Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Leofwine_draca SCARLET SAILS sounds like a normal 1961 swashbuckler but turns out to be something else entirely. It opens as a typical Russian fairy tale would, with a beautiful young woman pining for her empty life and finding herself whisked away by a dashing adventurer to go on some seabound adventure on the titular ship.The film offers the usual mix of Soviet ideals, moralising, social drama, and fantasy. The early scenes of the main character in the doldrums are quite well portrayed and contrast nicely with the more fantastic, ego-trip adventures of the latter half. The production values are fine. There's a greater emphasis on romance here than in other Russian fairy tale films I've watched, which meant that it wasn't really to my taste, but there's no denying the enthusiasm of those involved.

zemba7-817-69080 This is simply the most beautiful and romantic film ever made. Even stranger, it was directed by Alexnadr Ptushko, known for his fantasy films and spacial effects. I guess he wanted a change of pace from his overblown spectacles. He succeeds beautifully.This early 20th century novella is a classic in Russia yet, like The Wizard of Oz, the film is far better than the book. The two leads are outstanding and the girl who plays Assol is stunning! The musical score should be recorded. What a pity this is not known in the West.If you like The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Random Harvest, The Bishop's Wife, One Way Passage and Somewhere in Time - and believe in miracles - this is the crown jewel.

Galina "Alye Parusa" aka "Scarlet Sails" (1962) which is a screen adaptation of one of the most beautiful romantic, poetic, and charming books ever written (the link to the book "Scarlet Sails" by Alexander Green is provided on the Message Board for this film) is one of my favorite movies since childhood. It's been many years since I saw "Scarlet Sails" but it still has the same power over me. Watching it again recently, I realized how incredibly beautiful it is, how wonderfully directed by "Walt Disney of the Soviet Union", Alexander Ptushko who had made such masterpieces as "The Stone Flower", "Sadko" (1953), "The Tale of Tsar Saltan", "Ruslan and Ludmila, "The New Gulliver", and many more. The film tells the story of a little girl named Asole , who meets a wizard one day. He tells her that sometime in the future a ship with red sails will arrive -- to take her away to a new, happy life. She holds onto this prediction in spite of taunts and the ridicule of her neighbors… Ruscico DVD is great. The film's images are fresh and joyful. The DVD includes Russian version with subtitles and dubbed to English and French versions. 16 years old Anastasiya Vertinskaya whom you may remember as Ophelia in Kozintzev's Gamlet plays Asole – it was her first role ever. Vaslily Lanovoy plays Arthur Grey , the young nobleman who dreamed of becoming a sea captain since he was a boy and who made Asole's dream come true by creating a miracle for her, the only miracle she had been waiting for all her life:"I have come to the person who is waiting only for me. I want only her, perhaps for the precise reason that thanks to her I have been able to understand one simple truth, that so-called miracles are made with one's own hands.""But there are other miracles: a smile, gladness, forgiveness, and a word which is needed and said in time. To experience them is to possess everything. As for Asole and me, we will remain forever in the glow of scarlet sails created in the depths of a heart that knows what love is…"

laj45 I came across this movie by chance, and what a lovely chance encounter! The production value was high, for it was easy to believe that what was seen was really a little Russian village by the sea. The ship must have been authentic, outfitted with no less than real, scarlett silk sails! The story is a simple fairy tale, following the adventurous hero and graceful heroine from childhood.Sadly, this may not reach the audience it deserves. Perhaps that just as Western art students are reexamining Soviet creations without the political prejudice of times past, so too should these wonderful films come to light. I'd recommend this to anyone who appreciates classic storytelling.