Cinema of the Eastern Bloc
by jordans1877 | created - 14 Oct 2014 | updated - 14 May 2015 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Ivan the Terrible, Part I (1944)
Not Rated | 95 min | Biography, Drama, History
During the early part of his reign, Ivan the Terrible faces betrayal from the aristocracy and even his closest friends as he seeks to unite the Russian people.
Director: Sergei Eisenstein | Stars: Nikolay Cherkasov, Lyudmila Tselikovskaya, Serafima Birman, Mikhail Nazvanov
Votes: 10,862
2. A Generation (1955)
Not Rated | 87 min | Drama, War
Story of youth during the German occupation of Poland in World War II who come to adulthood through love and adversity.
Director: Andrzej Wajda | Stars: Tadeusz Lomnicki, Urszula Modrzynska, Tadeusz Janczar, Janusz Paluszkiewicz
Votes: 2,924
3. Kanal (1957)
Not Rated | 91 min | Drama, War
In 1944, during the Warsaw uprising against the Nazis, Polish Lieutenant Zadra and his resistance fighters use Warsaw's sewer system to escape the German encirclement.
Director: Andrzej Wajda | Stars: Teresa Izewska, Tadeusz Janczar, Wienczyslaw Glinski, Tadeusz Gwiazdowski
Votes: 8,035
4. The Cranes Are Flying (1957)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama, Romance, War
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 | Stars: Tatyana Samoylova, Aleksey Batalov, Vasiliy Merkurev, Aleksandr Shvorin
Votes: 19,761 | Gross: $0.02M
5. Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
Not Rated | 103 min | Drama, Romance, War
As World War II and the German occupation ends, the Polish resistance and the Soviet forces turn on each other in an attempt to take over leadership in Communist Poland.
Director: Andrzej Wajda | Stars: Zbigniew Cybulski, Ewa Krzyzewska, Waclaw Zastrzezynski, Adam Pawlikowski
Votes: 13,458
6. Ivan the Terrible, Part II: The Boyars' Plot (1958)
Not Rated | 88 min | Biography, Drama, History
As Ivan the Terrible attempts to consolidate his power by establishing a personal army, his political rivals, the Russian boyars, plot to assassinate their Tsar.
Director: Sergei Eisenstein | Stars: Nikolay Cherkasov, Serafima Birman, Pavel Kadochnikov, Mikhail Zharov
Votes: 8,051
7. Letter Never Sent (1960)
Not Rated | 96 min | Adventure, Drama
Four geologists search for diamonds in the wilderness of Siberia.
Director: Mikhail Kalatozov | Stars: Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy, Tatyana Samoylova, Vasiliy Livanov, Evgeniy Urbanskiy
Votes: 4,217
8. Ballad of a Soldier (1959)
Not Rated | 88 min | Drama, Romance, War
Young Russian soldier Alyosha earns a medal, but asks to visit his mother instead. His journey recounts various kinds of love during wartime.
Director: Grigoriy Chukhray | Stars: Vladimir Ivashov, Zhanna Prokhorenko, Antonina Maksimova, Nikolay Kryuchkov
Votes: 11,283
9. Ivan's Childhood (1962)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama, War
During WWII, Soviet orphan Ivan Bondarev strikes up a friendship with three sympathetic Soviet officers while working as a scout behind the German lines.
Directors: Andrei Tarkovsky, Eduard Abalov | Stars: Nikolay Burlyaev, Valentin Zubkov, Evgeniy Zharikov, Stepan Krylov
Votes: 39,917
10. Knife in the Water (1962)
Not Rated | 94 min | Drama, Thriller
A couple pick up a hitchhiker on the way to their yacht. The husband invites the young man to come along for their day's sailing. As the voyage progresses, the antagonism between the two men grows. A violent confrontation is inevitable.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Leon Niemczyk, Jolanta Umecka, Zygmunt Malanowicz, Anna Ciepielewska
Votes: 23,583
11. Loves of a Blonde (1965)
Not Rated | 88 min | Comedy, Romance, Drama
A factory manager in rural Czechoslovakia bargains with the army to send men to the area, to boost the morale of his young female workers, deprived of male company since the local boys have... See full summary »
Director: Milos Forman | Stars: Hana Brejchová, Vladimír Pucholt, Vladimír Mensík, Josef Sebánek
Votes: 9,365
12. The Shop on Main Street (1965)
Not Rated | 128 min | Drama, War
A carpenter in the Fascist Slovak State is appointed "Aryan controller" of a Jewish widow's store.
