Ruslan and Ludmila Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Ruslan and Ludmila Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 15, 2025

If you were to take a dash of Disney, add in a heaping helping of Harryhausen, and then sprinkle it all with a liberal ration of what might be called Russian ponderousness, you might have an at least passing understanding of what the "meal" that Ruslan and Ludmila serves up for viewers. Deaf Crocodile is a relatively newer label that has been curating some really interesting films, among them a quartet of offerings from Aleksandr Ptushko (the others are Ilya Muromets, Sampo and The Tale of Tsar Saltan). Of the four, Ruslan and Ludmila is the "newest" and was in fact Ptushko's last film, but its 1972 production date may actually hint that the film has a more contemporary sensibility than it actually does. If things are a bit old fashioned and wooden at times, Ptushko's absolutely amazing production design aesthetics and keen (if now kind of quaint) facility with special effects make Ruslan and Ludmila a visual feast (speaking of meals) a lot of the time, even if the narrative can admittedly seem bloated.

Ruslan and Ludmila has the literary imprimatur of having been based on a celebrated epic poem by Alexander Pushkin, with the emphasis in this cinematic adaptation probably being on epic. The underlying story involves a heroic knight named Ruslan (Valeri Kozinets), whose nuptials to Ludmila (Natalya Petrova) are interrupted by her unexpected abduction by an evil wizard named Chermodor (Vladimir Fyodorov). Ludmila's royal father Vladimir (Andrei Abrikosov) is none too happy that Ruslan "allowed" Ludmila to be taken, and so offers Ludmila's hand to anyone who can rescue her. Can Ruslan prevail? What do you think?

If the broad outlines of this tale may inherently suggest that it can't support the two and a half hour running time Ptushko has alotted, the film is an absolute wonderland of bizarre characters and outlandish settings. It actually reminded me quite a bit of both the 1943 Munchhausen and Terry Gilliam's memorable take on the same source material. The Gilliam reference may be particularly apt in terms of this film's incessantly excessive visual blandishments as well as a certain laxness in narrative efficiency.

Ruslan and Ludmila Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Ruslan and Ludmila is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Deaf Crocodile Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. The inside back cover of the insert booklet included with this release kind of "buries the lede" with a "new 4K restoration from the original 35mm picture and sound elements by Mosfilm" in the "fine print", but some opening text cards also state "Digital restoration of image and sound performed by Mosfilm Cinema Concern" if that adds anything. This is a really luscious looking transfer that comes close to replicating what I'd call the "classic" look of three strip Technicolor (though of course this isn't Technicolor). That results in an often beautifully varied palette that can offer some especially vivid purples, reds and greens. The surplus of old school composited effects understandably leads to pretty large variances in clarity and at times grain resolution. On the whole, detail levels are excellent. Grain also resolves without any real issues despite the aforementioned opticals. I noticed no distracting damage or age related wear and tear of any kind.

Ruslan and Ludmila Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Ruslan and Ludmila features an LPCM Mono track in the original Russian. The high end is quite thin and brash sounding, something that's immediately apparent in the music opening the film, and something that tends to be most apparent thereafter in higher frequency scoring choices. The film has a surplus of whimsical sound effects accompanying the often outlandish visuals, and those along with dialogue are rendered without any real issues, if again with that same high end brightness. Optional English subtitles are available.

Ruslan and Ludmila Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• New commentary track by Stephen R. Bissette is, like the film itself, split into "two parts", and I personally found the second half to be more interesting as he discusses the whole Russian fantasy film subgenre.


• Aleksandr in Wonderland: Folklore and Fantasy in the Films of Aleksandr Ptushko (HD; 16:25) is an interesting visual essay by Walter Chaw.


• New 2023 restoration trailer (HD; 1:42)

A nicely appointed insert booklet has a detailed essay by Peter Rollberg. The original release offered a slipcover.

Ruslan and Ludmila Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I'm an unabashed fan of Ptushko's work, and so perhaps have more tolerance for some of the kind of oddly charming woodenness combined with an overblown aesthetic sensibility that all four of the fantasy films offered by Deaf Crocodile can display. Even for those who find the story of Ruslan and Ludmila pretty thin for such an "epic", there's so much to simply look at that qualms may ultimately fade, or at least be sufficiently distracted. Technical merits are generally solid (video more so than audio), and the supplements appealing. Recommended.