Leonid Gallis Movies
- 1973
Monolog caused some stir in the Eastern Bloc on its release in 1973 because it focused realistically on the emotional problems of people and was not ideologically heavyhanded. In the film, the quiet, settled routine of a professor, whose best days are seemingly behind him, is upset when his volatile daughter comes for a visit and leaves her own daughter behind for him to raise. At the same time, one of his students challenges him to take up some scientific work he had abandoned earlier in his career. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mikhail Gluzsky, Marina Neelova, (more)
Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's three upper-class Prozorov sisters -- Masha, Olga, and Irina -- come no closer to their dream of returning to Moscow in director Laurence Olivier's 1970 film version of Three Sisters than they did in Chekhov's original 1900 play. This melancholy classic about shattered dreams, self-delusion, and compromise was directed by Olivier for Britain's National Theatre in 1967. The film, a literal record of Olivier's stage version, was produced in order to raise money for the ever-imperiled National. Olivier, who'd just recovered from a serious illness, plays the mischievous army doctor Chebutikin, while Olivier's wife, Joan Plowright, essays the major role of Masha, the snobbish general's daughter who tries to escape the stultifying banality of her provincial marriage by having an affair. Three Sisters was released in the U.S. in 1974 as part of the American Film Theatre series. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jeanne Watts, Joan Plowright, (more)
- 1969
Anton Chekhov (Nikolai Grinko) nervously listens backstage with his lover Lika (Marina Vlady) at the opening night of his first play "The Sea Gull." Lika loves the writer and overlooks his inability to give love himself. The viewer does not see the actual play but hears it along with the unfavorable audience reaction. Chekhov would overcome this initial failure to become one of Russia's best-known authors. His classics have inspired filmmakers from all over the world. Jia Savina also appears in this drama of a play within a play. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Nikolai Grinko, Marina Vlady, (more)
- 1966
The impossibility of love between the classes forms the basis of this tragic tale. The story begins when a poor clerk falls in love with a princess. The smitten lad begins following her everywhere and writing passionate declarations of his love. She is touched by his affection, but because of the class difference realizes that their love can never be. He then sends her the one valuable thing he owns--a golden bracelet inlaid with garnets. It had belonged to his mother. Again the princess is deeply moved. Unfortunately, her insensitive peers laugh at the simple gift and the distraught clerk is so ashamed that he kills himself. The princess, against tradition, attends the funeral and offers her condolences. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ariadna Shengelaya, Igor Ozerov, (more)
- 1965
This drama is adapted from Chekhov's famous play and chronicles the dreary lives of a late Russian colonel's three daughters as they struggle to survive during the early 1900s. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lyubov Sokolova, Margarita Volodina, (more)
- 1961
This Soviet message movie is targeted for young adults. It tells the story of a journeyman gas worker who raises pigeons. His new girlfriend is surprised that he does not belong to the Komsomol youth group. Meanwhile, the lad's boss is accepting gratuities from customers. The young man manages to dissuade him from this unethical practice. Later he decides to attend the Komsomol meetings with his girl. As they head to the meeting, he helps extinguish a fire. He is impressed by the meeting, joins the group, and then returns home to set his pigeons free because he believes they are adults and therefore, able to survive on their own. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Alexei Loktev, Svetlana Savelova, (more)
- 1954
In this drama, a restless husband runs off with his mistress. He left his wife and family behind. Eventually he comes home. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sergei Romodanov, Marina Ladynina, (more)
- 1947
Compared to the somberly serious Russian films being released in the U.S. after WW II, the lighthearted The Train Goes East must have seemed like a breath of fresh air. The story begins on VJ day in August of 1945. Celebrating the victory, navy captain Lavrentyev (Leonid Gallis) sets his sights on romance, with pretty agricultural expert Sokolova (Lydia Dranovskaya) his willing target. Missing their train home, the captain and Sokolova are forced to find any available means of transportation, leading to a series of gently amusing situations. Along the way, the budding romance is threatened by the sort of mutual misunderstandings one usually finds in Hollywood screwball comedies. Train Goes East was the latest in a series of frothy concoctions by popular Russian filmmaker Yuri Raizman, who ironically had begun his career turning out such grimly realistic efforts as Forced Labor (1928) and The Earth Thirsts (1930). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lidiya Dranovskaya, Leonid Gallis, (more)
