Maiden Tower Legend

1924 DramaFantasy 54 minutes Directed by Vladimir Ballyuzek

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About Maiden Tower Legend

The Shirvanshah falls in love with his own daughter and means to marry her. She learns of it. Rather than accept the marriage, she throws herself from the top of the Maiden Tower into the Caspian. The film tells that Baku legend, with Sofia Jozeffi as the daughter.

Cast & crew

More about Maiden Tower Legend

Vladimir Ballyuzek directed. Sofia Jozeffi and Vahram Papazyan lead, with Hanafi Teregulov, Ismail Hidayatzadeh, and Ibrahim Azeri. The running time is 54 minutes. A circulating copy is labeled 1923. The release year on record is 1924.

Themes

  • A father who wants his daughter as a bride
  • A tower over the Caspian
  • A jump instead of the marriage
  • Maiden Tower
  • Baku
  • Shirvanshah
  • Caspian
  • Sofia Jozeffi
  • legend

Background

The Maiden Tower story was already a Baku tourist legend. This is an early Azerbaijani studio telling of it.

Making

Ballyuzek films the legend as a silent drama rather than as a travel view of the tower.

Preservation

A print of about 54 minutes survives.

Notes

  • The tower of the title is the Maiden Tower in Baku's old city.
  • The legend used here is the one in which the shah wants his daughter as a wife.
  • Papazyan, an Armenian stage actor, is in the cast with Jozeffi.
  • A surviving print carries a 1923 date on some copies.
  • The jump into the Caspian is the end of the legend the film stages.

Scenes

  • The shah tells his daughter he intends to marry her.
  • She climbs the tower.
  • She jumps toward the Caspian.

Influenced by

  • The Baku legend of the Maiden Tower