Behind the scenes of the film "Days of the Turbins": What a personal and creative catastrophe director Vladimir Basov went through

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

Most viewers know Vladimir Basov primarily as a wonderful actor, but his main passion was directing. Many consider Days of the Turbins to be the pinnacle of his directorial skills, but this film had an unfortunate creative destiny: after the premiere, it was put on the shelf for 10 years. He returned to the screens in the late 1980s, just before Basov left. The audience could appreciate the film only years later, and the director did not know about it. And during filming, he also had to endure a personal disaster that led to the collapse of his last marriage …

In the summer of 1941, Vladimir Basov came to VGIK to find out the admission rules - he was going to enter the directing department. But his plans were ruined by the war. He went to the front as a volunteer, first served as head of the rifle brigade club, then became a mortarman, was wounded in February 1945, after which he returned to duty. Basov returned from the war with the rank of captain and had every chance to make a brilliant military career, but preferred to retire to civilian life. In 1947, he nevertheless entered the directing department, and in 1952 became the director of the Mosfilm film studio.

Basov met the actress Valentina Titova when he started filming the film "Blizzard". When he first saw her at the audition, he immediately decided not only to approve her for the main role, but also told the film crew: "I will marry this actress." He already had 2 marriages behind him, he was 18 years older than her, Valentina was still in love with actor Vyacheslav Shalevich, who did not dare to leave his family for her, but all this did not become an obstacle to their relationship with Basov. Soon, the director married Titova and began filming her in almost all of his films, making her a real star. And the actress herself was very grateful to him for this. "", - said Titova.

The idea of screening Mikhail Bulgakov's play "Days of the Turbins" was nurtured by Basov for several years, while filming other films that formed the image of a "reliable" director. When he started the film adaptation, he had no doubts about who to shoot in the main female role - of course, Elena Talberg was played by Valentina Titova, although she was 10 years older than her literary heroine. And Basov himself not only acted as a director and screenwriter, but also played the role of Viktor Myshlaevsky.

Basov was called one of the most successful Soviet directors - he managed to implement everything he planned, he worked quickly and efficiently, his films were never sent to the shelf. Everyone was surprised at his luck and even envied him - they said that only Basov could get permission to film the film adaptation of the disgraced Bulgakov's play, where it was about the White Guards. This play, based on the novel The White Guard, was written in 1925 and published only 30 years later. In order to be allowed to stage it on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater in 1926, the Internationale had to play in the finals, and Myshlaevsky was put in the mouth of the praises of the Red Army. Surprisingly, Stalin was a big fan of the production, who attended this performance several times. He saw the main idea in something completely different: "".

Recalling the work on this film, Basov wrote: "". With these characters, although they were White Guards, Basov felt a kinship, recognized himself and his comrades in them - it seemed to him that all the officers had a lot in common.

Even his wife was surprised that Basov managed to get permission to shoot. Titova told: "".

In order to make the adaptation look "ideologically correct", at the beginning they inserted a voiceover text about the impending liberation of Kiev by the Red Army, which Bulgakov did not have. However, Titova's fears were not unfounded: the film was shown on TV only once, and then sent to the shelf for 10 years, calling it "the anthem of the White Guards." The second chance to see his picture on the screen fell to Basov only in the late 1980s, shortly before his death.

After this failure, Basov did not shoot anything for 5 years. The crisis happened not only in the creative, but also in the personal life of the director. "Days of the Turbins" became the last joint work of Basov and Titova - soon after the completion of filming, their marriage broke up. For many of their acquaintances, this was a complete surprise - they lived together for about 14 years, raised two children. But few knew that the last 2 years of marriage had become a real nightmare for both - Basov began to abuse alcohol. Later Titova recalled: "".

In 1977, a year after the premiere of Days of the Turbins, Valentina Titova fell in love with cameraman Georgy Rerberg on the set of Father Sergius and filed for divorce. This gap affected Basov's well-being - then he began to have serious health problems, he was hospitalized with a massive heart attack, then suffered a stroke. As a result, there was a long pause in creativity. In the 1980s. he made 3 more films, and on September 17, 1987 Basov passed away after a second stroke.

The director's son believed that the main reason for his premature departure was the shell shock received during the war: Why Vladimir Basov did not talk about his front-line exploits.