The Fall of Berlin
About The Fall of Berlin
Aleksei Ivanov, a steelworker, loves the teacher Natasha and cannot quite approach her. Stalin decorates him. War starts. Natasha is taken by the Germans. Aleksei, after the shock of the invasion, joins the Red Army, goes through the 1941 parade and the Battle of Moscow, and fights west. They meet again in Berlin when Stalin arrives.
Cast & crew
More about The Fall of Berlin
Mikheil Chiaureli directed and co-wrote it with Pyotr Pavlenko. Viktor Tsirgiladze produced it. Leonid Kosmatov photographed it. Dmitri Shostakovich wrote the score. Tatiana Likhacheva edited. Mosfilm made it in color, in two parts, and released it in the USSR on January 21, 1950. It was presented as a gift for Stalin's 70th birthday. The original runs 167 minutes. A post-1953 version runs 151. Mikheil Gelovani plays Stalin. Boris Andreyev plays Aleksei. Marina Kovalyova plays Natasha. Captured German tanks were reused. The last scenes were shot in the ruins of Berlin.
Themes
Background
Made as a 70th-birthday gift for Stalin and withdrawn after his cult was denounced.
Making
Chiaureli staged the Berlin ending in the real ruins and had Gelovani's Stalin descend into the victory scene.
Look
Leonid Kosmatov photographed the color battles and the Berlin ruins.
Music
Dmitri Shostakovich wrote the score.
Preservation
The 167-minute original was cut to 151 minutes after 1953. The picture was banned in the Eastern Bloc for decades.
Notes
- A Stalin Prize of the first class went to Chiaureli, Pavlenko, Kosmatov, Shostakovich, Gelovani, Andreyev, and Vladimir Kenigson.
- It won the Crystal Globe at the 5th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
- After de-Stalinization it was banned in the Eastern Bloc for decades.
- Vladimir Savelyev plays Hitler. Yury Tymoshenko is in the cast.
- Amkino handled the U.S. release.
Awards
- Stalin Prize, first class
- Crystal Globe, 5th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
Scenes
- Bombs fall as Aleksei is with Natasha.
- They recognize each other in Berlin at Stalin's arrival.
