A beautiful score by Prokofiev, Galina Ulanova, the most exalted prima ballerina in the USSR, a gorgeous setting, Rozhdesventsky conducting - a perfect realization of a genre mastered and then forgotten by the Soviets. Their filmic operas and this ballet film are superb realizations, setting stage art to cinema. I'm not aware of any recent productions of this great art form. The Tsar's Bride, Boris Godunov and Khovanshchina are, in addition to this R&J, aesthetic and (for me) ecstatic art experiences. The two latter mentioned were directed by Vera Stroyova with some of the best singers of that era.