Sadko
- 1953
- 1h 19m
IMDb RATING
5.3/10
1.2K
YOUR RATING
Arriving home to find his native land under the yoke of corrupt merchants, an adventurer named Sadko sets sail in search of a mythical bird of happiness.Arriving home to find his native land under the yoke of corrupt merchants, an adventurer named Sadko sets sail in search of a mythical bird of happiness.Arriving home to find his native land under the yoke of corrupt merchants, an adventurer named Sadko sets sail in search of a mythical bird of happiness.
- Awards
- 1 win & 1 nomination
Ninel Myshkova
- Princess of Lake Ilmen
- (as Y. Myshkova)
Nadir Malishevsky
- Vyashta the Giant
- (as N. Malishevsky)
Lev Fenin
- Varangian Leader
- (as L. Fenin)
Mikhail Astangov
- Maharaja
- (as M. Astangov)
Lidiya Vertinskaya
- The Phoenix
- (as L. Vertinskaya)
Olga Viklandt
- Neptuna
- (as O. Vikland)
Sergey Martinson
- The Monk
- (as Sergei Martinson)
Nikolai Khryashchikov
- Varangian
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaRiffed under the title "The Magic Voyage of Sinbad" on Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1988)'s 100th episode, in the 6th season. Original aired date: August 14, 1993.
- Crazy credits(U.S. version) A Moss-Film Production (It was produced by Russia's Mosfilm studios)
- Alternate versionsSome new scenes were shot for the U.S. version.
- ConnectionsEdited into Catalogue of Ships (2008)
Featured review
Iconic adventure fantasy
Sadko (not Sinbad, ugh) is a hunk of a poet with a harp. He's got two girls in love with him: one is a nice village girl with a weird pigeon habit, and the other is the Princess of the Sea.... Clearly the thing to do is get out of town quick, so Sadko trades 3 goldfish for 3 boats (they were magic goldfish) and sets sail to find the Bird of Happiness. Along with a small army are Uncle Klepto, Big John, and Timmy the brash young mascot of the group -- these are not their actual names but they might as well be. The heroes are so cliché they're almost iconic.
Sadko and Co. spend the rest of the movie traveling to exotic places and getting into trouble with the locals. They battle Vikings, and play chess with the King of India. They bet a laughing horse for the Bird of Happiness and discover her true nature is not what they thought. They fight and are heroic, and on the return trip a storm threatens to sink the ships, so Sadko goes to the bottom of the sea to soothe an argument between King Neptune and his wife by entertaining them with his harp. Although the Princess loves Sadko she knows he prefers the pigeon girl. She helps him get home again on a speedy seahorse.
This is a very nice looking film. The story is fantastical without being too familiar. There is plenty of Russian flavor to make it semi-exotic to American tastes, and the Russian folk dancing is amazing. The special fx are charming and obvious, like stage tricks. When Sadko lifts a magic fish the light rays emitting from it are actually hundreds of metal wires sticking out of the fish! Most of the exotic locations are drawings, but the India sequence is full of elephants and dancing girls and over the top temples. The Bird of Paradise is satisfyingly surreal in a way that just wouldn't happen now with CGI. The final act in Neptune's Kingdom is a campy delight.
I rate it 8 out of 10. I'd originally seen the Sinbad version and I had to turn the sound down. It was that bad, and obvious the visuals were from a better movie. I'm glad I saw the restored Russian version because the visuals are much clearer and the original soundtrack is pleasant with strong music and the deep serious voices of the men. The story also made a lot more sense. Highly recommend! Would love to see more of this kind of film.
Sadko and Co. spend the rest of the movie traveling to exotic places and getting into trouble with the locals. They battle Vikings, and play chess with the King of India. They bet a laughing horse for the Bird of Happiness and discover her true nature is not what they thought. They fight and are heroic, and on the return trip a storm threatens to sink the ships, so Sadko goes to the bottom of the sea to soothe an argument between King Neptune and his wife by entertaining them with his harp. Although the Princess loves Sadko she knows he prefers the pigeon girl. She helps him get home again on a speedy seahorse.
This is a very nice looking film. The story is fantastical without being too familiar. There is plenty of Russian flavor to make it semi-exotic to American tastes, and the Russian folk dancing is amazing. The special fx are charming and obvious, like stage tricks. When Sadko lifts a magic fish the light rays emitting from it are actually hundreds of metal wires sticking out of the fish! Most of the exotic locations are drawings, but the India sequence is full of elephants and dancing girls and over the top temples. The Bird of Paradise is satisfyingly surreal in a way that just wouldn't happen now with CGI. The final act in Neptune's Kingdom is a campy delight.
I rate it 8 out of 10. I'd originally seen the Sinbad version and I had to turn the sound down. It was that bad, and obvious the visuals were from a better movie. I'm glad I saw the restored Russian version because the visuals are much clearer and the original soundtrack is pleasant with strong music and the deep serious voices of the men. The story also made a lot more sense. Highly recommend! Would love to see more of this kind of film.
helpful•114
- wetcircuit
- Dec 7, 2006
- How long is Sadko?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- The Magic Voyage of Sinbad
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 19 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
![Sergey Stolyarov and Valentin Tsarev in Sadko (1953)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMzhiYTEwNTItZmZhZC00YjU4LTk3YjItZjc4NWEwMjJkMDYwXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNzc5MjA3OA@@._V1_QL75_UY133_CR3,0,90,133_.jpg)