Air Taxi
About Air Taxi
In 1940 the Aeroflot pilot Ivan Baranov, played by Mikhail Zharov, falls for the singer Natasha Kulikova, played by Lyudmila Tselikovskaya, after an emergency landing. Her mother wants the opera singer Svellovidov instead. The war starts. Baranov is refused a transfer to fighters and stays a transport pilot, a 'sky cabman.' On the night of Natasha's debut at the Moscow opera he flies ammunition in and wounded out, and he shoots down a German plane. Lost in fog near Moscow, he follows Natasha's voice on the radio and gets down. They are together again.
Cast & crew
More about Air Taxi
Herbert Rappaport directed. Yevgeny Petrov wrote it. Aleksandr Galperin photographed it. Yury Biryukov wrote the music. It runs 74 minutes. Wikidata lists August 26, 1943, and May 24, 1944. The Russian title is Воздушный извозчик. Wikipedia also ties the production to the wartime Alma-Ata studio. Boris Blinov plays the colonel. Vladimir Gribkov plays Kulikov. Grigory Shpigel plays Svellovidov.
Themes
Background
The story starts in 1940, before the German invasion, and continues into the transport flying of the war. Lenfilm's wartime work was largely done in evacuation.
Making
Rappaport shot Petrov's script as a musical comedy that turns into a transport flight behind the lines. Galperin photographed it. Biryukov wrote the songs and the score.
Look
Aleksandr Galperin photographed the airfield, the opera house, and the flight in fog.
Music
Yury Biryukov composed the music for the musical comedy.
Notes
- The English title The Aerial Cabman translates the Russian izvozchik, a horse-cab driver.
- Baranov is turned down for fighters and keeps flying transport.
- The dogfight happens on the same night as Natasha's opera debut.
- Her radio voice is what brings him through the fog.
- Petrov, of Ilf and Petrov, is the writer. He was killed at the front in 1942, before the release.
- Zharov and Tselikovskaya are the couple.
Scenes
- Baranov meets Natasha after the emergency landing.
- He flies ammunition in on the night of her debut and shoots down a German plane.
- Lost in fog, he follows her voice on the radio.
