Soviet films

[morozow]

The Very Same Munchhausen - Soviet art of the two-part TV movie in 1979, filmed at the Studio "Mosfilm" commissioned by Central television of the USSR. The script Grigory Gorin created at the remote based on the works of Rudolf Erich the Raspe about the adventures of Baron Munchausen. The film premiered on 1 January 1980, DH Soviet Union.
Literary source material for the script was the play by Grigory Gorin "the Most truthful", which was a success in the theater of the Soviet Army (Munchausen — Vladimir Zeldin). Mark Zakharov very much and he decided to move it to the television screen. In the course of work on the script of the play was seriously reworked and changed much compared to the theatrical version. Music by Alexey Rybnikov also was originally written for the play.

The film takes place in Germany (according to the chronology of the plot in 1779).

The film was shot in Germany, in the socialist part — GDR (real Munchausen lived near Hanover in Bodenwerder, located on the territory of the capitalist FRG). To organize the shooting on the territory of a friendly socialist GDR was much easier, and therefore shooting steel street Wernigerode, had "authentic" look and almost not affected during the war. The extras and the episodes have involved German actors and citizens.

Here lives in Germany is the most honest man, the Baron Munchausen. And everyone just takes it as a storyteller, living in a fantasy world. Only now everything he says is true.

Munchausen lives in his castle with a charming girl Martha. They have long been thinking about the wedding, but there is one problem: the Baron is married. In his youth, he was by the will of the parents from purely practical considerations, married to Jacobini background Dutten with which he was never associated tender feelings. She lives alone, with an adult son Theophilus. Munchausen seeking a divorce. Authorization may be given only a Duke, but a prose writer jakobine and her lover energetic Henry Raskopf (Abdulov) strongly oppose it.

The way it happens — by signing the divorce papers, Munchausen wrote in the column "number" of 32 may — according to his calculations, in a calendar error had crept in, and this year should be another one day. But the ideas and the astronomical observations of Baron do not matter, and all take his actions as another challenge to public order. There is a scandal. The court, deeming himself insulted, refuses to approve the divorce. From Baron require the abdication: it must admit all their stories are empty fantasies, in writing, the points to abandon all that he wrote and spoke. Friends, servants, Mar — all persuade the Baron to obey.

And he obeys. And "dying." Becomes a normal florist - Muller. "To be Muller in Germany is to be Ivanov in Russia."

And amazing. From the living troublemaker Baron became a dead celebrity prose writer jakobine publishes "the adventures of Baron". The memoirs of Baron not just edited — they are embellished and complemented by outright fabrications. About Munchausen sing songs in restaurants and draw pictures. It is called "a great man, misunderstood by contemporaries", and "32nd of may" (the day of the 3-year anniversary of his death) on the main square of the city opened a monument to the Baron.

Not warzaw lies around him, Baron Munchausen decides to rise again.

And it wants to send a cannon on the moon. To check.

And he's going to the moon, uttering his famous words:

I understand what your trouble: you are too serious! An intelligent face is not a sign of intelligence, gentlemen. All stupidity on earth are done with this expression. Smile, gentlemen! Smile!


Monument to Oleg Yankovsky in the form of Munchausen (Saratov)

Great movie. Great actors. Jokes, puns, aphorisms. A bit of madness and absurdity.

For me, the film resonates with the "Ordinary miracle". These two films form a kind of dilogy.  The Baron is a little older, moved with Martha from the castle, to a distant estate and became a Magician.

Spoiler: ShowHide

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWB4k-YXJUM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw0VrqbKe7U

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080037/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_7

[morozow]

I decided to go back. 

To Kill a Dragon (Russian: Убить дракона, translit. Ubit drakona) is a 1989 Soviet-German parable fantasy film based on the play of Evgeny Shvarts Dragon (1942–44), directed by Mark Zakharov (marking his final film). Year 1988



As usual Zakharov, theatrical philosophical parable.

On freedom and fear. About where the "dragon".

Great actors and dialogues.

A wandering knight Lancelot, a distant descendant on the maternal side of the famous Sir Lancelot, comes to a city which has been ruled by a fierce dragon for four hundred years. Most of the residents do not want to be rescued from the tyranny of the monstrous serpent, explaining its historical importance.

Lancelot, saving the Dragon's victim, an innocent girl, challenges the monster to a fight. In the underground city there are people who help the knight to find weapons and get ready for an unequal fight. Lancelot defeats the Dragon, but he gets wounded and goes into hiding. In the city the dragon's rule is replaced by chaos.

Gradually, the bygone story becomes the past, and the city is getting new decrees. After the fight with the Dragon, the city mayor who at his rule served as a puppet claims victory over the Dragon. Lancelot is forced to return to the city to explain to the residents that in itself the death of the Dragon only means that it is time for each kill a dragon in themselves and that he will make all residents to do so. However, as he does so, the inhabitants of the town come to see him as the ne§xt dragon and bow before their new master.

Lancelot goes away from the people. He sees children playing with the Dragon who has shapeshifted from a dark and cynical warlord to a good-natured bearded man. The Dragon offers not to continue battling with the children present but Lancelot refuses. The Dragon declares that the most interesting bit is about to begin.


http://cinema.mosfilm.ru/films/film/1980-1989/ubit-drakona/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096329

[morozow]

And we finish with Zakharov's films.

Once I'm on the previous films little of yourself said. Just quoting Wikipedia. But I'm not an expert on movies. I just like them.

So.

The House That Swift Built (Russian: Дом, который построил Свифт, translit. Dom, kotoryj postroil Svift) is a 1982 Soviet comedy film directed by Mark Zakharov based on the eponymous play by Grigori Gorin about writer Jonathan Swift.

Outstanding British writer Jonathan Swift — one of the most mysterious writers of the late XVII — early XVIII centuries, the author of the famous book "Gulliver's Journey" and sharp satirical pamphlets, all his life was also a priest, Dean (rector) of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, and at the end of his life he was declared crazy. In his will, the money and the house Dean swift left in favor of the mentally ill.

Fictional characters from the works of swift's lilliput, the giants Yahoos, Houyhnhnms — inhabit the house that swift built (A. Jankowski). Reality here is closely intertwined with fiction, objects from one turn into another, and it is impossible to understand where the real events, and where the mystification or fantasy satirist. For treatment, a psychiatrist, Dr. Simpson (A. Abdulov) is sent to swift. It is he who, together with the audience, will experience all the amazing events in this house in order to understand and comprehend the lonely genius artist.

The film is based on real facts from the life of Jonathan Swift, though far from biographical accuracy. Therefore, the play Gr. Gorina, on which the film is made, has the subtitle "Theatrical fantasy".

This film is little known. If other films of Mark Zakharov regularly shown on TV, this is rare.