Directors: Ján Kadár, Elmar Klos | Stars: Ida Kaminska, Jozef Kroner, Frantisek Zvarík, Hana Slivková
Votes: 9,723
13. Andrei Rublev (1966)
R | 189 min | Biography, Drama, History
The life, times and afflictions of the fifteenth-century Russian iconographer St. Andrei Rublev.
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky | Stars: Anatoliy Solonitsyn, Ivan Lapikov, Nikolay Grinko, Nikolay Sergeev
Votes: 57,030 | Gross: $0.10M
14. Closely Watched Trains (1966)
Not Rated | 92 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
An apprentice train dispatcher at a village station seeks his first sexual encounter and becomes despondent when he is unable to perform.
Director: Jirí Menzel | Stars: Václav Neckár, Josef Somr, Vlastimil Brodský, Vladimír Valenta
Votes: 13,836 | Gross: $3.27M
15. The Firemen's Ball (1967)
Not Rated | 73 min | Comedy, Drama
A volunteer fire department throws a party for their former boss with the whole town invited, but nothing goes as planned.
Director: Milos Forman | Stars: Jan Vostrcil, Josef Sebánek, Josef Valnoha, Frantisek Debelka
Votes: 12,184
16. The Red and the White (1967)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, War
During the Russian Civil War, the Red Army - aided by Hungarian Communists - and the White Army fight for control of the area surrounding the Volga.
Director: Miklós Jancsó | Stars: József Madaras, Tibor Molnár, András Kozák, Jácint Juhász
Votes: 3,943
17. Marketa Lazarová (1967)
Not Rated | 162 min | Drama, History, Romance
A grim portrayal of the shift from Paganism to Christianity in medieval central Europe - as a young virgin promised to God is kidnapped and raped by a marauder who her religious father seeks to kill in return.
Director: Frantisek Vlácil | Stars: Josef Kemr, Magda Vásáryová, Nada Hejna, Jaroslav Moucka
Votes: 6,020
18. The Joke (1969)
80 min | Drama
In the 1950's, Ludvik Jahn was expelled from the Communist Party and the University by his fellow students, because of a politically incorrect note he sent to his girlfriend. Fifteen years ... See full summary »
Director: Jaromil Jires | Stars: Josef Somr, Jana Dítetová, Ludek Munzar, Jaroslava Obermaierová
Votes: 1,704
19. Solaris (1972)
PG | 167 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A psychologist is sent to a station orbiting a distant planet in order to discover what has caused the crew to go insane.
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky | Stars: Natalya Bondarchuk, Donatas Banionis, Jüri Järvet, Vladislav Dvorzhetskiy
Votes: 98,205
20. The Sandglass (1973)
124 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Józef visits his dying father at a remote mental institution, where time itself doesn't seem to exist, and the line between dreams and memories becomes indistinguishable.
Director: Wojciech Has | Stars: Jan Nowicki, Tadeusz Kondrat, Irena Orska, Halina Kowalska
Votes: 4,961
21. Mirror (1975)
Not Rated | 107 min | Biography, Drama
A dying man in his forties remembers his past. His childhood, his mother, the war, personal moments and things that tell of the recent history of all the Russian nation.
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky | Stars: Margarita Terekhova, Filipp Yankovskiy, Ignat Daniltsev, Oleg Yankovskiy
Votes: 52,203 | Gross: $0.18M
22. The Promised Land (1975)
Not Rated | 170 min | Drama
Three friends hope to build a factory but their plans are quickly jeopardized by local politics and one of the partner's dangerous love affair.
Director: Andrzej Wajda | Stars: Daniel Olbrychski, Wojciech Pszoniak, Andrzej Seweryn, Anna Nehrebecka
Votes: 4,026
23. Man of Marble (1977)
160 min | Drama
A young Polish filmmaker sets out to find out what happened to Mateusz Birkut, a bricklayer who became a propaganda hero in the 1950s but later fell out of favor and disappeared.
