Tractor Drivers
About Tractor Drivers
In 1938, demobilized sergeant Klim Yarko comes back from the Far East with a copy of Pravda. The paper shows his fellow villager Maryana Bazhan, leader of a women's tractor brigade and a holder of the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. On the collective farm he replaces Nazar Duma as brigade leader, fixes tractors by the sound they make, and hangs a plow wider than the rule allows on a Stalinets tractor. The farm chief, Kirill Petrovich, sets the wedding after sowing. At the feast the brigade sings the March of the Soviet Tankmen.
Cast & crew
More about Tractor Drivers
Ivan Pyryev directed. Yevgeni Pomeshchikov wrote it. A 1965 re-edit cut material for later censorship. The Russian title is Трактористы.
Themes
Look
Aleksandr Galperin and Boris Aretskiy photographed the farm scenes.
Music
Dmitry Pokrass and Daniil Pokrass wrote the music, including the March of the Soviet Tankmen used at the wedding.
Preservation
A Commons transfer is online. A censored re-edit was issued in 1965.
Notes
- Marina Ladynina plays Maryana Bazhan. Nikolay Kryuchkov plays Klim Yarko. Boris Andreyev, in his first film role, plays Nazar Duma.
- Stepan Kayukov plays Kirill Petrovich. Pyotr Aleynikov plays Savka.
- Klim also drills the brigade in tank driving, rifles, and gas masks.
- The allowed plow is 240 centimeters. Klim fits one of 330 centimeters.
Awards
- Stalin Prize, first degree (1941), to Ivan Pyryev, Nikolay Kryuchkov, and Marina Ladynina
Scenes
- Klim arrives with Maryana's photograph in Pravda.
- The Stalinets pulls the wider plow.
- The brigade toasts in uniform and traditional dress.
