Based on the play of the same name by A. Ostrovsky, staged by the Moscow Art Academic Theater. Gorky. Written in 1873 and first staged at the Maly Theater, this play has not left the stage of many theaters since then.
"In my film I suggest that there is no greater mystery than that of the protagonists. War and Love are simply equated for what they are; the aftermath is inevitable, and a normal human condition, for which like the ancients one can only have pity and understanding.
A group of Northern vigilantes, roaming the post Civil War south, attack and kill the fiancee of war veteran Brian, who is rescued by his friend, Daniel.
Centring on the legend of the four ancient Chinese heroines, the film was a novelty for audiences at the time, as the singing performance was in Cantonese and used huangmei operatic rhythms—a popular trend in the 1960s, yet it retained traditional flavours by using operatic luogu percussion in the battle scenes.