USSR

  • Sergei Yutkevich – Novye pokhozhdeniya Shveyka aka The New Adventures of Schweik (1943)

    Comedy1941-1950Sergei YutkevichUSSRWar

    IMDB says:
    The brave soldier Schweik helps the Yugoslav partisans and tries to choose the execution for Hitler.Read More »

  • Marlen Khutsiev – Mne dvadtsat let aka I Am Twenty (1965) (HD)

    1961-1970DramaMarlen KhutsiyevUSSR

    Quote:

    This movie was originally filmed in 1962 as Zastava Ilyicha (The Ilyich Gate). It was one of the first films that reflected the younger generation’s resentment of the older generation’s ways. The original title referred to Lenin’s paternal name (his full name was Vladimir Ilyich Lenin). Even after the decanonization of Stalin, Lenin still remained the icon for the old generation. “Ilyich” was often used as an affectionate term in Soviet iconography. The film invoked Soviet premier Nikita Khruschev’s sharp criticism. Meeting the studio members, he said: “Do you want us to believe in the scene where a father doesn’t know how to answer his son’s question “how to live?” At the censor’s insistence the movie was re-cut and released under the “apolitical” title Mne Dvatdsat Let (I’m Twenty) in 1964. In 1991, the film was re-released and shown at the London Film Festival with ninety minutes of the original footage restored, resulting in a film which was 175 minutes long.Read More »

  • Marlen Khutsiyev – Iyulskiy dozhd AKA July Rain (1966)

    1961-1970ClassicsDramaMarlen KhutsiyevUSSR

    Quote:
    Lena is about to marry when she finds out her fiance is a bad person. After leaving him, she seeks for a sense in her life through adventures with artists who are also searching their own identity. When raining, she meets Zhenya.Read More »

  • Kazimir Gertel – Iz-pod svodov mecheti AKA From Under the Vaults of the Mosque (1927)

    1921-1930DramaKazimir GertelSilentUSSR

    From Under the Vaults of the Mosque (Rus. Iz-Pod svodov mecheti) by Kazimir Gertel’ (Uzbekkino, 1927)

    The action takes place in Turkestan at the end of the imperial period. Oberuchev (L. Lazarev), a cotton manufacturer from St. Petersburg, goes to Moscow to sign a delivery contract with the army before going back to Turkestan, his “homeland.” Together with his assistant Yastrebetskii (A. Poliakov), Oberuchev exploits the local population with the connivance of the local bais. An old man, Pir Nazar (A. Khojaev), is one of his victims and has to sell his belongings to pay off his debts.Read More »

  • Eldar Ryazanov – Vokzal dlya dvoikh AKA Railway Station For Two (1983)

    1981-1990DramaEldar RyazanovRomanceUSSR

    Summary:
    Platon Ryabinin, a pianist, is traveling by train to a distant town of Griboedov to visit his father. He gets off to have lunch during a twenty minute stop at Zastupinsk railway station. He meets Vera, a waitress, after he refuses to pay her for the disgusting food he doesn’t even touch and misses his train due to police investigation of the incident. His passport is then accidentally taken away from him by Andrei, Vera’s fiancé, and his money is stolen as he waits for the next train to Griboedov. Vera learns that Platon is about to get sentenced and sent to prison in the Far East for a car accident he isn’t guilty for. During the few days that Platon has to spend in Zastupinsk he and Vera develop feelings for each other…
    – Written by Denis ChebikinRead More »

  • Grigori Kozintsev & Iosif Shapiro – Korol Lir AKA King Lear (1971)

    1961-1970ClassicsDramaGrigori KozintsevIosif ShapiroUSSRWilliam Shakespeare

    King Lear, old and tired, divides his kingdom among his daughters, giving great importance to their protestations of love for him. When Cordelia, youngest and most honest, refuses to idly flatter the old man in return for favor, he banishes her and turns for support to his remaining daughters. But Goneril and Regan have no love for him and instead plot to take all his power from him. In a parallel, Lear’s loyal courtier Gloucester favors his illegitimate son Edmund after being told lies about his faithful son Edgar. Madness and tragedy befall both ill-starred fathers.Read More »

  • Richard Viktorov – Kometa AKA A Comet (1984)

    1981-1990ComedyRichard ViktorovSci-FiUSSR

    In a small coastal town,in the middle of the summer,the beaches are overcrowded,every piece of land occupied by tents and the cars of the tourists.A small group of filmmakers decide to shoot here a “masterpiece” by putting on a fake bank a ship.Suddenly,the crowd spreads the rumor that a comet will fall to the Earth very soon.At the last moment the most savvy vacationers decide to save themselves from a certain death by making some last minute unexpected changes in the script…Read More »

  • Abram Room – Serebristaya pyl AKA Silver Dust (1953)

    1951-1960Abram RoomDramaUSSR

    Summary:
    Screen version of the play «Jackals» by A. Jackobson about an American scientist-inventor of a mighty weapon of mass destruction.Read More »

  • Boris Barnet – Ledolom aka The Thaw (1931)

    1931-1940Boris BarnetDramaSilentUSSR

    Quote:
    The son of a kulak has an affair with a poor girl and an eye within the village council so that his father’s interest could be preserved. But a man reveals how the kulak intend to impoverish more the peasants and workers and get freed from taxes.Read More »

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