| Fire, Water, and Trumpets | |
| Director: | Aleksandr Rou |
| Studio: | Gorky Film Studio |
| Starring: | Natalya Sedykh Aleksei Katyshev Georgy Millyar Vera Altayskaya Alexander Khvylya Mikhail Pugovkin |
| Music: | Nikolai Budashkin |
| Cinematography: | Dmitri Surensky |
| Runtime: | 81 min |
| Country: | Soviet Union |
| Language: | Russian |
Fire, Water, and Trumpets (Russian: Огонь, вода и… медные трубы, Ogon', voda i... mednye truby) is a 1968 Soviet fantasy film directed by Aleksandr Rou. Its story and characters are derived from Slavic folklore.
There exists a Russian idiom, "to go through fire, water and trumpets" (пройти огонь, воду и медные трубы) meaning approximately "to go to hell and back"; in other words, to persevere in the face of extreme adversity.[1]
The young collier Vasya goes into the forest to collect firewood. In a clearing he spies the lovely Alyonushka grazing her goat Byelochka. As soon as he has fallen in love with the girl, werewolves appear and kidnap her to deliver to the wicked Koshchei. To rescue his beloved, Vasya must go through a literal version of the titular proverb:[2] first he must pass through the kingdoms of fire and water, then contend with the more challenging "trumpets", that is, to resist the temptation of fame and flattery.[3]