Coming Out of the Ice (1982) (TV)

Director:

Waris Hussein

Writers:

Victor Herman (autobiography Coming Out of the Ice: An Unexpected Life)
Alan Sharp (writer)

Release Date:

23 May 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot:

A young American man in Russia in the 1920s to help build a factory makes a request to go home to the U.S...

Plot Keywords:

Soviet Union | Gulag | Siberia | 1930s | Immigrant

Cast

John Savage	...	Victor Herman
Willie Nelson	...	Red Loon
Francesca Annis	...	Galina
Ben Cross	...	Gen. Tuchachevsky
Frank Windsor	...	Sam Herman
Sylvia Kay	...	Rose Herman
Peter Vaughan	...	Belov
John Malcolm	...	Chernov
Bernice Stegers	...	Lady Barber
Steven Berkoff	...	Atoman
Donald Eccles	...	Nesterov
Tom Chadbon	...	Samsonov
Clive Merrison	...	Bikov
Edward Burnham	...	Commissar
David Hayman	...	Guard Commander 1
Malcolm Storry	...	Guard Commander 2
Michael Burrell	...	Man on Hunger Strike
Hal Galili	...	American Guide in Gorkij
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Edwin Finn	...	Nesteros
Margit Lindeman	...	Russian Official (uncredited)

Directed by
Waris Hussein

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Victor Herman		autobiography Coming Out of the Ice: An Unexpected Life
Alan Sharp		writer

Produced by
Frank Konigsberg	....	executive producer
Christopher Pearce	....	producer

Original Music by
Maurice Jarre

Cinematography by
Richard H. Kline

Film Editing by
Malcolm Cooke

Casting by
Susan Bluestein

Production Design by
Roger Hall

Art Direction by
Karen Brooks
Len Huntingford

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Paul Tivers	....	second assistant director

Sound Department
Gary Shepherd	....	sound editor
David Sutton	....	boom operator

Camera and Electrical Department
Jack Conroy	....	gaffer
Eamonn Dunne	....	best boy

Other crew
Stefano Priori	....	production accountant
Pat Rambaut	....	continuity

Production Companies

• EMI Films

Distributors

• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1982) (USA) (TV)
• CBS/Fox Home Video (1987) (USA) (VHS)
• CBS/Fox (1987) (USA) (VHS)
• Playhouse Home Video (1987) (USA) (VHS)
• VCL Communications

Other Companies

• Lee Lighting  lighting

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Helsinki, Finland

Company:

EMI Films

Trivia:

In the scene in which Victor is walking on the market, most of the extras were Finnish. Out of the frame we can hear one of them saying in Finnish: "I almost looked at the camera”.

Interesting historical account of an American surviving incarceration in the U.S.S.R.

In the 1920s Victor Herman left the United States with his parents who went to the U.S.S.R. with other Americans to build an automobile factory there. They were part of an idealistic socialist group who thought that the Soviet Union would be a better place for working class people.

Herman had athletic prowess in track and field, and the Soviet authorities wanted him to represent them in world competition. At first he consented, but later demurred when their demands on him became onerous. He asked to leave the country, but of course, back then, departure equaled treason, and they sent him to a remote prison camp. This film depicts the story of his survival. It's a good account of forgotten Americans from a forgotten period.