A mad, enchanted combination of The Wizard of Oz, Die Nibelungen, and The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, this is quite possibly the greatest masterpiece of director and visual effects pioneer Aleksandr Ptushko, one of the great poets and innovators in the world of fantasy filmmaking. The two-part epic is packed with surreal, grotesque characters-a sorcerer midget with a fifty-foot beard, a demonic, hunchbacked witch-and jawdropping set pieces such as the midget's shimmering crystal palace, tormented figures chained inside a cavern, and a decapitated giant's head rising up like a statue on Easter Island. Based on a poem by Pushkin, Ptushko's final film as director follows the epic adventures of Ruslan as he struggles to recover the feisty, resourceful bride kidnapped on their wedding night by the impish sorcerer Tchernomor.