Release CalendarTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV News
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightFamily Entertainment GuideIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsCannes Film FestivalStar WarsAsian Pacific American Heritage MonthSummer Watch GuideSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign In
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • FAQ
IMDbPro

The Cold Summer of 1953

Original title: Kholodnoe leto pyatdesyat tretego
  • 1988
  • 1h 41m
IMDb RATING
7.8/10
2.7K
YOUR RATING
The Cold Summer of 1953 (1988)
ActionCrimeDramaThriller

Former political inmates Sergei and Nikolai live as exiles in a remote Siberian village. After the general Soviet gulag amnesty of 1953 8 pardoned common criminals terrorize the inhabitants.Former political inmates Sergei and Nikolai live as exiles in a remote Siberian village. After the general Soviet gulag amnesty of 1953 8 pardoned common criminals terrorize the inhabitants.Former political inmates Sergei and Nikolai live as exiles in a remote Siberian village. After the general Soviet gulag amnesty of 1953 8 pardoned common criminals terrorize the inhabitants.

  • Director
    • Aleksandr Proshkin
  • Writer
    • Edgar Dubrovsky
  • Stars
    • Valeriy Priyomykhov
    • Anatoliy Papanov
    • Viktor Stepanov
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.8/10
    2.7K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Aleksandr Proshkin
    • Writer
      • Edgar Dubrovsky
    • Stars
      • Valeriy Priyomykhov
      • Anatoliy Papanov
      • Viktor Stepanov
    • 11User reviews
    • 4Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win & 2 nominations total

    Photos57

    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    + 52
    View Poster

    Top cast20

    Edit
    Valeriy Priyomykhov
    Valeriy Priyomykhov
    • Sergey Basargin, 'Luzga'
    Anatoliy Papanov
    Anatoliy Papanov
    • Nikolay Starobogatov, 'Kopalych'
    Viktor Stepanov
    Viktor Stepanov
    • Mankov
    Nina Usatova
    Nina Usatova
    • Lida Matveyevna - maty Shury
    Zoya Buryak
    Zoya Buryak
    • Shura
    Yuriy Kuznetsov
    Yuriy Kuznetsov
    • Ivan Zotov
    Vladimir Kashpur
    Vladimir Kashpur
    • Fadeyich
    Sergey Vlasov
    Sergey Vlasov
    • Vitek - bandit
    • (as S. Vlasov)
    Vladimir Golovin
    Vladimir Golovin
    • 'Baron'
    • (as V. Golovin)
    Andrey Dudarenko
    Andrey Dudarenko
    • Mikhalych - bandit
    • (as A. Dudarenko)
    Aleksandr Zavyalov
    Aleksandr Zavyalov
    • 'Mukha' - bandit
    Aleksei Kolesnik
    Aleksei Kolesnik
    • 'Kryuk' - bandit
    • (as A.Kolesnik)
    Viktor Kosykh
    Viktor Kosykh
    • 'Shurup' - bandit
    • (as V.Kosykh)
    Boris Plotnikov
    Boris Plotnikov
    • syn Kopalycha
    • (as B. Plotnikov)
    Elizaveta Solodova
    • Starobogatova - zhena Kopalycha
    • (as Ye. Solodova)
    D. Karpova
    • Old Woman
    Konstantin Labutin
    Konstantin Labutin
    • Selyanin
    • (as K. Labutin)
    Tatyana Lebedkova
    Tatyana Lebedkova
      • Director
        • Aleksandr Proshkin
      • Writer
        • Edgar Dubrovsky
      • All cast & crew
      • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

      User reviews11

      7.82.7K
      1
      2
      3
      4
      5
      6
      7
      8
      9
      10

      Featured reviews

      10red-55

      good but complex

      This is a very good movie, however, one has to have some knowledge of Soviet history to fully understand it. The story takes place right after the death of Josef Stalin, to "celebrate" his death the Soviet command released all the prisoners within Soviet jails. All prisoners except the political ones, that is to say the rapists, murderers and thieves were freed while those who fought for freedom were still behind bars. That summer there was an unprecedented epidemic of crime in the Soviet Union. This film deals with the situation in a small village that has been attacked by a group of released prisoners, and the fight of one political prisoner to help the villagers.
      artlaub

      the last movie of our hero PAPANOV

      The movie is not bad, its a good movie which I give 7 points of 10. I must say that the movie is not from 1988, its from 1987. It was the last film of anatolij papanov, while the recording of this movie he died.Papanov is getting big in movie-business since the movie briljantnaja ruka(1969), he played there a criminal man with a special humor personality, It will even nowadays make a parody of his charakter by people like the music group'Krasnaya Plesen'. But 'holodnoje leto 53-go' shows that in the early days it was sometimes so that the real criminals, which killed and stealed people get out and people who were not criminals and made not much wrong had to working as a prisoner.

