''The Devil's Servants'' (, ) is a 1970

action comedy The action comedy is a film genre that applies to action films where humor plays a much more central role. While early films feature stuntwork and humor, academic Cynthia King wrote that the genre only came into its own as a mainstay of the America ...

film produced and distributed by

Riga Film Studio Riga Film Studio (, ) is a Latvian film production company based in Riga and founded in 1940 on the basis of the earlier private film companies. In 1948, the Riga Documentary Film Studio was founded. In 1970–80, the company produced 10-15 fil ...

. It was written and directed by

Aleksandrs Leimanis Aleksandrs Leimanis (17 October 1913, in the village Gavrilovo, Smolensk Governorate – 17 June 1990 in Riga) was a Latvian film director. His film work spanned the Soviet period The history of the Soviet Union (USSR) (1922–91) began w ...

during the time

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

was part of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. In 1972,

released a sequel to this film named '' The Devil's Servants at the Devil's Mill'' (''Vella kalpi Vella dzirnavās''). The film's setting is the

Polish–Swedish War This is a List of wars between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden. Broadly construed, the term refers to a series of wars between 1562 and 1814. More narrowly, it refers to particular wars between 1600 and 1629. These are the wars ...

(1621-1625). A trio of

mercenaries A mercenary is a private individual who joins an War, armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rath ...

attempt to prevent the surrender of the city of

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

to the

Swedish Army The Swedish Army () is the army, land force of the Swedish Armed Forces of the Kingdom of Sweden. Beginning with its service in 1521, the Swedish Army has been active for more than 500 years. History Svea Life Guards dates back to the year 1 ...

Plot

during the

Polish–Swedish War (1621–1625) The Polish–Swedish War of 1621 to 1625 was a war in a long-running series of conflicts between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Swedish Empire. It began with a Swedish invasion of the Polish–Lithuanian fiefdom Livonia. Swedish f ...

. Swedish forces succeeded in taking the stronghold of Riga after a siege. The

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

ceded

Livonia Livonia, known in earlier records as Livland, is a historical region on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the Livonians, who lived on the shores of present-day Latvia. By the end of the 13th century, the name was extende ...

north of the

Daugava The Daugava ( ), also known as the Western Dvina or the Väina River, is a large river rising in the Valdai Hills of Russia that flows through Belarus and Latvia into the Gulf of Riga of the Baltic Sea. The Daugava rises close to the source of ...

river, and retained only nominal control over Riga. Three young

from

Courland Courland is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia. Courland's largest city is Liepāja, which is the third largest city in Latvia. The regions of Semigallia and Selonia are sometimes considered as part of Courland as they were ...

are fighting to prevent full surrender of Riga city to the Swedish army.

Cast

* Lolita Cauka as Rūta * Haralds Ritenbergs as mercenary Andris * Artūrs Ēķis as mercenary Pēteris * Eduards Pāvuls as mercenary Ērmanis * Olga Dreģe as Anna *

Elza Radziņa Elza Radziņa (10 February 1917 – 18 August 2005) was a Soviet Latvian theater and cinema actress, and a master of the spoken word (reader). She received People's Artist of the USSR award in 1976 and the Order of the Three Stars in 1995. She s ...

as Ģertrūde *

Ingrīda Andriņa Ingrīda Andriņa (23 June 1944 – 17 September 2015) was a Latvian stage and film actress. Biography Born in Riga, Andriņa graduated from the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography in Moscow in 1967 and began working at the Latvian Nat ...

as Cecīlija *

Baiba Indriksone Baiba Indriksone (22 February 1932 – 14 May 2024) was a Latvian film and stage actress, affiliated with the Latvian National Theatre. Life and career Indriksone was born in Riga on 22 February 1932. She graduated from the Jāzeps Vītols Latvi ...

as Lēne * Kārlis Sebris as Luteran Pastor Samsons * Edgars Zīle as Salderns * Ēvalds Valters as Mayor of Rīga Eks * Jānis Grantiņš as Daniels Rebuss * Jānis Osis as Manteifels * Haralds Topsis as Klāvs Angers * Valentīns Skulme as Swedish General Svenson * Zigrīda Stungure as Elizabete

References

External links

* 1970 action comedy films 1970s Soviet films 1970s Russian-language films Films set in the 1620s Films about mercenaries Films set in Riga Latvian comedy films Soviet action comedy films 1970 films Riga Film Studio films Films directed by Aleksandrs Leimanis {{1970s-USSR-film-stub