''Stalingrad'' (

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: ''Сталинград'') is a 1990 two-part

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

written and directed by Yuri Ozerov, and produced by

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024) was an American record producer, composer, arranger, conductor, trumpeter, and bandleader. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received List of awards and nominations re ...

and

Clarence Avant Clarence Alexander Avant (February 25, 1931 – August 13, 2023) was a prominent American music executive and film producer. Originating from Climax, North Carolina, Avant began his professional journey in the 1950s, managing Teddy P's Lounge ...

. Revolving around the eponymous

Battle of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad ; see . rus, links=on, Сталинградская битва, r=Stalingradskaya bitva, p=stəlʲɪnˈɡratskəjə ˈbʲitvə. (17 July 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II, ...

, the film was a co-production between the

Soviet Union 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 ...

and

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

. It stars an ensemble cast featuring

Powers Boothe Powers Allen Boothe (June 1, 1948 – May 14, 2017) was an American actor known for his commanding character actor roles on film and television. He received a Primetime Emmy Award and nominations for two Screen Actors Guild Awards. He won ...

, Mikhail Ulyanov, Bruno Freindlich,

Fernando Allende Luis Fernando Allende Arenas (born November 10, 1952) is a Mexican artist and entertainer who has also worked in various production roles during his career. Filmography Telenovelas * '' Muchacha italiana viene a casarse'' (2014-2015) - Sergio ...

, Sergei Garmash, Nikolai Kryuchkov, and

Ronald Lacey Ronald William Lacey (28 September 1935 – 15 May 1991) was an English actor. He made numerous television and film appearances over a 30-year period. His roles included Harris in ''Porridge'' (1977), Frankie in the Bud Spencer comedy '' ...

Plot

Film I

In January 1942,

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

appoints

Fedor von Bock Moritz Albrecht Franz Friedrich Fedor von Bock (3 December 1880 – 4 May 1945) was a German ''Generalfeldmarschall'' (Field Marshal) who served in the German Army during the Second World War. Bock served as the commander of Army Group ...

to command

Army Group South Army Group South () was the name of one of three German Army Groups during World War II. It was first used in the 1939 September Campaign, along with Army Group North to invade Poland. In the invasion of Poland, Army Group South was led by Ge ...

and supervise

Operation Blau Case Blue (German: ''Fall Blau'') was the ''Wehrmacht'' plan for the 1942 strategic summer offensive in southern Russia between 28 June and 24 November 1942, during World War II. The objective was to capture the oil fields of Baku (Azerbai ...

. The German forces advance in the south of Russia, scattering the Soviets and approaching Stalingrad, that seems on the verge of falling to the enemy's hands. The movie ends with

Vasily Chuikov Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov (, ; – 18 March 1982) was a Soviet military commander and Marshal of the Soviet Union. He is best known for commanding the 62nd Army which saw heavy combat during the Battle of Stalingrad in the Second World War ...

assuming command of the

62nd Army The 62nd Army () was a field army established by the Soviet Union's Red Army during the Second World War. History The Army was formed on 28 May 1942 as the 7th Reserve Army, a part of the Reserve of the Supreme High Command. The formation wa ...

at September.

Film II

The Germans attack Stalingrad, and are engaged in close-quarters combat within the city. Chuikov's soldiers manage to hold on to their positions; On 19 November 1942, the Red Army launches a successful counter-offensive and encircles the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

formations. In February 1943, the German 6th Army surrenders to the Soviets.

Production

The film was a sequel to Ozerov's 1985 ''

Battle of Moscow The Battle of Moscow was a military campaign that consisted of two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front during World War II, between October 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive effort frustrated H ...

'', with its plot starting directly in the beginning of the former, after von Bock failed to capture Moscow. In general, ''Stalingrad'' was Ozerov's fourth work dealing with the Soviet-German War, after the 1970–71 series '' Liberation'', the 1977 TV mini-series ''

Soldiers of Freedom ''Soldiers of Freedom'' () is a four-part 1977 film epic directed by Yuri Ozerov and starring Mikhail Ulyanov, Yevgeny Matveyev, Vasily Lanovoy. It is a World War II historical drama and the sequel to 1970-71's '' Liberation''. Plot The film ...

'' and ''Battle of Moscow''. Due to the harsh economic conditions in the late 1980s Soviet Union, Ozerov was unable to secure funding for his film inside the USSR. After deliberations, he approached the American

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

for assistance. The company agreed to provide financial support, but demanded that American actors would be given representation. The reluctant director had to cast

for the title role of General

. The film was the first Soviet-American co-production in the

Perestroika ''Perestroika'' ( ; rus, перестройка, r=perestrojka, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg, links=no) was a political reform movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s, widely associ ...

era.''Spy Magazine'', June 1991.
p. 62.

Reception

The film was poorly received, and it was Ozerov's first work which failed to secure any nominations since 1958. In 1993, the director used footage from ''Stalingrad'' for the frame story of his last film, ''Angels of Death'', about a sniper duel taking place during the battle for the city. Montage from ''Stalingrad'' was also included in two TV anthologies of select material from Ozerov's films, ''The Tragedy of the Twentieth Century'' and ''The Great Captain Georgy Zhukov''.''Stalingrad'' on kino-teatr.ru
/ref>

Cast

Soviet Union

as General

* Mikhail Ulyanov as Marshal

Georgy Zhukov Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov ( 189618 June 1974) was a Soviet military leader who served as a top commander during World War II and achieved the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. During World War II, Zhukov served as deputy commander-in-ch ...

