A special event in Soviet cinema was the premiere of the film "Cranes Are Flying." Actors after the release of the picture gained worldwide fame. Cinematography played an important role in the creation of films. As for the plot, there was no lyricism in the national cinema about the war before the premiere of the movie “Cranes are Flying”. Actors and film roles are the topic of the article.
History of creation
Mikhail Kalatozov - director of the film "Cranes are Flying." Actors - Alexey Batalov and Tatyana Samoilova. Once Mikhail Kalatozov fell into the hands of a literary magazine with a work by Rozov. The play was called "Eternally Alive." The very next day, the director talked with the author of the work. Rozov had never before written scripts, but nonetheless unconditionally agreed.
Plot
What is the movie “Cranes Flying” about? The actors who played in it created a piercing duet. The first episodes show the night of June 22nd. Boris and Veronica - the heroes of the picture - are walking along the Moscow embankment. Cranes fly in the sky ...
The actors look amazingly harmonious on the screen. Perhaps this is the success of this domestic drama. The film begins with a description of the first day of the war. Boris can use the reservation, but does not do this, but goes to the front. In parting, he gives Veronica a toy in the form of a squirrel. This is the only thing that the girl remains after the bombing of the house where her parents die.
There is no news from Boris. The heroine Samoilova gets married, for which, after the premiere of the film, she will be subjected to angry criticism. Veronica’s husband is a relative of Boris, who received a reservation by pull. When Veronica finds out who her husband really is, she divorces him. In addition, while working in the hospital, she learns about how hated soldiers of brides who did not wait for their grooms from the front. Veronica tries to rush off the bridge, but suddenly sees a boy who almost falls under the wheels of a truck. Girl saves a child. The name of the boy is Boris. The heroine Samoilova takes him to her home.
Veronica is waiting for Boris. She believes that he is alive. Until a train with front-line soldiers arrives in Moscow. Veronica walks along the platform of the station and distributes flowers to those who returned. And at that moment cranes are flying over Moscow ...
Actors
Initially, the director wanted to approve Elena Dobronravova for the role of Veronica . But once the cameraman saw Samoilova in one of the films and showed her photo to Kalatozov. The director approved the candidacy of the young artist. Doubted that Samoilova will be able to play a tragic role in the film "Cranes are Flying", only the writer Rozov. However, after the release of the picture on the screens, he realized that his doubts were unfounded.
Alexei Batalov was approved for the role of Boris without samples. Later, the actor suggested that Kalatozov invited him to shoot in his picture precisely because he organically looked next to Samoilova.
After the premiere of the film, the actress received many offers not only from domestic directors, but also from foreign ones. But as you know, the Soviet artist to star in a film of foreign production was almost impossible. Other actors who participated in the filming:
- Alexander Shvorin.
- Vasily Merkuryev.
- Antonina Bogdanova.
- Valentin Zubkov.
Camera work
Selfless was the work of Urusevsky. The cameraman made unimaginable sacrifices in order to create an unusual, bright frame. In those years, the equipment used by filmmakers only remotely resembled modern equipment. For Urusevsky they built a special device in which he was during the filming of the famous episode when the hero of Batalov rises up the stairs. The operator was shooting an actor, and at that time he was lifted up on special ropes. It was even more difficult to capture Boris’s death on film.
The artists were also not easy to shoot. Samoilova fell ill with tuberculosis. The actress was injected every three hours. Batalov during one of the shootings fell and cut his face.
The film “Cranes Are Flying”, the actors and roles of which are presented in the article, received a prize at the Cannes Film Festival. The film was watched in America, France, England. The artists who played the main characters became famous throughout the world. Samoilova could participate in the filming of several foreign films. But they did not let her go abroad.
The film Kalatozova became a classic of Soviet cinema. This picture combines lyricism, patriotism, motives of fidelity and devotion. There are few such films about the war in Russian cinema.