The novel The Young Guard, which became very famous, became the second and last great work for the writer Alexander Fadeev. After a very short period of time, it became clear that his work only partially shows the real history of the organization of underground antifascist activists during the Great Patriotic War, which almost everyone now knows about. True, the writer indicated the names of most of the heroes of his opus.
Roman Fadeeva was part of the compulsory literature program of all educational institutions of the Soviet Union. Despite the fact that the writer himself constantly argued that the story that happened in reality and the story written by him cannot be compared in any case, the novel was perceived as the ultimate truth. Everything that was even a little connected with the organization of the underground was sacred. Therefore, when in 1945, Sergei Gerasimov, meeting with Alexander Fadeev, decided to film the novel, the actors of the film "Young Guard" were selected especially carefully.
Summary of the picture
Hot summer of 1942. The soldiers of the Soviet Army left the mining town of Krasnodon, which soon fell under German occupation. Fascist tanks cut the road; a small group of Komsomol members cannot leave the city and return home. In order not to leave the cruel atrocities of the Nazis unpunished, the guys who were just regular schoolchildren yesterday made a conscious decision to create an underground organization called Young Guard. In such a simple way, they begin to wage a hidden war against the invaders, committing a number of truly heroic acts: they burn the German stock exchange, save local residents from fascist slavery, carefully stick out leaflets throughout the city, and release the Red Army soldiers who were held captive by the enemy. And on a national holiday - the day of the anniversary of the Great October Revolution - young people hung Soviet flags in bright red in the city.
Only a couple of months ago, one of them was a very calm person and did not think about committing feats; someone was very principled and punctual, neat and disciplined; and all the neighbors knew someone as a fun bully. But they, these guys, using their ingenuity, desperate audacity and incredible courage, were able to commit the most dangerous and most stunning actions.
How did the idea of an adaptation of the novel come about?
In September 1943, the newspaper Pravda published a Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Soviet Union that members of the underground organization were awarded medals and orders. The essay “Immortality” about the exploits of the children (the author was Alexander Fadeev) was also placed here. The newspaper issue was sold out instantly, and the heroic work of young men and women became known in all corners of our vast country.
In just a year and a half, two major Soviet publications - the Znamya magazine and the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper - began to acquaint readers with the first chapters of the novel about the exploit of young Krasnodonians - The Young Guard by Alexander Fadeev.
Director Sergei Gerasimov, having familiarized himself with the beginning of a landmark work, met with the author and talked about his idea for a graduation performance based on the work of Fadeev.
To this, the idea seemed interesting. Work on the creation of the play began when the last chapters only spilled out of the pen of the writer. Fadeev briefly read them to students, who later embodied on the stage and screen the image of the Young Guard. Future actors of the film "Young Guard" We got acquainted with the work very carefully. After all, the events set forth in the novel occurred recently, just a couple of years ago. And in the memory of the townspeople they were still very fresh.
Fadeev approved the chapters from his work in the workshop. Gradually, the performance was transferred to the big stage of the Theater of Film Actor. After such success, the idea of the film adaptation of "The Young Guard" was born.
How did you select the actors?
Tamara Makarova once recalled that in the question of the distribution of roles, Gerasimov always listened to the opinion of Fadeev. So began to shoot the film "Young Guard". The actors and the roles they played were selected just great. Inna Makarova, who embodied on the screen Lyubov Shevtsova, was approved even without trial, having seen her in the student production of "Carmen". Some of the artists were invited from, for example, Vladimir Ivanov, who played the role of Oleg Koshevoy. During the war, Ivanov was a front-line intelligence officer who was demobilized in 1945 after being seriously injured three times. Not having informed anyone of the selection committee about his disability, he enters GITIS, and later transferred to VGIK.
Sergey Gurzo was selected for the role of Tyulenin. Sergei Bondarchuk got the role of Valko, firmly believing that this is his character, only after reading the novel. Evgeni Morgunov played the role of Stakhovich. The prototype of the traitor Stakhovich was Viktor Tretyakevich. The picture was very natural and vital. The actors of the film “Young Guard” were perceived by the audience as their characters in this film. Morgunov received thousands of letters, among which there were a lot of offensive ones, where the artist was called "Judas." But, having coped with emotions, the actor understood that all these lines are a strong impact on the audience of realistic art. He always believed that this role is one of the main in his acting fate. By the way, many years later it turned out that Tretyakevich was not a traitor. Gerasimov amended his film: in the finale of the picture, the announcer now names Tretyakevich among the dead Krasnodon residents.
From VGIK they invited Nonna Mordyukova (the role of Ulyana Gromova), Vyacheslav Tikhonov (played by Vladimir Osmukhin), Tamara Nosova (the role of Valentina Filatova). And there were also Georgy Yumatov in the role of Anatoly Popov, Klara Luchko in the role of Aunt Marina, Vsevolod Sanaev in the role of communist underground, Lyudmila Sokolova in the role of the Young Guard ...
Then, in the distant forties, the actors of the film “Young Guard” played so convincingly that for several decades none of the directors even thought about how to perform another film reread of the novel.
What is the day ahead preparing for us?
67 years have passed. The 12-episode film "Young Guard" was released. Moreover, the creators of the film strongly emphasized that this series is by no means an adaptation of the novel by Alexander Fadeev, according to which director Sergey Gerasimov made a film in the distant post-war forties. This is a new story based on documented facts about the fearless partisan teenagers from Krasnodon. So they shot the film "Young Guard". Photos of the actors instantly scattered through the pages of glossy publications. Those whom the audience did not know very well became known literally after watching the first episodes. Oleg Koshevoy was played by Vyacheslav Chepurchenko, Lyubov Shevtsova - Ekaterina Shpitsa, Ulyana Gromova - Irina Gorbacheva, Ivan Turkenich - Yuri Chursin, Anatoly Kovalev - Victor Khorinyak, Viktor Tretyakevich - Nikita Tezin. They also invited Larisa Shakhvorostov, Vladimir Antonik, Nikolai Serdv ...
Victory Day Gift
Director Leonid Platonov decided to present a gift to all Russians for the greatest holiday - the Great Victory Day. This unusual gift was the series "Young Guard". The film, the actors of which, like last time, were selected quite carefully, was released on May 5, 2015.
The creators of the film tried to get answers to various questions that Alexander Fadeev did not disclose. And oh, how many questions have accumulated: who among the members of the group turned out to be a traitor, who dared to give the guys in the group to the Germans, who was still the leader of the Young Guard?
In this interpretation of the novel, despite their youth, very talented actors united. Therefore, it is clear that even the most capricious audience showed interest in the series.
Of course, last year's picture cannot be compared with the Gerasimov version. Fans of a black-and-white film may not like the new movie. Nevertheless, it’s worth watching this series at least in order to think about how very young boys and girls tried with all their might to help the front, defending their homeland, their hometown of Krasnodon.