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

One of the most notable features of the film is cinematographer Sergei Uruseveky's then ground-breaking use of hand-held cameras. He had learnt how to film like this when he was a military cameraman during the war.

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Connections

Featured in To Each His Own Cinema (2007)

User Reviews

Remarkable for its time

While watching this film recently, I constantly had to remind myself that it was made in 1957..........and in the USSR! That makes it all the more remarkable. Many of the cinematographic effects in the film seem cliched in 2002, but they were quite original in 1957. I first saw this film in 1963, when it was first released in the US, and I was struck by its originality then. Now just having seen it 40 years later, I have no reason to change my mind.