11 best Soviet intelligence films based on real facts

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

For many years, spy films have been associated with the popular "Bondiana" or similar films. But viewers in the USSR followed with unflagging interest the development of the plot in films that told about the activities of Soviet intelligence officers. Moreover, most of the characters were not fictional, and the script was based on real events with the participation of intelligence officers.

"The Exploit of the Scout", 1947, director Boris Barnet

The prototype of the main character of the film, Alexei Fedotov, was the Soviet intelligence officer Nikolai Kuznetsov, who personally killed more than ten high-ranking officials of the occupation administration of Nazi Germany. In Boris Barnett's film, the role of a fearless scout was played by Pavel Kadochnikov.

"Far from Homeland", 1960, director Alexei Shvachko

The film was based on the novel by Yuri Dold-Mikhailik "And one soldier in the field", and the main character of the film, Lieutenant Goncharenko, had two prototypes at once. The first was Pyotr Ivanovich Pryadko, who served as the head of the fuel and lubricants warehouse and who subsequently performed the task behind enemy lines, and the second was Alexander Ivanovich Kozlov. The Germans took his family hostage, and he was forced to become an agent of "Abwehrkommando-103". Once on Soviet territory, he immediately appeared in counterintelligence and subsequently was a double agent, headed the training unit of the intelligence center.

Trilogy "The Way to Saturn", "The End of Saturn", "The Fight after Victory", 1967, 1972, directed by Villene Azarov

The film was shot on the basis of a documentary story by Vasily Ardamatsky, who worked with closed archival materials with the permission of the head of the GRU, Pyotr Ivashutin. The trilogy tells about the activities of Alexander Ivanovich Kozlov, the very one who headed the training unit of the intelligence center.

"It was in intelligence", 1969, director Lev Mirsky

The prototype of the protagonist of 12-year-old Vasya Kolosov was Alexander Kolesnikov, the son of the 50th regiment of the 11th tank corps, where the soldiers respectfully called the young colleagues San Sanych and never tired of being surprised at his courage. He repeatedly went behind enemy lines and performed difficult tasks. Thanks to San Sanych, Soviet pilots were able to find and bomb a secret railway line, along which the Germans were continuously transferring equipment to the front.

"Strong in spirit", 1967, director Victor Georgiev

The film is based on real events from the life of the Soviet intelligence officer Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov. It was he who, behind enemy lines, penetrated Hitler's headquarters in western Ukraine and was engaged in the physical elimination of enemies, including Major General Max Ilgen, chief of government of the Galicia district Otto Bauer, Dr. Heinrich Schneider, chief of the chancellery.

"Shield and Sword", 1968, director Vladimir Basov

The prototype of the main character Alexander Belov, who acted under the name of Johann Weiss, was Alexander Svyatogorov, who developed an agent network in the territory occupied by the Germans. According to some reports, Alexander Belov had another prototype - Rudolph Abel (real name William Fischer), which operated in the United States already in the post-war period.

"Major" Whirlwind ", 1967, director Evgeny Tashkov

The prototypes of the main character of the film, based on the story of the same name by Yulian Semyonov, were three Soviet intelligence officers at once. Yevgeny Bereznyak and Alexander Botyan, thanks to whom the Polish city of Krakow was saved from destruction by German troops, and Ovidiy Gorchakov, a friend of Yulian Semyonov, a scout and a writer, the appearance and character of the legendary "Whirlwind" were written off from him.

Omega Variant, 1975, directed by Antonis Voyazos

The film by Antonis Voyazos was an adaptation of the novel by Nikolai Leonov and Yuri Kostrov "Operation Viking" and documentary materials about the work of Soviet intelligence in Tallinn during the Second World War. The prototype of the protagonist Sergei Nikolaevich Skorin (Paul Krieger) was the captain of the GRU and the leader of the group of intelligence networks operating in Europe, Anatoly Markovich Gurevich.

Dead season, 1968, director Savva Kulish

The prototype of the scout Ladeinikov was Konon Trofimovich Molodiy, who lived in Great Britain under the name of Gordon Lonsdale. He also became a consultant for the film under the pseudonym Konstantin Panfilov. Gordon Lonsdale was a very prominent figure in Great Britain, the Queen herself granted him a certificate for success in the development of entrepreneurship for the good of the country. But the main task of the Soviet agent was to collect and transfer to the Center information about British developments in the field of operating nuclear reactors on submarines and creating bacteriological weapons.

Trilogy "Front without flanks", "Front behind the front line" and "Front behind enemy lines", 1975, 1977, 1981, directed by Igor Gostev

General Semyon Kuzmich Tsvigun became the prototype of the main character of Ivan Mlynsky's trilogy, based on his documentary novel "We'll Be Back" and a film by Igor Gostev was shot. Stepan Tsvigun was the scriptwriter and provided comprehensive assistance during the filming of the picture.

"Seventeen Moments of Spring", 1973, director Tatiana Lioznova

Undoubtedly, this television movie is the most famous and popular film about Soviet intelligence officers, but the image of the protagonist has become collective. Yulian Semyonov, based on whose novel of the same name was filmed, in one of his interviews said: creating his Stirlitz, he pushed off from one of the first Soviet intelligence officers who worked in Vladivostok, occupied by the Japanese. But at the same time, the legendary Isaev absorbed the features of Sorge, Kuznetsov, Abel and others.

The image of the Soviet intelligence officer was associated by the people exclusively with the heroic Stirlitz or Major Vortex. And, I must say, the experience of the agents introduced or recruited by the domestic special services was really rich. Enchanting failures and ridiculous punctures of real scouts were not made public. Such episodes were hushed up no less carefully than the facts of treason or the history of going into the service of the enemy.