappropriate, soundtrack. On the DVD: the additional documentary essay is a useful overview, worth consulting beforehand; the on-screen Romanov photo collection reproduces well and is a valuable bonus. The documentary has been digitally remastered, the 4:3 aspect ratio having excellent clarity. Stylishly packaged, this is a period piece of considerable historical and cultural importance. --Richard Whitehouse

• Shostakovich-Katerina Izmailo | DVD | (09/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Shostakovich: Katerina Izmailova (Vishnevskaya)

• Chopin: The Piano Concertos | Blu Ray | (31/01/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Peter The Great - Gretry | DVD | (02/05/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  From the Helikon Opera Moscow 2002....

• Hans Werner Henzes The Bassarids(Blu Ray) | Blu Ray | (11/10/2019) from £45.25   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Octopus | DVD | (15/04/2002) from £6.96   |  Saving you £-2.97 (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  During the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 a Russian submarine strays into American waters. On board is a nuclear cargo destined for Castro. The Americans attack and destroy the sub. 38 years later US submarine Roosevelt is in the same waters; an unknown object attacks and disables the sub with devastating force and drags the vessel to the bottom of the ocean. What lies on the ocean bed beggars belief: dozens of wrecks among them the sub destroyed 38 years ago. Whatever was on board has fed a creature of unbelievable size and strength. The only way out is the emergency submersible and a passing cruise ship. Above or below the water there is no escape from the monster mutant octopus with a nuclear diet...

• Gounod - Faust, Live 1973 (Kraus, Scotto, Nhk) | DVD | (02/08/2007) from £11.39   |  Saving you £13.60 (119.40%)   |  RRP £24.99

• Bolshoi Ballet - the Nutcracker | DVD | (13/10/2003) from £25.63   |  Saving you £-1.64 (N/A%)   |  RRP £23.99

  The Bolshoi Ballet was formed in 1776 by an Englishman Michael Maddox and the Russian patron of the arts Prince Urusov. Today the dancers are the elite product of an eight year course at the Moscow Choreographic Institute and the ballet has a reputation unsurpassed by any other company in the World. In total there are some three hundred dancers and more than four hundred backstage staff. This production of The Nutcracker features the music of Pyortilyich Tchaikovsky performed by the Bolchoi Theatre Orchestra conducted by Rojdestresnki with star dancers Ekaterina Maximova and Vladimir Assiliev.

• Ivan's Childhood | DVD | (22/08/2012) from £19.53   |  Saving you £-3.54 (-22.10%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Andrei Tarkovsky’s debut feature is an extraordinarily moving and powerful story of war and revenge. Determined to avenge his family’s death at the hands of the Nazis, 12 year-old Ivan joins a Russian partisan regiment as a scout, where he becomes indispensable for his ability to slip unnoticed behind enemy lines. But, as his missions become increasingly dangerous, it is decided that he must be removed from the front line. Ivan resists and convinces his commanding officers to allow him to carry out one last expedition.

• Stalker | DVD | (08/08/2012) from £25.90   |  Saving you £-9.91 (-62.00%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Deep within the Zone, a bleak and devastated forbidden landscape, lies a mysterious room with the power to grant the deepest wishes of those strong enough to make the hazardous journey there. Desperate to reach it, a scientist and a writer approaches the Stalker, one of the few able to navigate the Zone’s menacing terrain and they begin a dangerous trek into the unknown. Tarkovsky’s second foray into science fiction after ‘Solaris’ is a surreal and disturbing vision of the future. Hauntingly exploring man’s dreams and desires, and the consequences of realising them, ‘Stalker’, adapted from Arkady & Boris Sturgatsky’s novel ‘Roadside Picnic’, has been described as one of the greatest science fiction films of all time.

• Solaris | DVD | (08/08/2012) from £25.90   |  Saving you £-9.91 (-62.00%)   |  RRP £15.99

  "Ocean's Eleven" director Steven Soderbergh and leading man George Clooney reunite for a remake of the classic Russian science fiction movie about a psychologist sent to a space station orbiting the mysterious ocean world known as Solaris.

• VIY | DVD | (28/03/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Acclaimed Russian horror tale based on a theology student made to recite a scripture for a young woman who has died; unknown to him she was one of the Devil's agents on Earth.... Based on the novel of Nikolai Gogol.

• Opera Legends: Nicolai Ghiauro | DVD | (20/06/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £21.99

  Nicolai Ghiaurov - Tribute to a Great Basso With Mirella Freni, Jose Carreras, Herbert Von Karajan, & Piero Cappuccilli. Nicolai Ghiaurov was an opera singer from Bulgaria who rose to become one of the predominant bass singers of the 20th Century. He performed alongside virtually all of opera's superstars, including Pavaroti, Sutherland, Domingo, Tebaldi, Corelli, Caballe, Raimondi and many more. His triumphant career brought him to world famous stages across the globe, performing with equa...

• Bolshoi Ballet - Giselle | DVD | (18/06/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

• VIY | DVD | (06/07/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Based on a Ukranian folk story adapted by Russian writer Nikolai Gogol's VIY was the first Horror film ever made in Russia. Produced by Mosfilm Studios who released works by Eisenstein and Tarkovsky the film stand as a landmark in Russian filmmaking history. Khoma a young novice Monk trvels across the Ukranian countryside whilst on a break from his seminary and stays for one night in a barn belonging to a seemingly harmless old woman. Whilst sleeping the old woman attacks him displaying supernatural strength. The scared novice fatally wounds her while fending her off. But before dying she suddenly transforms into a beautiful young woman. Some time later Khoma is called to the estate of a rich landowner grieving the death of his daughter. Khoma has been personally requested to attend and against his wishes taken by force to the estate. There he must pray for three nights in the chapel until the body of the landowners daughter is buried. On his first night the woman Khoma had killed rises from the coffin and tries to kill him. Khoma must use every skill he knows for the next 3 nights to prevent this from happening.