Director: Andrzej Wajda | Stars: Krystyna Janda, Jerzy Radziwilowicz, Tadeusz Lomnicki, Jacek Lomnicki
Votes: 4,778
24. Stalker (1979)
Not Rated | 162 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
A guide leads two men through an area known as the Zone to find a room that grants wishes.
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky | Stars: Alisa Freyndlikh, Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy, Anatoliy Solonitsyn, Nikolay Grinko
Votes: 144,672 | Gross: $0.23M
25. The Constant Factor (1980)
Not Rated | 87 min | Drama
A young man is facing death of his mother. A petty corruption at his job leads to him being framed and robbed of his only desire to climb mountains in Himalayas, as his father did and where he died.
Director: Krzysztof Zanussi | Stars: Tadeusz Bradecki, Zofia Mrozowska, Malgorzata Zajaczkowska, Cezary Morawski
Votes: 1,149
26. Mephisto (1981)
Unrated | 146 min | Drama
In early-1930s Germany, a passionate stage actor faces a dilemma: renounce his apolitical stance and comply with the Reich's doctrine, or face oblivion. But, Faustian bargains never end well. What is the price of success?
Director: István Szabó | Stars: Klaus Maria Brandauer, Ildikó Bánsági, Krystyna Janda, Rolf Hoppe
Votes: 11,589
27. Man of Iron (1981)
PG | 156 min | Drama, History
A few years after the events of Man of Marble (1977), a journalist investigates Mateusz Birkut's son Maciek Tomczyk, now an activist leading a shipyard strike.
Director: Andrzej Wajda | Stars: Jerzy Radziwilowicz, Krystyna Janda, Marian Opania, Wieslawa Kosmalska
Votes: 3,794
28. Blind Chance (1987)
Not Rated | 114 min | Drama, Romance
Witek runs after a train. Three variations follow on how such a seemingly banal incident could influence the rest of Witek's life.
Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski | Stars: Boguslaw Linda, Tadeusz Lomnicki, Zbigniew Zapasiewicz, Boguslawa Pawelec
Votes: 11,195
29. Danton (1983)
PG | 136 min | Biography, Drama, History
In 1793, as the Terror begins in France, Georges Danton, a champion-of-the-people, returns to clash against Maximilien Robespierre and his extremist party.
Director: Andrzej Wajda | Stars: Gérard Depardieu, Wojciech Pszoniak, Anne Alvaro, Roland Blanche
Votes: 7,771
30. Come and See (1985)
Not Rated | 142 min | Drama, Thriller, War
After finding an old rifle, a young boy joins the Soviet resistance movement against ruthless German forces and experiences the horrors of World War II.
Director: Elem Klimov | Stars: Aleksey Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Liubomiras Laucevicius, Vladas Bagdonas
Votes: 97,106
31. No End (1985)
Not Rated | 107 min | Drama, Romance
The wife of the recently deceased lawyer tries to cope with grief after his loss and to keep his last case going in court.
Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski | Stars: Grazyna Szapolowska, Maria Pakulnis, Aleksander Bardini, Jerzy Radziwilowicz
Votes: 5,700
32. Damnation (1988)
120 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A lonely barfly falls in love with a married bar singer.
Director: Béla Tarr | Stars: Miklós Székely B., Vali Kerekes, Gyula Pauer, György Cserhalmi
Votes: 6,763
33. The Decalogue (1989–1990)
TV-MA | 572 min | Drama
Ten television drama films, each one based on one of the Ten Commandments.
Stars: Artur Barcis, Olgierd Lukaszewicz, Olaf Lubaszenko, Aleksander Bardini
Votes: 27,865 | Gross: $0.10M
34. Satantango (1994)
Not Rated | 439 min | Drama
On the eve of a large payment, residents of a collapsing collective farm see their plans turn into desolation when they discover that Irimiás, a former co-worker who they thought was dead, is returning to the community.
Director: Béla Tarr | Stars: Mihály Vig, Putyi Horváth, László feLugossy, Éva Almássy Albert
Votes: 12,566
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