He's gloomy. And full of surrealism.

Under the influence of Swift works everything is transformed. Sage giant by alcoholism turns into layman of average height, and then rise again. The policeman is trying to break out of a series of similar reincarnations. The government sends a psychiatrist to swift for fear of falling on them flying city. Materialist doctor becomes first Gulliver, and then by swift for the tour from the future.

At the same time, a lot of questions will remain open:"are the actors Hired by the Dean or are they really the characters of Gulliver's Journey?""and" does anyone die for the whole movie really?"

The house that swift built donapost, Movies, the Soviet Union, surrealism Pour oil into the flames of surrealism grotesque surroundings (but at least the same creepy mask) and music that is not closer in spirit to the same pretty romantic films Zakharov (in the final "Home..."almost directly emphasizes the senselessness of the romantic line of the film), and almost to the "Nightmare before Halloween".

Since childhood, I remember the love triangle of midgets. It's such a sad scene.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085452/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=52&v=32GZmFoeiWQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2WTnXd5RmQ

[morozow]

And that really does finish up with Zakharov.

Although he has two films, one about I can still tell.

But he's a theater Director.  And he has a cult production in the Theater of Lenin Komsomol.

Rock-Opera "Juno and Avos".

Composer Alexei Rybnikov on poems by Andrei Voznesensky.  And Mark Zakharov's production.

It was first performed in 1981 in the Lenkom Theatre. Main roles in the premiere performed by Soviet stars Nikolai Karachentsov and Elena Shanina.

The opera is named after the two ships Juno and Avos that constituted the expedition headed by Russian explorer Nikolai Rezanov. The plot is based on the love story of Nikolai Rezanov and Concepción Argüello, a 15-year-old daughter of José Darío Argüello, the colonial governor of Spanish California.

Here are the details - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_and_Avos_(opera)

One of the ships Ryazanov, was called Avos. Here is the story about the Russian philosophical concept - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_avos%27 

This spectacle show and now. But it is not the same. No Ryazanov-Karachentseva. I wish I'd ever seen you live.

Video of the classic production of 1983. Unfortunately the best quality is not found -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNtYnsELcJU

My favorite song from the play -

Under the Russian flag of St. Andrew
And with the motto - Avos.

Юнона и Авось (Песня моряков "Авось")

The most famous Aria of this Opera

I'll never forget you.
I'll never see you.

Николай Караченцов - Я тебя никогда не забуду

White rose hip
For love does not say the price,
Only life one, life one, life one.

Юнона и Авось - Белый шиповник (1983 год).mp4

[morozow]

Today the 8th of March. International women day.

The film is the same today. Easy, fun, light movie about a strong woman.

Hussar Ballad

The Hussar Ballad  is a 1962 Soviet musical film by Eldar Ryazanov, filmed on Mosfilm.

The film is based on the play "A Long Time Ago" by Alexander Gladkov. 
The film's musical score and songs were written by Tikhon Khrennikov.

It is believed that the prototype Shurochki Azarova — cavalryman-maiden of the Patriotic war of 1812 Nadezhda Durova. However, the Creator of the character Alexander Gladkov refutes this, although the film has a very recognizable coincidence with the "Notes cavalryman girls".

Everything you say in the movie verses.

The film proved so popular with Soviet audiences that poruchik Rzhevsky became quite a folklore character, featured in numerous jokes.

It starts so. Shura (Alexander) Azarov, 18 year old girl. He lives and is brought up with his uncle, a retired staff major. The major and the nurse of Shurochka (Batman major) taught her a great to stay the saddle and fence.

It comes hussar Lieutenant Dmitry Rzhevsky. He's engaged to Shura in absentia. He's not happy about a future meeting with a bride, drawing her Cutesy fashionista.

Wanting to show her uncle a fancy dress for the upcoming ball, she runs out into the garden, dressed with a cornet, and faces the nose to nose with the future groom. Latest Sascha takes for the relative of the bride and trying to figure out how that is silly.

Such a biased attitude resents the girl, and she decides to take a little revenge on him. At their meeting Shurochka with might and main and with obvious pleasure plays a role of the narrow-minded girl who thinks of fashionable novels, embroidery and dreams of "ideal love". Rzhevskiy horrified him want to marry a fool! At the first opportunity, he hurries to run out of the room, pretty amused by the young prankster. However, like her Lieutenant, though she doesn't admit it even to herself.

And here, at the ball announce the beginning of the war with Napoleon.

All the guests are leaving. Men are preparing to go to the front, and women are discussing how they can help the front. Sascha remains one and decides to run away from home in the uniform of a cornet to arms to defend their Homeland. Uncle Ivan agrees to be her ordinary.

And begins her adventures in the war. Fate of course brings her to the Rzhevsky.

And of course it all ends with love.

Spoiler: ShowHide

http://cinema.mosfilm.ru/films/film/1960-1969/gusarskaya-ballada/


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056045/

[J. Wilhelm]

Today the 8th of March. International women day.

The film is the same today. Easy, fun, light movie about a strong woman.

Hussar Ballad

The Hussar Ballad  is a 1962 Soviet musical film by Eldar Ryazanov, filmed on Mosfilm.

The film is based on the play "A Long Time Ago" by Alexander Gladkov. 
The film's musical score and songs were written by Tikhon Khrennikov.

It is believed that the prototype Shurochki Azarova — cavalryman-maiden of the Patriotic war of 1812 Nadezhda Durova. However, the Creator of the character Alexander Gladkov refutes this, although the film has a very recognizable coincidence with the "Notes cavalryman girls".

Everything you say in the movie verses.

The film proved so popular with Soviet audiences that poruchik Rzhevsky became quite a folklore character, featured in numerous jokes.

It starts so. Shura (Alexander) Azarov, 18 year old girl. He lives and is brought up with his uncle, a retired staff major. The major and the nurse of Shurochka (Batman major) taught her a great to stay the saddle and fence.

It comes hussar Lieutenant Dmitry Rzhevsky. He's engaged to Shura in absentia. He's not happy about a future meeting with a bride, drawing her Cutesy fashionista.

Wanting to show her uncle a fancy dress for the upcoming ball, she runs out into the garden, dressed with a cornet, and faces the nose to nose with the future groom. Latest Sascha takes for the relative of the bride and trying to figure out how that is silly.

Such a biased attitude resents the girl, and she decides to take a little revenge on him. At their meeting Shurochka with might and main and with obvious pleasure plays a role of the narrow-minded girl who thinks of fashionable novels, embroidery and dreams of "ideal love". Rzhevskiy horrified him want to marry a fool! At the first opportunity, he hurries to run out of the room, pretty amused by the young prankster. However, like her Lieutenant, though she doesn't admit it even to herself.

