Tale of the Siberian Land
About Tale of the Siberian Land
Pianist Andrei Balashov is wounded at the front and can no longer play. He leaves Moscow without telling Natasha or his friends and goes to Siberia, where he works on a plant and sings in a teahouse at night. Weather forces down the plane carrying Natasha and Boris Olenich, who are flying to a competition abroad. Andrei meets them. He goes on to the Arctic, and the builders' work gives him a symphonic oratorio, Ballad of Siberia, which is taken up.
Cast & crew
More about Tale of the Siberian Land
Ivan Pyryev directed a script by Yevgeni Pomeshchikov and Nikolay Rozhkov. Valentin Pavlov photographed it. Nikolay Kryukov wrote the music. Mosfilm made it in color in 1947, the studio's second color feature after The Stone Flower, and released it on February 16, 1948. Vladimir Druzhnikov plays Andrei. Marina Ladynina plays Natasha. Vladimir Zeldin plays Boris. Also called Symphony of Life.
Themes
Background
Released in February 1948, it is set among construction sites in Siberia and the Arctic after the war.
Making
The color work came the year after The Stone Flower. Later releases trimmed the Stalin material.
Look
Valentin Pavlov photographed the color Mosfilm production, including the plant and the teahouse.
Technique
It was Mosfilm's second color feature, after The Stone Flower.
Music
Nikolay Kryukov wrote the score. Dolmatovsky supplied lyrics for "The Song of the Siberian Earth" and "The Hymn to Siberia."
Preservation
A 1954 re-edit is noted at Gosfilmofond. The 1966 version removes Stalin's name from the oratorio and drops shots that showed his portrait.
Notes
- In 1948 a Stalin Prize of the first degree went to Pyryev, Boris Andreev, Druzhnikov, Ladynina, Vera Vasilyeva, Pomeshchikov, Rozhkov, Pavlov, and Kryukov.
- Yevgeniy Dolmatovsky wrote the words for "The Song of the Siberian Earth" and "The Hymn to Siberia," both set by Kryukov. "The Wanderer" (Brodyaga) is also in the film.
- A 1966 version cut a song, shots with a portrait of Stalin, and the Stalin lines in the oratorio. Gosfilmofond also lists a re-edited version dated 1954.
- The English title on Wikipedia is The Ballad of Siberia.
Awards
- Stalin Prize, first degree (1948)
Scenes
- The plane carrying Natasha is forced down beside the plant.
- Andrei's oratorio Ballad of Siberia is performed and accepted.
