Pyotr Shcherbakov Movies
- 1959
In this Russian war movie, set at the end of WW II, an interpreter with the Russian army is assigned to make sure the Germans hiding out in a church surrender peacefully. He nears the building carrying a white flag. Inside the church, the SS men decide it is better to keep fighting and they shoot the interpreter. Suddenly the movie moves to the recent past where the interpreter has met and fallen in love with a field nurse. They get engaged and plan to marry after the war. Unfortunately, things don't happen as planned and tragedy ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1963
This second feature film directed by Tatiana Lioznova tells the story of the first test pilot to fly a Russian-made jet. From the drawing board to the sky, details of the building and eventual flying of the plane are chronicled. Commentary states just how important the events leading up to the successful project were and what it meant for the air force and the country in general. Lioznova went on to produce and direct the immensely popular television mini-series 17 Moments Of Spring in 1973. The series has retained its popularity since its release, becoming once of the most fondly remembered and often-quoted events in Russian television history. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nikolai Rybnikov, Vladimir Sedov, (more)
- 1964
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. In the story, a young man palling around in Moscow with his friends is forced to confront the realities of his future and choose a direction in which to go. His friends are likewise brought up short by their limited opportunities for realizing their dreams. They have jobs or schools waiting for them, which are things their parents didn't have, so their older relatives are puzzled by the youngsters' evident distaste for their choices. Some of the restored scenes include one in which the boy meets his father's ghost, and a long scene which takes place at a poetry reading. The ghost scene, among others, represented a significant break from hitherto obligatory film conventions of social realism. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Valentin Popov, Nikolai Gubenko, (more)
- 1977
Sluzhebny Roman won the State Prize of the Russian Federation in 1979 and was well-received by Russian audiences. One of the most popular films by director Eldar Ryazanov, it had no overt political content and was simply a funny romantic comedy. Andrei Myagkov plays a clerk, a widower with two children; Alisa Freindlikh plays his boss, a woman so committed to her career that she spares no time for her appearance. Her manner irritates the clerk so much that he makes a bet with his office-mates that he can awaken the woman in her. He begins, therefore, to court her. She is decidedly dowdy and mannish, and the advances of her clerk catch her by surprise. She seeks advice from her best friend about how to proceed. Based on his bantering manner with her, her friend advises her to invite him to dinner. Even at dinner, she can't soften her brusque office manner, and a fight breaks out. Nonetheless, love eventually wins the day. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andrei Myagkov, Alisa Freyndlikh, (more)
- 1983
The Russian Jazzman (or more appropriately Jazzmen) is set in the '20s, when American jazz music was "not recommended" by Soviet ideologists. The film follows the misadventures of four street musicians who scratch out a meager living playing two-bit engagements here and there and dream of being a real jazz band. The picture is a loving and charming tribute to the first Russian jazz enthusiasts. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Igor Sklyar, Alexander Pankratov-Chyorny, (more)
- 1983
This semi-realistic comedy-fantasy by director and co-writer Georgi Danelia features a lower-level bureaucrat who snaps on the way home from work after a particularly stressful day at the office -- and begins to let loose what he really thinks, no matter the consequences. As his wife is talking on the phone, he grabs the receiver and hangs it up -- she is addicted to talking on the phone and this has always bothered him. His son-in-law and daughter use the television set as a babysitter for the man's granddaughter, and so he blows off steam at them too, demanding his son-in-law go out and find a job. Then he leaves and, after some minor adventures, heads to the office the following morning where he tells everyone else off -- all the petty crooks who take or give small bribes for favors. Although in the end he cannot stand life at all and tries several versions of suicide, he fails miserably each time and finally talks to his granddaughter on the phone who seems to have a remedy for him. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yevgeny Leonov, Iya Savvina, (more)
- 1984
This melodrama with a kind heart revolves around a decrepit old-age home that is in worse shape than some of its tenants. After Dr. Voloshina (Zhanna Bolotova) arrives on the scene, the leaky roofs get fixed, and everything is spiffed up, including the elderly residents who are given a renewed lease on life by the caring doctor. The old and new are contrasted in other ways as well: as residents discuss the bygone revolutionary days, modern music fills the room from a TV set, and helicopters make their noisy way to a nearby military base. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zhanna Bolotova, Yelena Fadeyeva, (more)