And here, at the ball announce the beginning of the war with Napoleon.

All the guests are leaving. Men are preparing to go to the front, and women are discussing how they can help the front. Sascha remains one and decides to run away from home in the uniform of a cornet to arms to defend their Homeland. Uncle Ivan agrees to be her ordinary.

And begins her adventures in the war. Fate of course brings her to the Rzhevsky.

And of course it all ends with love.

Spoiler: ShowHide

http://cinema.mosfilm.ru/films/film/1960-1969/gusarskaya-ballada/


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056045/

Cute concept and a politically progressive message. Right in line with the classic movies from the 1960's period. There are a lot of cinematic jewels from the period.

[morozow]

Today the 8th of March. International women day.

The film is the same today. Easy, fun, light movie about a strong woman.

Hussar Ballad

Cute concept and a politically progressive message. Right in line with the classic movies from the 1960's period. There are a lot of cinematic jewels from the period.

Sorry, there's no progressive political message.

That's patriotism.

And so this option operetta. With adventures and love.

Well, in the USSR, the equality of women was stated since the beginning. Though of course the reality was different from slogans.

[morozow]

Today, may 9. Victory Day.

Well, the film about the war.

Only Old Men Are Going to Battle



Soviet feature film 1973 directed by Leonid Bykov, telling about the everyday life of fighter pilots during the Great Patriotic War.

Many phrases of the characters in the movie went on quotes, becoming part of the Soviet and post-Soviet folklore. To heroes of the film, captain Titarenko and mechanic Makarych monuments in Kiev and Kharkov respectively were established.

Film about fighter pilots. There's a singing squadron. It is so named for the ensemble of pilots singing between departures.

В бой идут одни «старики» - Смуглянка

In this squadron comes replenishment. And then, the story of men and war.  Many episodes and characters had real prototypes. Drama and humor.

And the main words - WE LIVE.

It's a great movie.

Spoiler: ShowHide

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070861/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edYw2UFCQXw

[Hurricane Annie]

Is there any Soviet films with zeppelin or dirigible?

[morozow]

I can only remember that:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Tent_(film)

The Red Tent (Russian: Красная палатка, translit. Krasnaya palatka; Italian: La tenda rossa; Spanish: La tienda roja) is a joint Soviet/Italian 1969 film directed by Mikhail Kalatozov.

The film is based on the story of the mission to rescue Umberto Nobile and the other survivors of the crash of the Airship Italia. It features Sean Connery as Roald Amundsen and Peter Finch as Nobile. The script was adapted by Yuri Nagibin and Mikhail Kalatozov from Nagibin's novel of the same title. Nagibin couldn't complete the script due to a series of conflicts with the producer, who insisted on expanding the role of his mistress Claudia Cardinale, and it was completed by de Concini and Bolt.[/i]

I'm not hooked and I really was not looking.

There are other movies where balloons or airships play a role in the plot or are a symbol. But they are not important

[Hurricane Annie]

I can only remember that:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Tent_(film)

The Red Tent (Russian: Красная палатка, translit. Krasnaya palatka; Italian: La tenda rossa; Spanish: La tienda roja) is a joint Soviet/Italian 1969 film directed by Mikhail Kalatozov.

The film is based on the story of the mission to rescue Umberto Nobile and the other survivors of the crash of the Airship Italia. It features Sean Connery as Roald Amundsen and Peter Finch as Nobile. The script was adapted by Yuri Nagibin and Mikhail Kalatozov from Nagibin's novel of the same title. Nagibin couldn't complete the script due to a series of conflicts with the producer, who insisted on expanding the role of his mistress Claudia Cardinale, and it was completed by de Concini and Bolt.

I'm not hooked and I really was not looking.

There are other movies where balloons or airships play a role in the plot or are a symbol. But they are not important

I found the plot so  wild that I had to Google  the main characters  to verify it.  It was loosely based on a true story

[morozow]

I can only remember that:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Tent_(film)

The Red Tent (Russian: Красная палатка, translit. Krasnaya palatka; Italian: La tenda rossa; Spanish: La tienda roja) is a joint Soviet/Italian 1969 film directed by Mikhail Kalatozov.

The film is based on the story of the mission to rescue Umberto Nobile and the other survivors of the crash of the Airship Italia. It features Sean Connery as Roald Amundsen and Peter Finch as Nobile. The script was adapted by Yuri Nagibin and Mikhail Kalatozov from Nagibin's novel of the same title. Nagibin couldn't complete the script due to a series of conflicts with the producer, who insisted on expanding the role of his mistress Claudia Cardinale, and it was completed by de Concini and Bolt.

I'm not hooked and I really was not looking.

There are other movies where balloons or airships play a role in the plot or are a symbol. But they are not important

I found the plot so  wild that I had to Google  the main characters  to verify it.  It was loosely based on a true story

There's still an interesting detail.

To movie two version of music, international - Morricone and Soviet - Zatsepina.

[Hurricane Annie]

I can only remember that:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Tent_(film)

The Red Tent (Russian: Красная палатка, translit. Krasnaya palatka; Italian: La tenda rossa; Spanish: La tienda roja) is a joint Soviet/Italian 1969 film directed by Mikhail Kalatozov.

The film is based on the story of the mission to rescue Umberto Nobile and the other survivors of the crash of the Airship Italia. It features Sean Connery as Roald Amundsen and Peter Finch as Nobile. The script was adapted by Yuri Nagibin and Mikhail Kalatozov from Nagibin's novel of the same title. Nagibin couldn't complete the script due to a series of conflicts with the producer, who insisted on expanding the role of his mistress Claudia Cardinale, and it was completed by de Concini and Bolt.

I'm not hooked and I really was not looking.

There are other movies where balloons or airships play a role in the plot or are a symbol. But they are not important

I found the plot so  wild that I had to Google  the main characters  to verify it.  It was loosely based on a true story

There's still an interesting detail.

To movie two version of music, international - Morricone and Soviet - Zatsepina.

The masters of movie  sound track

[morozow]

"Polustanok" - Soviet feature film, shot at the Studio" Mosfilm " in 1963.



Famous scientist, doctor of technical Sciences and academician PAL Palych on the advice of doctors goes to his next vacation in the countryside. There he wants to spend time in silence and remember the painting, which he was engaged in in the years of his youth. However, everything went wrong, as planned by the main character of the film.

It turned out that life in the village is not so quiet as they think city dwellers. Constantly there are some problems that have to be solved by the protagonist of the film performed by the inimitable Vasily Merkuryev. In some problems he gets himself, some he has to decide against his will.

This is a Comedy, or to be more precise, it is a Comedy of positions. A distinctive feature of the film is the absence of negative characters. Some of the characters are funny, some are not, but all the actors emanates positive energy.

