Mikhail Kalatozov

The Cranes Are Flying

The Cranes Are Flying

This landmark film by the virtuosic Mikhail Kalatozov was heralded as a revelation in the post-Stalin Soviet Union and the international cinema community alike. It tells the story of Veronica (Tatiana Samoilova) and Boris (Alexei Batalov), a couple who are blissfully in love until World War II tears them apart. With Boris at the front, Veronica must try to ward off spiritual numbness and defend herself from the increasingly forceful advances of her beau’s draft-dodging cousin. Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival, The Cranes Are Flying is a superbly crafted drama with impassioned performances and viscerally emotional, gravity-defying cinematography by Kalatozov’s regular collaborator Sergei Urusevsky.

Film Info

  • Soviet Union
  • 1957
  • 96 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 1.37:1
  • Russian
  • Spine #146

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • New interview with scholar Ian Christie on why the film is a landmark of Soviet cinema
  • Audio interview from 1961 with director Mikhail Kalatozov
  • Hurricane Kalatozov, a documentary from 2009 on the Georgian director’s complex relationship with the Soviet government
  • Segment from a 2008 program about the film’s cinematography, featuring original storyboards and an interview with actor Alexei Batalov
  • Interview from 2001 with filmmaker Claude Lelouch on the film’s French premiere at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival
  • New English subtitle translation
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Chris Fujiwara

Cover design by Century.Studio

Purchase Options

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • New interview with scholar Ian Christie on why the film is a landmark of Soviet cinema
  • Audio interview from 1961 with director Mikhail Kalatozov
  • Hurricane Kalatozov, a documentary from 2009 on the Georgian director’s complex relationship with the Soviet government
  • Segment from a 2008 program about the film’s cinematography, featuring original storyboards and an interview with actor Alexei Batalov
  • Interview from 2001 with filmmaker Claude Lelouch on the film’s French premiere at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival
  • New English subtitle translation
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Chris Fujiwara

Cover design by Century.Studio

The Cranes Are Flying
Cast
Tatiana Samoilova
Veronika
Alexei Batalov
Boris
Vasily Merkuryev
Fyodor Ivanovich
Alexander Shvorin
Mark
Svetlana Kharitonova
Irina
Konstantin Nikitin
Volodya
Valentin Zubkov
Stepan
Antonina Bogdanova
Grandma
Boris Kokovin
Chernov
Yekaterina Kuprianova
Anna Mikhailovna
Credits
Director
Mikhail Kalatozov
Screenwriter
Viktor Rozov
Director of photography
Sergei Urusevsky
Production designer
Evgeniy Svidetelev
Music by
Mieczysław Weinberg
Sound design by
Igor Mayorov
Editor
Mariya Timofeyeva

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