* Bruno Freindlich as Marshal

Boris Shaposhnikov Boris Mikhaylovich Shaposhnikov () ( – 26 March 1945) was a Soviet Union, Soviet military officer, Military theory, theoretician and Marshal of the Soviet Union. He served as the Chief of the General Staff (Russia), Chief of the General St ...

as Lieutenant

Rubén Ruiz Ibárruri Rubén Ruiz Ibárruri (; January 9, 1920 – September 3, 1942) was a Spanish military officer and Soviet commander of the 100th Machine Gun Company of an independent training battalion of the 35th guards rifle division of the 62nd army of the S ...

* Sergei Garmash as Sergeant Yakov Pavlov * Liubomiras Laucevičius as General Kuzma Gurov * Boris Nevzorov as General Nikolai Krylov * Vadim Lobanov as

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...

* Andrey Smolyakov as Lieutenant

Leonid Khrushchev Leonid Nikitovich Khrushchev (10 November 1917 – 11 March 1943) was a Soviet fighter pilot and the son of Nikita Khrushchev. Khrushchev served as a fighter pilot in the Soviet Air Forces during the Winter War and the Eastern Front of World War ...

* Archil Gomiashvili as

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

* Vladimir Troshin as

Kliment Voroshilov Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov ( ; ), popularly known as Klim Voroshilov (; 4 February 1881 – 2 December 1969), was a prominent Soviet Military of the Soviet Union, military officer and politician during the Stalinism, Stalin era (1924–195 ...

* Nikolai Zasukhin as

Vyacheslav Molotov Vyacheslav Mikhaylovich Molotov (; – 8 November 1986) was a Soviet politician, diplomat, and revolutionary who was a leading figure in the government of the Soviet Union from the 1920s to the 1950s, as one of Joseph Stalin's closest allies. ...

* Stepan Mikoyan as

Anastas Mikoyan Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan (; , ; ; – 21 October 1978) was a Soviet statesman, diplomat, and Bolshevik revolutionary who served as the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, the head of state of the Soviet Union. As a member of th ...

* Viktor Uralsky as

Mikhail Kalinin Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin (, ; 3 June 1946) was a Soviet politician and Russian Old Bolshevik revolutionary who served as the first chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (head of state) from 1938 until his resignation in 1946. From ...

* Nikolai Kryuchkov as old captain *

Fyodor Bondarchuk Fyodor Sergeyevich Bondarchuk ( ; born 9 May 1967) is a Russian film director, actor, producer and TV host. He is also the founder of Art Pictures Studio, a production company. He specializes in action movies, war movies, and science fiction ...

as sniper Ivan * Nikolai Simkin as Alexander Poskrebyshev * Vyacheslav Ezepov as Alexander Shcherbakov * Valeri Tzvetkov as General

Andrey Yeryomenko Andrey Ivanovich Yeryomenko (; Ukrainian: Андрій Іванович Єрьоменко; November 19, 1970) was a Soviet general during World War II and Marshal of the Soviet Union. During the war, Yeryomenko commanded the Southeastern Front ...

* Vitali Rastalnoi as Marshal

Semyon Timoshenko Semyon Konstantinovich Timoshenko (; ; – 31 March 1970) was a Soviet military commander, Marshal of the Soviet Union, and one of the most prominent Red Army commanders during the Second World War. Born to a Ukrainian family in Bessarabia, ...

* Evgeni Burenkov as General

Aleksandr Vasilevsky Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Vasilevsky ( 1895 – 5 December 1977) was a Soviet general who served as a top commander during World War II and achieved the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. During World War II, he served as the Chief of the General ...

* Aleksandr Goloborodko as General

Konstantin Rokossovsky Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky ( 1896 – 3 August 1968) was a Soviet and Polish general who served as a top commander in the Red Army during World War II and achieved the ranks of Marshal of the Soviet Union and Marshal of Poland. He a ...

Sergei Nikonenko Sergei Petrovich Nikonenko (; born 16 April 1941 in Moscow) is a Soviet and Russian actor, a film director and a screenwriter. He was awarded with People's Artist of the RSFSR (1991). He performed in more than eighty films since 1961. Selected ...

as General

Alexander Rodimtsev Alexander Ilich Rodimtsev (; 8 March 1905 13 April 1977) was a colonel general in the Red Army during World War II and who was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union in 1937 and 1945. Career Rodimtsev joined the Red Army in 1927. He fought ...

* Oksana Fandera as Natasha

Germany

Horst Schulze Horst Schulze (26 April 1921 – 24 October 2018) was a German actor and opera singer. He was born in Dresden and died in Berlin at the age of 97. Filmography References External links

* 1921 births 2018 deaths Male actors from Dre ...

as Erich Edgar Schulze * Gerd Michael Henneberg as Field Marshal

Wilhelm Keitel Wilhelm Bodewin Johann Gustav Keitel (; 22 September 188216 October 1946) was a German field marshal who held office as chief of the (OKW), the high command of Nazi Germany's armed forces, during World War II. He signed a number of criminal ...

*Günter Junghans as Harro Schulze-Boysen * Achim Petri as

* Erich Thiede as

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th of the (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful p ...

* Ernst Heise as Field Marshal

*Boris Levkovich as Colonel Hermann

makes an appearance as

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

References

External links

* {{Soviet Union–United States relations, state=collapsed 1990 films Soviet war films East German films Mosfilm films 1990s Russian-language films Films directed by Yuri Ozerov Soviet Union–United States relations Films about the Battle of Stalingrad Czech war films Films about Adolf Hitler Cultural depictions of Winston Churchill Cultural depictions of Joseph Stalin Cultural depictions of Nikita Khrushchev Cultural depictions of Heinrich Himmler Cultural depictions of Georgy Zhukov Films produced by Quincy Jones Czech World War II films Soviet World War II films German World War II films American World War II films Czechoslovak World War II films Russian World War II films World War II films based on actual events 1990s American films 1990s German films Soviet epic films Russian-language war films German-language war films