Taken from a Lermontov play, Sergei Gerasimov's Maskarad (1941) begins when beautiful Nina (Makarova) loses a bracelet during a masked ball. Another woman finds it and without revealing whose bracelet it belongs to, she gives it to an ardent Calvary officer admirer at the ball. This leads to...
Alexander Chatsky returns from three years abroad, hoping to rekindle a romance with his childhood sweetheart Sophie. In the meantime, however, she has fallen in love with Molchalin, her father's scheming secretary. As scandal erupts, Chatsky is met with accusations of madness.
Early XIX century. Gloomy home lender Gobseck in a suburb of Paris — a silent witness of human tragedy and ruined lives. The power of money equalizes people of different classes and positions, forcing the usurer to ask humbly for a loan. But mountains of rotting goods, gold and silver scrap do...