Daniil Ilchenko

Soviet filmmaker Yuri Raisman once more combines political dogma with solid entertainment values in Dream of a Cossack (aka Cavalier of the Golden Star). The title character, played by future director Sergei Bondarchuk (and billed for obscure reasons as Semyon Bondarchuk), is an ex-soldier who returns home to the Kuban region, there to take up life as a farmer. Instead, he galvanizes the local citizenry into participating in a massive construction project, which will result in a new power station and canal. Thus does Raisman offer an prime example of Russian collectivism while making it seem as though it had sprung from individual initiative. Dream of a Cossack is based on a popular novel by S. Babayefsky.

Winter. At a small station where passing trains stop for only one or two minutes, Marushkin, the driver, meets a new agronomist, Lyusya Krechetova, who has arrived from Leningrad. At first, she looks curiously at her new life, which has neither comfort nor basic amenities. But soon this incomprehensible life, where only the truly passionate live and work, begins to annoy her. Unable to withstand the trials of selfless work, Lucy says goodbye to her new friends and returns home...