Table Of Content

The Cranes are Flying KINOfiles Film Companions General Editor: Richard Taylor Written for cineastes and students alike, KINOfiles are readable, authoritative, illustrated companion handbooks to the most important and interesting films to emerge from Russian cinema from its beginnings to the present. Each KINOfile investigates the production, context and reception of the film and the people who made it, and analyses the film itself and its place in Russian and World cinema. KINOfiles also include films of the other countries that once formed part of the Soviet Union, as well as works by émigré film- makers working in the Russian tradition. KINOfiles form a part of KINO: The Russian Cinema Series. 1 The Battleship Potemkin Richard Taylor 2 The Man with the Movie Camera Graham Roberts 3 Burnt by the Sun Birgit Beumers 4 Repentance Josephine Woll and Denise J. Youngblood 5 Bed and Sofa Julian Graffy 6 Mirror Natasha Synessios 7 The Cranes are Flying Josephine Woll 8 Little Vera Frank Beardow 9 Ivan the Terrible Joan Neuberger 10 The End of St Petersburg Vance Kepley, Jr THE CRANES ARE FLYING JOSEPHINE WOLL KINOfiles Film Companion 7 Published in 2003 by I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd 6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 www.ibtauris.com In the United States of America and in Canada distributed by St Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 Copyright © Josephine Woll, 2003 The right of Josephine Woll to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. ISBN 1 86064 504 6 A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library A full CIP record for this book is available from the Library of Congress Library of Congress catalog card: available Set in Monotype Calisto by Ewan Smith, London Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin Contents List of Illustrations vi Acknowledgements vii Note on Transliteration viii Production Credits ix 1 Introduction 1 2 Context 4 3 Analysis 28 4 Reception 65 5 Aftermath 81 6 Conclusion 103 Further Reading 111 Illustrations 1 Mariutka and her White officer from The Forty-first. 13 2 Mark [Shvorin] playing piano among the decadent theater crowd in evacuation. 30 3 Boris [Batalov] embracing Veronika in the blackout scene. 32 4 Fiodor Ivanovich [Merkurev] learns of Mark’s perfidy from Chernov [Kokovkin]. 35 5 Veronika [Samoilova] imagining her wedding. 39 6 Veronika’s last happy smile as she opens her birthday present. 41 7 High-angled crane shot of Veronika and the anti-tank defenses (‘porcupines’). 44 8 Boris, Veronika and Stepan [Zubkov] in the final moments before Stepan reveals that they’ve volunteered. 50 9 Boris and Veronika, separated by their private anxieties. 51 10 Irina [Kharitonova], the factory girl and Boris as he leaves the Borozdin apartment. 52 11 Veronika after the family flat is destroyed. 54 12 Boris’s death. 56 The illustrations are reproduced by courtesy of the British Film Institute Acknowledgments I am grateful to Richard Taylor for his steady help, patience and support, and to Julian Graffy for the acute and sensitive intelligence with which he read and commented on earlier drafts of this book. Note on Transliteration Transliteration from the Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet is a perennial problem. I have used a modification of the Library of Congress system in the text. When a Russian name has a clear English version (e.g., Alexander), or when a Russian name has an accepted English spelling (e.g., Eisenstein), I use the English. When a Russian name ends in -ii or -yi, I use a single -y for a surname (e.g., Dostoevsky instead of Dostoevskii), a single -i for a first name (Iuri instead of Iurii). In Notes and Further Reading I adhere to the Library of Congress system. Production Credits Original Title: Letiat zhuravli English Title: The Cranes are Flying Release: 12 October 1957 Production: Mosfilm Running Time: 97 minutes, black/white Director: Mikhail Kalatozov Based on: Vechno zhivye [Forever Alive], a play by Viktor Rozov Screenplay: Viktor Rozov Cinematography: Sergei Urusevsky Music: Moisei Vainberg Designer: Evgeni Svidetelev Cast Veronika Tatiana Samoilova Boris Borozdin Alexei Batalov Mark Alexander Shvorin Stepan Valentin Zubkov Dr Borozdin Vasili Merkurev (Fiodor Ivanovich) Irina Svetlana Kharitonova Grandmother Antonina Bogdanova Anna Mikhailovna Ekaterina Kuprianova Chernov Boris Kokovkin Volodia (soldier) Konstantin Nikitin