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

Director:

Mikhail Kalatozov

Writers:

Viktor Rozov (play)
Viktor Rozov (screenplay)

Release Date:

21 March 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | War

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Staircase | Adultery | Train | Cousin Cousin Relationship | Anti War

Awards:

Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 4 wins

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)
Georgiy Kulikov		(as Yu. Kulikov)
Pyotr Merkurev
Daniil Netrebin
Aleksandr Popov		(as Sasha Popov)
Irina Preys		(as I. Preys)
Georgiy Shamshurin		(as T. Shamshurin)
Nikolay Smorchkov		(as N. Smorchkov)
Galina Stepanova
Valentina Vladimirova

Directed by
Mikhail Kalatozov

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Viktor Rozov		play
Viktor Rozov		screenplay

Produced by
Mikhail Kalatozov	....	producer

Original Music by
Moisey Vaynberg

Cinematography by
Sergei Urusevsky		(as S. Urusevsky)

Film Editing by
Mariya Timofeyeva		(as M. Timofeyeva)

Production Design by
Yevgeni Svidetelev		(as Ye. Svidetelyov)

Costume Design by
Leonid Naumov		(as L. Naumov)

Makeup Department
O. Strunzovoy	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Igor Vakar	....	production manager

Sound Department
Kevin Adickes	....	sound effects editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Nikolai Olonovsky	....	camera operator (as N. Olonovsky)

Music Department
Arnold Roitman	....	conductor (as A. Roitman)

Other crew
B. Fridmann	....	location manager

Production Companies

• Mosfilm

Distributors

• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (1974) (USA) (TV) (network premiere)
• Warner Bros. (1960) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Curzon Film Distributors (1958) (UK) (theatrical)
• Sovexportfilm (19??) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Tellus Film (1958) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Continental Home Vídeo (Brazil) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Divisa Home Video (2008) (Spain) (DVD)
• Empresa Hispanoamericana de Video (EHV) (19??) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Globo Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)
• Home Vision Entertainment (HVE) (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Moskwood Media (19??) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Moskwood Media (2003) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Nouveaux Pictures (2007) (UK) (DVD)
• Turner Classic Movies (TCM) (????) (USA) (TV)

Also Known As:

"Letyat zhuravli" - Soviet Union (original title)

Runtime:

Argentina:97 min | Germany:95 min | Russia:97 min | Sweden:94 min | USA:94 min

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | West Germany:12 (bw) | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | USA:TV-PG | UK:PG (DVD rating) | UK:U (original rating) | USA:Not Rated

Company:

Mosfilm

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.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Very Long Engagement (2004)

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.