Vasiliy Lanovoy Movies
- 1979
Irina Kupchenko stars in this psychological drama by the renowned director/writer team of Yuli Raizman and Yevgeny Gabrilovich. In the story, she is the entirely respectable wife of a career diplomat, with a teenaged son. Suddenly one day, she decides to leave her marriage and go live with her lover. In fact, her marriage has been rocky for some time, as her husband travels constantly and pays her little attention. She has a new lover, a divorced scientist with a daughter. However, she only tells her husband that she's leaving him. She doesn't tell anybody else -- not family, friends, nor even the man she is now living with. Eventually, she and her new lover also part ways, and after a brief visit with her mother, she takes an apartment to live in with just her son for company. However, all along she has had an admirer, considerably younger than she is, who has been looking for her so as to confess his love. At the end of the film, he finally catches up with her. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irina Kupchenko, Oleg Vavilov, (more)
- 1973
One of the most popular Soviet TV miniseries of all time, The Seventeen Moments of Spring is a tale of the heroic exploits of a Russian spy in Germany during the last months of World War II. The movie is a battle of wits rather than a regular glamorized spy fare, with a heavy reliance on dialogues and atmosphere. Vyacheslav Tikhonov is quietly convincing as the leading character but the film's popularity owes a lot to its great supporting cast of which Leonid Bronevoy and Oleg Tabakov stand out. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Leonid Bronevoy, (more)
- 1968
This propaganda feature chronicles the events which led Russian left-wing socialists to revolt and attempt to seize power from Lenin and the Bolsheviks. The defeat of the Left Socialists gave Lenin and his fledgling communist party a clearer road to power. The group killed the German ambassador in an attempt to draw Germany into a war with Russia. Lenin, of course, is painted in glowing light. Less than two weeks after the 6th of July, the deposed Czar Nicholas and his family were murdered by troops loyal to Lenin. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yuri Kayurov, Vladimir Tatosov, (more)
After several previous attempts by foreign directors who miss the mark, this Russian film version of Leo Tolstoy's classic novel Anna Karenina most accurately follows the Tolstoy novel and remains superior to all other versions to date. It concerns the struggle of a woman to find her place in Russian society. Anna (Tatiana Samoilova) is shunned by society when she leaves her older husband and small son for the dashing young cavalry officer Vronsky (Vassili Lanovai). The officer is torn between his love for Anna and his social and military responsibilities. Bolshoi ballet star Maia Plisetskaya is the noble Princess who at first helps Anna, then turns her back on her. Anna is caught between the worlds of high society and privilege and the downtrodden peasants who are victimized by the economic elite. She tries desperately to follow her heart as she is harshly judged by society for trying to find her place. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tatiana Samoilova, Nikolai Gritsenko, (more)
Russian director Sergei Bondarchuk's epic version of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace (Voyna i Mir) was the most expensive European film ever made for many years. It certainly had one of the longest gestation periods, with Bondarchuk spending seven years filming the project (the actors noticeably age from scene to scene). In relating Tolstoy's complex tale of Napoleon's invasion of Russia, Bondarchuk helmed some of the most graphic battle scenes ever seen, one of which runs nearly 45 minutes. So many horses were killed in these sequences that the film was loudly boycotted in some American cities by the ASPCA. While Bondarchuk is slavish to the source material, he does make a few Hollywood-like concessions to popular appeal; his leading lady Lyudmila Savelyeva looks exactly like Audrey Hepburn, the star of King Vidor's 1956 filmization of the Tolstoy novel. Originally clocking in at 507 minutes, War and Peace was pared down to 373 minutes for American consumption. It became a surprise theatrical hit, and a ratings bonanza when it was telecast on the ABC network in four parts from August 12 through 15, 1972. A big film, to be sure -- but few modern critics consider Bondarchuk's War and Peace a great film, citing its many deadly dull passages and its sappy, operatic finale. The dubbed American version is narrated by Norman Rose. The full Russian-language version with English subtitles is now available on video. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lyudmila Savelyeva, Sergei Bondarchuk, (more)
- 1962
Underlying human aspects of behavior are ignored in this political and psychological drama by I. Bityukov about three different physicians as they launch into their medical careers. One of the doctors is no more than a charming fellow, another is rebellious, and the last is filled with a desire to serve in an area that needs doctors the most, so he does. He (no females among the medicos) heads off to a remote location to dedicate himself to the underprivileged community and on arrival soon finds two attractive women vying for his favors. Rather than probing under the surface, the drama goes on to note how the rebel comes to see the light and how social consciousness is the only way to go. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vasily Livanov, Vasiliy Lanovoy, (more)
