Island of Lost Ships


Island of Lost Ships is a 1987 Soviet two-part musical television miniseries directed by Yevgeny Ginzburg and Rauf Mamedov and based on the by Alexander Belyaev.

Plot

The film begins as an ordinary modern man, resident of Leningrad named Volodya, quarrels with his wife. Then he goes outside... and unexpectedly finds himself in 1928 Marseille, in the body of one Reginald Gatling, a murderer.
Together they board a steamer which should take them to America, "closer to the electric chair". But at night the ship crashes and drowns for unknown reasons. Miraculously surviving Volodya, Jimmy, as well as charming passenger Vivian Kingman - a carbon copy of Volodya's wife - board the Flying Dutchman which floated by the place of the disaster and continues to drift on the high seas. Finally then they get to an island formed from the wreckage of half-sunk ships, lost in the Sargasso Sea. The ruler of the island is Fergus Slayton, his closest assistant is Sholom the Blabber. In addition to them, the island is inhabited by: Sholom's wife Maggie, the historian Luders with his wife Frida and many more sailors, travelers, pirates. According to custom, newcomer Vivian should choose her husband from one of the island's inhabitants. Slayton, who himself became fond of her, locks Volodya and Jimmy in the cooler, but they manage to free themselves and catch the ceremony of choosing the groom. Vivian chooses Volodya to be her husband because she is in love with him. Islanders arrange a magnificent wedding. Then comes the wedding night and Volodya confesses to Vivian that he is already married and "came from another world." But now he does not care, he's in love with Vivian... Meanwhile, Jimmy is watching Slayton. He notices the "tail" and is worried.
And the next morning, Jimmy accidentally wanders into the hold of some abandoned ship, where he discovers Slayton Edward's brother, locked in a cage. He's clearly not himself. At this time, Slayton approaches. He tells Jimmy about his brother, and also about his relationship with Maggie. This conversation is heard by Sholom. He is shocked by the fact that his wife cheated on him. Meanwhile, Slayton leads Jimmy out, but Volodya appears. He frees Edward, but he ends up running about the island in a frenzy and dies. Meanwhile, Slayton shares with Jimmy his plans for the island: he wants to fly in a balloon, and then go back for the treasure. After that, Slayton pushes Jimmy into the water and shoots him in front of the island's inhabitants. Sholom announces over the loudspeaker everything he heard in the conversation between Jimmy and Slayton, and immediately gets a bullet into his forehead. Then Slayton kills Vivian out of revenge and escapes. He is chased after but manages to fly away in a hot air balloon.
But Volodya suddenly finds himself again in his own age. Judging by his ragged appearance, unshaven face and a bump on the back of his head, everything that happened to him was not just a dream. In his own world, however, only a few minutes seem to have passed. It all ends with Volodya returning to his apartment and sharing a meal with his wife, who strongly resembles the deceased Vivian.

Cast

  • Larissa Belogurova - Vivian Kingman / Volodya's wife / Della Jackson
  • Gediminas Storpirshtis - Volodya / Reginald Gatling
  • Nikolai Lavrov - Special agent Jim Simpkins
  • Konstantin Raikin - Sholom the Blabber
  • Natalia Lapina - Maggie
  • Arunas Storpirshtis - Governor Fergus Slayton
  • Lillian Malkina - Frida
  • Gali Abaydulov
  • Valentin Zhilyaev - Red
  • Sergey Parshin - "The Sailor"
  • Semyon Furman - "Asian"
  • Arkady Shalolashvili - "The Turk"
  • Mikhail Shtein - "Lilliput"
  • Mikhail Scheglov - Lyuders, husband of Frida
  • Tito Romalio - "Mulatto"
  • Algis Arlauskas
  • Larisa Dolina
  • Yuri Senkevich - cameo

Soundtrack

  • "The Legendary Song" performed by Vladimir Stephin, Ella Fidelman, Nina Matveeva.
  • "The path to the bottom" are performed by Lyubov Privil, Vladimir Stepan, Ella Fidelman, Nina Matveeva.
  • "Shark" performed by Nikolai Noskov.
  • "Oh, if not love..." performed by Nikolai Noskov and Ella Fidelman.
  • "Ghosts" performed by Vladimir Presnyakov Jr.
  • "The Song of the Sholom Meeting Newcomers" performed by Mikhail Pokhmanov.
  • "The Song of Bermuda" performed by Vladimir Stoopin.
  • "On the Island" performed by Sergey Minaev.
  • "Wedding Song" performed by Sergey Minaev.
  • "Draw lots" performed by Mikhail Pokhmanov.
  • "The beginning of each of us" performed by Sergey Minaev.
  • "Letters to the Beloved" performed by the band Iveria.
  • "My Faithful Moor" performed by Larisa Dolina.
  • "Song of a legal marriage" performed by Sergey Minaev.
  • "Nothing to possess" performed by the ensemble Iveria.
  • "Governor of Slighton number" performed by Pavel Smeyan.
  • "The song of Sholom about his wife" performed by Mikhail Pokhmanov.
  • "Romance" performed by Nikolai Noskov.