"Only" old men "go into battle
During the Great Patriotic War, the future film director Leonid Bykov wanted to become a pilot, but did not qualify for aviation and did not participate in hostilities.
30 years later, he approached his dream: the director made the film "Only" Old Men Go to Battle ", where he spoke in detail about the life of the pilots, played the main role and finally found himself at the helm of the plane.
Bykov tried on the image of the commander of the "singing squadron" Alexei Titarenko.
In between battles, his subordinates sing and play musical instruments.
The commander treats yesterday's cadets with care and participation and tries to release on combat missions only those who have already managed to fly a sufficient number of hours in the sky.
For Bykov, the reliability of the events described was extremely important.
Most of the heroes have real prototypes: among them are the main consultant of the picture Hero of the Soviet Union Semyon Kharlamov and twice Hero of the Soviet Union Vitaly Popkov.
And the "singing squadron" really existed: a subunit with its own chorus operated as part of the 5th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment.
In addition, the military had at their disposal two aircraft provided by the singer Leonid Utyosov.
Music became an important component of the film, in particular - the song "Darkie", which Leonid Bykov loved very much.
The director showed that even during the war, not far from the front line, people found time for creativity and tried to bring the features of a peaceful life into their everyday life.
"... And the dawns here are quiet"
Another classic of Soviet cinema, Stanislav Rostotsky, brought the story of Boris Vasilyev to the screen.
The director's own impressions also influenced the work on the painting.
He was inspired by the memory of a nurse who carried him off the battlefield.
The film played a key role in drawing attention to the image of women in war.
The story is centered on the story of five young anti-aircraft gunners Rita Osyanina, Zhenya Komelkova, Gali Chetvertak, Liza Brichkina and Sonya Gurvich.
They were assigned to the command of Sergeant Major Fedot Vaskov.
All of them are ordered to neutralize two saboteurs found in the nearby forest.
A small detachment falls into a trap: it becomes known too late that there are many more enemies.
The filming and release of the film was not easy.
Boris Vasiliev did not approve of the concept of the tape, the director's version was significantly reduced, and critics also expressed some claims.
Nevertheless, the film was nominated for an Oscar as the most outstanding film in a foreign language and was included in the number of cult films about the Great Patriotic War.
"They fought for the Motherland"
The film "They Fought for the Motherland" was filmed for the 30th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War.
Director Sergei Bondarchuk was already famous thanks to the epic War and Peace.
He also previously worked on the adaptation of Sholokhov's story "The Fate of a Man" and took the unfinished novel of the same writer as the basis for the plot of the picture.
The writer approved the idea and insisted that the filmmakers work in the places described in the novel.
As a result, we chose the Melologovsky farm in the Volgograd region.
In those days, there is still evidence of war: trenches and craters from shells.
Part of the area had to be neutralized.
A huge amount of military equipment and pyrotechnics was used in the work, and some scenes were staged with a risk to the health of the artists.
The tape tells about the events of 1942 that preceded the battle for Stalingrad.
Soldiers and officers of a rifle regiment with heavy battles retreat to the city, holding back the offensive of the Nazis.
In addition to the onslaught of the enemy, they have to overcome the discontent of local residents, who are left without the protection of the troops.
The film reflects the difficulties of the first years of the war, which faced many ordinary soldiers, who were forced to leave their settled peaceful life.
The role of Pyotr Lopakhin was the last for the actor and writer Vasily Shukshin.
Photos from the filming of the film "They Fought for the Motherland"
© kinopoisk.ru
"Hot Snow"
A painting by Gabriel Egiazarov based on the novel of the same name by Yuri Bondarev is dedicated to the Kotelnikov defensive operation, which is considered as part of the Battle of Stalingrad.
In the winter of 1942, an army group under the command of the German General Manstein broke through to the city in order to remove the formations and units of General Paulus from the encirclement.
The film tells about the courage and heroism of the battery of Soviet artillerymen, who managed to prevent the implementation of these plans at the cost of their lives.
The film was filmed not far from Novosibirsk, so that the frame had the appropriate weather conditions.
In the spring, filming continued with the use of naphthalene and chalk.
In accordance with the plot, the artists had to wear warm clothes.
The music for the painting was written by the outstanding composer Alfred Schnittke.
"Cranes are Flying"
On the eve of the war, young Muscovites Boris and Veronica were going to get married, but soon he volunteered for the front, abandoning the armor, and she lost her whole family in the bombing.
Most of the on-screen action is taken by the story about the fate of Veronica, her life in the rear, terrible dilemmas and tragedies that the heroine had to face.