Perfectly played by the children in the story are very good friends with Pavel Pavlovich.

The movie has love and motives. Nadezhda Rumyantseva in the role of bookkeeper of the collective farm Sims on the style repeated the role Tosi Kislitsyna from the film "Girls".

As always, the virtuoso Boris Novikov (Soviet actor of small roles) in the role of collective farm foreman, whose wife got out in the best milkmaids and now it is impossible to find at home, because she constantly travels to conferences to exchange experience.

This is a film-Testament, a film-confession about the inevitability of aging, about farewell to youth, about the need to come to terms with it. The film is a bit aged, relaxed, but full of bartoskova of laughter, which the Director himself called "emurayden".  — «Russian cinema.» Director's encyclopedia. Vol.1. M. 2010


I guess I'm old, too. I like the film very much, surprisingly calm, bright atmosphere of the film.

Spoiler: ShowHide

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057418/

http://cinema.mosfilm.ru/films/film/1960-1969/polustanok/

[morozow]

An article by an anti-Soviet blogger about Soviet war films.

https://germanych.livejournal.com/248609.html

Good movie about the war

Often hear bitter sobs about national cinema. Like here in the Soviet period, the films were wow as good. But did not and the Soviet Union and a good movie did not. Well that is generally the full zero. It's nothing, of course. Because in Soviet times there was a lot of slag ("Yurkin dawn" to help you) and in the post-Soviet period, a lot of very high quality tapes were removed. Ah here is simply right off the bat call:

"Brother" and "Brother-2" – excellent strong fighters, and even touching the strings of the sensitive Russian soul.
"Come to see me" – if this film 5 years under the New year showed, about the "Irony of fate" no one would remember. And the comparison is strongly in favor of "Come to see me" – the hero of Yankovsky is a real man, successful, strong-willed, nobody puts him drunk anywhere, he does not beat off a woman from anyone. Very good movie (as they say "Soviet" – light) .
"Blind man's buff" is the exact opposite. But it's just a superfilm.
"Eat served" is a great sitcom. From the Soviet films comes to mind is the comparison only with "You is Taimyr".
"Poisons, or the world history of poisoning", in which, incidentally, recently tragically deceased Panin so powerfully played Cesare Borgia. And Alexander Bashirov is simply magnificent. Kasatkina in an unusual role for himself very disgusting. Very good film.
"Piter-FM", "Walk" – movies are made of course "under Putin", but that they do not become worse.
"Portraying the victim" – the film is strange, to put it mildly, but very strong.
"New year's tariff" is also quite a nice new year's youth Comedy.
"Freaks" is a great children's film. True, Milla Jovovich and Ivan Urgant there do not sew the sleeve, but overall very gut. Khabensky, by the way, such roles go, but not different admirals there.
Well, certainly if he remembered Khabensky, how not to recall the wonderful black Comedy "the Mechanical Suite". Shine. And Makovetsky there as the investigator-the loser – just five points.
Well, there are different "what men talk About", "peculiarities of national fishing", etc. Well or bad some "dreaming of Space"?

It is, without thinking. I don't want to say that this is just the masterpieces. I want to say that these are very good films, which are no worse than very good films of the Soviet period. Of course it's a different movie. Heroes there sometimes just disgusting. But art reflects reality, even if it is refracted through the perception of the Creator. Are there many bad movies now? Many. So there were many of them in Soviet times. Just now all that is shot, falls to the viewer, and in the Soviet Union if the movie was bad (or didn't conform to the ideology), he fell not to the viewer and on the shelf. So that films like "Children don Quixote" now of course emerge not can. Because don Quixotes have disappeared somewhere – Soviet patriots can be honest and correct only when they are ordered by their native party, and if there is no order, the Soviet patriots sigh for good, but they themselves will give a hundred points forward to the last damned plunderer of socialist property. A good movie for the post-Soviet period was filmed a lot. Just aberration Soviet patriot somehow forbids him to watch a good movie, but requires to watch only any infamy or bad DIY.

But in the network I've found in the manifestation of a certain lady-Director who decided to remove "a good movie about the war." The very idea to make a film on donations I will not disassemble. I am not familiar with the economic component and can not say how much money to raise, and therefore can not make assumptions – will be able to collect the amount or not. But this formulation of the question – "a good film about the war" is very symptomatic. And most often means "film, which shows good good Stalin, good soldiers and vicious fascists." Well, that is this replication of Soviet children's films "about war". Or, simply – "a good film is a film, which is not unlike those films that I loved watching as a kid".

And I thought – what is a really good "film about the war" and what conditions must be met to get exactly such a film. And that's what I ended up with.

There was one special type of films in the Soviet era – the so-called "films about the war", or rather – films about that part of the Second world war, which in Soviet historiography was called the Great Patriotic war. And here I won't argue – almost everything that is removed in the post-Soviet period on this subject, rare slag. However, this slag did not come with the end of the USSR. Already in the 80-ies good films "about war" is not removed. Maybe would have liked, but did not succeed. And now I will try to explain why. For what will analyze several films about the war "Golden age". In my opinion, these are outstanding films. So:

"Ballad of the soldier", "Hot snow", "They fought for the Motherland" and "In war as in war".

This list can be somewhat expanded. But to analyze enough of these movies. In addition, these are my favorite films about the war, so it's more pleasant for me to analyze them.

So, here are a few conditions that make a film about the war on this work of art, and not just a visual interpretation of the stupid "Patriotic" propaganda in the style of "grandfathers fought." Not going to touch the total for any film that – well, there is type clash of personalities, the apotheosis climax, dynamics, etc., etc., I'm going to talk about those moments that are attribute of a good Soviet film about the war.

Condition 1 (almost impossible today). Have to go to war

The creators and at least some of the participants of a good film about the war themselves had to go through the war. Not to be unfounded, from these movies:

"The ballad of the soldier»

Director Grigori Chukhrai, in the end of 1939 he was drafted into the red army. Began to serve in the city of Mariupol as the cadet of regimental school of a battalion of communication. During the war he fought in the airborne units. In 1943 he took part in the air force operation "Dneprovsky landing".

Scriptwriter Valentin Yezhov, was drafted into the red army in 1940 and went through the war, demobilized in 1945.

The operator, Vladimir Nikolaev, data could not be found, there is very little information about him. Everywhere it is mentioned that he graduated from GIK (1932), was the operator "Soyuzkinorynok". Since 1935 – Director of photography Studio "Mosfilm". Most likely any war, or participated as a cameraman of a military chronicle. In any case, he knew what a real war looked like.

"Hot snow»

The author of the novel, on which the film was shot, Yuri Bondarev, since August 1942, a war veteran, a second Lieutenant, graduated from Chkalov artillery school.