      °°°°°°°°
      9Keltic-2

      Humanity survives even in exile

      Grainy stock gives this film an almost documentary feel and has the additional effect of underscoring the dismal state of the trading outpost at which most of the events take place. _The Cold Summer of 1953_ is more authentic and less hysterical than _Gulag_, although it makes the same points with regards the social standing (or, more accurately, the complete lack of social standing) of political prisoners in postwar Russia. Looked down upon by even the most violent of criminals, the two political exiles still maintain a sense of dignity and, to some extent, honour, in the face of their privations.
      9siarheimanakov

      watch the drama behind the action

      Many said in their comments that this movie is sort of an action movie about good guys shooting bad guys. To me, this perception totally misses the idea of the movie. This film is absolutely not about shooting and action, even though there is plenty of it. It is about many things. It is about physical and more importantly deep psychological suffering of people who lived in exile during Stalin/Soviet repressions.

      This film shows in a dramatic way lives of two people and their families being ruined buy the System. The film portrays two examples (out of millions) of one person who's gone through pain of World War II and one of a dedicated scientists who found themselves been thrown to a jail and their hopes broken at times when they were at their peak in life. Then they found themselves existing for many long and cold years in Siberian exile watching their lives slipping away from them.

      Another important point of the film is showing the entire generations of people (with very few exceptions) being brainwashed and molded the way that state wanted them to be. At the same time the cynical nature of the system itself is also portrayed in many neat and subtle ways.

      This film is like a book were you need to read between the lines, here you need to see behind the image. To me, being grown up in Soviet Union - it comes naturally in this case and the film grips me with its drama for its entire length having a very moving ending. But probably if you are not fluent in CCCP history and you don't know for example who Beria was, what the laws were like during cult of personality, what was the Belarussian front in World War II, who was Ordzhonikidze - without such little things and many others the film will be either very hard to follow (in this case it probably becomes sort of pretentious art house stile flick) or you just miss it completely and it is going to be just an aged action movie. Well watch it if you can, but it is 9 out of 10 from me.
      6lee_eisenberg

      the criminals are those who can't take criticism

      For thirty years, Joseph Stalin kept a tight grip on the Soviet Union, imprisoning and murdering millions. After he died, a number of people whom he had imprisoned got released. It turned out that among those were people who had committed violent crimes. Aleksandr Proshkin's "Kholodnoye leto pyatdesyat tretego" ("Cold Summer of 1953" in English) looks at the result of this. When a group of dangerous criminals takes over a rural village, a former political prisoner has to resort to extreme measures.

      The movie got released during Mikhail Gorbachev's presidency. It was appropriate that in the period when criticism of its history became part of official Soviet policy, movies like this and "Little Vera" came out. They were finally willing to admit that they had been wrong about so many things. There could be no doubt that Stalin himself was the USSR's biggest criminal of all. Even Lavrentiy Beria, who freed a number of prisoners, organized the Soviet seizure of power in Eastern Europe.

      I wouldn't call "Cold Summer of 1953" a masterpiece. At times it seems like an action movie. But it's a good look at this important part of Soviet history.

      More like this

      Kalina krasnaya
      7.6
      Kalina krasnaya
      White Sun of the Desert
      7.7
      White Sun of the Desert
      In August of 1944
      7.4
      In August of 1944
      They Fought for Their Country
      7.7
      They Fought for Their Country
      Mimino
      8.1
      Mimino
      Watch Out for the Automobile
      8.0
      Watch Out for the Automobile
      The Garage
      8.0
      The Garage
      Two Comrades Served
      7.9
      Two Comrades Served
      Afonya
      7.7
      Afonya
      A Railway Station for Two
      7.8
      A Railway Station for Two
      Office Romance
      8.2
      Office Romance
      Operation 'Y' & Other Shurik's Adventures
      8.4
      Operation 'Y' & Other Shurik's Adventures

      Storyline

      Edit

      Did you know

      Edit
      • Trivia
        The role in this film, unfortunately, was the last for the brilliant and beloved actor Anatoliy Papanov.

      Top picks

      Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
      Sign in

      FAQ13

      • How long is The Cold Summer of 1953?Powered by Alexa

      Details

      Edit
      • Release date
        • June 1988 (Soviet Union)
      • Country of origin
        • Soviet Union
      • Language
        • Russian
      • Also known as
        • Der kalte Sommer des Jahres 53...
      • Filming locations
        • Soviet Union
      • Production company
        • Mosfilm
      • See more company credits at IMDbPro

      Tech specs

      Edit
      • Runtime
        1 hour 41 minutes
      • Color
        • Color
      • Sound mix
        • Mono
      • Aspect ratio
        • 1.37 : 1

      Related news

      Contribute to this page

      Suggest an edit or add missing content
      The Cold Summer of 1953 (1988)
      Top Gap
      By what name was The Cold Summer of 1953 (1988) officially released in Canada in English?
      Answer
      • See more gaps
      • Learn more about contributing
      Edit page

      More to explore

      Recently viewed

      Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
      Get the IMDb app
      Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
      Follow IMDb on social
      Get the IMDb app
      For Android and iOS
      Get the IMDb app
      • Help
      • Site Index
      • IMDbPro
      • Box Office Mojo
      • License IMDb Data
      • Press Room
      • Advertising
      • Jobs
      • Conditions of Use
      • Privacy Policy
      • Your Ads Privacy Choices
      IMDb, an Amazon company

      © 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.