"The Amphibian Man" is a Soviet film based on the novel of the same name by Alexander Belyaev. The premiere took place in December 1961, and the picture became the leader of the rental of the year 1962. This is a story of scientific discovery and incredible love, a combination of science fiction and poignant melodrama.
Plot
The events of the film take place in Argentina. Dr. Salvator lives in Buenos Aires and is visited by pearl divers and Indians from all over the area. Patients literally worship the doctor - he is able to cure any disease.
One day, pearl divers Balthazar brings him a dying boy with weak lungs, and Salvator transplants shark gills to him, telling his father that the boy is dead. The doctor's bold experiment survived, but now he must be under water for most of his time.
Time passes. The boy, whom Salvator named Ichthyander, grew up. He considers the doctor his father, is not familiar with people, spending all his time in the house of the named father and at sea. One day he saves a girl named Gutiere, who fell overboard, but before her eyes he rushes into the sea and does not return. Zurita, who has certain plans for the beauty, convinces her that it was he who saved her.
Recently, things have not been going very well for Pedro Zurita, the head of the pearl divers. Among the sailors there are persistent and eerie stories about the "sea devil" who cuts the nets, freeing fish, spoils boats. People are afraid to go out to sea, and Pedro dreams of catching the "devil", whom he considers to be just an intelligent animal, in order to use him to his advantage. He is assisted by Balthazar, Gutiere's father.
Meanwhile, Ichthyander, who has fallen in love with the rescued girl, goes out into the city, to the people. He finds her and sympathy is struck between them. However, Gutierrez, at the insistence of her father, was forced to marry the rich Zurita, who was soon lucky in another way - he caught the "sea devil" and forced him to get pearls. But he escapes, thanks to Gutierre.
Then, again with the help of Balthazar, Zurita tracks down Ichthyander. Soon, the doctors are accused of unnatural experiments and begin to persecute them according to the law, depriving them of custody of Ichthyander, giving it to Zurita. At the insistence of the bishop, Pedro decides to kill the guy. Both Salvator and Ichthyander are in prison, and the amphibian is "humanely" kept in a barrel of water, where he cannot breathe and is forced to use his atrophied lungs, which almost kills him.
Salvator, having enlisted the support of a friend Olsen and some of his grateful patients, organizes an escape for the "sea devil", sending him to a remote island to his friend, also a scientist, and he plans to leave Buenos Aires soon.
Balthazar, who recently actively helped in the capture of Ichthyander, recognizes him as his child, whom he took many years ago to Dr. Salvator. In a rage, he kills Pedro, his daughter soon marries the journalist Olsen and goes abroad with him. Having lost everything, Balthazar gradually loses his mind and spends all his time on the seashore, shouting the name of his son …
More detailed information about the film, including the names of the operators, editors, ratings, video materials, can be found on the Wikipedia and Kinopoisk sites.
Dr. Salvator
The scientist Salvator was played by one of the most eminent and honored actors of that time - Nikolai Simonov, winner of three Stalin Prizes at once, People's and Honored Artist, owner of three Orders of Lenin, Hero of Labor and the Great Patriotic War. He was born in Samara in the fall of 1901, in the family of a well-to-do miller, graduated from only 6 grades of the gymnasium and entered an art school.
After the Revolution, he studied at the Petrograd Institute of Painting, and then at the Institute of Performing Arts. Having abandoned painting, he actively took up theatrical activities and already in 1031 became the director of the Samara Drama Theater.
In cinema, Simonov appeared in the "silent" era, in 1924 and played in a dozen black-and-white silent films. He still played the main roles on the theatrical stage, but in his rich work there was a place for 39 film roles and several director's works. The famous actor died in 1973 in Leningrad.
Ichthyander
The amphibian man was played by the People's Artist of the Russian Federation Vladimir Korenev. He was born in 1940 in Sevastopol, from childhood he studied in the theater group of the famous teacher Rossomakhin, entered GITIS in 1957. Already in his second year he made his film debut, starring in Basov's drama "Life passed by." In 1961 he married a fellow student, Alla Konstantinova, and they have been together for more than half a century. Daughter Irina also became an actress and gave the famous father a grandson.
In his last year, Vladimir was chosen for the role of Ichthyander - the director needed an unknown young actor. Participation in the film "Amphibian Man" made Korenev the most popular artist of that time.