Film Director, Gabriel Egiazarov, war veteran,

The operator of the film Fedor Dobronravov. Details of the biography is not found. But he was born in 1921. In 1950 he graduated from the faculty of cinematography VGIK. So he entered in 1945. So it is possible he participated in the war.

Georgy Zhzhenov, who played Lieutenant General Bessonov, did not fight, but the biography was no less simple, in 1938 received 5 years of camps "for espionage" (in a campaign trip to the far East in the train met an American).

"They fought for their Homeland»

Over the first chapters of the novel, on which the film was staged, Mikhail Sholokhov began to work in 1942-1943, periodically went to the operating parts (he certainly did not fight).

The film's Director Sergei Bondarchuk, a participant in the war since 1942.

Aleksei Vanin, who played the Mayor of an ordinary Greyhound, have given themselves a year to be called to the front. Fought as part of the Stalin Siberian division, has been wounded. He was demobilized in 1949.

Yuri Nikulin, who played private Nekrasov in the red army since 1939, served as an anti-aircraft gunner, was wounded, demobilized in 1946 in the rank of Sergeant.

Innokenty Smoktunovsky, who played a surgeon. His biography is like a movie. In January 1943 he was sent to the Kiev infantry school; after graduation, in August, he was sent to the front. He participated in the battles at the Kursk bulge, in the crossing of the Dnieper, in the liberation of Kiev. For the fact that under enemy fire Ford across the Dnieper delivered combat reports to the headquarters of the 75th division, was awarded the first medal "For bravery". In December 1943, near Kiev, Smoktunovsky was captured, spent a month in the camps for prisoners of war in Zhytomyr, Shepetovka, Berdichev. January 7, 1944, escaped from captivity. In February 1944 he joined the partisan detachment. In may 1944 again in the regular army, squad leader of a company of machine gunners and participated in the battles for the liberation of Warsaw. Demobilized in October 1945.

"In war, as in war»

The author of the story, Victor Kurochkin, since June 1943, the commander of the SU-85. He fought on the 1st Ukrainian front: Kursk bulge, the liberation of left-Bank Ukraine, crossing the Dnieper, the liberation of Kiev, Lviv. He was seriously wounded on January 31, 1945 while crossing the Oder.

Valentin Zubkov, who played the commander of the regiment of self-propelled guns, after graduating in 1943, the Armavir military aviation school was sent to the army.

Mikhail Gluzsky, who played the commander of the tank regiment Colonel Dey, was drafted into the red army in 1940, a participant in the war.

It certainly have been a war and many members of the crew, most of the actors although not fought, but lived in that time remember it. They do not have to imagine what war is, what bombing, bread coupons, waiting for a letter from the front, etc. etc. That is, these people made a film about what they knew very well, and even about the best period of their life – youth, which fell on this hard time. And by itself in the mental plan of the person who passed war, strongly differs from the one who wasn't at war. The warlord has a hard-won philosophy. How, for example, everything that was at war with Smoktunovsky, was transformed into his perception of the world? And would he have been able to play hamlet had he not suffered all that he had endured in the war? This is a very different breed of people.

Well, of course the intoxication of victory. Probably hundreds of victories in the world Cup of the national team will not give such a feeling as a victory in such a war. Modern man, even in principle, can not feel this feeling and how it affects the psyche of a creative person.

Again, the post-war understanding of what happened. These mountains of corpses among the civilian population. Terrible losses. And all this from one side and the other was covered by arguments about higher matters and the happiness of people. Again, the psyche of the creative person could not remain calm to all this.

And all together it gave the ideological and psychological environment in which there was a need to present their philosophy on this world drama.

What about today? Who makes war movies and who plays them? Hedonistic youth, which even in army did not serve, the smell in the barracks that called didn't know. And here she had to play in the film about the war, and even so to play to touch the heart? So they can't do it. Under no circumstances. A few years ago, the entire Soviet Internet community was terribly excited by the film "Brest fortress". Posts about what a great movie it was without counting. Well, literally everyone felt obliged to write that they say has finally made this wonderful film about the war. It's been a few years. So? Where's that wonderful war movie of yours? About him are not subsiding controversy? Does it excite minds? I want to review it again and again? He's gone. Passed and forgotten. Because it's just as humane as any other modern war movie. In that film, just ideological background was shown differently, more consonant with foaming among Soviet patriots. That's the only thing for which this film was sung by Soviet nightingales. But time puts everything in its place. A good film about the war – this is not the film in which the German tank T-IV as many rollers as necessary. In Soviet films about the war rarely appeared authentic German tanks. Because it's not about them. And here we smoothly pass to the following condition.

Condition 2. Less war.

It does not seem that strange, but in a good film about the war the war itself should be a bit. In the sense of war as fighting.

In the "Ballad of the soldier" fighting, as such, are shown quite a bit at the beginning. Only to justify the rest. But the whole film is imbued with the theme of war. It is present in almost every frame. "War is war" most of the film, actually, about how the gunners are going to the front line, so to say everyday life, domestic relationships. And two episodes of the battle – intense drama is actually quite short. Fighting in "They fought for the Motherland" more, but they also do not dominate the film. In terms of timing, more time is given to preparing for battle, and then leaving the almost completely destroyed regiment for the don and everything that is connected with it. Most of the four movies of "fighting time" in the film "Hot snow". But if the stopwatch to trace, it appears that there are fights all the time less than half the length of the film.

But the fight itself in all the films is very strong – fully attracts attention, evoking a passionate sense of audience desire to win at any cost. To take the fight, like shot it those who went through the war, now do not know and cannot know. Now films war re-enactors. The reenactor's "war" is the "war" of a man who knows he will not die. Lazy running, lazy imitation of hand-to-hand and a lot of beautiful photos in detail exactly sewn form. This is not a war. It's a glazed cake.

[morozow]

Condition 3. Roads

If fighting in a good movie about the war should not be very much, it must necessarily be the subject of the road – the road to the front, the road home, the road from one position to another, but the road, as a basic symbol of war, should be required. Not accidentally perhaps one of the best, if not the most better, military song was "Oh, roads, dust Yes a.....". Or, you can remember also a very famous "Oh track, front-line, we are not afraid of any bombing...". Not a fight, and the road, that is mental preparation for battle is essential to the perception of a soldier. World war I was a positional war. In the movie about the First world probably important would be the theme of trench seat. But world war II is mobile. The soldiers were retreating and advancing. On any roads, sometimes full off-road, at any time of the year. Probably everyone remembers the documentary footage, as in the mud, swamp, soldiers dragging guns, crossing rivers, swamps, etc. How to show the hard work of a soldier in world war II? Fight? No. Road!

