Russian/Soviet Films on the Cold War

[Lilya Kaganovsky]

A couple more titles that may be of interest:

1. Zagovor obrechionnykh [Conspiracy of the Doomed], 1950, dir.  
Kalatozov ( Kalatozishvili)

2. Farewell, America, 1949, dir. Dovzhenko
may not be available, but has a wonderful description (courtesy of  
imdb):

Plot Summary for Farewell, America (1949)

Anna Bedford, a young and idealistic girl from Pennsylvania, accepts a  
State Department assignment to serve in the US Embassy in Moscow  
shortly after the allied victory over fascist Germany. Immediately upon  
her arrival at the new post, she discovers that virtually the entire  
staff at the embassy is engaged either in espionage or in slandering  
and vilifying the Soviet state. Her open-minded approach to Soviet  
reality quickly brings her into conflict with her superiors, who send  
her back to the States to attend her mother's funeral. While back in  
Pennsylvania, Anna discovers a changed America, plagued with massive  
unemployment and hatred fueled by anti-communist hysteria. Even death  
provides no escape from this national insanity: the cemetery where her  
mother is buried is plowed under in order to build a new military air  
base. The film was to end with Anna's return to Moscow, embraced by the  
masses of the Soviet people and marching with them across Red Square.  
Work on the film was terminated in April 1951 (under instructions from  
the Kremlin).

Finally, there are some war-time American movies that are worth  
including for their over-the-top love of the USSR:

3. Mission to Moscow, 1943, dir. Michael Curtiz
(not the Police Academy one)

I would also recommend Brat 2 as a (post) Cold war film.


-LK


On Oct 17, 2005, at 8:49 PM, Alina Israeli wrote:

>> I can recomend Savva Kulish's "Mertvyj sezon" with Donatas Banionis &
>> Rolan Bykov.
>
> Another counter-espionage film of similar ilk and similar period  
> (although
> the intrigue was different) was "Rokirovka v dlinnuju storonu" with
> Alexander Dem'janenko and Pavel Luspekaev. One of the early films with  
> love
> and implied sex.
>
> __________________________
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*         *         *         *         *         *         *         *

Lilya Kaganovsky, Assistant Professor
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Program in Comparative Literature & World Literature
Department of Slavic Languages and Literature
Unit for Cinema Studies
http://www.complit.uiuc.edu/lilya/index.html

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