After graduating from GITIS, he began to work at the Moscow Stanislavsky Theater, became a professor, taught theatrical art, and actively acted in films. He has 48 roles and a couple of honorary titles. So far, his last work is the role of Nemirovich-Danchenko in the multi-part Russian drama Orlova and Alexander.
By the way, the "voice" of Ichthyander in the cult film "Amphibian Man" was a completely different, no less famous actor - Yuri Rodionov.
Gutierre
Balthazar's beautiful daughter was voiced by Nina Gulyaeva, and the unforgettable Russian actress Anastasia Vertinskaya, daughter of the legendary Alexander Vertinsky, played. Nastya was born in the capital at the very end of 1944. The great poet had two daughters, and both of them were brought up in a unique creative environment.
Anastasia wanted to become a ballerina, but did not fit in physical parameters, and then decided to devote her life to foreign languages. However, in 1960 she was noticed by director Ptushko, who was looking for an actress for the role of Assol in the film adaptation of Green's romantic fairy tale "Scarlet Sails" and invited a 15-year-old teenage girl to his picture. The film made her famous and in demand, the role of Anastasia was immediately determined - to play romantic and pure girls in the most touching films. Of course, this has changed with age.
Nastya graduated from the Shchukin school after she was accepted into the troupe of the Moscow theater. Pushkin, she studied with Nikita Mikhalkov, worked a lot in theater and cinema. In 1991, she organized a charitable foundation that helped young actors, artists in distress and supported interesting concepts and ideas in cinema and theater.
After the 2000s, Vertinskaya cut short her acting career, as completely different images and genres came into fashion, and the actress, according to her, did not want to embody the “killer's mother” on the screen. Anastasia is engaged in teaching and charity work, restoring the song heritage of her famous father.
Pedro Zurita
The insidious, cruel and greedy Zurita, the third in this tragic triangle, was brilliantly embodied on the screen by the then little-known Russian actor Mikhail Kozakov. He was born in the fall of 1934 in Leningrad, in the family of the Soviet writer Kozakov and his wife, editor of the Leningrad publishing house of writers.
Immediately after the war, Mikhail studied at the Leningrad choreographic school, and after him entered the Moscow Art Theater, where he made his debut in the film Murder on Dante Street. He worked a lot in the theater, achieved great success as a director, in the nineties he left for Israel, but after 4 years he returned, founding his own theater troupe. In 2010, Mikhail Kozakov was diagnosed with cancer. He was treated in Israel, but unfortunately passed away in the spring of 2011.
Balthazar
Anatoly Dmitrievich Smiranin, who played the role of the father of Gutiere and Ikhtiandr, is an actor, theater director and Honored Artist of the Georgian USSR, who was born in the winter of 1892 in Odessa. The childhood and youth of the future filmmaker were stormy and unusual. Together with his father, the captain of the ship, he sailed around the world to his fullest, in 1905 he actively participated in saving people during the Black Hundred pogroms, entered the University of Law, but left him and went to the theater, where he met many interesting people of art.
Soon, Anatoly volunteered for the front of the First World War, where he almost died, then returned to Odessa and continued his theatrical activities. In the 30s, after the tragic death of his little daughter, he moved to Georgia and stayed there to work in the theater. Griboyedov, quickly becoming a leading actor.
He got into the cinema back in 1916, one might say, stood at the origins of this art. He actively collaborated with Georgian, Armenian film studios, with Lenfilm. In total, he starred in ten films, including "The Amphibious Man", "Robinson Crusoe", "Malakhov Kurgan". In the latter, he worked as part of a film crew and was a reader in the film itself. Died in 1971.
Olsen
Olsen, a journalist in love with Guttier and a friend of Salvator, was played by Vladlen Davydov, film and theater actor, honored artist, winner of two Stalin prizes. Vladlen was born in the winter of 1924 in Moscow, graduated from the Moscow Art Theater and made his debut on his own stage as a theater artist.
The first film role appeared in the creative biography of Davydov in 1949. He played Kuzmin in the famous film "Meeting on the Elbe" and received a high award for this - the Stalin Prize. Thanks to his courageous appearance, he played in many serious films, almost always embodying the images of commanders, high officials, aristocrats. Almost all his life Vladlen Davydov has been involved in theater, taught, staged performances and performed on stage. Died in 2012.