In the film "They fought for the Motherland" dusty road, among the blazing wheat fields. And the soldiers, many of whom are peasants, go and almost cry, seeing these blazing fields. Very strong scene. In the film "In war as in war" the road of the summer, but with every kilometer the tension increases until finally the gunners do not meet the traces of the recent battle, and padded T-34 mixed with a black "Tigers". And philosophical reflection of one of the gunners: "the same guys that were driving..." In the "Hot snow" the road is terrible – a fierce, frozen steppes, the same through which in the summer left the heroes of "They fought for the Motherland", and there is no time, and the tanks Manstein eager to release Paulus and we have to get to the place of deployment, time to bite into the frozen ground to have at least some chance to not die immediately. Well, "the Ballad of a soldier" – is, in fact, the whole film about the road, the way home from the front. A few days. Despite all the obstacles of wartime, the young soldier rushes to his mother. To see her again, maybe for the last time. If the movie didn't have so much space given to the road as such, there wouldn't be this aching ending. The soldier sees his mother, but the cursed road has eaten so much time that he does not even have an hour to be with her.

Condition 4. Human relation

It would seem an obvious thing, but for some reason the creators of modern films about the war committed do not remember that a good "film about the war" – this is not a film about the war. This is a film about human relationships that arise in these extremely cruel conditions. This is the best moment in psychological terms, when the inside of a person climbs out – the scoundrel can no longer wear a mask and sooner or later it will drop, and a simple person suddenly rises above himself and becomes a hero. Well, the eyeliner to reveal the character through relationships in everyday episodes.

And what military life? To eat ad libitum until killed, to smoke, to recall the house. In all good films about the war theme of food, Smoking and memories of the house given a lot of space. Here the gunners in the film "Hot snow" forced March go to a certain death, and yet annoyed by their chef who got lost somewhere and there is nothing. But the soldiers from "They fight for the Motherland" listen as the hero Nikulin remembers that he had forgotten how the armpits of his wife smell. Here self-walkers from "In war as in war" "finish" NZ, or drink "as a tear" moonshine, and then arrange an obstruction to the commander that that pours out the share in a garbage bucket. But in the "Ballad of the soldier" the soldier carefully carries two pieces of Mila completely unfamiliar to his family accidentally met on the crossing of the soldier. But it would seem – if given free rein to modern Soviet moralists – why is it in the film about the defense of the Motherland to show how greedily eat stew soldiers?

Condition 5. Short love

Here, too, everything seems to be clear. Any soldier thinks of a woman. In the movie "the Ballad of the soldier" – it is absolutely pure love when the soldier goes all day tete-a-tete in a warm car with a girl and does not even try to do something. And in the film "They fought for the Motherland" ordinary Lopakhin (played by Vasily Shukshin) like a cat to cream, sneaking out at night to Natalia Stepanovna (Mordjukova) to do a man's duty to earn and feed on all the surviving soldiers of the defeated regiment. In the film loading Domesek behind a curtain in the house offers love to the mistress of the house, which is "fighting" her husband. In "Hot snow" love of the commander of the battery Drozdovsky (Eremenko) to the nurse who turns out to be his wife. But everywhere love a short, and in essence nothing not ends. Under this dramatic. Private starlings with Shura did not explain, and he will die soon. Ordinary Domesek received nothing from the hostess of the hut, and he in the end dies. Lopakhin also receives nothing from the heroine Mordyukova. But the most dramatic love the commander of the Drozdovsky – medical orderly Tanya dies the night after the battle. The fleeting nature of love only emphasizes the drama of war.

Condition 6. Miracle

In a good war movie, there must be a miracle. Of course this is not some kind of fairy-tale miracle, when Ivan Tsarevich arrives and helps everyone. No, the miracle is, in principle, does not violate the physical laws of our world, but from the point of view medstatistiki an event so little real, what is perceived as a miracle.

In the film "the Ballad of the soldier" a miracle happens at the very beginning – a frightened young signalman ordinary starlings in horror shoots at the approaching German tanks from an anti-tank gun (PTR), the calculation of which is killed, and – a miracle! – it hits two tanks at once. Even his fellow passengers on the train, who at first consider him a liar, cannot believe in such a thing, until he presents them a newspaper in which this miracle is described.

In the film "They fought for the Motherland" the miracle is also associated with PTR – Lopakhin from hopeless anger shoots from the PTR in a German plane, with impunity to shoot the soldiers from the air and – what a miracle! – encourages him. This event is also not ordinary.

In the film "Hot snow" by all accounts command, even before all the gun crews were to die in an unequal battle with an Armada of German tanks. But the morning came and the General Bessonov surprised to see that by some miracle one gun survived and continues to fire at the Germans.

In the film "In war as in war" chokes another attack on the village, which hold the defense tanks SS division "Dead head", shooting T-34 in the open field because of the hut. And only one self-propelled gun of the second Lieutenant Maleshkin behind a smoke miraculously breaks to the village. And even greater miracle the Germans did not notice. And then, when it starts a new battle, despite the fact that it would seem after the first shot, the protagonist is doomed, a German shell only interrupts the caterpillars without damaging even the sloth. "Is it hit?"fun on this events mechanic Shcherbak (Viktor Pavlov).

It would seem – why include in a realistic film events that are not quite impossible, but very unlikely? And yet without these "miracles" movies would have lost. That on the verge of probable – excites much more ordinary.

Condition 7. Humor

All four films I write about are war dramas. It would seem, what here humour. However humorous episodes are found in all these films. Fun laugh travel over the story of signalman on destroyed two tanks. "What? – choking with laughter one of the soldiers – the tube has two holes, here it is from each one tank", which causes a new burst of laughter. Lopakhin performed by Vasily Shukshin – constantly joking. Evil of course sometimes, but funny. And as the hero of Ivan Lapikov tells how Julius Caesar "came, saw, inherited". The heroes of the film "In war as in war" periodically fall into comic situations. Even the case with the ring that flew out of the grenade in the tank, when it's all over, makes them laugh. Even in a dramatic episode of attack of German tanks, one of the gunners commented the question of what to do once the shells were over – "well, let's hit the bayonet – they fear it". Of course this is not such jokes, which cause explosions of laughter in the TV Studio "Ostankino". It's more of a caustic irony. But the war – what there thought young moralists who want to be harsh with the wolves – it not only consists of the battles. And people can not be without jokes, especially in such terrible situations.

Condition 8. No ideology

Well, perhaps the last important thing that is also unlikely to be implemented in any modern film about the war.

There should be no ideology in a good war movie. Well, absolutely. There should be only one simple idea – have our enemies and our must at all costs to whitewash the enemies.

