Six P.M. (1944) User Reviews

Love, past war or the difficult fate of two loving hearts

[lyubitelfilmov · 9/10 · 30 April 2020]

Military drama, musical. The month of May is coming, which means the time has come for war cinema! Just kidding, this time I will confine myself to just two old films about the Great Patriotic War, which I was advised by a very good and intelligent man who understands old cinema much better than the mediocrity who now writes these lines. And the first in line will be this musical picture, taken in the distant forty-fourth year, in wartime conditions. And here is my brief opinion - love, the past war. I will not write about the minuses, because there are none at all. There are comments regarding the technical part, but I will write more about this at the end. And I intend to dwell on the expressive merits of this musical military drama. The foreword again turned out to be rather short, so you can start. So, expressive advantages: 1. History - the picture tells of two young people whom the war brought together - the gunner Vasily Kudryashov and the young beauty Varia Pankova. Having met in Moscow at the beginning of the war, at first sight they fall in love with each other and give themselves a promise to meet at six o'clock in the evening after the war. The war will make its own adjustments, the path to victory will be long, but the audience, like the heroes, will wait for the final. And if at first the story did not catch me (which is true), then closer to the middle I began to notice that I did not care what would happen to the heroes. There is drama, and tearful moments, and humor, which is very appropriate by the way. I really enjoyed the story. After all, the whole picture is saturated with hope, hope of victory, hope of meeting. This is very familiar to the older generation of viewers. I still remember the stories of my beloved grandmother about the heroic work in the rear, about what these young girls carried out, what they had to do in order to overcome the evil that spread across Europe and invaded our country. And for us, the new generation, this picture makes us feel this mood and all the power of this great and simple word "hope". 2. Dynamics - despite my timing (I watched the remounted version of the sixty-ninth year, I can't judge the first version) - an hour and a half, the picture during this time manages to tell a story, reveal the characters and atmosphere. Maybe this is the result of re-installation, although I noticed only one point where the gluing was too noticeable. And the war was shown to us, though it looks theatrical, plus shots of the military chronicle were added, but you don't even pay attention to it. 3. Songs - "The March of the Gunners" and "The March of the Defenders of Moscow" deserve special mention. The fact is that the composer of the picture was the Stalin Prize laureate Tikhon Nikolayevich Khrennikov, who during the war years, as part of a concert troupe, traveled along the fronts and spoke to the troops. He himself wrote the music for these songs, and many others. These songs are so vivid and fiery that I am not surprised that our soldiers broke the fascist infection with these songs on their lips. And the remaining songs also pleased. Of course, I don't really understand music, but I really enjoyed the whole musical component of the picture. I can't do anything about it! 4. Scenery - I still can't imagine how the creators succeeded in the conditions of war, the enormous exertion of the forces of the whole country, to build the scenery, and those that, when looked at, you will not have a shadow of doubt that Moscow is in front of you! That honestly, I can not imagine! Technical part. I admit to you that he put the mark on the painting six years ago in advance without looking at it - and was not mistaken. If the picture, in general, is not satisfactory, although restoration is needed, then the sound is wild horror. It was because of this that it was not entirely comfortable to watch the picture, which is really something to hide. And if the dialogues were audible and distinguishable, then when they started to sing, everything became the same and turned into a noise that I wanted to stop as soon as possible. Sound restoration is simply necessary for this picture, especially now, in the year of the Seventy-fifth Victory, so that the young generation can get acquainted with this picture, well, and publish it in blu-ray format of course! A little about the main characters: 1. Vasily Kudryashov performed by Evgeny Samoilov - senior lieutenant, commander of an artillery battery. Together with his friend Pavel, he goes to Moscow, where he meets his love Varia. With a cheerful disposition, a brave commander and ardent defender of the Motherland, who hates invaders with all his heart. Despite the dramatic moments in life - remains a true role model. The brilliant acting of Evgeny Samoilov is attached! I agree that everything looks theatrical, but do not care. 2. Pavel Demidov performed by Ivan Lyubeznov - lieutenant, colleague and friend of Vasya. A man with a more cheerful disposition, who at the critical moment helped Vasya. With a wide soul. The meeting in Moscow also influenced his fate, which was pleasant for me. Ivan is just something, so get used to the role and remain a living person - you need to be able to. Although theatrical, but nice! Merited applause! 3. Varya Pankova performed by Maria Ladynina is a Moscow young woman who fell in love with Vasily. An ordinary, naive and romantic girl whose dreams were turned over by war. But hope and promise helped to overcome all obstacles. Maria pleasantly surprised me. This is how to play love with one eye! Higher craftsmanship, just supreme! This picture was also shown in the cinemas of the United States, but already in the victorious forty-fifth year and was a resounding success with the audience. As a result, we have an excellent military drama and musical in one person with an excellent and touching love story against the backdrop of the Great Patriotic War with a great atmosphere, good scenery, wonderful and powerful songs and simply amazing acting work!

Chorus of Soldiers

[boblipton · 5/10 · 4 November 2012]

A pretty good operetta by Pyrev, starring his wife and Yevgeni Samojlov, this one has some good numbers -- startling to see them performed by a chorus of soldiers in the snow -- some nice war footage as Samojlov calls in an artillery strike in the snow, and three, count 'em, three tacked on endings, including the obligatory Thanks to Stalin ending as they finally meet at 6PM after the war. Everyone winds up being insufferably noble and fouling things up so that what would seem to be a properly tragic ending gets sorted out nicely.

If it weren't for the fact that it's in black & white, everyone speaks Russian and there are real war scenes, it reminds me of the sort of oversaturated musical that Fox was making in this period starring Betty Grable and John Payne. Heck, second lead Ivan Lyubeznov makes me think of Jack Oakie!