Ballad of a Soldier (1959) Ballada o soldate (original title)

Director:

Grigoriy Chukhray

Writers:

Grigoriy Chukhray
Valentin Ezhov

Release Date:

26 December 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | War

Tagline:

The Critics All Agree It's Great...And So Will You!

Plot:

During World War II, 19 year old soldier Alyosha gets a medal as a reward for a heroic act at the front...

Plot Keywords:

Medal | Mother | Train | Love | Soldier

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 5 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Vladimir Ivashov	...	Pvt. Alyosha Skvortsov (as Volodya Ivashov)
Zhanna Prokhorenko	...	Shura
Antonina Maksimova	...	The mother
Nikolai Kryuchkov	...	The general
Yevgeni Urbansky	...	Vasya (the invalid)
Elza Lezhdey	...	The invalid's wife (as E. Lezhdej)
Aleksandr Kuznetsov	...	Gavrilkin (the train sentry) (as A. Kuznetsov)
Yevgeni Teterin	...	The lieutenant ('A terrible beast') (as Ye. Teterin)
V. Markova	...	Liza (Pavlov's wife)
Marina Kremnyova	...	Zoya (neighbor girl) (as M. Kremnnyova)
Vladimir Pokrovsky	...	Pavlov's invalid father (as V. Pokrovsky)
Georgi Yumatov	...	Sergeant giving bars of soap (as G. Yumatov)
Gennadi Yukhtin	...	Pvt. Seryozha Pavlov (as G. Yukhtin)
Valentina Telegina	...	Old woman truck driver (as V. Telegina)
Lev Borisov	...	Joking soldier on train (as L. Borisov)
Leonid Chubarov	...	General's aide (as L. Chubarov)
Vladimir Kashpur	...	Zoya's husband (as V. Kashpur)
Vladimir Abramov	...	Mitya (boy with clock) (as V. Abramov)
N. Dadyro	...	Old man on train ('Don't worry, it will work out')
Semyon Svashenko	...	Old Ukrainian (as S. Svashenko)
Nina Menshikova	...	Telegraph Office clerk
Valentin Bryleyev	...	Boy with bubbles on stairwell (as V. Bryleyev)
Evgeni Evstigneev	...	Truck driver who changed his mind (as Ye. Yevstigneyev)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Yuri Dubrovin	...	Pavlov's buddy

Directed by
Grigoriy Chukhray

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Grigoriy Chukhray		(as G. Chukhraj)
Valentin Ezhov		(as V. Yezhov)

Produced by
M. Chernova	....	producer

Original Music by
Mikhail Ziv		(as M. Ziv)

Cinematography by
Vladimir Nikolayev		(as V. Nikolayev)
Era Savelyeva		(as E. Savelyeva)

Film Editing by
Mariya Timofeyeva		(as M. Timofeyeva)

Production Design by
Boris Nemechek		(as B. Nemechek)

Costume Design by
Lyudmila Ryashentseva		(as L. Ryashentseva)

Makeup Department
M. Agafonova	....	makeup artist

Production Management
P. Danilyants	....	production manager

Sound Department
Venyamin Kirshenbaum	....	sound (as V. Kirshenbaum)

Special Effects by
Sergei Mukhin	....	special effects director
V. Rylach	....	special effects operator

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

Other crew
M. Sergiyenko	....	consultant

Distributors

• Union Film Distributors Inc. (1960) (USA) (theatrical) (as "a Kingsley-International release") (subtitled)
• Connossieur Video (1997) (USA) (VHS)
• Hen's Tooth Video (1997) (USA) (VHS)
• Home Vision Entertainment (HVE) (2000) (USA) (VHS)
• Criterion Collection, The (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Continental Home Vídeo (2002) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Home Vision Entertainment (HVE) (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Moskwood Media (2003) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Admetos (1967) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Sovexportfilm (19??) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Tellus Film (1960) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Criterion Collection, The (19??) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Divisa Home Video (2008) (Spain) (DVD)
• Empresa Hispanoamericana de Video (EHV) (19??) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Globo Vídeo (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Icestorm Entertainment (2009) (Germany) (DVD)
• Njutafilms (2005) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Turner Classic Movies (TCM) (2009) (USA) (TV)

Other Companies

• Kingsley-International Pictures  releasing agency

Also Known As:

"Ballada o soldate" - Soviet Union (original title)

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Finland:K-8 | UK:U | UK:PG (re-rating) | Singapore:PG | South Korea:15 | Sweden:15 | USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Moscow, Russia

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ballada o bombere (2011) (V)

One of the best russian movies ever made!

"Ballad of a Soldier" along with "Andrei Rublev" is one of my favorite Russian films ever and one of the great movies made in USSR during Khruschev´s so-called "thaw" period in the late 1950s and early 1960s when soviet filmmakers got a certain amount of an artistic freedom and were less controlled by the Soviet state.

Directed and co-written by master Russian filmmaker of a soviet era, and also a WW-2 veteran, Grigory Chukhrai, who was even nominated for this picture for Academy Award for Best Screenplay, the film is set during WW-2. It´s a story of 19 year old Russian soldier who as a reward for a heroic act in fighting with Germans given a 3 day leave home by his commanding officer. We follow the soldier´s journey home through ravished by war land where he meets different people and witnesses how they lives are affected by war and falls in love with a girl whom he occasionally meets on a train. The atmosphere created by this movie is quite unique, rarely before or after achieved on the film. A genuine masterpiece of a world cinema. A must see. 10/10