That's all. No more is there "any invasion of the Soviet Motherland!", "Fascists hate communism", "Under a banner of party we will overcome the enemy" and other such dregs. And it's not a documentary reflection of reality. The fact is that in war soldiers have no ideology except "our" and "not ours". Therefore, ideological scenes, which may be true from a historical point of view, cause a sense of alienation. For example in a good movie "go To fight some old people" there is a scene of welcome to the party. And certainly this scene is quite authentic. But it looks completely foreign to the whole film as a phony. Fortunately the rest of the movie is very good, but without this scene the movie would be just great.

And here is in all four films, about which I say, no ideology there is no. It was not needed. Of course, in the film "They fought for the Motherland" there is a scene with a red flag. But there is a banner is a symbol of military honor – the regiment saved the flag and then will be disbanded. And in General, it is a symbol of "our", not communism, just as the crosses on the German tanks symbol of "bad not ours", and not a symbol of the ideology of national socialism.

A film about war is a film about how a soldier overcomes terrible dangers and highlights the best qualities of his character. The ideological packaging there is absolutely superfluous. But today, of course, the film "about the war" is an occasion to Express their views on the political conflicts of the time and to assess these conflicts. As a result, there is a deception of the viewer – he promised a film about the war, ie. a movie of a particular genre, but instead forced to watch the ideological extravagances of filmmakers on the topic: "I think that the correct way Stalin/Hitler/Churchill/soldier/pirate/hell must be like I think it is". Plus pokleennye admiring the moon – "Oh, look authentic tank managed to create our decorators! Oh, look, what an exact form of German soldiers and Soviet smershevtsev" and all in that spirit. Is this a war movie? This is not a film about war, but again, the film for re-enactors who will analyze every frame and raise a howl friendly due to the fact that the tank similar to T-IV is a tower similar to the tower tank T-III, and in 1941 could not be T-34-85. So what? Ah shove it in ideological suspended matter the most authentic T-IV. The dregs from this turbidity can not stop.

Here, in General, the conditions that an ordinary ideological Baida about "dedyvoevali" can turn into a work of art. The first condition, which is clear, today can not be fulfilled in any way. And maybe it makes sense to take into account, wanting to make a film about the war? Well, it's not gonna be good. It will be average, if not worse. So why? What else can we say today about the war, which did not say Chukhrai, Bondarev, Bondarchuk and a number of other writers and Directors who made old films about the war? To try to show Stalin as a villain or, on the contrary, a pigeon – just for the sake of this, to try to make a film on this topic? Well, that's silly of me. In the end, but no less acute, but who have not yet found a normal reflection in film – Afghan war, the events of 1993, both Chechen wars. Maybe better new kinematografist to take on these topics while living and breathing witnesses to these events? And it is better not to shoot films about the Great Patriotic war. Perhaps the time will come when there will be a new talented Director who will be able to say something new in this topic. But not current. So do not try to jump above their capabilities. It is better to watch the best films of the Soviet period. So far, their level is not exactly in the teeth of even the best modern Directors and writers.

[morozow]

Old, old movie "The feat of the scout" (Secret Agent). Filmed in 1947.



No fancy stuff. Stupid ugly fascists. A handsome, smart, brave Soviet intelligence officer.

When the film was shown in theaters, it was iconic. The boys ran away from school and watched it 10, 15, 20 times.

Now of course not the, he is gone in past. It is rarely remembered, it is rarely shown on TV.  But some phrases are used now, primarily password:

Do you have a Slavic wardrobe for sale?
Remark review: "the Wardrobe is sold, I can offer a Nickel-plated bed with a bedside table."

Although he still fascinates me with his charm. Yes and the film cesspits soundly. Throughout the story, the picture keeps the viewer in endless tension. Actually the plot of the film contributes to this:

Soviet intelligence officer Alexei Fedotov under the name of Heinrich Eckert is sent to the German-occupied Vinnitsa. His goal is to get the secret correspondence of General Kuhn with Hitler's headquarters. The radio operator sent to Alexey for communication is caught by Germans and shot. Fedotov is forced to search for a connection through the underground, but accidentally he learns that one of the underground provocateur. 

За нашу Победу!

- To victory!
- To OUR victory!

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039716/

Full movie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra8cobtgD8I

[morozow]

Let's add a little radio to the movies !

"Club of famous captains" — a multi-part radio play for children, published in the USSR from December 1945 to the early 1980s. The characters of the play were heroes of popular adventure books. The first issue aired on December 31, 1945 (the year of the end of the war).

The famous captains ' club meets in the evening, in an ordinary library. The library employees-Katyusha and Marya Petrovna-do not know anything about what is happening, although they constantly come across traces of the night's events. As a rule, each broadcast starts with their dialogue before closing. As soon as the doors closed and the clock struck seven o'clock, famous literary heroes - travelers descended from the pages of books and thousands of children froze at the radios.



And always sounded the club's welcome song.

In the rustle of mice, in the creak of floorboards
Slowly and decorously we descend from the pages,
Caftans rustle, someone's sword rings,
We are all captains. Everyone is famous.

There are no distances in the world, there are no such seas,
Which would not seen one of our ships
We are full of courage, we despise flattery,
We draw our swords for love and honor...

Members of the famous captains Club»:

- Captain Nemo (Jules Verne "Twenty thousand leagues under the sea", " the Mysterious island»)
- Lamuel Gulliver (Jonathan Swift " Gulliver's Travels»)
- Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe " the Life and amazing adventures of Robinson Crusoe»)
- Tartarin of Tarascon (Alphonse Daudet " Tartarin of Tarascon»)
-  Baron Munchausen (Rudolf Raspe " the adventures of Baron Munchausen»)
-  Captain Hatteras (Jules Verne " the Journey and adventures of captain Hatteras»)
- Dick Send (Jules Verne " the Fifteen-year-old captain»)
- Jacques Paganel (Jules Verne " the Children of captain Grant»)
-  Sinbad the Mariner ("Seven voyages of Sinbad the Mariner»)
-  Captain Grigoriev (Veniamin Kaverin "Two captains") N
-  Captain of the Korshun Corvette (Konstantin Stanyukovich " Around the world on the Korshun"»)
- Captain Vorontsov (Grigory Adamov " the Secret of two oceans»)
-  Arthur gray (Alexander green " Scarlet sails»)

In addition to regularly appearing characters, many other literary characters appeared sporadically.

The voices of the captains, some of the best Soviet actors.

The music for the "club of famous captains" was written by the country's leading composers — Dmitry Kabalevsky, Oscar Feltsman, Eduard Kolmanovsky, Boris Mokrousov and others.

Of course, various quizzes were held for the audience and questions were asked. For the winners there was a special system of awards: they were awarded the honorary badges "Scarlet pennant", "Blue pennant", "Golden rooster" (for finding errors in Munchausen's stories).



