What scenes were cut from favorite Soviet films: Lyudmila's family happiness in "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears", etc

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

The filmmaking process is long and creative. It often happens that there is some difference between the script and the final version. The reason may be as in the director - it is not always possible to immediately "find" what was needed, or the influence of external forces affects, in the Soviet Union the censorship often had the final word. One way or another, but many of our favorite films could have completely different endings.

"Chapaev" 1934

The creative union of the Vasiliev brothers turned out to be incredibly prudent and tried to "put straws" under their brainchild. The directors were so afraid that the sad ending of the film would not be accepted by the artistic council that they prepared and filmed two more "softer" versions in advance. So, if the fate of the epic film was a little different, we could see the following options for its ending:

In one version, the picture ends with a victorious march of the red troops.

For the sake of the second short piece, the film crew even specially traveled to Stalin's homeland, to the town of Gori. Here, a picture of the happy future of the main characters could unfold before us.

Almost ten years later, during the Great Patriotic War, another version of the ending of a favorite film was shot. In fact, it was conceived as a propaganda video, but who from the Soviet kids (and not only children) did not dream of such a scene: (The propaganda video "Chapaev is with us")

"White Sun of the Desert", 1970

Our "historical western" was not as lucky with commissions as any other film. The film has been subjected to severe criticism and serious reworking several times. What we see as a result is very different from the original director's idea, because Vladimir Motyl planned to create a much more tragic ending.

Several scenes were removed from the film, which could be called "key". At the request of the artistic council of the Mosfilm film studio, the footage of the final skirmish between Sukhov and Abdulla's gang, as well as the fight between Vereshchagin and the bandits on the launch, were significantly reduced. The latter was especially a pity, since every step was given to Pavel Luspekaev on prostheses with great pain, and his participation in dynamic scenes was a real feat.

In addition, they removed the colorful final confrontation between Sukhov and Abdullah in the water and the following surprisingly deep scene. In it, Sukhov, barely alive, is forced to watch the bandit's wives flee and mourn their husband, not paying attention to the man who actually saved their lives. If this episode had survived in the film, then the disappointed face of the protagonist would have given his favorite saying “The East is a delicate matter” a slightly different meaning.

Well, and finally, one of the most difficult final scenes was to be the madness of Vereshchagin's wife. An unhappy woman, who has lost her support in life, goes into the desert to the rails covered with sand and mutters incoherent words about Pasha, Astrakhan, and about the house. She begins to crawl on the sleepers and sweep the sand off them with her hands so that the train will come as soon as possible and take her home. The Arts Council insisted that only a five-second scene in which Nastasya walks past the horses to the sea should be left in the film.

As a result, a new, much brighter ending was practically re-created for the film, and it is possible that we love this film for this unfading optimism and belief that Comrade Sukhov will nevertheless get to his “dear Katerina Matveyevna”. It's hard to say if the main character, disappointed and tired of the eternal struggle, could win the hearts of millions of viewers in this way.

"Moscow does not believe in tears", 1979

One of the most spectacular moments of the cult Soviet film was the "time jump" between the two episodes. Taking advantage of the magic of cinema, the viewer immediately finds himself in a happy future, where loyalty, love and hard work are rewarded, and superficial relationships did not stand the test of strength. However, in the process of creating the film, a sufficiently large piece of material was completely shot in which we could be shown how the three friends lived in these "cut" years.

Before us could unfold a picture of the happy family life of Lyudmila, who nevertheless caught her goldfish, the athlete Gurin, and received "everything at once" from life. For several years, the heroine of Irina Muravyova really lived at the zenith of her husband's fame - in the final version we hear only a mention of this. Moreover, two other friends during this period of their lives literally "plow" - Antonina at the construction site, and on weekends at the dacha, Katerina - at the plant and at the institute. When they meet, women even envy Lyudmila, who is one of them who made her dreams come true.

However, in the final version, Vladimir Menshov placed the accents absolutely correctly: the main character wakes up as a successful leader, Antonina has a wonderful family and “a house full of a bowl”, and a disappointed Lyudmila is sitting “at a broken trough”.

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