Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka («Вечера на хуторе близ Диканьки»)

66 minutes | 8 December 1961 | Soviet Union

Based on the story ‘Christmas Eve’ by Nikolai Gogol, this eccentric and fantastical fairy tale takes place near the village of Dikanka on the night before Christmas. Amid carol singing, drunken revelry, and amorous hijinks, the blacksmith Vakula persuades the Devil to fly him to Saint Petersburg, where he hopes to obtain a pair of the Empress’s slippers which might win him Oksana’s love.

Director: Aleksandr Rou
Written By: Nikolai Gogol (story), Aleksandr Rou (writer)
Starring: Aleksandr Khvylya as Chub, Lyudmyla Myznikova as Oksana, Yuri Tavrov as Vakula, Lyudmyla Khityayeva as Solokha, Georgiy Millyar as The Devil
Music: Arkadi Filippenko
Cinematography: Dmitri Surensky
Art Direction: Aleksandr Dikhtyar
Set Decoration: A. Ivaschenko
Sound: Anatoli Dikan
Special Effects: Leonid Akimov, Y. Lupandin, Vladimir Nikitchenko
Edited By: Kseniya Blinova
Production Company: Gorky Film Studio

Downloads (via Internet Archive): MPEG4, Cinepak, Ogg, Torrent
English Subtitles (to use these subtitles, place them in the same folder as your downloaded film, with the same file name, changing the file extension to .sub) : English Subs

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The Internet Archive, at archive.org, is a prominent source for moving pictures in the public domain or under a Creative Commons licence. This means that they are free to stream, and in many cases to download and utilise creatively. The Internet Archive holds a collection of more than 3,000 feature films, many but not all from the silent era, and from across world cinema.

Each month I will select an available film, typically courtesy of the Internet Archive, and present it here to watch and with links to download wherever possible. The following day I will publish an analysis of the film, based on my own viewing, alongside commentary from pertinent critics. Read Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka analysis at Culturedarm.