The Last Shot (1956)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The last shot |
| Original title | Sorok Pervy / Сорок первый |
| Country of production | Soviet Union |
| original language | Russian |
| Publishing year | 1956 |
| length | 88 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Grigory Chuchrai |
| script | Grigori Kultunow based on the novella by Boris Lavrenjow |
| production | Mosfilm |
| music | Nikolai Nikolajewitsch Kryukov |
| camera | Sergei Urusevsky |
| occupation | |
| |
The last shot (alternative title of the Forty-First , Russian Title: Sorok Perwy = The Forty-First) is a Soviet feature film in Sowcolor 1956 after the eponymous novel by Boris Lavrenev of 1924. The plot is in the Russian Civil War to 1919 in Central Asia and on the Aral Sea located . Tschuchrai's first directorial work attracted international attention due to the unusual color dramaturgy and the highly praised camera work and won the special prize at the 1957 Cannes International Film Festival . The premiere was on October 15, 1956. Other performance titles were: A Guerrilheira / O Quadragésimo Primeiro ( Brazil ), El cuarenta y uno ( Argentina , Spain ), Le quarante et unième ( France , Belgium ), The Forty-First ( USA / Australia ), Il quarantunesimo ( Italy ), De eenenveertigste ( Flemish ), Czeterdziesty pierwszy ( Poland ), Al 41-lea ( Romania ), Den fyrtioförsta ( Sweden ). The German synchronization was done by DEFA ; the German premiere took place on June 7, 1957.
action
A small unit of the Red Army in the Russian Civil War, apparently 1919, near the Aral Sea . The Red Army sniper Marjutka has just shot her 40th opponent in a battle with white troops .
On the march through the desert they come across a caravan of Kyrgyz people with whom some white soldiers are traveling and which is traveling with camels. The white lieutenant Govorukha-Otrok defends himself behind a camel and is shot at by Marjutka. She thinks she has met him and cheers "The forty-first" when the lieutenant steps out with a white flag on his rifle and surrenders.
As it turns out, he is supposed to deliver an extremely important message from Kolchak to Denikin . The political commissar Yezyukov therefore decided that the lieutenant, accompanied by Marjutka and a few other red soldiers, should be handed over to a superior agency of the Red Army as soon as possible. You stay where the girl Altynai falls in love with the lieutenant and his one of his in a Kyrgyz village on the Aral Sea, epaulettes steals. Marjutka's group board a small sailing boat and start the crossing over the lake. Meanwhile, the lieutenant's superiors have found out about the attack on the transport and are looking for him.
The sailboat gets caught in a terrible storm and is dismasted. Except for Marjutka and Wadim, the other group members are washed overboard. The boat drifts onto the beach of a small island with accommodation for fishermen. Wadim falls seriously ill, but is nursed back to health by Marjutka. Despite their ideological differences, they fall in love.
Meanwhile, a search party of the White Army encounters the village on the Aral Sea and begins to set fire to huts and interrogate the village elder to learn something about the fate of Wadim. During the search of the village they also find his epaulette, which is interpreted as evidence that the villagers had something to do with the lieutenant's disappearance. When the village elder is about to be shot, Altynai throws himself between him and the firing squad and apparently explains the origin of the epaulette. She is led away by the soldiers.
The lovers have now settled on the island. One day a sail appears on the horizon. Vadim gets Marjutka's rifle and shoots in the air to draw attention to the castaways. As the boat approaches, it can be seen that they are white soldiers. Wadim runs cheerfully through the surf towards the boat, Marjutka takes up her rifle and calls to Wadim to stop, but he doesn't react and keeps walking. Marjutka shoots, Vadim falls, hit in the skull, onto the beach. Marjutka is appalled by her own actions and cries out. She rushes to him and does not want to believe that he is dead: Wadim is "the forty-first".
Historical background of the film plot, production background
Lavrenev was a member of the Red Army himself; allegedly his novella is based on facts including the names of Marjutka and the lieutenant.
The last shot was the first of Chuchrai's three thaw films. His work was the second film adaptation of the novella. The first film version from 1926 already used unusual stylistic devices that were apparently adopted here. This version shows how the white boat docks and Marjutka is captured.
criticism
"... a masterpiece of socialist film art ..."
Knietzsch, p. 310.
Lore
The DEFA foundation owns the rights for the German synchronization ; a DVD edition has not yet been published (as of 2017).
literature
- Boris Lawrenjow: The last shot (the forty-first) , 4th edition Berlin-Ost (Verlag Kultur und Progress) 1966.
- Horst Knietzsch: Film yesterday and today , Leipzig a. a. (Urania) 1961.