Filmmakers explore how the war broke the lives of people who did not even take a direct part in the battles.
The film based on Viktor Rozov's play “Forever Alive” was staged by a prominent Soviet director Mikhail Kalatozov (“Unsent Letter”, “Red Tent”).
The central roles were played by the stars of Soviet cinema Tatiana Samoilova and Alexei Batalov.
In 1958, the film was awarded the Grand Prize of the Cannes Film Festival, the Palme d'Or, and the Special Mention award.
"The Ballad of a Soldier"
The protagonist of Grigory Chukhrai's tape is Private Alyosha Skvortsov.
According to the plot, he is destined to die, as the audience is informed about at the very beginning of the film.
However, there are almost no battle scenes in the picture.
The action begins with the hero accomplishing a feat and going on vacation to say goodbye to his mother (since he did not have time to do this before leaving for the front) and to fix the roof of the house.
Along the way, Skvortsov helps many strangers, and also manages to fall in love with a girl she met by chance, Shura.
And there is less and less time left for a date with the mother.
The narrative is centered around how various human qualities are more vividly manifested in the difficult circumstances of war.
Grigory Chukhrai gave the main roles to the debutants Vladimir Ivashov and Zhanna Prokhorenko, and the minor and episodic characters were played by famous artists: Nikolai Kryuchkov, Georgy Yumatov, Vsevolod Sanaev.
Since the events of the film relate to the beginning of the war, experts were outraged that the military were wearing shoulder straps, which were introduced later.
According to Chukhrai, he did it deliberately so that foreign viewers could see the usual form of liberator soldiers on the screen.
"The Living and the Dead"
The film by Alexander Stolper was based on the first part of the eponymous trilogy by Konstantin Simonov.
The writer and publicist reflected in it his own experience of life in the war, some of the heroes have specific prototypes.
Shortly after the outbreak of the war, journalist Ivan Sintsov (Kirill Lavrov) tries to get to the editorial office of his newspaper in the Byelorussian SSR.
Due to the disorganization and retreat of the Soviet troops, this is not easy to do.
Sintsov ends up in different units and finally comes under the command of Colonel Serpilin (Anatoly Papanov).
He determines the military leader for the position of political instructor.
Director Alexander Stolper noted that the main character was not supposed to appear in the tape, and vivid scenes were devoted to a number of secondary characters.
The filmmakers tried not to emphasize the artistic nature of the picture, so there is no musical accompaniment in the film - only the sounds of guns, vehicles and household noise.
Still from the film "The Living and the Dead"
© kinopoisk.ru
Liberation
Yuri Ozerov's cinematic epic "Liberation" consists of five tapes filmed from 1967 to 1971.
We are talking about the most significant events of the Great Patriotic War: the battles on the Kursk Bulge, the liberation of Kiev and the capture of Berlin, the crossing of the Dnieper and Operation Bagration, the storming of the Reichstag, the surrender of the Nazis, the Tehran and Yalta conferences.
Frontline writers Yuri Bondarev and Oscar Kurganov worked on the script for the film.
The first was responsible for battle scenes with the participation of ordinary soldiers, the second was entrusted with the comprehension of major historical and political events.
Bondarev used materials from his own books, including the story "The battalions are asking for fire", which was later filmed separately.
The filmmakers tried to create the most complete picture of the struggle against fascism in its various manifestations.
A huge number of extras took part in the fighting scenes, and the original footage of the military chronicle was also included in the picture.
Initially, Liberation did not include films about the first years of the Great Patriotic War, but later Ozerov completed The Battle for Moscow and Stalingrad (although they do not officially belong to the cycle).
In 2020, the paintings of the series were restored.
Scene from the movie "Liberation: Battle of Berlin"
© kinopoisk.ru
"War is like war"
The film by Viktor Tregubovich based on the story of Viktor Kurochkin is dedicated to the soldiers of the 3rd Guards Tank Army of Marshal Rybalko, which at various times was part of the Bryansk, Central, Voronezh and 1st Ukrainian fronts.
In the center of the plot is the combat path of junior lieutenant Maleshkin.
Soon after graduating from college, he became the commander of a self-propelled gun.
Much more experienced older fighters turned out to be subordinate to the young officer, and at first his own service was accompanied by continuous failures and incidents.
The commander and his crew will have to really prove themselves in a fierce battle.
The film stars Mikhail Kononov, Fedor Odinokov, Oleg Borisov, Mikhail Gluzsky and others.