''Dead Season'' (, translit. Myortvyy sezon) is a 1968

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

spy film The spy film, also known as the spy thriller, is a film genre, genre of film that deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way (such as the adaptations of John le Carré) or as a basis for fantasy (such as many Jame ...

directed by

Savva Kulish Savva Yakovlevich Kulish (; 17 October 1936 – 9 June 2001) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter. He directed eight films between 1966 and 1994. His 1979 film ''Takeoff (film), Takeoff'' won the Silver Prize at the 11th Moscow Interna ...

based on a screenplay by Aleksandr Shlepyanov and

Vladimir Vajnshtok Vladimir Petrovich Vajnshtok (; 2 March 1908 – 18 October 1978) was a Soviet film director and, under the name Vladimir Vladimirov, screenwriter. Selected filmography Director * ''Rubicon (Рубикон)'' (1931) * ''Storm (Ураган) ...

and featuring

Donatas Banionis Donatas Banionis (28 April 1924 – 4 September 2014) was a Soviet and Lithuanian stage and film actor and theatre director. He has more than 80 credited roles in cinema and is best known for his performance in the lead role of Andrei Tarkovsky, ...

and

Rolan Bykov Rolan Antonovich Bykov (October 12, 1929October 6, 1998) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor, director, screenwriter and pedagogue. People's Artist of the USSR (1990). Early life Rolan Bykov was born to Anton Mikhailovich Bykov and Ol ...

Plot

A connection between Dr. Hass and the West German intelligence was killed at an airport in one of the European countries. Encryption was discovered in the pocket of the murdered person for the purchase of raw material for mass production of RH gas. The possibilities of gas are such that in small doses it stimulates the intellectual potential of a person, in large ones it turns them into a joyous idiot and a laborer-robot. The case of Haas is handled by the Soviet intelligence colonel Konstantin Ladeynikov. The main difficulty is that Ladeynikov has fallen into the sight of the intelligence services, but the intelligence officer asks for permission from his leadership to stay in the country and continue work. However, Ladeynikov has no portrait of Hass so he needs a person who can identify him. The

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

leadership appeals to the actor of the children's theater, the father of two children, Ivan Savushkin, with a request to draw a portrait of Hass. In 1944, Savushkin fled from a

Nazi concentration camp From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...

, where Hass conducted his fatal experiments, turning people into meaningless animals. Over time, Savushkin understands how much he depends on him in the operation with Haas and agrees to go to help Ladeynikov. In addition, he knows German well.

Cast

as Ladeynikov / Lonsfield (voiced by

Alexander Demyanenko Aleksandr Sergeyevich Demyanenko (; May 30, 1937 – August 22, 1999) was a Soviet and Russian actor. People's Artist of the RSFSR (1991). He is best known for playing the character Shurik in Leonid Gaidai's movies. Life and career Early life Al ...

) *

as Savushkin *

Gennadi Yukhtin Gennadi (birth name Geniy) Gavrilovich Yukhtin (; 30 March 1932 – 18 February 2022) was a Russian film and stage actor. Life and career At the age of fourteen, Yukhtin was orphaned: his mother died at the front during the Second World War i ...

as Muravyov * Bruno Freindlich as Valery Petrovich * Svetlana Korkoshko as Ellis *

Jüri Järvet Jüri Järvet (18 June 19195 July 1995), born Georgi Kuznetsov, was a Soviet Estonian actor. Biography Jüri Järvet's birthname was Georgi Yevgenyevich Kuznetsov, and he took the Estonian form in 1938. Järvet's mother was a Russian, while hi ...

as Professor O'Reilly * Laimonas Noreika as Nicholls * Stepan Krylov as former prisoner of concentration camp *

Ants Eskola Ants Eskola (17 February 190814 December 1989, known until 1935 as Erhard-Voldemar Esperk)Eskola 1986: 7 was a Soviet and Estonian actor, singer and artist. He appeared in 25 films from 1930 to 1979. People's Artist of the USSR People's Artist ...

as Smith * Leonhard Merzin as Father Mortimer * Einari Koppel as Drayton * Mauri Raus as Greban * Vladimir Erenberg as Professor Born / Hass * Anda Zaice as Catrine

Trivia

* Film features a scene of exchange of the spies on the

Glienicke Bridge The Glienicke Bridge (, ) is a bridge across the Havel River in Germany, connecting the Wannsee district of Berlin with the Brandenburg capital Potsdam. It is named after nearby Glienicke Palace. The current bridge, the fourth on the site, was ...

. *

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

once stated that Banionis' part in the film was the reason why he joined the

References

External links

* 1968 films Lenfilm films Cold War spy films 1960s adventure drama films 1960s spy drama films Films set in Germany Soviet spy drama films Soviet adventure drama films Soviet black-and-white films Television episodes about Nazis Films about biological weapons Films about Nazi fugitives Films about the KGB Films set in West Germany {{1960s-USSR-film-stub