Behind the scenes of the epic "Shield and Sword": How the film destroyed stereotypes about scouts and changed the fate of Oleg Yankovsky

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

April 6 marks the 88th anniversary of the famous actor and director, People's Artist of the RSFSR Stanislav Lyubshin. One of his most striking films was the role of the Soviet intelligence officer Alexander Belov (Johann Weiss) in the film "Shield and Sword". Even 5 years before the appearance of the legendary Stirlitz on the screens, the boys in the courtyards played the scout Weiss, who became a cult movie hero. In fact, he had a real prototype, thanks to which it was possible to destroy the stereotypical ideas about intelligence officers. This film was also significant for Oleg Yankovsky, because it became a turning point in his life.

1967 was supposed to be a landmark year in Soviet cinema: the 50th anniversary of the revolution could not be overlooked, and almost all films were somehow connected with this topic. In addition, in December, there was also the 50th anniversary of the state security and foreign intelligence agencies, and by this date the filmmakers were instructed to release a film about military intelligence officers. Dozens of scenarios were revised at the State Film Agency, but all of them lacked scale.

Prototypes of the main character

And then the filmmakers remembered the novel by the writer and editor-in-chief of the Znamya magazine Vadim Kozhevnikov, The Shield and the Sword, published in 1965 about the Soviet intelligence officer Alexander Belov, who in 1940 left for Germany under the name of the German repatriate Johann Weiss and by 1944 g. infiltrated the SS service. Initially, Kozhevnikov planned to write a novel about intelligence officers working undercover in America. He even asked the KGB to arrange a meeting for him with the legendary Soviet intelligence officer Rudolf Abel. But after he read the first chapters, he flatly refused to use the facts of his biography in the novel and become the prototype of the protagonist - he seemed to him an adventurer in the spirit of James Bond. As a result, the only thing that remained of him in the literary hero is the name: Abel - A. Belov.

Then the writer was advised to write not about modern intelligence, but about the time of the Second World War, and introduced him to the scout-saboteur Zorich - Alexander Svyatogorov. During the war years, he was engaged in the development of an agent network in the occupied territories, was thrown into the German rear, where he conducted a number of brilliant operations, infiltrated a German intelligence school and participated in the elimination of one of the SS chiefs. It was he who became the main prototype of the hero of the film, although this image was collective - the filmmakers were guided not only by the personality of Svyatogorov, as it was in the novel, but also by Richard Sorge, Nikolai Kuznetsov, and others.

How Vladimir Basov did not live up to the expectations of high management

There was only a year left before the anniversary, during which it was necessary to have time to write a script, choose a nature for filming, assemble a film crew and have time to complete work on the film before the end of 1967. no one filmed that moment. He instantly solved director's problems, made decisions with lightning speed and, starting to work on the film, already had a clear idea of the final result.

Basov wrote the script together with Kozhevnikov. Both of them understood from the very beginning that it was unlikely that they would be able to make a film in such a tight time frame. They did not even hope that their script would be approved - Basov and Kozhevnikov did not want the images of enemies to look caricatured, and portrayed the Germans from the Abwehr as strong opponents, smart and educated, which was contrary to the traditions existing in Soviet cinema. The scriptwriters feared that after numerous corrections there would be another schematic heroic plot about the superiority of Soviet intelligence officers over the slow-witted and narrow-minded fascists. To their surprise, the very first version of the script was approved without corrections.

At Mosfilm they ordered to start filming immediately. However, Basov did not want to drive horses and cheat - he understood that it is simply impossible to combine "fast" and "high quality" in creating a serious film about scouts. He was constantly summoned to the leadership, rushed, reprimanded for missed deadlines, threatened to remove the picture from production, but still the premiere date had to be postponed. As a result, the director did not cope with the task set before him: the first two episodes of the film were released much later than the anniversary of the special services, only in August 1968. But the result surpassed all expectations: "Shield and Sword" hit the top ten highest-grossing films for the entire existence of Soviet cinema, the first episodes were watched by more than 68 million viewers!

Ugly hero

Many were surprised by the choice of actors made by the director - Basov invited Stanislav Lyubshin for the main male role, who outwardly did not at all look like a stereotypical "hero". In the State Committee for Cinematography, his candidacy was immediately rejected - they say, too plain and unprepossessing, soft and calm, not courageous and textured enough. How is it that the main character of the film is gray and inconspicuous, and his enemies are smart, strong and bright! Here Svyatogorov himself came to the director's aid - he convinced the commission that this is exactly what real scouts should look like: outwardly unremarkable, not memorable at first glance, dissolving in the crowd.

However, it is impossible to call Lyubshin insufficiently courageous - for all his external intelligence, he felt an inner strength. The actor himself was very happy about the opportunity to play a similar role, because he dreamed of becoming a scout since childhood. When the war began, he was only 8 years old, but he so wanted to go to the front that he ran away from home. They found him, returned him and advised him to think about another profession, and first to grow up a little.

This film shattered stereotypes about scouts, and the audience appreciated it. Film critic Alexander Shpagin wrote: "". One of the main advantages of the film was the deliberate departure from cliches, pathos and bravado.

How Vladimir Basov lit the star of Oleg Yankovsky

Basov had an amazing directorial intuition and rarely made mistakes when choosing actors for certain roles. His unconditional creative victory was the decision to entrust the role of Heinrich Schwarzkopf at that time to the unknown 23-year-old actor of the Saratov Drama Theater Oleg Yankovsky. And this happened thanks to a lucky chance. Once in a restaurant Basov drew attention to a young man who, in his opinion, looked very much like a young Aryan. The director's wife, actress Valentina Titova, who played the main lyrical heroine in the film "Shield and Sword", said that this is how Henry should look. To which the director answered her: "". Perhaps, if not for this chance meeting, Oleg Yankovsky would never have become an all-Union famous movie star.

Upon learning that this young man is still an actor, Basov immediately approved him for the role. On the set, the inexperienced actor was very difficult: he was clumsy in the frame, he had big problems with diction, which is why the director constantly shouted to him: "" Largely thanks to such a harsh school, he actively began to work on himself - and with "difficult Basov's hands got into big cinema. After his triumphant debut, his acting career took off quickly, and since then he has played about 100 roles.

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