''Candles in the Dark'' is a 1993 American

made for television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...

directed by

Maximilian Schell Maximilian Schell (8 December 1930 – 1 February 2014) was an Austrian-born Swiss actor, who also wrote, directed and produced some of his own films. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1961 American film '' Judgment at Nuremberg'', ...

. Produced for The Family Channel, the film stars

Alyssa Milano Alyssa Jayne Milano (born December 19, 1972) is an American actress. She has played Samantha Micelli in '' Who's the Boss?'', Jennifer Mancini in '' Melrose Place'', Phoebe Halliwell in ''Charmed'', Billie Cunningham in '' My Name Is Earl'', Sa ...

and

Chad Lowe Charles Davis Lowe II (born January 15, 1968) is an American actor. He is the younger brother of actor Rob Lowe. He won an Emmy Award for his supporting role in '' Life Goes On'' as a young man living with HIV. He has had recurring roles on '' ...

Plot

When her father thinks she is too spoiled, he sends Sylvia to her aunt in

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...

. She soon finds herself engulfed in a struggle with her father, and finds herself being hunted by the KGB. Meanwhile, after she meets Jaan, Sylvia immediately falls in love with him. Together, they fight to keep the Christmas spirit alive in the dark and old fashioned city.

Cast

as Sylvia Velliste *

as Jaan Toome *

Natalya Andrejchenko Natalya Eduardovna Andreychenko (russian: link=no, Ната́лья Эдуа́рдовна Андре́йченко; born May 3, 1956) is a Russian actress. Her most famous roles include the title character in ''Mary Poppins, Goodbye'' and Lyuba ...

as Marta Velliste * as Pastor Harma *

as Colonel Arkush *

Aleksey Petrenko Aleksei Vasilyevich Petrenko (russian: Алексей Васильевич Петренко; 26 March 1938 – 22 February 2017) was a Soviet and Russian film and stage actor. He played Grigori Rasputin in Elem Klimov's historical drama '' Agony ...

* Gita Ränk as Tiina *

Helena Merzin Helena Merzin-Tamm ( Merzin; born 7 May 1972 in Tartu) is an Estonian actress. Helena Merzin was born in Tartu to actor Leonhard Merzin and Tiiu Lukk. She has two half-sisters from her father's previous marriages. In 1990, she graduated from Tar ...

as Natasha Omeltchenko *

Lembit Ulfsak Lembit Ulfsak (4 July 1947 – 22 March 2017) was a prominent Estonian stage and film actor. Ulfsak starred in the 2014 film ''Tangerines'' which was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards. It was also among the ...

as Gospodin Omeltchenko * Mart Sander as the resistance fighter * Hendrik Toompere Sr. * Andres Puustusmaa *

Salme Reek Salme Reek (10 November 1907 – 9 June 1996) was an Estonian stage, film, radio, and television actress and stage director whose career spanned nearly seventy years; sixty-six of which were spent as an actress at the Estonian Drama Theatre. ...

Elle Kull Elle Kull (born 5 January 1952 in Haapsalu) is an Estonian actress and politician. She was a member of X Riigikogu. She has been a member of Res Publica Party. Selected filmography *''Äratus'' (1989) *'' Amber Wings'' (2003) *'' Jade Warrior'' ...

Maria Avdjuško Maria Avdjuško (also transliterated as Maria Avdjushko; born 9 May 1968) is an Estonian actress, film producer, director and screenwriter. Avdjuško is the daughter of Russian actor Viktor Avdjuško and Estonian actress Liina Orlova, who is of R ...

Production

The film was shot between August and September 1993 on location with an Estonian crew, most of whom did not speak English. According to the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'', this was the first non-Estonian film to be shot in Estonia.

looked back on production and the crew: "They would say 'yes' to everything. Sometimes it would fit and sometimes it wouldn't. Our time was very short with the sound and music, all of the coordination. It was a lot to do in such a short period of time." The version aired on the Family Channel was not Schell's final cut. He planned on buying the film's rights to distribute a re-edited version overseas, but this never happened.

Reception

''Variety'' magazine wrote: "''Candles in the Dark'' is a sweet, endearing but safe story that occasionally suffers from low production values and muddled sub-characters but will no doubt make the family weep."''Variety'' magazine. December 3, 1993.

References

External links