''Lyotchiki'' (: ) (aka ''Men on Wings'' and ''The Pilots'') is a 1935

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 ...

romantic

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Yuli Raizman Yuli Yakovlevich Raizman (; December 15, 1903 – December 11, 1994) was a Soviet and Russian film director, screenwriter and Pedagogy, pedagogue. People's Artist of the USSR (1964) and Hero of Socialist Labour (1973). Career In 1924 he became a ...

and Grigori Levkoyev.

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (; ), was a Russian and Soviet writer and proponent of socialism. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Before his success as an aut ...

called him among the best Soviet filmmakers of that time.

Plot

School Commander Nikolai Rogachyov (

Boris Shchukin Boris Vasilyevich Shchukin (; — 7 October 1939) was a Russian and Soviet actor, theater director and pedagogue. In 1936, Shchukin was among the first group of recipients of the honorary title of People's Artist of the USSR. In 1941, he was post ...

) and famous aerobatic pilot, is in charge of a civilian flying school in Russia. Pilot Sergei Belyaev (

Ivan Koval-Samborsky Ivan Koval-Samborsky ( Ukrainian: Іван Коваль-Самборський; 16 September 1893 – 10 January 1962) was a Ukrainian stage and film actor. After establishing himself in the Soviet film industry in the 1920s, he briefly went to wo ...

), showing recklessness trying to emulate the test pilot

Valery Chkalov Valery Pavlovich Chkalov (; ; – 15 December 1938) was a test pilot awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union (1936). Early life Chkalov was born to a Russian family in 1904 in the upper Volga region, the town of Chkalovsk, Russia, Vasi ...

), crashes the aircraft assigned to him. Student flight school Galya Bystrova (Yevgenia Melnikova), who likes Belyaev, unfortunately, seeks to imitate him in the air. Commander Rogachyov falls for young student pilot Gayla, but their difference in age prevents him from declaring his love. Rogachyov teaches that discipline in the air is necessary to survive as a pilot. Finally, that message begins to make sense to Sergei and Gayla.

Cast

as Student Commander Sergei Belyaev *

Yevgenia Melnikova Evgenia, Evgeniya, Yevgenia or Yevgeniya is a feminine given name which may refer to: Evgenia or Evgeniya * Evgeniya Augustinas (born 1988), Russian racing cyclist * Evgeniya Belyakova (born 1986), Russian basketball player in the Women's National ...

as Flight School Student Galya Bystrova * Aleksandr Chistyakov as Senior Mechanic Ivan Matveyevich Khrushchev *

as Flight School Commander Nikolai Rogachyov * Grigori Levkoyev as Doctor at airfield (uncredited) * Inna Fyodorova as Medical attendant (uncredited) *

Zoya Fyodorova Zoya Alekseyevna Fyodorova (also Fedorova) (; 11 December 1981) was a Russian film star who had an affair with American Navy captain Jackson Tate in 1945 and bore a child, Victoria Fyodorova in January 1946. Having rejected the advances of N ...

as Nurse (uncredited) *

Nikolai Khryashchikov Nikolai or Nikolay is an East Slavic variant of the masculine name Nicholas. It may refer to: People Royalty * Nicholas I of Russia (1796–1855), or Nikolay I, Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855 * Nicholas II of Russia (1868–1918), or Niko ...

as Appearing (uncredited) * Maria Klyuchareva as Sanitary (uncredited) *

Ivan Kobozev Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was the ...

as Pilot Kobozev (uncredited)

Production

Principal photography for ''Lyotchiki'' took place in 1935 on the outskirts of

Voronezh Voronezh ( ; , ) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the Southeastern Railway, which connects wes ...

, on the airfield (now Holzunov Street in the Northern residential area).

Reception

Under the title, ''The Pilots'', ''Lyotchiki'' was released worldwide, while in the United States, it was re-titled ''Men on Wings''. Aviation film historian James H, Farmer in ''Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation'' (1984) described the film's "poor production values."Farmer 1984, p. 320. Aviation film historian Stephen Pendo in ''Aviation in the Cinema'' (1985) had a similar opinion, noting, "unexciting flying scenes." in the

films of the time, ''Lyotchiki'' was considered a classic.Firsova, Katrin
"Что смотреть у советских режиссёров. (ru); What to watch from Soviet directors."
''the-village.ru'', 22 October 2015. Retrieved: 14 July 2019.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Farmer, James H. ''Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation''. Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania: Tab Books Inc., 1984. . * Kherson, Chrysanth. ''Boris Shchukin: The Path of the Actor''. 1954. * Pendo, Stephen. ''Aviation in the Cinema''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. .

External links

* * {{Yuli Raizman 1935 films Russian aviation films 1930s Soviet films 1930s Russian-language films Soviet romantic drama films Russian-language romantic drama films Mosfilm films Films about aviators Soviet black-and-white films 1935 romantic drama films Russian black-and-white films