The Cranes are Flying (1957)
"Letyat zhuravli" (original title)

Veronica plans a rendezvous with her lover, Boris, at the bank of river, only for him to be drafted into World War II shortly thereafter.

Director:

Mikhail Kalatozov

Writers:

Viktor Rozov (play), Viktor Rozov (screenplay)

Stars:

Tatyana Samoylova, Aleksey Batalov, Vasiliy Merkurev

Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 4 wins.

Cast

Credited cast:
Tatyana Samoylova	...	Veronika (as T. Samoylova)
Aleksey Batalov	...	Boris
Vasiliy Merkurev	...	Fyodor Ivanovich (as V. Merkuryev)
Aleksandr Shvorin	...	Mark (as A. Shvorin)
Svetlana Kharitonova	...	Irina (as S. Kharitonova)
Konstantin Kadochnikov	...	Volodya (as K. Nikitin)
Valentin Zubkov	...	Stepan (as V. Zubkov)
Antonina Bogdanova	...	Grandmother (as A. Bogdanova)
Boris Kokovkin	...	Tyernov (as B. Kokovkin)
Ekaterina Kupriyanova	...	Anna Mikhajlovna (as Ye. Kupriyanova)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Valentina Ananina
Olga Dzisko	...	(as O. Dzisko)
Klarina Frolova-Vorontsova	...	(as K. Frolova)
Leonid Knyazev	...	(as L. Knyazev)
Pyotr Merkurev

Storyline

Veronica and Boris are walking in the streets of Moscow and they love each other. Veronica is laughing, cause they are happy together this morning. They see some cranes in the sky. When arriving to Veronica's house they talk about a rendezvous at the bank of the river. And the 2nd World War begins in Moscow. Boris works in a factory and he hasn't got time to speak with Veronica. He has to go to the war ...

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Plot Keywords:

staircase | adultery | train | cousin cousin relationship | anti war | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | War

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian

Release Date:

21 March 1960 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Cranes are Flying

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mosfilm

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film is a favorite of both Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese.

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Connections

Referenced in A Very Long Engagement (2004)

User Reviews

Very very very good.

If you're looking for a typical war movie, this is not it, so a note to all the testosterone-pumped carnage-craving war buffs out there, don't bother. Although the film is about Russian characters in WWII, don't expect to see any Nazis, cannons, blood, gore, etc. It's not a film about people who cause a war or who fight a war. It's a film about ordinary people who war happens to and the choices they make in dealing with it.

Acting, cinematography, writing: all perfect 10s here. You'll certainly appreciate it if you're Russian like me, but even if not, you'll probably love it. If you speak no Russian, look for the RUSCICO (Russian Cinema Council) DVD version. It's got subtitles in about 14 different languages, but the English dubbing on this one I'd say is just as good. It's of course not as good as the original Russian track (some stuff is lost in translation), but just as good as the English subtitles. So go check it out, especially if you're studying film in any aspect.