''The Thirteen'' is a 1937 Soviet

epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...

Ostern The Ostern ("Eastern"; ; or ) is a film genre created in the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc as a variation of the Western films. The word ''Ostern'' is a portmanteau derived from the German word ''Ost'', meaning "East", and the English word ''wes ...

action adventure film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

directed by

Mikhail Romm Mikhail Ilyich Romm (; – 1 November 1971) was a Soviet film director, screenwriter and pedagogue. He was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1950. Life and career Early life He was born in Irkutsk into a family of mixed Russian Jewish ...

Plot

Soviet Central Asia Soviet Central Asia () was the part of Central Asia administered by the Russian SFSR and then the Soviet Union between 1918 and 1991, when the Central Asian Soviet republics declared independence. It is nearly synonymous with Russian Turkest ...

, ten demobilized

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

soldiers ride through the desert to the railroad. Three more people are with them: commander of the frontier Zhuravlev and his wife Maria Nikolaevna and an old geologist. In the desert, they find a well and hidden machine guns – this is the base of Basmach Shirmat Khan, whom the Red Army could not neutralize for a whole year. A single soldier is sent out for help while others remain to restrain the Basmachi. There is almost no water in the well, but the soldiers carefully conceal it from the Basmachi who have approached. The bandits suffer from thirst and attack in an attempt to reach the well. In an unequal battle, nearly all the defenders are killed, but their enemies are captured by the cavalry which has come to the rescue.

Cast

* Ivan Novoseltsev - Squadron Commander Ivan Zhuravlyov * Yelena Kuzmina - Marya Nikolaevna Zhuravlyova * Aleksandr Chistyakov - Aleksandr Petrovich Postnikov, geologist *

Andrei Fajt Andrei Andreyevich Fayt (Feit) (; 29 August 1903 – 17 January 1976) was a Soviet film actor. He appeared in 44 films between 1925 and 1976. He was born in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia and died in Moscow. Selected filmography * ''The Battleshi ...

- Sub-Colonel Skuratov * Ivan Kuznetsov - Soldier Yusuf Akchurin * Alexei Dolinin as Aleksey Timoshkin - Red Army soldier (as A. Dolinin) * Pyotr Masokha as Petr Sviridenko - Red Army soldier (as P. Masokha) * Pavel Yudin as Petrov - Red Army soldier (as P. Yudin) * Dmitry Zolts] as Dimiriy Levkoyev - Red Army soldier (as D. Zolts) * Viktor Kulakov as Nikolay Balandin - Red Army soldier (as V. Kulakov)

Influence

The 1943 American film '' Sahara (1943 American film), Sahara'', directed by

Zoltan Korda Zoltan Korda (May 3, 1895 – October 13, 1961) was a Hungary, Hungarian-born motion picture screenwriter, film director, director and film producer, producer. He made his first film in Hungary in 1918 and worked with his brother Alexander Korda ...

and starring

Humphrey Bogart Humphrey DeForest Bogart ( ; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American actor. His performances in classic Hollywood cinema made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Bogart ...

, and its 1995 remake have significant plot similarities. In fact, in the film's opening credits for the screenplay and adaptation, the 1943 film credits the Soviet photoplay for inspiration.

Notes

References

External links

* 1937 films 1937 war films Films directed by Mikhail Romm 1930s war adventure films 1930s Soviet films 1930s Russian-language films Soviet war adventure films Films set in Central Asia Soviet black-and-white films Mosfilm films Russian-language war adventure films {{1930s-USSR-film-stub