The popularity of the program was fantastic. By the mid-1950s, even postcards with images of the heroes of the famous captains ' Club were being issued. On the wave of success, mints and Kreps wrote a number of plays about the adventures of captains, which were then staged in theaters throughout the USSR.

Thanks to this, the "club of famous captains" even got into the popular Soviet movie about scouts "Dead season". According to the story, only a former concentration camp prisoner Ivan Pavlovich Savushkin can help identify a dangerous Nazi criminal to Soviet intelligence. Savushkin, played by Roland Bykov, is an actor in the children's theater, and the film includes a scene from the play, where the characters of the "club of famous captains"are involved. There is also a song that started all the episodes of the program.

Books were published with the stories "Club of famous captains". Who read them through to the holes.



The end of the program was always the same — the old clock was striking, the rooster was crowing, and this meant that it was time for the characters to go to the pages of their books. And there was a song to say goodbye:

"Outside the window, the rooster crowed again,
The hemp wick shuddered and went out.
The blue flag is waving in the morning mist.
Good-bye, your hand, captain!»

The last time "club of famous captains" went on the air in 1982, ending almost 37-year watch.

Ретро - Песни советского детства - из радиопередачи"Клуб Знаменитых Капитанов" (клип)

[Banfili]

Let's add a little radio to the movies!
SNIP .... "Club of famous captains" — a multi-part radio play for children, published in the USSR from December 1945 to the early 1980s. The characters of the play were heroes of popular adventure books. The first issue aired on December 31, 1945 (the year of the end of the war).

Similar concept to the old ABC radio "Children's Hour"! Children's serialised stories and quizzes and competitions. The two serials I remember were "Mouse, Aunty Bun and the Muddle-Headed Wombat", and "Jason and the Argonauts". Children could write in and join 'The Argonauts' club, and become one of the "band of happy rowers" - I did, and I still remember my name and number to this day!

[Synistor 303]

Let's add a little radio to the movies!
SNIP .... "Club of famous captains" — a multi-part radio play for children, published in the USSR from December 1945 to the early 1980s. The characters of the play were heroes of popular adventure books. The first issue aired on December 31, 1945 (the year of the end of the war).

Similar concept to the old ABC radio "Children's Hour"! Children's serialised stories and quizzes and competitions. The two serials I remember were "Mouse, Aunty Bun and the Muddle-Headed Wombat", and "Jason and the Argonauts". Children could write in and join 'The Argonauts' club, and become one of the "band of happy rowers" - I did, and I still remember my name and number to this day!

... I was a member of the Argonaut's Club... We lived in the NT, so no TV until the mid-1970s. At first there was no radio either, but my Dad built one with a huge antenna that could pick up stations from other states. It worked best at night. Strangely, in the background you could always hear the crackling Morse code from ships. Now. whenever I hear Morse code I am instantly transported back to my childhood.

[Banfili]

Let's add a little radio to the movies!
SNIP .... "Club of famous captains" — a multi-part radio play for children, published in the USSR from December 1945 to the early 1980s. The characters of the play were heroes of popular adventure books. The first issue aired on December 31, 1945 (the year of the end of the war).

Similar concept to the old ABC radio "Children's Hour"! Children's serialised stories and quizzes and competitions. The two serials I remember were "Mouse, Aunty Bun and the Muddle-Headed Wombat", and "Jason and the Argonauts". Children could write in and join 'The Argonauts' club, and become one of the "band of happy rowers" - I did, and I still remember my name and number to this day!

... I was a member of the Argonaut's Club... We lived in the NT, so no TV until the mid-1970s. At first there was no radio either, but my Dad built one with a huge antenna that could pick up stations from other states. It worked best at night. Strangely, in the background you could always hear the crackling Morse code from ships. Now. whenever I hear Morse code I am instantly transported back to my childhood.

Yay!! Another argonaut! What Ship?

     "Before the sun and the night and the blue sea, I vow to stand faithfully by all that is brave and beautiful; to seek adventure, and   having discovered aught of wonder, or delight; of merriment or loveliness, to share it freely with my comrades, the Band of Happy Rowers. (from The ABC Weekly, 28 Dec 1940)"

Good Rowing!
(which became a sort of pass or codeword for the Argonaut brethren to greet each other by, much in the way that secret brotherhoods do.)

[Synistor 303]

My ship was Ithome 32. My favourite show was The Naturalist, who wasn't a rudie nudie, but some bloke who talked about animals. The Muddled Headed Wombat was good fun and I loved the story time. I have to say, I don't remember the oath, but I can still hear Mack's voice saying "Good Rowing!"

[Banfili]

My ship was Ithome 32. My favourite show was The Naturalist, who wasn't a rudie nudie, but some bloke who talked about animals. The Muddled Headed Wombat was good fun and I loved the story time. I have to say, I don't remember the oath, but I can still hear Mack's voice saying "Good Rowing!"

I was Sopheron36, and I liked 'Mouse, Auntie Bun & the Muddle-Headed Wombat' - in fact when my dad made the mistake of bringing home a live rabbit to be killed and eaten, I refused to eat 'Auntie Bun' - and I have never eaten rabbit since!

'That dangers lie ahead we know, we know.
But bend with all your might
As you sail into the night
And wrong will bow to right.
'Jason' cry, adventure know,
Argonauts row! Row! Row!'

"Good Rowing!"

(I am sorry, morozow, the Argonauts have hijacked your thread!)

[morozow]

... I was a member of the Argonaut's Club... We lived in the NT, so no TV until the mid-1970s. At first there was no radio either, but my Dad built one with a huge antenna that could pick up stations from other states. It worked best at night. Strangely, in the background you could always hear the crackling Morse code from ships. Now. whenever I hear Morse code I am instantly transported back to my childhood.

My translator translated - NT as New York. what's really going on?

[morozow]

My ship was Ithome 32. My favourite show was The Naturalist, who wasn't a rudie nudie, but some bloke who talked about animals. The Muddled Headed Wombat was good fun and I loved the story time. I have to say, I don't remember the oath, but I can still hear Mack's voice saying "Good Rowing!"

I was Sopheron36, and I liked 'Mouse, Auntie Bun & the Muddle-Headed Wombat' - in fact when my dad made the mistake of bringing home a live rabbit to be killed and eaten, I refused to eat 'Auntie Bun' - and I have never eaten rabbit since!

'That dangers lie ahead we know, we know.
But bend with all your might
As you sail into the night
And wrong will bow to right.
'Jason' cry, adventure know,
Argonauts row! Row! Row!'

"Good Rowing!"

(I am sorry, morozow, the Argonauts have hijacked your thread!)

I enjoyed it.

Here's a song about Argo, from a Soviet movie .

ВИА "Иверия" - Лейтмотив "Арго" ("Аргонавты", 1986)