Released in a dubbed, shortened version in the U.S. as The Sword and the Dragon, the complete Ilya Muromets is one of Ptushko's finest achievements, a colorful, sweeping epic of thirteenth-century Russia, where barrel-chested hero Ilya (Boris Andreyev) takes on marauding Mongols, furry wind demons, three-headed dragons, and a corrupt aristocracy to save his beloved homeland. The first 'scope and stereophonic film produced in Russia, Ilya Muromets combines brilliant Jason and the Argonauts-style visual effects with a gorgeous, pastoral vision of the Russian countryside-screeching black ravens, and lone riders silhouetted against burning skies.