Cinema
Legend of the Maiden Tower
Qız qalası haqqında əfsanə
Vladimir Balluzek · 1924
Synopsis
In old Baku, the wife of Səməd Khan dies giving birth to a daughter. The khan, who blames the child for taking from him what he held dearest, disowns her, and she grows up neglected, of great beauty. Now a young woman, Gülnar finds herself one day before her father, who thinks he sees the dead woman in her, and a guilty passion seizes him. The story, drawn from the legend of the Maiden Tower, a twelfth-century building, follows the girl as she struggles with this desire.
Context
Shooting took place in May 1923 for the Azerbaijani photo and cinema directorate, created the same year by decree, but technical difficulties delayed the release by a year, until 27 May 1924. The screenplay is by N. Breslav-Lourié, the cinematography by Vladimir Lemke, and the director designed the sets himself. Sofia Jozeffi plays both the wife and the daughter, opposite Vahram Papazian in the role of the khan, and some fifteen hundred people took part in the filming. A version with a soundtrack, set to music by Fərəc Qarayev, was produced in Baku in 2011.
Who it is for
Silent, fifty-five minutes; an Oriental-style melodrama, best seen as a record of the early days of cinema in Baku.
Prizes and reception
Savaged by critics as an imitation of the exoticism of European films, it nevertheless broke all box-office records.
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