Otar Koberidze Movies
- 1979
In this political drama, the critically acclaimed Russian director Grigori Chukhrai -- who also wrote the script -- focuses on the nature of political persecution through his hero Antonio (Giancarlo Giannini), a taxi driver in the capital of a dictatorship. Running alongside the political theme is a love story between Antonio and María, a waitress in a local café. Antonio was booted out of the military for refusing to fire on a boat carrying women and children during the Angola civil war. His main objective now is to stay aloof and uninvolved -- until he meets María. She has him take a man to the airport one day, and Antonio soon realizes that this fellow is a revolutionary working to oust the dictator. The ride he gave the man is the excuse the Secret Police need to pick up Antonio, and they put him in prison where they abuse him, trying to find out about his passenger. But he truly does not know anything, and he would never implicate María. The other prisoners at first turn against him but change their attitude when they discover he plans an escape, and soon everyone is about to make a break for freedom. Chukhrai's first film, The Forty-First won a special prize at Cannes in 1957, Ballad of a Soldier was also a 1960 winner at Cannes, and Clear Skies a winner in the 1961 Venice competition. Although La Vita è Bella indirectly involves the war themes of these preceding movies, it is not really in their same category. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ornella Muti, Giancarlo Giannini, (more)
The true story of a tragic 1928 arctic expedition provides the basis for this adventure drama that was a joint Italian and Russian co-production. Peter Finch stars as General Umberto Nobile, who is visited in Rome by the ghosts of those whose lives were taken in his ill-fated mission forty years earlier. In flashback, Nobile recalls the attempt to cross the North Pole by flying dirigible, the Italia. When the airship crashes, Nobile and his crew are scattered across the ice, left to struggle against the freezing cold elements and local polar bears, among other hazards. In an effort to save the expedition, the great explorer Roald Amundsen (Sean Connery), the first man to reach the South Pole, is dispatched to rescue Nobile. When Amundsen disappears (never to be heard from again), an icebreaker is launched to bring national hero Nobile home, but at the expense of his crewmates. Although The Red Tent (1971) was considered a costly box office failure, the film did win a Golden Globe for Best English Language Foreign Film. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Claudia Cardinale, (more)
The Commissar of the title, played by Nonna Mordyukova, is a Soviet functionary wielding power over a remote Jewish village. Neither she nor the villagers care for the status quo, but over a period of several weeks both come to accept the situation and to establish a detente. The film's pro-Semitism was not entirely in keeping with Soviet policy of the 1960s, thus the film was shelved and hidden from the general public. Only with the thawing of East-West relationships, and the political upheaval in Russia itself, was The Commissar deemed "safe" for general consumption. The film was finally distributed in 1988, twenty years after its completion. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Nonna Mordyukova, Rolan Bykov, (more)
In this Russian-made family adventure, a young man happens upon a magic lamp. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Starring:
- Boris Bystrov, Dodo Chogovadze, (more)
- 1966
The Tsar's Bride is a cinemadaptation of Rimsky-Korsakov's opera Tsarskaya Nevesta, itself based on a play by Lev Aleksandrovich May. The plot involves the efforts of a beautiful aristocrat to avoid an arranged marriage with the despotic Ivan the Terrible. The Tsar's bodyguard, in love with the girl, conspires with a German scientist to ply the bride-to-be with a love potion. Alas, the potion is replaced with poison by the bodyguard's jealous mistress. The principal roles are sung by Raisa Nedashkovskaya, Otar Koberidze and Natalya Rudnaya, with backup provided by the Bolshoi Theater Chorus. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Raisa Nedashkovskaya, Natalya Rudnaya, (more)
- 1965
The Russo/Italian coproduction Attack and Retreat was titled Italiano Brava Gente in Italy and Oni Shli Na Vostok in the USSR. This "solidarity" war epic hinges on the plot device of Italian and Soviet WWII troops forming a united front against their one-time ally, the Germans. To drum up business in America, the producers hired two Hollywood stars: Arthur Kennedy (as a fascist leader) and Peter Falk. In some prints of this film, Kennedy and Falk's highly distinctive voices have been dubbed by anonymous actors. Attack and Retreat was gorgeously filmed on location in the Ukraine with an international team of cinematographers. Originally released at 156 minutes, the film has been severely pared down for subsequent reissues and TV showings. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tatiana Samoilova, Andrea Kekki, (more)
- 1963
In this sci-fi film, the Centurians become fascinated with an Earth song they have been receiving and decide to pay our planet a visit. Unfortunately, the reconnaissance team they send out winds up on Mars. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1958
In this Soviet drama, a widowed train engineer begins looking for a wife to help him raise his kids. He proposes to his girl friend, but she is not interested in caring for the children of another woman. Fortunately his persistence pays off and he finds a suitable wife and mother. Unfortunately, father turns out to be a selfish cad and when the old girl friend suddenly shows up again, he leaves his family without a backward glance. The angry wife also decides to leave, but just as she prepares to board the train, she sees the children running after her and decides to stay. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tsitsino Tsitsishvili, Otar Koberidze, (more)
