Behind the scenes of the film "White Bim Black Ear": Oscar nomination and the tragic fate of the four-legged actor

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

When the film was released 41 years ago, on September 15, 1977, 23 million people watched it. A year later, he was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film nomination. More than one generation of viewers cried over this film, and the book on which it was produced is still recommended to schoolchildren as a must-read. Many interesting moments remained behind the scenes - another film could have been made about the fate of the dog, who played the main role in it.

The story "White Bim Black Ear" has become the most famous work of the writer Gabriel Troepolsky. For the first time it was published in 1971 in the magazine "Our Contemporary", and after 3 years the famous director Stanislav Rostotsky undertook to film it. In the main role, he saw only Vyacheslav Tikhonov, but at that time he was busy filming another project, and the director had to wait until he was free. Tikhonov immediately agreed to play this role - even then he was already tired of the image of the scout Stirlitz, with whom everyone associated him. But over the course of three years, there were constantly some obstacles that prevented Rostotsky from starting filming. It took a whole year to extort money from the authorities for expensive foreign film - otherwise they would have had to shoot under the dazzling and hot light of spotlights. And if the actors were accustomed to such conditions, the dog could not be condemned to such torment.

Most of the problems arose with the search for an "actor" for the main role - it was necessary not only to find a dog of the same breed (Scottish Setter), but also to find one among them that could cope with all the tasks on the set. As a result, two dogs starred in the film - the main character was the English setter Steve, or Styopka, and his "understudy" was Dandy, who starred in just one scene - where Bim's paw got stuck in a railway switch.

The film crew included a professional trainer, cynologist Viktor Somov. He highly appreciated the work of Styopka, about whom everyone was talking, as if he had read the script himself and always knew what to do in one scene or another. Vyacheslav Tikhonov said: "".

Considering that the main character was a four-legged actor, many scenes were filmed without rehearsals or rehearsed without Styopka, and the scene was filmed with him. And in order for the dog to show the necessary "emotions", sometimes they treated it quite cruelly. When the ambulance picked up its owner according to the script, the dog had to look after him with longing and love, but it is absolutely impossible to “play” it. And after Tikhonov had walked with Styopka for many days in a row, and he was already used to him, they were not allowed to see each other for several days. Then the scene was rehearsed without the dog, and at the time of filming, Styopka was released onto the set. And he acted as if he was really saying goodbye to his beloved master.

Cynologist Viktor Somov said: "".

The audience believed this story so much that many actors were identified with their heroes for a long time. Most unlucky actress Valentina Vladimirova, who played an unnamed heroine (she was called in the film simply "aunt"). According to the script, she was the evil neighbor of the owner of Bim, who literally brought him to death. The actress lamented: "". Once, when the heroes of the film met with schoolchildren, the students even refused to communicate with her.

The film really enjoyed incredible audience success. In the year of its release, it was recognized as the best film of the year, according to a poll of readers of the magazine "Soviet Screen", and in 1978 was nominated for an Oscar. They say that when the Americans watched the picture, in the scene on the railway tracks, they gave a standing ovation. The film won the main prize at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, and later director Stanislav Rostotsky, cameraman Vyacheslav Shumsky and actor Vyacheslav Tikhonov were awarded the Lenin Prize. And 20 years later, in 1998, in the hometown of the writer Troepolsky - Voronezh - a monument to the legendary Bim was erected.

Unfortunately, the fate of Stepka was tragic. Its owner often gave his dog "on lease" to a film studio, and he himself disappeared. For a year and a half of filming in the film "White Bim Black Ear", he never once visited his pet. The dog missed its owner so much that it almost disrupted the shooting. But after their completion, this story repeated itself more than once. They say that as a result, the dog's heart could not stand it, and he died, unable to withstand another separation.

Styopka was not the only four-legged actor who won the hearts of Soviet audiences: Animals that caused affection throughout the Soviet Union.