Yudishka Golovlyov

Film adaptation of The Golovlyov Family ("Господа Головлёвы), a classic novel by Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin. In the mid-19th century old-fashioned estate based on serfdom laws and traditions, tough and shrewd Arina Petrovna tries her best to make her realm prosper and even expand – despite unwillingness of her husband and three of her four children to lend helping hands... Ten years on, serfdom abolished, and now Porfiry-Yudishka, the epitome of a corrupt, cruel hypocrite, becomes the heir to the estate. Dullness and horrors of life, spent in destroying everybody around him, finally makes him to slowly realize things went somehow wrong. Half-mad, apparently, he goes to the cemetery to "ask for forgiveness" from his mother Arina Petrovna, and dies somewhere along his way, his frozen corpse found the next day.

Directed by Aleksandr Ivanovsky, Yudishka Golovlyov leans on a strong ensemble — Vladimir Gardin, Tatyana Bulakh-Gardina, Nina Latonina — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about screen titles of 1934.