Letyat zhuravli (1957)

Director:

Mikhail Kalatozov

Writers:

Viktor Rozov (play)
Viktor Rozov (screenplay)

Release Date:

21 March 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | War

Plot:

Veronica plans a rendezvous with her lover, Boris, at the bank of river, only for him to be drafted into World War II shortly thereafter.

Plot Keywords:

Cousin | Dead Soldier | Soldiers Home | Dream Sequence | Munitions Factory

Awards:

Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 3 wins

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Tatyana Samojlova	...	Veronika (as T. Samojlova)
Aleksey Batalov	...	Boris
Vasili Merkuryev	...	Fyodor Ivanovich (as V. Merkuryev)
Aleksandr Shvorin	...	Mark (as A. Shvorin)
Svetlana Kharitonova	...	Irina (as S. Kharitonova)
Konstantin Nikitin	...	Volodya (as K. Nikitin)
Valentin Zubkov	...	Stepan (as V. Zubkov)
Antonina Bogdanova	...	Grandmother (as A. Bogdanova)
Boris Kokovkin	...	Tyernov (as B. Kokovkin)
Yekaterina Kupriyanova	...	Anna Mikhajlovna (as Ye. Kupriyanova)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Valentina Ananyina
O. Dzisko
Klarina Frolova		(as K. Frolova)
Leonid Knyazev		(as L. Knyazev)
Yu. Kulikov
Pyotr Merkuryev
Daniil Netrebin
Aleksandr Popov		(as Sasha Popov)
I. Preis
T. Shamshurin
Nikolai Smorchkov		(as N. Smorchkov)
Galina Stepanova
Adrián Viador	...	Mark (voice)
Valentina Vladimirova

Also Known As:

Летят журавли (Soviet Union: Russian title)
Miprinaven tseroebi (Soviet Union: Georgian title)
The Cranes Are Flying (USA)

Runtime:

Argentina:97 min | Germany:95 min | Russia:97 min | Sweden:94 min | USA:94 min

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | USA:TV-PG | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | West Germany:12 (bw)

Company:

Mosfilm

Trivia:

With the death of Stalin in 1953, the "cult of personality" that had infused all Soviet cinema during his rule began to relax. During the Stalinist regime, every war film had to celebrate both Lenin and Stalin and how they led the USSR to victory. "The Cranes are Flying" caused quite a stir upon its release as it deviated from that ruling.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Un long dimanche de fiançailles (2004)

Masterpiece from Russia.

I would like to tell you just a few things before considering seeing this movie. If at one point or another you thought you've seen good camera work, be prepared to be amazed by this movie. For the record, this movie was made in 1957 in Russia, but the technique used here is probably something that we've seen much later in the western world...about 20 years later. The level of emotions through the film varies quite a lot: happiness -love-war- despair-joy, but in the end you remain with something quite unique: the joy of seeing one masterpiece of filmmaking. The young directors from our time should study more this kind of movies and maybe they will be able to create something similar..even though I think movies like this are very hard to come by... If you've seen "I am Cuba" , then this movie would appeal to you very much, but if not, be prepared for a unique experience. The Russian directors have something in common: very small budgets, great actors, and a joy of creating art...and yes, they are able to create more masterpieces than all the western world together. I am not a big fan of Russia, actually I hate everything that's communist, but the film making in that part of the world, manages to create such feelings that are hard to describe.

Enjoy it.